Is Argan a real country? Everything you need to know on When The Phone Rings finale controversy

On Tuesday, January 7, the last episode of When The Phone Rings was released, and many fans had mixed reactions. In the last episode, Baek Sa-eon leaves for Argan, a fictional place created for When The Phone Rings' plot.

Note: The following article contains spoilers of the show

Sa-eon, the male lead, volunteers in the war-torn Republic of Argan as a spokesperson for the country. Amidst his complicated relationship with Hee-joo, he abruptly leaves for Argan without informing her. This act of self-punishment stems from his discovery of Chairman Baek Jang-ho's role in Hee-joo's brother's death.

The plot gets further complicated as Hee-joo goes to Argan with the determination to find her husband. However, on her way there, she gets kidnapped again by the military soldiers in the war zone area of Argan.

In the end, Sa-eon, a military soldier at Argan, saves her and the couple reunites after six months of separation, and the show ends with them returning to South Korea.

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All you need to know about the controversy around the thriller K-drama series When The Phone Rings' finale

When the finale of When the Phone Rings was released, many felt that the Argan plot was unnecessary and ruined the show's standards built throughout its previous episodes.

While some people explained that the Argan plot was a part of the book The Number You Have Dialed by Geon Eomul Nyeo, based on which When The Phone Rings was created, people still felt that this plot in the last episode made it heavy and rushed.

Here are a few fan reactions regarding the same:

"Viewers were not given enough time to be familiar with argan, like why it was there, why it was mentioned, what argan had to do with them and so on." stated a netizen.

"WHY ARGAN? WHATS THE CORRELATION OF ARGAN TO EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN BAEK AND HONG FAMILIES? I suddenly felt watching a diff drama now" said a fan on X.

"the argan storyline came out of nowhere 😭 HQKHSQHHAHA—like, another kidnapping? war?? what in the descendants of the sun crossover is this please???" added another fan.

More fans and netizens talked about how they felt like the last episode of the show let the viewers down.

"they should've went to a different route than follow the argan plot from the novel which is kinda odd to be a plot device for a reunion ..." stated a fan.

"So basically the Argan arc was really unnecessary? Him disappearing his unnecessary when they should have just sit down, communicated and talked as mature individuals about their issues" added an X user.

"the last two episodes were such a letdown. The random subplot on Argan felt soooooo out of place and made the plot unrealistic lol" said a netizen.

When the Phone Rings is a South Korean K-drama series released through MBC. The show premiered in November 2024, and was wrapped up in January 2025 following the release of its last episode on January 7. The show stars the actors, Yoo Yeon-seok, Chae Soo-bin, Heo Nam-jun, and Jang Gyu-ri.

When The Phone Rings was written by Kim Ji-woon, co-directed by Park Sang-woo and Wi Deuk-gyu. Additionally, the plotline comes from the web novel, The Number You Have Dialed by Geon Eomul Nyeo. The plot revolves around Baek Sa-eon, a presedential spokesman in South Korea from a prestigious political family and Hong-joo, a mute sign interpreter.

The two marry each other for beneficial reasons but they spend over three years of their marriage without speaking to each other and maintaining a cold distance from one another.

This, however, changes when Hong-joo is suddenly kidnapped and Sa-eon is on the chase of finding her whereabouts. This changes the course of their marriage, igniting love between the married couple.

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While many fans and netizens were thrilled and impressed with When The Phone Rings, people's opinions have been debatable following the release of its finale episode.