Viewers have been left obsessing over the second season of Squid Games, which sees previous winner Seong Gi-hun - Player 456 - (Lee Jung-jae) return to the backstairs contest.
And fans of the show have spotted disturbing similarities with a very real horror story. The South Korean show, created for Netflix by screenwriter and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, is based around a criel competition where contestants play a host of deceptively innocent-looking children's games for a shot at winning a life-changing sum of money, reports the Mirror.
Those who lose are gunned down mercilessly by masked guards while a group of wealthy men known as the 'VIPs' place bets on players.
The murderous show aims to create a visual representation of the stark contrast berween rich and poor, taken to dystopian extremes.
However, despite the show being fiction, a number of fans have noted a striking similarity between Squid Games and a truly shocking series of events that unfolded in South Korea in the '70s and '80s.
From 1976 to 1987, the sinister 'Brothers' Home' operated in Busan, South Korea - and the deceitfully welcome name still sparks fear into those who managed to survive.
The horrific facility was the largest and most notorious of the 36 detention facilities designed to 'cleanse' South Korea's streets of "symbols of the poverty and disorder of cities", with then-President Chun Doo-Hwan ordering a tougher approach to begging.
The dictator wrote a letter to the then-Prime Minister Nam Duck-woo, demanding "protective measures against vagrants" were taken. It was at this point in President Doo-Hwan's arbitary regime that children and adults were snatched from the streets and taken to so-called 'welfare centres' which in reality were more akin to concentration camps. Manu were kept prisoner for years on end.
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A report published in the 80s found that just 10 per cent of detainees were homeless and the vast majority has been swept up in the depraved "purification project". The project was orchestrated as part of a nationwide rebranding initiative ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympics Games in Seoul.
One prisoner included Han Jong-sun, who was just eight years old when he was snatched away from his family. During a trip to the city in 1984, he was left with a police officer alongside his sister whilst his dad ran errands. Han was forced into a bus which stopped outside the station and the pair were beaten when they cried.
The pair were whisked away to the Brothers' Home - a place that would one day be referred to as the 'Auschwitz of South Korea'. In May 2020, Han opened spoke to BBC News about his horrific experience, sharing: "We had no idea where we were taken to. 'Daddy told us to wait here! Daddy is coming!' We cried and bawled. They started beating us, saying that we were too loud."
Han was the youngest in his 'plantoon' and he remembers being covered in live at the "hell" facility, where inmates were malnourished and rapes were a nightly occurrence. Those who dared attempt to escape over the 7m (23ft)fence would be beaten to death.
It was then revealed by Busan-based prosecutors that inmates were provided identification numbers and matching dark blue tracksuits. They were regularly forced to hold positions for long time periods or play torture games, according to Pedestrian TV.
Reports state that a total of 513 Brothers' Home inmates died between 1975 and 1986. However, it's believed the real figure is much higher.
The Brothers' Home was closed at the end of the '80s after a raid which led to the 1987 arrest of Brothers' Home director, Park In-keun. In-keun only served a brief prison term for embezzlement and minor charges, and was acquitted for charges related to illegal confinement.
Despite the similarities, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has never cited the Brothers' Home as inspiration for his work.
You can stream both seasons of Squid Game on Netflix now.
If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.
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