Lee Kye-in Says He Dumped 100 Carp in MBC's Fountain, and Police Were Called Over 200 Rotting Fish

Actor Lee Kye-in once released about 100 carp into the fountain in front of the MBC building in Yeouido, and a news article was even written about it. It was one of several stories about his devotion to fishing that left the cast of a TV show in stunned laughter. He also told of fishing from a cliff for five nights and of 200 fish left in a car trunk that brought the police.

From a favor for MBC to a ban on carp

Lee said he did not start out releasing the fish at random. "The facilities management office said the fountain looked empty, so they asked me to go fishing and put in a few dozen carp," he explained. Each time he went fishing, he brought back 50 to 100 carp in a cooler and poured them into the fountain in front of MBC early in the morning. What began as a favor changed as the fish kept multiplying. The person in charge of facilities reportedly stopped him, saying, "Never put carp in again, and take them all back."

"Why ask me to put them in, then?" Lee recalled. As the carp multiplied, the fishy smell grew strong, and even people coming and going from the building complained, he said. He added, to laughter, that there was even a rumor he had boiled down and eaten the carp taken from the fountain.

The news article about the episode also carried an anecdote. When colleagues asked why he had put carp in, Lee reportedly answered, "I'm talking with the carp right now, so be quiet." An actor chatting with fish in the middle of a broadcasting station was a sign of an extraordinary angler.

Tied to a pine tree for five nights

The stories came out on the 17th, in episode 547 of the JTBC variety show "Knowing Bros," where singer Hyeon Suk, Lee and singer Kim Yeon-ja appeared as transfer students. Lee Soo-geun raised a tale that had long been famous in and around broadcasting stations: "There's a legendary story that you hung from a cliff and fished for days." What sounded like mere exaggeration turned out to be true, according to Lee Kye-in's vivid testimony.

"It was a cliff with no place to set your feet, and the fishing spot was at the bottom of it," he said. While wondering how to get down, he spotted a pine tree behind him, went into town to get a rope and tied his body to the tree. He kept fishing in that perilous position for a full five nights and six days. "I was staggering because of the weight of the carp," he recalled, startling the cast.

Fishing bait for food, then collapse

The older brothers on the show doubted that he had fished for days without sleeping or eating. Lee confessed that he survived by eating fishing bait, thinking, "It's not just the carp that should eat the bait, I'll eat too," and kept fishing. After lasting five nights and six days, he stayed nearly another day and finally passed out, a account that stirred the studio.

Unconscious, Lee was found by a fisherman passing by in a boat, who saw a person hanging from the cliff and called the police. The police who arrived took him, still alive, to a hospital. Lee said he was delirious and rambled. "They told me I was talking nonsense. I said, 'I've got a bite,'" he added. The brothers burst into bewildered laughter at the idea of worrying about bites after risking his life.

200 rotting fish in the trunk

The aftereffects did not end there. Exhausted from fishing on the cliff for so long, Lee reportedly put the carp and catfish he had caught in his car trunk and slept for two days. When he finally woke, police came and asked him to open the trunk. People nearby had found the stench from the car suspicious and reported it, wondering whether it was the smell of a crime. When Lee opened the trunk, 200 carp and catfish were rotting inside. He said even the police were shocked by the stench, which filled the studio with laughter again.

Beyond an ordinary hobby

Risking his life on a cliff, drawing police suspicion with rotting fish and filling a broadcaster's fountain with carp, Lee's stories showed how intense his devotion to fishing was, well beyond an ordinary hobby. Dangerous cliff fishing and leaving fish unattended could lead to accidents or hygiene problems, so looking back, these are harrowing moments that are hard to dismiss with laughter alone. Even so, Lee's unrestrained storytelling and outlandish past quickly warmed up the mood on "Knowing Bros" that day.

Read the original (Korean)