Amid allegations that the cover of a web novel plagiarized the concept of (G)I-DLE’s “LION,” the publishing company has issued an apology.

Previously, suspicions were raised that the cover of the web novel “Go Ahead and Be the Supporting Role” (literal title) is similar to the concept of (G)I-DLE’s “Lion.” Publishing company Viewcommz released an official statement regarding the matter on January 3.

The official statement is as follows:

Hello, this is publishing company Viewcommz.

We are here to address the plagiarism controversy of the cover of “Go Ahead and Be the Supporting Role” that was released on January 1.

First off, the cover of the novel was produced through a contract with an illustrator.

In general for cover production, the author provides a guide focused on the characters of the novel to the illustrator, who creates a cover based on that guide.

Following the process, the author prepared a guide and passed it onto the illustrator through us. The cover guide included three reference illustrations as shown below and asked the illustrator to proceed with “the most fitting and easy to draw” of these.

The description added with the first reference illustration is as follows.

The author explained, “I wish [the character] could hold a very fancy crown in her hand and smile with a dangerous and chic look. I think it would be better for her to sit on a throne or a fancy chair like the example. She is a wicked character who steals someone else’s crown and makes it her own. The position, hand shape, sitting position, and angle of the crown are at your disposal. This is just a picture for reference.”

The author never mentioned the concept of the certain idol that was mentioned in the controversy, and the author requested that the pictures attached to the guide just be used as for reference and that the illustrator should create [the cover] based on imagination.

In this process, we expected common sense in the creation of a final product that would not violate the copyrights of others.

Below is the final result that we received and the concept being mentioned in the controversy.

After the novel was launched on January 1, we found out about the controversy and asked the illustrator, who answered that the idol concept in question was used as reference. We requested immediate correction after confirming the controversy that caused damage to the writer.

The reason for the delay in this notice is because it is a sensitive issue, so we needed to confirm the validity, and it was priority to correct the controversial matter.

Due to the holiday, the correction was completed on January 2, and since the cover is the illustrator’s creation, we asked the illustrator to directly explain the cover before we wrote this statement.

However, the illustrator answered, “I don’t feel the need to explain because I have made the corrections,” so we officially posted the statement because we felt that we could not delay it any further.

The author is being suspected of personally requesting an illustration based on this concept in the guide or reference, and this has caused serious damage.

Again, the author has never mentioned the concept of the particular idol in the process of delivering the guide.

We also feel responsible for the current controversy and will replace the cover illustrator as soon as possible.

We apologize for the unfortunate news in the beginning of the new year. We will be more responsible in the future.