Players (Gi-hun's Team) | Game Staff | Other Characters
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Police:
Hwang Jun-ho
"I'm a police officer, remember? I'll find him."
Played by: Wi Ha-joon Other Languages
A detective who sneaks into the games to find his missing brother.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: He keeps a cool head when seeing the games in motion, complete with people being gunned down for the mere crime of breaking their dalgona. Jun-ho becomes less cool when he faces the possibility that his brother In-ho may have been dissected for his eyes in organ donation, angrily interrogating a guard at gunpoint after the latter busts him for being an impostor. After nearly being caught, Jun-ho hides in the Front Man's office, and sees records of the games that go back to 1988, and In-ho isn't listened in the 2020 games. He tries to figure out how to search through 32 years' worth of records to find his brother, all without saying a word, before a binder with the same design as the ribboned coffins catches his eyes. The binder reveals that In-ho participated in 2015, and he won. Jun-ho looks up the records with horror, trying to figure out what they did to his big brother, and why didn't he realize In-ho must have gone missing five years ago.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He shoots a guard after interrogating him when the latter promises to not rat him out and begs for his life. It didn't help that the guard confessed that the male guards regularly rape the corpses of women, including the ones up for involuntary organ donation.
- Born Lucky: Even more so than Gi-hun. On several occasions, he only manages to avoid blowing his cover due to circumstances entirely beyond his control. For example: while disguised as a guard [circle], one of his superiors [square] notices that he's acting suspicious, only to be killed by the Front Man before having the chance to question him. This not only takes the heat off, but provides him with a square mask to allow further infiltration.
- Cowboy Cop: His personal investigation into the people who created the Deadly Game certainly isn't protocol, and he's quite willing to kill people without due process if it gets him what he wanted. Granted, his targets are all well-deserved, but it also shows how Jun-ho will go to any length to find out what happened to his brother.
- Decoy Protagonist: He's set up as a major character early on and is the one who uncovers much of the information about the game, but he's taken out before the finale by Front Man, and his arc never ends up intersecting with that of our main characters.
- Deuteragonist: His infiltration of the island is the series' secondary plotline.
- Entertainingly Wrong: He comes to the terrifying and utterly possible conclusion that his brother In-ho was one of the casualties during the "Red light green light game" given his apartment was vacant for a few days, and Gi-hun revealed to an undercover Jun-ho that even if a prisoner by that name In-ho Hwang was there, the prisoners don't know everyone's names. Jun-ho gets confirmation at least that the guards running an organ trafficking scheme didn't cut up his brother for his eyes, despite a brief moment of fear when they talk about a "zombie" with one kidney. The truth is worse: In-ho won in 2015, and Il-nam mentored him to take his place as the Front Man for the 2020 games.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- While undercover he keeps a cool head amid the atrocities, he tries not to look. When holding a guard that nearly busts him at gunpoint, Jun-ho tells him coldly that the dissected "zombie" they were discussing had a brother...him, and was a human being. (He was mildly relieved that the "zombie" was a woman and not In-ho but still shoots the guy to pragmatically eliminate a witness and because the guard admitted that he and his men rape the female corpses.) Later, he's visibly uncomfortable behind his caterer mask when VIP 4 forces him to sit and watch the Stepping Stones challenge with him, since he was using the cover of serving drinks to keep his eyes away from the screen and record their betting pools.
- What's tragic is this kills him. The guards and Front Man corner him, saying that if he surrenders and gives them the phone with incriminating evidence, he may live. Jun-ho obviously doesn't believe them, and uses his last bullet to injure the Front Man to at least prove he won't go down easily. Then the Front Man unmasks himself, revealed to be In-ho, Jun-ho's older brother. Though he asks for Jun-ho to join him, all a disbelieving Jun-ho can do is shake his head, his last words being, "Brother, why?".
- Fair Cop: A very handsome young police officer. VIP 4 even comments that he has a pretty face when forced to unmask in the private room.
- Fatal Flaw:
- His I Work Alone attitude; he simply texts his boss that he won't be in the office that day. While he may have gotten fired by doing an illicit investigation while off-duty, telling someone that he was following a lead and saw a convoy of trucks with drugged people would have meant that the cops would have realized that Gi-hun was telling the truth about the games and at least opened up an investigation of a detective disappearing.
- His lack of proficiency in English. He didn't know what scotch (the drink he was holding) meant, as VIP 4 called him to bring him some, but since Jun-ho was unresponsive, VIP 4 forced him to be his own personal servant for the night. It only goes downhill from there for Jun-ho, as this is how his entire cover gets blown.
- Hero of Another Story: His arc takes place largely separate from everyone else's. He follows Gi-hun to get to the contest, but after that, he spends the rest of the story sneaking around the facility posing as a member of the staff trying to find information about his brother.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: When undercover, the only way to distinguish him and the identically dressed guards is the loose button on his uniform after his initial scuffle with a Worker to acquire one.
- Indy Ploy: After assuming the role as one of the guards of the Squid Game, Jun-ho's only plan is to try his best to act out the part while continuing his investigation in private. The only problem is, given he's completely in the dark on what he's dealing with, he naturally really struggles with how he is supposed to act.
- It's Personal: His reason for investigating the games is that he believes that they are responsible for his brother's disappearance. He's right, but not in the way he expected.
- Never Found the Body: He seemingly dies in a way typical to this trope — shot non-fatally, then falls off a cliff into water and his body isn't recovered.
- Next Tier Power-Up: He starts off with a lowly circle mask, but obtains a square one when a superior is killed. It isn't too useful since a quick scan would reveal that it was stolen, but it does allow him to sometimes allay suspicions by pulling rank.
- Pet the Dog: While undercover, he checks to make sure that Gi-hun wasn't hurt during the riot, and asks him if In-ho Hwang is in the barracks. This little question makes Gi-hun realize the players don't know each other's names, and finding out would be a way of gaining trust.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When he hears the story that Gi-hun told the police, he tracks down the man. Jun-ho explains his brother also went missing after getting an identical business card, and says he'd like Gi-hun's help to uncover the truth behind these games. When Gi-hun refuses, in part because his mother is dying and he needs to reenter the games to get the money she needs, Jun-ho follows him from a distance and realizes that he was telling the truth. He realizes pragmatically that he can't save anyone while undercover, but he can get justice for them by keeping a record of the atrocities.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: He dies in the second-to-last episode, and his plotline ultimately comes to nothing.
- The Watson: His entire role in the series is to provide a means for the audience to learn details about how the island operation works and how long it's been functional.
- You Killed My Father: He accuses a guard of this when hearing that a "red light green light" zombie had a kidney, that his brother was gutted. The guard, while held at gunpoint, tells him that it was a woman they dissected, not a man.
Kim Sang-hyuk and Kim Jin-woo
Kim Sang-hyuk
Kim Jin-woo
Played by: Lee Dong-yong (Kim Sang-hyuk) and Kim Min-sik (Kim Jin-woo)
A pair of police officers Gi-hun tries reaching out to report the existence of the games. Naturally, they don't believe him when they learn the premise.
- Dumbass Has a Point: While they are ultimately wrong about the games not existing, they do have a point that the whole concept sounds completely unrealistic to an outsider and that Gi-hun's going to need more proof than a fancy story and a malfunctional business card to convince anyone that they're real. When Sang-hyuk recaps every single outlandish point he's brought up, Gi-hun can only sheepishly nod in affirmation, realizing how crazy he sounds.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: When Gi-hun finishes his explanation, Sang-hyuk recaps every detail he's told them so far, namely about how an organization of masked men kidnapped a bunch of people, took them to an undisclosed location to play children's games for tens of billions of won, shot everyone who lost, and promptly let their victims go because they voted to. Justified because Sang-hyuk is hammering in the point that Gi-hun sounds deluded with his story.
- Police Are Useless: Justified. They don't believe Gi-hun's testimony on the deadly games and the massacre of over 200 people because it sounds completely outlandish. To their credit, they do dial the number when he asks.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: They at least dial the number when Gi-hun begs them to since the business card is a piece of evidence. Rather than arrest what they think is a drunk, they tell Gi-hun to go home and sleep it off; what happened was probably either a nightmare or a bad drug trip.
- Small Role, Big Impact: They only appear in one scene, but their interaction with Gi-hun piques Jun-ho's interest in the case and leads to his investigation subplot in season 1.
Civilians:
Oh Mal-soon (Gi-hun's mother)
"You haven't been home in days now, out doing whatever it is you're doing lately, but now you're a good son, huh?"
Played by: Kim Young-ok
Gi-hun's mother. Her Type-2 Diabetes and the expensive medical treatment became the reason for Gi-hun to rejoin the games.
- Butt-Monkey: She's destitute due to her son's gambling debts dragging her down as well. It's been mentioned Gi-hun has stolen money from her as well, and still begs her to lend him more.
- Character Death: She dies just days before Gi-hun returns back home when her diabetes finally does her in, and Gi-hun has to live with the guilt of her death being his fault for the rest of his life.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: She always wore socks around the house to conceal the fact that she has Type 2 diabetes.
- Disappointed in You: It would be a huge understatement to say that she is deeply disheartened by her son's debts, gambling addictions, and audacity to steal her own money (terminating her own insurance policy for a cash sum just to gamble some more), and letting his own daughter move to the United States where she'll forget how to talk in Korean. Though she still genuinely loves her son anyways, and never thought of disowning him at all.
- Doting Grandparent: She loves her granddaughter Ga-yeong dearly, and even though she can't afford it, she gives Gi-hun money so that he can give Ga-yeong a nice birthday.
- Dying Alone: She passes away while Gi-hun is still playing the games, left at home with no one to help her or even know that she's in need of help.
- Elder Employee: She's the primary breadwinner for the home rather than her 40-year old son. She's the only one paying rent, and for that, she refuses medical care due to the hospital bills.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In a slow, painful way, she refused medical treatment for her diabetes just so she can use her income to let her son have a home to live in.
- No Name Given: At first, her name wasn't said in the dialogue or the story, however, when we see her credit card for a moment, we find out her name is "O Mal-soon"
- Parting-Words Regret: She was disappointed in Gi-hun for cancelling her insurance and taking her savings, and told him as much. While Gi-hun commits to winning the game to pay her back and apologize, he's too late by a few days.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": She had the bad habit of using birthday dates to protect her bank account, and used to have Gi-hun's birthday until she changed it for Ga-yaeong's birthday when she suspected he was stealing from her. Predictably, Gi-hun figures this out and empties her bank account.
- Please Wake Up: Gi-hun thinks she's sleeping at first, and tries to get her to wake up, not knowing that she is long gone.
Sang-woo's mother
Played by: Park Hye-jin
Sang-woo's mother.
- Granny Classic: She's a sweet elderly woman who clearly loves her son and is proud of his achievements, she also occasionally gives Gi-hun fish from her shop knowing he can't afford a lot of food, and doesn't hesitate to look after Cheol, while they share an acquaintance in Gi-hun, is still a complete stranger.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- She's kept completely in the dark about Sang-woo's criminal history, his suicide attempt, his participation in the games, and his eventual death.
- In the final episode, when she's tasked to look after Cheol and was given a portion of the prize money Gi-hun won. Upon seeing the abundance of cash inside of the suitcase, Gi-hun's already gone before she could ask him anything.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Reacts this way upon finding out from some policemen that her son is wanted for tax fraud.
- Morality Pet: To Sang-woo, who insists on continuing the games so he can still have a chance to spare her from the financial trouble he unwittingly gave her.
- Parental Substitute: Gi-hun entrusts her with Sae-byeok's brother at the end.
Kang Cheol
"Where's Mom? You said she would come soon, you told me that we'd be together. That I just had to wait a month."
Played by: Park Si-wan
Sae-byeok's younger brother.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He doesn't like currently being in the orphanage, as the kids tell him that he will never leave it.
- Disappeared Dad: His father died trying to defect from North Korea.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Though he does get a better situation by the end, being entrusted to Sang-woo's mom's care.
- Missing Mom: His mom was arrested trying to escape North Korea, very likely to have been killed or sent to a prison camp.
Ali's boss
Played by: Kim Seo-ha
Ali's boss, who exploits immigrant workers.
- Asshole Victim: It's hard to feel sorry for him when his fingers are accidentally crushed and he gets robbed by Ali, who runs away with the money he refused to pay him.
- Blatant Lies: He tells Ali that he has no money and can't pay up his salary as he hides an envelope full of money away from him. Ali sees through this and ends up fighting his boss and stealing the money from him after accidentally breaking his fingers.
- Fingore: He deservedly ends up with his fingers being crushed in a machine while fighting Ali.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ali, the man he's been denying paychecks to for a work injury involving losing fingers, accidentally crushes his fingers in a tussle over the money that's owed. Neither injury would have happened if the boss had established any safety measures for the area where his employees work.
- Mean Boss: He refuses to pay his workers. In Ali's case, he owes Ali six months of his denied salary.
Kang Eun-ji
Played by: Kang Mal-geum
Gi-hun's ex-wife and mother of his daughter Ga-yeong. She has remarried and now has a new family.
- Amicable Exes: Averted on her side. Gi-hun tries to remain friendly with her, but his bad habits and irresponsible behavior constantly disgust her. She is also annoyed that he thought she would be willing to help him after giving no child support, and even tells Gi-hun that he's barely much of a good dad to Ga-yeong during an argument about Ga-yeong's stepdad.
- Differing Priorities Breakup: Though the divorce didn't occur until many years after the fact, Gi-hun's loyalty to his co-workers was a major factor that ultimately led to the collapse of his marriage, as Eun-ji was in labor while he was on strike. Plus, Eun-ji remarks that if she hadn't gotten help in time, she might have either lost the baby or died.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Even though she's rude to Gi-hun and doesn't want him around her life anymore, and generally seems to be trying to phase him out of their daughter's life altogether, her reasoning for doing so is kind of understandable. He was on strike while she was in labor, and his gambling addiction and generally irresponsible behavior have made it difficult for him to support their daughter, much less take care of himself and his elderly mother, to the point where Gi-hun tries to ask her and her husband for money when they're just barely making ends meet themselves. Moving to America might not accommodate for Gi-hun to maintain a relationship with Ga-yeong, but it isn’t entirely unreasonable for her to want her child to have some stability.
Seong Ga-yeong
Played by: Jo A-in
Gi-hun's young daughter.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: Gi-hun was given money by his mother to buy Ga-yeong some fried chicken and a present. Gi-hun loses the money and is reduced to getting Ga-yeong tteokboki and a lighter gun from a mechanical claw game. Ga-yeong took it in pretty good grace.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: A variation - Gi-hun and Eun-ji, for all their issues, do try their best to keep those issues from affecting Ga-yeong.
- Daddy's Girl: She adores her father and frequently expresses concern for his well-being.
- Morality Pet: Gi-hun really does love her and really does want to be a semi-decent dad to her, but his own personal issues keep him from being that.
- Nice Girl: She's a sweet child, and won't say a mean word about her dad at all.
- Taking the Kids: Becomes the initial reason Gi-hun joined the Squid Game. After being informed that Eun-ji plans to take Ga-yeong to America unless he can win custody by showing he can support Ga-yeong, Gi-hun calls the game's organizers' phone number.
Ga-yeong's stepfather
Played by: Jang Jae-kwon
Eun-ji's current husband and Ga-yeong's stepdad.
- Good Stepmother: He is more responsible than Gi-hun is in the parenting department and legitimately concerned about Ga-yeong's well-being. While the Sadistic Choice was harsh, one could interpret it as Cruel to Be Kind for both Gi-hun and Ga-yeong, so that she would be able to make a clean break from her dad and start a new life in the United States.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In a way, as much as Gi-hun loves his daughter, Ga-yeong's stepdad has a point in that Gi-hun's gambling addiction, debts, and overall irresponsible behaviors mean he can't be the father that his daughter needs. Considering what happens after Gi-hun wins the games and how the heads of the games are keeping tabs on him, he might be more right about that.
- No Name Given: He's only ever referred to as Ga-yeong's stepfather and Eun-ji's current husband.
- Sadistic Choice: Offers Gi-hun an envelope of cash to pay for his mother's diabetes treatment, on the condition that Gi-hun ceases all contact with his own daughter. Gi-hun responds by punching him in the face.
