Squid Game: 10 Ways Gi-Hun Ruined His Likability - CBR

The Korean survival drama Squid Game immediately became a Netflix sensation after Season 1, prompting the renewal of the series. A surprising hit in a somewhat oversaturated genre, Squid Game manages to capture the true vileness and emotional depth of a death game in a way other similar works do not. There are several factors that contribute to this success, but much of it relies on the show's relatable characters.

Squid Game's main characters are all regular people with problems viewers can understand. They're heavily in debt and struggle with the consequences of their actions. The protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, is perhaps the best example. He often seems to scrape by solely by luck. While Gi-hun is a compassionate man and displays striking notions of kindness and ethics, he's also made some notable mistakes that ruined his likability. At the same time, however, Gi-hun has also redeemed himself in many ways.

Updated on March 13, 2025, by Ajay Aravind: The second season of Squid Game ensured the continuation of the series' popularity, making it one of the most-watched Netflix programs in history. With Season 3 coming out on June 27, 2025, now's the best time to explore the main character's journey through the story. As such, we have updated this article with more information about Seong Gi-hun's mistakes as well as his attempts to fix them.

How Gi-hun Ruined His Likability in Season 1

Gi-hun Shamelessly Steals from His Poor Mother

Image via Netflix

Squid Game's first scene goes out of its way to establishes its protagonist's flaws immediately. Gi-hun is presented as a callous man who works a dead-end job that's not enough to recover his debts. His mother Oh Mal-soon is the one who reminds him of his daughter Ga-yeong's birthday, and she also gives him money to take her out for her favorite meal.

Once she leaves, Gi-hun finds her credit card, manages to guess the code and essentially steals from his mother. He later spends the money gambling on horse races. While he wins, he ends up getting pickpocketed by Kang Sae-Byeok, which is in a way poetic justice. Oh Mal-soon lives in a rundown apartment and can barely take care of herself without having to deal with his deadweight. Watching Gi-hun take advantage of his poor mother rubbed fans the wrong way.

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Gi-hun Disappoints His Daughter Over and Over Again

Image via Netflix

Left with only pocket change and chased down by creditors, Gi-hun desperately tries to get Ga-yeong a birthday present. His only option is a claw toy grabber, but even in this, he fails. A nearby boy ends up helping him extract a black package from the machine. Thrilled with his achievement, Gi-hun doesn't check the contents. He offers it to Ga-yeong once they meet, only to realize it contains a gun-shaped lighter.

Ga-yeong is very disappointed and doesn't even tell him that her stepfather is about to take her and her mother to the United States. Although Gi-hun's birthday meeting with Ga-yeong ended on a somewhat positive note, it was not the last time they would see each other. When Gi-hun's later attempt to ask his ex-wife for money fails, her new husband offers him some cash in exchange for leaving his family alone. Ga-yeong was watching when her dad attacked her stepfather, leaving her even more upset with Gi-hun.

Gi-hun Cancels His Ailing Mother's Health Insurance

Image via Netflix

Making empty promises using his mother's name isn't the first time Gi-hun treats her with disregard. Upon making his way back home, he finds out that Oh Mal-soon is suffering from serious diabetes. However, Gi-hun's mother refuses to stay in the hospital and leaves. After he confronts her, she despondently reminds him that he had canceled their health insurance. Without that, neither of them could afford to pay for the necessary treatment.

Fans don't really have to guess as to why Gi-hun would do such a thing; even though it's not revealed, the logical assumption is that the lack of insurance gave him more free cash for his gambling. Given Gi-hun's previous habits, however, it's not really surprising that he'd go to such an extent. This scene certainly highlighted his reckless spending, but the eventual realization that his mother had passed away from untreated diabetes made fans dislike him even more.

Gi-hun Sends a Frail Old Man to His Horrible Death

Left with no other options after the vote set the participants free in Season 1, Gi-hun returns to the Squid Game. He manages to scrape by in the Dalgona game. His team wins in Tug-of-War, primarily due to Oh Il-nam's experience and a last-minute strategic maneuver from Cho Sang-Woo. But things go awry in Marbles, as the players are divided into teams of two. In a charming burst of compassion, Gi-hun picks Il-nam, who had been left out because of his age.

It's only then that they find out the game involves them playing each other, with the goal being to claim the other person's bag of marbles. Gi-hun started to lose heavily, but took advantage of Il-nam's apparent dementia to trick him and pretend that didn't happen. In the end, Il-nam confronts him about it and gives him his remaining marble. Gi-hun breaks down crying as his beloved gganbu is led away to be shot. Even if Il-nam was the mastermind behind the Squid Games, Gi-hun thought he was just a helpless old man at the time of the betrayal.

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Gi-hun's Desire to Withdraw from the Game Is Hypocritical

Image via Netflix

In the final stage, Gi-hun and Sang-woo confront each other on the Squid Game field. The fight is brutal, and on more than one occasion, the balance seems to tip in Sang-woo's favor. Gi-hun eventually manages to prevail, defeating his former friend. Even as angry as he is with Sang-woo for Sae-byeok's death, he can't bring himself to deliver the final blow. It's an honorable choice that does him credit, but it renders everything that had happened pointless.

Withdrawing from the game would put Gi-hun in the same position as before. It seems unlikely that the VIPs would respect his decision and allow both him and Sang-woo to leave. Gi-hun's principles are admirable, but by then, it's too late to turn back. He may not think money is everything, but that's a little hypocritical considering his gambling habit and overall problems. In the end, Sang-woo keeps viewers from finding out the consequences of Gi-hun's decision by taking his own life.

How Gi-hun Redeemed Himself in Season 2

Gi-hun Fulfills His Promises to Sae-byeok & Sang-woo

Image via Netflix

Gi-hun makes good on his deathbed promises to both Kang Sae-byeok and Cho Sang-woo. He finds Sae-byeok's younger brother Cheol in an orphanage, where he seemingly adopts the boy without telling him what happened to his sister. Gi-hun then takes Cheol to Sang-woo's mother and asks her to take care of him. As one of the best Squid Game characters despite her minimal role, Sang-woo's mother nobly accepts the responsibility of caring for a child at her age.

Gi-hun also leaves her with a suitcase full of money, thereby fulfilling both his promises simultaneously. Sang-woo's mother, who would have been left destitute as the result of her son's financial problems, now has more than enough money to raise dozens of children. In Season 2, Gi-hun ensures that Kang Cheol will be reunited with his North Korean mother. Although Sang-woo's mother might be losing her foster grandson, Gi-hun did the best he could to keep them alive and thriving.

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Gi-hun Agrees to Join Forces with Hwang Jun-ho

Image via Netflix

Gi-hun isn't the only person who wants to go back to the Squid Games. Fan-favorite police officer, Hwang Jun-ho, is also desperate to solve the mystery of his brother being the heartless Front Man. As Gi-hun and Jun-ho had already interacted in Season 1, it was only a matter of time before these two notable Squid Game characters were brought together in Season 2. Interestingly, Jun-ho's leads take him straight to the Pink Motel, where he has an initial showdown with Gi-hun.

Jun-hoo soon realized that teaming up with Gi-hun, the only known survivor aside from his brother, was the best possible way to expose the elite network funding the death games. Since nobody at his precinct ever listened to his ostensibly rambling tales, Jun-ho also agreed to hiring a team of mercenaries to help locate the island where the Squid Games were being held. Unfortunately, the removal of Gi-hun's dental tracking device left him without any contact with Jun-ho for the rest of the season.

Gi-hun Saves Numerous Lives in His Second Playthrough

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Gi-hun's ultimate goal is to end the Squid Games forever, but that doesn't mean he's willing to let any more players die in Season 2. The first game turns out to be Red Light, Green Light, prompting him to warn them about following the rules as exactly as possible or lose their lives. Most of the players either ignore him or actively counter his declarations, with Player 66 openly claiming that Gi-hun wanted the prize all to himself.

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The players did follow Gi-hun's instructions, though, which saved their lives during the first seven turns. Unfortunately, one player's mistake caused dozens more to die in the ensuing ruckus. Gi-hun struggled to save a lagging player, only for him to be taken out with a bullet. While he had no idea about any game other than Red Light, Green Light, Gi-hun kept his eyes open throughout and continued to save more lives with his bravery.

Gi-hun Risks His Life to Stop the Squid Games

Accepting the golden invite from the Front Man was the most dangerous thing Gi-hun could have done in Season 2. Surviving the previous Squid Game against extremely low odds, not to mention a stack of money that made him a multimillionaire in US dollars, was not enough to satiate Gi-hun's desire for justice. At the same time, Player 44 Seon-nyeo perceptively recognized that he was fueled by revenge, so Gi-hun clearly had multiple forces battling it out in his mind.

And yet, he risked his life, the ability to see his daughter, and enough money to become a renowned philanthropist so he could personally put an end to the endless massacre of poor people. He could have been killed by the Front Man at any point, either before or after he entered the 2024 Squid Game, but it was a combination of luck and perseverance that kept Gi-hun going.

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Gi-hun Bravely Revolts Against the Organizers

Image via Netflix

When he willingly returned to the Squid Games in Season 2, Gi-hun was originally planning to lead Jun-ho and the mercenaries to the mysterious island. Losing the tracker meant that he was on his own, and Gi-hun adapted quickly. He may not have been actually considering an open rebellion until the penultimate episode, where he realized that the player riot was to begin soon. Taking advantage of the situation by pretending to be dead, Gi-hun and his crew successfully took control of the living area.

Using the guards' guns, Gi-hun, Jung-bae, Hyun-ju, and several others mount an armed resistance against the organizers. They shoot their way through the building, killing many guards until their ammunition finally runs out. Gi-hun goes ahead with Jung-bae, hoping to find the Front Man directly. As it turned out, Player 001 had faked his death and managed to quell the brief rebellion. That being said, Gi-hun's attempt was certainly heroic and worthy of redemption.

Squid Game

Like Follow Followed TV-MA Action & Adventure Mystery Drama Thriller Release Date 2021 - 2025 Network Netflix Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk Directors Hwang Dong-hyuk Writers Hwang Dong-hyuk

Cast

See All

• Lee Jung-jae Seong Gi-hun / 'No. 456'
• Wi Ha-jun Detective Hwang Jun-ho

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes: a survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.

Creator(s) Hwang Dong-hyuk Seasons 3 Streaming Service(s) Netflix Powered by

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