Gi-hun meets Player 001, the old man counting heads
In the dormitory an old man counts the 456 players to keep dementia away, and quietly tells Gi-hun about the tumor growing in his head.
Seong Gi-hun & Oh Il-nam
The old man and the gambler: gganbu. 31 scenes together, in story order.
31 moments · 53 min · by Favseen
Moments 1–30 of 31
- 01
- 02
The Front Man starts the game: Red Light, Green Light
A giant doll looms over the field as the rules of a playground game are announced; Gi-hun laughs it off and bets a million won on the outcome.
- 03
Gi-hun and the old man share ramyeon: out here, the torture is worse
Player 456 bumps into Player 1 at a convenience store; over soju the old man says he would rather go back and play than wait to die.
- 04
Il-nam wakes Gi-hun: Player 456 came back
The old man shakes Gi-hun awake in the dorm, admits he came back because of him, and the two count how many desperate faces have returned.
- 05
Gi-hun's squad forms with army ranks
Sang-woo and Ali rejoin Gi-hun, Ali thanks him for the bus fare, and the group recruits Il-nam as the old major of their training-camp team.
- 06
Lunchbox memories and a list of childhood games
Over cold lunch boxes Gi-hun and Il-nam reminisce about briquette stoves, then rattle off every old kids' game Ali has never heard of.
- 07
Chocolate milk and Sang-woo's untouched breakfast
Il-nam asks for chocolate milk and guesses Gi-hun was spanked as a boy; across the table Sang-woo hands Ali his meal and Gi-hun follows suit.
- 08
Sang-woo's advice: don't keep your eggs in one basket
With no idea what the game is, Sang-woo argues the team should split across the shapes; Ali and Gi-hun vouch for the SNU prodigy.
- 09
Gi-hun chooses the umbrella
Ali takes the circle he calls Dayira, Gi-hun picks the umbrella for a childhood memory, and Sang-woo stops short of saying what he wanted to.
- 10
Sang-woo thanks Gi-hun as the team regroups after Dalgona
Sang-woo admits Gi-hun got him through the honeycomb round, Ali and Il-nam rejoin, and the announcer tallies 79 dead and a 34.8 billion won pot.
- 11
Gi-hun defends Sae-byeok and Il-nam's cry stops the riot
Gi-hun faces down Deok-su to protect his teammate, then Il-nam climbs up and screams that everyone will die, and the masked soldiers finally intervene.
- 12
The team trades names and Il-nam cannot remember his
Gi-hun, Ali, Sang-woo and Sae-byeok introduce themselves properly; when the old man is asked, he stalls and Gi-hun covers for him.
- 13
Teams of ten: Sang-woo guesses the game and argues for strong men
The third game is announced as a team game and Gi-hun's group debates which playground game it could be and who to recruit in ten minutes.
- 14
Ji-yeong joins Sae-byeok and Mi-nyeo barges onto the weak team
Sae-byeok brings a girl instead of a man, the count stops at nine, and the rejected Mi-nyeo invites herself in as the tenth with a boast.
- 15
Il-nam teaches the team how to win Tug-of-War
Facing an all-male team, the old man lays out his childhood method: a strong leader, alternating sides, rope under the armpits, lean back ten seconds.
- 16
Three steps forward: Sang-woo's gamble on the rope
The team holds for ten seconds, starts losing anyway, and Sang-woo orders everyone to step towards the edge on a count of three.
- 17
Gi-hun's three-steps trick wins the tug of war
Cold open: losing badly, Gi-hun orders the team to step forward on his signal, the rope goes slack and the other side topples.
- 18
The team relives the win: Matrix moves and who said no
Giddy survivors replay the lean-back and the three-steps call, compare it to a bullet-dodging movie, and tease the one who cried about the edge.
- 19
Gi-hun tells Il-nam about the car-factory strike
Behind the barricade Gi-hun remembers being fired after a decade at the plant, the strike, keeping watch in pairs, and the man who died.
- 20
Sae-byeok: it wasn't for free, pay me back tomorrow
Gi-hun settles the feverish Il-nam, then thanks Sae-byeok for helping; she refuses to make it a gift.
- 21
Sang-woo picks Ali over Gi-hun; Gi-hun gives Il-nam his jacket
Sang-woo quietly chooses Ali as his partner, leaving Gi-hun to step aside and look after the old man instead.
- 22
The odd one out: Gi-hun takes Il-nam, Mi-nyeo is left alone
With an uneven number of players, Gi-hun pairs with the old man; Mi-nyeo screams her credentials, exposes Deok-su's doctor deal, and is dragged off partnerless.
- 23
Il-nam teaches Gi-hun what gganbu means
Holding their bags of marbles, Il-nam explains that a gganbu is the friend you share everything with, and the two seal it with a handshake.
- 24
Gi-hun tries to get Il-nam declared out, then begs him to play
Gi-hun tells a guard the old man has dementia, then explodes that they will both be killed, until Il-nam quietly agrees as long as he stops yelling.
- 25
Which one did you say? Gi-hun exploits Il-nam's memory
After a losing guess, Gi-hun asks the old man to repeat what he said, and Il-nam uncertainly concedes the round.
- 26
Il-nam finds his old house, then asks if tricking a friend makes sense
Il-nam wanders into memories of his wife and son, agrees to bet everything on one last round, and then quietly tells Gi-hun he knows what he has been doing.
- 27
Gganbu share everything: Il-nam gives Gi-hun his last marble
Il-nam hands over the marble, reminds Gi-hun of their gganbu promise, thanks him for a good game, and remembers his own name as the round ends.
- 28
Il-nam is alive and proposes one last bet
Gi-hun finds Oh Il-nam living in a high tower; the old man wagers on whether anyone will help a drunk freezing in the street before midnight.
- 29
Il-nam confesses: the name, the tumor, the house were real
Il-nam reveals he made his fortune lending money, insists parts of his story were true, and tells Gi-hun the prize is his to spend.
- 30
Why the game exists: the rich were bored
Il-nam explains that too much money and none at all are equally joyless, and that his clients built the game for fun; nobody was forced to play.