The masked host's welcome: six games, every debt read aloud
The staff explain the masks, read out Sang-woo's investment losses and other players' debts, and offer one last chance to leave their old lives.
Cho Sang-woo
Every Squid Game moment featuring Cho Sang-woo, in story order. Played by Park Hae-soo.
35 moments · 58 min
Gi-hun finds Sang-woo among the players
Gi-hun spots his neighbourhood's SNU prodigy in a tracksuit and demands to know why the business trip abroad ended in a debt dossier.
Sang-woo coaches Gi-hun: hide behind someone and keep moving
Frozen on the field, Gi-hun is told not to look back; the doll senses movement, so he must advance in another player's shadow.
Players beg to go home and Sang-woo cites consent form clause 3
Survivors plead to leave after the massacre; the masked host calls it a game, and one player finds the clause that forces a vote.
Sang-woo gives Ali bus money
Sang-woo stops Ali outside the convenience store and hands him money for the ride to Ansan, asking only that he stop calling him sir.
Sang-woo admits he lost six billion won
On the bridge, Gi-hun learns the SNU genius owes six billion, bet on futures, and put his mother's house and shop up as collateral.
Sang-woo's mother learns he has an arrest warrant
Proudly bragging about her SNU son on business in America, Sang-woo's mother is told by police he is wanted for fraud and embezzlement.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lights-out countdown and the dormitory riot
The lights go out on a countdown and the dorm erupts in a brawl. Gi-hun and Sang-woo fight back to back, then realise Il-nam is missing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Han Mi-nyeo joins the team and tries to run it
Mi-nyeo suggests ditching the foreigner, asks who the captain is, explodes at being called grandma, and insists she left Deok-su's gang by choice.
Planning the night: attack first or build a barricade
With lights-out coming, the pastor argues for striking a weak team first, Sae-byeok says she trusts no one, and the team settles on a barricade.
Ali and Sang-woo share a drink and their reasons
Ali offers the milk he saved from supper, Sang-woo tells him to drop the 'mister', and Ali talks about his wife, baby and family back in Pakistan.
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.
Sang-woo begs Ali: I can't die this way
Down to his last marbles, Sang-woo pleads with Ali, reminding him of the bus fare and tug-of-war, and promises a way for both of them to live.
Sang-woo takes Ali's pouch for safekeeping
Sang-woo lays out a plan to scout the other teams and persuades Ali to hand over his marble pouch so it does not get stolen.
Sang-woo hands in twenty marbles, no harm done
Sang-woo presents both sets of marbles to a guard and notes that the rules forbid violence, which he was careful to avoid.
Gi-hun confronts Sang-woo over the push on the bridge
Back in the dorm, Gi-hun demands to know why Sang-woo shoved the glassmaker; Sang-woo says he will do whatever it takes to win.
Gi-hun offers Sae-byeok an alliance against Sang-woo
Knife in hand, Gi-hun wakes Sae-byeok to say he means no harm, notices she is hiding pain, and proposes they team up to beat Sang-woo.
Sae-byeok stops Gi-hun's knife, then he finds her wound
As Gi-hun stands over sleeping Sang-woo, Sae-byeok tells him that is not who he is; he returns to find her bleeding and asking to go home.
Gi-hun screams for a doctor as Sae-byeok dies
Gi-hun pounds on the doors begging the guards for help; when he turns back, Sae-byeok is gone.
The final game is Squid Game: coin flip and rules
Gi-hun and Sang-woo flip for offense and defense, then hear the rules of the last game, including what happens if a player cannot continue.
Sang-woo justifies killing Sae-byeok
Sang-woo claims he ended her suffering; Gi-hun sees through it and vows Sang-woo will not leave with the money.
Gi-hun and Sang-woo fight on the Red Light, Green Light field
A brutal, muddy brawl between two childhood friends on the ground where it all began, as Gi-hun realises who killed everyone.
Gi-hun gives up at the edge of victory
Standing over a beaten Sang-woo, Gi-hun refuses to finish him and invokes Clause Three to end the game, stunning the watchers.
Sang-woo's goodbye: let's go together
Gi-hun remembers their mothers calling them home for supper; Sang-woo apologises and asks him to look after his mother.