10 Most Soul-Destroying Moments In Squid Game
3. Ji-yeong's death
Ji-yeong/Player 240 was introduced as a seemingly quirky counterpart to Sae-byeok's more world-weary persona. Fortunately, her quirks were not overplayed and she still remained a fairly grounded character, especially in comparison to the boisterous Han Mi-nyeo.
It was quickly revealed that despite her eccentric persona, Ji-yeong was far nobler, and more tragic than expected. The duo chose to get to know each other before playing the fatal Gganbu and it became clear that Ji-yeong was friendlier and empathic than was originally let on.
Her brief but impactful character exploration revealed that she killed her abusive father in self-defense and upon release, had no purpose in life. As a result, she intentionally lost the game in order to give Sae-byeok a fighting chance in the game as well as a chance to be reunited with her family.
This, combined with her genuine friendliness to Sae-byeok and subsequent self-sacrifice, made for an unexpected but still painful death to see.