Squid Game: Every Character Ranked From Human Garbage To Definitely Deserves 45 Billion Won

3. Ji-yeong (Player 240)

A quiet young girl brought into the fold for the Tug of War Game, Ji-yeong and her motives remain a complete enigma until the pivotal Marbles Game later in the series.

A seeming kindred spirit to the equally closed off Kang Sae-byeok, when the two are partnered for Marbles there is only a flicker of surprise when it is revealed that only one of them will be walking out of the arena alive.

Unlike the other pairs scrambling for a way to take their partner’s marbles, the reserved young women decide instead to talk for most of the allotted time, before gambling it all in the last minute. During their conversation, we discover more about Sae-byeok’s backstory, as well as Ji-yeong’s tragic upbringing at the hands of an abusive father, whose murder she was later imprisoned for.

Unlike the feral survival instincts of her fellow competitors, Ji-yeong approaches the game with a resigned apathy. In the final minute, Ji-yeong deliberately loses to Sae-byeok, knowing that she herself has nothing to live for on the outside, and breaking the hearts of everyone already bawling their eyes out at the screen.

Amongst the all the 455 deaths in the arena, this moment of genuine sacrifice is one that none of us saw coming.