[K-Drama] 7even questions left in Squid Game!

Let's answer

The 7 questions left in season 1 while waiting for season 2 of the squid game!

pic = netflix

The second season of the squid game will come out soon! Before that, let's analyze the meanings left questions in season 1

### Q1 ###

What is the subject of the squid game?

"Does money guarantee the future?"

Money is hope and future for participants who do not have money and cannot live the present properly. However, money was no longer the future for Ki-hoon, who took the money, the future that 455 wanted. 

As a result, he had to sacrifice the lives of others, and he could not protect his beloved mother with the money he wanted to protect her. However, after playing the final game against Il-nam, he realized that there was still hope in the world, and that there were things he had to protect with money, and after believing that the squid game was completely over with Il-nam's death, he started using it for its original purpose. 

"Is fun the greatest value in living in the world?"

Il-nam was a person who had enough money to spend and die, but he died after all-in for "fun". In Il-nam's belief, there is no compassion and love for humans. However, during the squid game, Ki-hoon found compassion as a value greater than money and wanted to break that belief. So he called Ki-hoon to his death. 

I think it's a fake that Ki-hoon won the last game between Ki-hoon and Il-nam. For Il-nam, it must have bothered him that Ki-hoon wasn't using the prize money. In his opinion, Ki-hoon really wins only when he tastes sweet money. So he made the last game and made Ki-hoon win and spend the prize money. 

I think it's a bait for viewers to notice that the color of the man's hair who helped the homeless is set to bright. Maybe it's someone from Il-nam. By making Ki-hoon spend the prize money, Il-nam wanted to be the real winner.

### Q2 ###

What is the true meaning of number 456?

456 people will participate in the squid game, and Ki-hoon's number is 456. The prize money is '45.6 billion won' by multiplying the number of participants by 100 million won. Ki-hoon won '4.56 million won' at the racetrack before participating in the squid game. Why is it 456? 

When you line up the numbers from 1 to 9, the number in the middle is 4, 5, and 6. Before the stepping bridge game, the first numbers the participants chose were 4, 5, and 6, which are the middle numbers.

We feel stable when we are in the middle of an unpredictable and unstable situation. 1 is too fast and 9 is too late, so it would be safe to be in the middle. It's the most normal and safe number, but in squid games, it's an uneasy and scary number.

### Q3 ###

What kind of person is Oh Il-nam?

A bit of a positive side

In fact, squid games were designed to satisfy Il-nam and VIPs' fun. When other participants are terrified throughout the game, they laugh, chat, and watch the game. The game consisted of games that he enjoyed and his son enjoyed playing marbles, and the Mugunghwa Flower. As soon as the game starts, running as if you were waiting seems to be actually enjoying the game.

pic = netflix

Nevertheless, he was very thorough about the fairness of the game, and he never used his power to make himself advantageous, and even pressed the X button to remain neutral when voting to stop the game after the first game. There is also a theory that Il-nam did not die after playing marbles because he formed a "kanbu" with Ki-hoon. In the past, there were some neighborhoods where they recognized kkanbu as a team, so both kkanbu had to be eliminated. However, this is only a consequential interpretation. Or if other participants believed in themselves and competed to do the same thing as them in marbles or pair themselves, they could have saved them even if they were eliminated.

There is an interpretation that Il-nam is the embodiment of victory. Given that he was a person who used to roll money, it can be assumed that he succeeded in investing every time and accumulated wealth, and he had never lost to Ki-hoon in a sipping game. If no one chose him because he was an old man, he would have won the marbles game by default with "Kkakdugi".

pic = Squid game & kkakdugi

<The meaning of kkakdugi will be posted on the next blog>

Il-nam participated in the event because, as shown in the last episode, he is now unable to enjoy himself. He was not satisfied just by watching the game, and his life was short due to a brain tumor. Even if he was prepared for the risk, he was well worth participating in.

Therefore, he sincerely appreciates Ki-hoon, who continued to lead him and let him enjoy the game, hands Ki-hoon the marble in the marbles game, and retires.

However, when Ki-hoon, who won the squid game, stays a dead man without using prize money, people have nothing to trust to change his mind. Therefore, he applies until the last game to teach Ki-hoon a lesson, "Don't feel guilty," but he eventually loses. It is not known whether it was Il-nam's intention, but with this opportunity, Ki-hoon is reborn and transformed into a completely different person with the sound of a Christmas bell.

A bit of a negative side

In a different interpretation from the above interpretation, it is interpreted that Il-nam was not the embodiment of victory, but a thorough "Psychopath" who only seeks to enjoy himself.

He said he played the game fairly without doing it in his favor, but there is a possibility that he has prepared his own safety measures in other games, just as the frontman stopped the struggle at Il-nam's cry in thinning out.

In the case of the first Mugunghwa Flower, it is possible that the sensor was operated in advance without recognizing Il-nam. Of course, there is a risk of being caught up in shooting at other nearby participants...

In Sugar Honeycomb, even if Il-nam's "Dalgona" breaks and fails, it may have disguised death or combed a gun. Or even if his "Dalgona" breaks, there is a possibility that the host will just let it pass without knowing.

In the case of thinning, in fact, there was no one to kill him. There was no reason for him to find and kill a half-aged old man, and rather, there would have been widespread perception that he would die if he was left alone. In fact, the safest person in thinning may have been ironically the weakest Il-nam. In addition, Il-nam went up to the top of the bed first and was in the safest position, and if someone came to kill Il-nam, he just stopped playing and the agent stopped playing.

pic = netflix

In the case of the third tug-of-war, he may have locked the handcuffs in case his team loses, but did not. In fact, Il-nam's wrist does not show a lock after the game. If they had been defeated, it would have been no problem if the agent had taken them out of sight, saying that they had not accidentally locked the lock, and notified the participants that they had killed themselves.

In other words, Il-nam did not risk his life to play the game, but just to watch the dying person in the nearest place.

Furthermore, there is an interpretation that Il-nam's last game is not a homeless man on the side of the road, but a game played on the humanity of Ki-hoon. In a game where homeless people on the street will freeze to death or someone will help him, if Ki-hoon really thinks human life is important, he can go down and help him right away. It's actually unnatural to stand by and watch homeless man freeze to death for such a bet. Even in death games, Ki-hoon, who used to knock on the door and yell that people were dying here, felt strange and natural to run out and save him, and Il-nam also hinted, "That homeless man is about to freeze to death, what would you do?" but he didn't hear anything.

In other words, for Il-nam, the grand prize of the last game was Ki-hoon. As if proving that "you are no different from me," it is interpreted that Ki-hoon was a game to decide whether to help that homeless person or not. Il-nam, who was interested in the humanity of Ki-hoon during his work and continued to test him, once again became interested in Ki-hoon, who did not use any prize money because of guilt, and tried his humanity again. In the end, if he had previously confirmed that he was putting down his humanity for his own life as a word of the game, this time he had confirmed the bottom of Ki-hoon, who was watching the game with human lives at stake. In the end, from Il-nam's point of view, Il-nam, who found another fun of Ki-hoon in the squid game, won all games over his humanity and closed his eyes. It is interpreted that Ki-hoon's hair dyed red, which symbolizes the squid game character, symbolizes that he eventually assimilated with them.

However, Ki-hoon bet that someone would definitely help in the game, and Il-nam was the opposite. In other words, Ki-hoon still believes in people and maintains his humanity, and it is difficult to say that just by responding to Il-nam's game without going to save him in person, the bottom of Ki-hoon's humanity has been revealed. Ki-hoon thinks that I still trusted and waited because there were people who had humanity like me, and because I believed that someone would surely save someone because I believed in people. Proving this, at the same time as Il-nam's death, he said, "Did you see that?" You've lost." It's evident in the line.

Of course, it has never been clearly implied in the play that safety devices have been provided in other games above, so it is difficult to say that either side is necessarily the right interpretation. Depending on the perspective and imagination, it could be the embodiment of a game that taught Ki-hoon a lesson, or it could be a psychopath who played with Ki-hoon perfectly.

There is a possibility that Il-nam is not actually dead. There is a scene where Il-nam asks Ki-hoon for water in a water bottle, and Il-nam continues to emphasize the clock and drinks water. Assuming that water is a drug that makes it seem temporarily dead, you can accurately calculate the time the drug works and drink a fixed amount so that you can close your eyes at exactly 12 o'clock and pretend to be dead enough. The vital sign is a part that can be operated so that it turns off at exactly 12 o' Continuing to emphasize the clock throughout the hospital scene is not just a game for homeless man, but also for Il-nam's pretense of death. If Il-nam did not die as this assumption, it could emerge as a black screen against the discipline of destroying the squid game itself in season 2.

Il-nam's intention to Ki Hoon

Of course, Il-nam was not interested in Sung Ki-hoon from the beginning. Considering that Sung Ki-hoon did not stop him from choosing an umbrella in the lottery, and that Sung Ki-hoon was only one of the 456 participants, Il-nam had no reason to show particular interest in Sung Ki-hoon.

However, Il-nam gradually begins to show interest in Ki-hoon as he sees Ki-hoon covering his pants with clothes and nursing him with a bottle of water while lying in bed and suffering. This appears to suggest forming a "kkanbu" with Ki-hoon in the marbles game. Even if Il-nam decides to return to the host after losing the marbles game, there is no reason to "kkanbu" with Ki-hoon, who is only one of the participants. Nevertheless, Il-nam seems to have felt a strange feeling when he saw Ki-hoon choosing himself as a marbles' mate instead of a math teacher. As Ki-hoon is accepted as a true prankster, not just a kind human being, he hands over the beads and hugs them, even tells them his real name.

### Q4 ###

What does the frontman want?

The frontman appears as a cold-blooded man who brutally kills his men, but later shows the opposite, such as closing his eyes on host Il-nam's deathbed or advising Ki -hoon to fly to the United States.

In particular, he exposes his face in front of Jun-ho and Ki-hoon, contrary to shooting him right away, saying that his subordinate took off his mask. This contradictory attitude shows that the frontman is no different from Ki-hoon, who attended and won the squid game. If Season 2 comes out, it is expected to overlap with Ki-hoon and how he will feel.

In the middle of the play, he realized through a police officer's ID card from the worker's body, and of course he knew his brother's face, so he knew that the body was not Jun-ho's and that he was still infiltrating inside. This is why the VIP hospitality staff realized with a silhouette that Jun-ho dressed up, looked closely and instructed his subordinates to figure out the situation later, or ordered him to find the intruder as soon as he heard the radio that the VIP collapsed.

When chasing Jun-ho, he instructed his subordinates not to kill him and tried to persuade him with a gun as collateral, exposed his face, which is an absolute taboo for his brother who will continue to risk his life, and fell off the cliff at a close distance. In the end, it is not unreasonable for Jun-ho to live and reunite with the organizers of the Season 2 squid game.

In addition, it is argued that the frontman is Darth Vader's homage.

### Q5 ###

Is Ki-hoon's red hair an homage to the Matrix?

At the end, Ki-hoon dye his hair red. Some analysts say this is related to the red medicine of the movie "The Matrix." Ki-hoon is recommended to choose between red and blue scabs when playing the game at the subway station. This part reminds me of the protagonist Neo choosing between red and blue drugs in the matrix. In addition, the hat Ki-hoon was wearing at the time of the slap-match was blue. In addition to Ki-hoon, all participants used blue scabs in the scene of the participants' scabbing.

pic = netflix

The host wore red scabs and masks, so it feels as if red is a symbol of the position where red stands superiority because the host wore dark pink clothes close to red. In the matrix, when you take red medicine, you have the same perspective as the dominant machines. They say that it symbolically shows that Ki-hoon has become on par with the progressive side by having red hair. Even the movie Matrix is directly mentioned in the conversation between the beautiful woman and Ali.

However, director Hwang Dong-hyuk said about the reason why Ki-hoon dyed his hair red, "I thought I would never do it when I thought about what Ki-hoon would have thought sitting in a hair salon," adding, "The craziest thing Ki-hoon could do in that situation was to dye his hair red." I thought there was a kind of anger in it." Also, the red and blue scabs are a classic horror story, "Do you want red tissue or blue tissue?" It is said to have been derived from ". On the other hand, it is said that he once thought that the recruitment plan to recommend a slap match was a trusted person who went through a progress agent. In fact, if you keep the sequel in mind at all, you can't reveal all the double tracks, so the above analysis may be true, or it may be an interesting coincidence as the director said.

Separately, there is no need to interpret the work only as the creator intended. The work is reinterpreted as much as possible through the discourse of many critics and readers. The Matrix is a work that has produced numerous homage and motifs, and is a meaningful interpretation of readers and critics, if not intended, in that the grounds are consistent and clear.

### Q6 ###

Is the squid game really under fair and equal conditions?

The colorful and fairy tale-like stage where the game is played and the bright-tone costumes of the hosts mean a seemingly colorful world. On the other hand, the rigid game management method and the eliminated person treatment method mean inhumane and harsh competition in society. In addition, it provides fair opportunities for all participants, but in reality, the passing and elimination are almost determined by the choices or conflicts made by the participants before the main game. This shows a society that seems to maintain law, order, and fairness, but is actually determined by luck.

The organizers repeatedly emphasize that equality and fairness are the main values and provide opportunities for participants. However, in fact, the game's composition does not provide equal and fair opportunities, but "forced" fair and equal play to participants for games enjoyed by VIPs. It is not necessary for equality and fairness for participants, but for VIPs to enjoy betting with confidence. It can be seen as a question of whether the emphasis on equality and fairness, which is a hot topic in Korea and other countries, is really for the small and weak, or can glass ceilings of various classes be broken?

After the second game, they stopped immediately when they cried out for each other, the fifth Hopscotch game actually killed the first few latecomers, and in the fifth game, they turned off the lights immediately without breaking any rules. It can be seen that the number of people who can win the competition in society is eventually limited.

Games seem fair because everyone plays the same game from a simple perspective, but they are not at all. Participants' use of wit is full of accidental factors and intentional factors as the host does not inform them. The host did not announce at all the opposite of conventional wisdom in the first game and the additional game, so it intended instinctive fear and those who were accidentally pushed to death by others. Since then, it has promoted competition itself, not fairness, by informing the game as if the game was played with simple technology, but after the third game, it openly isolates the physically weak such as women and the elderly, encourages murder directly, and encourages humanity to collapse. In addition, a clear upper relationship was nailed among masks, revealing a false process.

### Q7 ###

What is the meaning behind the squid game?

VIPs watching games for fun on the screen or beyond the walls symbolize that there is also a class somewhere in the world that can make even the fierceness of modern society laugh. Although it is a cold and desperate modern society, it means that there is a difference in class that allows spectators to watch across the river without having to worry about living in such hell.

The direct confrontation between Sung Ki-hoon and Il-nam is revealed in the final hospital scene of episode 9, which is a confrontation about human existence or belief in the natural good of humans. The elderly Il-nam, who has experienced a dark world and is about to die, is close to a nihilist and pessimist, and Ki-hoon, who has not lost hope despite living a hard life, denies Il-nam. As a result, the last winner of this confrontation was a gift from the fact that the homeless were saved. However, if Ilnam had closed his eyes without seeing the homeless saved, he could have considered himself victorious from his own point of view. Nevertheless, Ki-hoon won the last game, so the frontman did not threaten Ki-hoon or try to appease his team under the pretext of defeat.

Another interpretation is that Ki-hoon is portrayed as a social maladjusted person in the first episode, but he constantly feels pain and cares for others, and eventually shows that a poor but affectionate citizen becomes the final winner rather than someone with extreme coolness and competitiveness. For example, even on the worst day of his life, when he was robbed by pickpockets, humiliated as a birthday present by his daughter, and beaten by gangsters, he appeared to distribute the fish he bought on his way home to a poor-looking street cats. His personality continues to be shown through his reaction to mean matches and unjustly dead participants.

pic = netflix

There is also a Christian interpretation. During the squid game in the last episode, Ki-hoon's palm and face are damaged, and it rains during the squid game. When Ki-hoon returns to society, he is also told by a Protestant fanatic in the rain, "Trust Jesus." In Christianity, water means purification, grace, baptism, etc. Ki-hoon, who had an incomplete scar on one hand, was baptized in the rain and recovered his humanity lost during the game. A year later, he will win the final game against Ilnam, affirming humanity and humanism. Ki-hoon is an incomplete savior and has succeeded in saving himself. At the end, it is said that this work is a story of a weak human being reborn as a Messiah through the opportunity because he received a phone call from a frontman and showed a true savior to affirm and save others. Sang-woo's mother holds a mackerel in her hand whenever she meets Ki-hoon. In addition, there were three critical figures against dogmatism, including Jesus Heaven's distrust of Jesus and Jesus Christ. Because of this, the Protestant community viewed the squid game negatively, but it can be seen as ironic considering that Christmas is the date when Sung Ki-hoon won the match against Oh Il-nam and shouted human hymns.

All the main characters are sent back to society due to the suspension of the game, and still, they participate again after a bigger negative factor in their miserable life, and some analysts say that what happened in the process of re-participation is a double track for each death. Ali took advantage of the fact that his boss, who pushed him, stole the envelope and ran away, but Sang-woo was tricked into taking the same pocket of beads, and Deok-su jumped from the bridge to the river to escape from the Philippine gang, and at dawn he threatened the scammer with a knife. Sang-woo tried to commit suicide by lighting briquettes in the bathtub, but he also ends by stabbing himself in the neck in the rain. And Ki-hoon broke his promise to dawn for his mother and returned home at the end of the story, but her mother was dead. In other words, he ended up with a series of images that happened before he re-entered. This symbolizes nihilism and cynicism toward the unethical squid game, but at the same time, it can also be seen as a fundamental return to the inevitable limits of the weak individual or to his natural fate. In the end, everyone died and the appearance of death was strangely similar to before, so the destination series sometimes comes to mind.

All organizers, who require extreme security, wear masks, but ironically, there are moments when all kinds of masks, from VIPs, hosts, waiters, and frontmen, are taken off more than once. The production is related to the frequent portrayal of the organizers of the squid game compared to other survival games.