The show begins with our protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, who earned a whopping 45. 6 billion won, i. e.
$31 million, prize in the last season of Squid Game. At this moment, he’s about to leave Korea for the US to reunite with his daughter. But then, at the subway station, he spots the salesman of the squid game, trying to lure another innocent person.
This hits Gi-hun like a ton of bricks, especially when the salesman also notices him. Surprisingly, he decides to abandon his flight at the last minute. He soon receives a call from the salesman, who warns him that he’ll regret not boarding the plane.
But a determined Gi-hun vows to track him down, no matter what it takes. Gi- Hun is confused about how the game's organizers continue to learn everything about him and follow him around. Following this, Gi-hun boards a cab, and proceeds to a public bathroom.
He searches for any tracker devices in his body, and eventually feels something in his ear, and cuts it open. Gi-hun is stunned when he discovers a microchip, and quickly flushes it down the drain. In another scene, a detective named Jun-Ho gradually regains consciousness in a hospital room.
We learn that he had previously sneaked into to the Squid Game island to find his missing brother. However, Jun-Ho was beyond shocked when his brother revealed himself as the frontman of the game and ultimately shot him. As Jun-Ho finally opens his eyes, he notices his mother screaming with joy.
The scene then shifts to two years later, where Jun-Ho is working as a traffic cop. Shortly after, Jun-Ho and his boss go to eat, and Boss asks him to return to the crime division. Jun-Ho responds by trying to explain about the deadly game taking place on the island, but the boss refuses to believe him and demands proof.
He also inquires about the man who shot him, but Jun-Ho denies remembering anything, since it was his own brother. Later that night, Gi-hun wakes up from a nightmare and hears a buzz in his rented motel. He looks outside and notices his previous creditor, Mr Kim.
It turns out Gi-hun has now hired him to find the salesman who recruits people for the deadly Squid game. Here, Mr Kim reveals that they have been monitoring the subway stations for the past two years, but haven’t seen anyone recruiting or acting suspiciously. This disappoints Gi-hun, but he’s still confident the salesman will show up someday.
He then hands Mr Kim a large sum of money, and instructs him to hire as many men as possible for this mission. The next day, Mr Kim and his right-hand man, Woo-Seok, gather a group of random men for the job. Woo-seok instructs them to look for a man in a suit who plays a game called Ddakji with strangers, and hands them an invitation card.
Mr Kim then orders them to search every train station and airport in the city. He also offers a big fat bonus of 500 million Won, i. e.
$340k to anyone who succeeds. Upon hearing this, all the men get excited, and immediately scatter across the city, searching for the salesman. But even after days of looking around, the team is unable to find anything useful, leaving them frustrated.
One evening, we see Mr Kim and Woo-Seok at a train station, exhausted and wondering if it's all worth it. Woo-seok thinks there may be no salesman at all, because they have been looking for him for two years with no success. However, Mr Kim insists that Gi-hun may be crazy, but he won’t spend billions searching for the man who doesn’t exist.
And then all of a sudden, they are distracted by a noise in the distance, which shockingly turns out to be the same salesman they've been desperately looking for. The man is playing Ddakji with a poor-looking guy, after which he hands over the invitation card. Mr Kim immediately calls Gi-hun to inform him about this, and Gi-hun is thrilled to hear the news, and orders them to follow the guy until he can get there.
The salesman then goes to a bakery, buys a lot of bread rolls. He also gets 100 lottery cards, while the duo continues to follow him. After that, he heads to a park and approaches a homeless man sleeping on the ground.
The salesman tells him that his life seems hopeless with no future, and offers the homeless man a bread roll and a lottery card, saying he can only choose one. After careful consideration, the man picks up the card, and scratches it, but ends up losing. He then watches with great regret as the salesman walks away, carrying all the food.
Next, the salesman goes to several other homeless people, and repeats the process. The majority of people choose the lottery card, but none of them win. In the end, the salesman stands in the middle of the park, and throws all the food into the ground.
A hungry man questions why he did this, but the salesman responds that he gave them a choice, and they made the wrong one. He then aggressively begins stomping on all the food, while everyone around him watches in shock. In another scene, Gi-hun is driving to the park in a hurry when he is stopped by traffic police for speeding.
The officer turns out to be Jun-ho, but he lets his partner handle the situation. Meanwhile, the salesman gets into a taxi, and the duo continues to follow him while updating Gi-Hun. During this, Gi-hun hurriedly accepts his fine and leaves without saying a word.
The traffic officer then tells Jun-ho about it, and when he looks at his ID, he is filled with shock. Meanwhile, Mr Kim and Woo-Seok finally corner the salesman in an isolated alleyway, and try to attack him. But he easily overpowers them, and knocks them both out.
Jun-ho, on the other hand, enters Gi-hun's name into the database. Upon seeing his picture, he immediately recognizes him, as they have met before. He then writes down the vehicle’s address and decides to go find him.
Elsewhere, Gi-hun finally arrives at the alleyway, but can't find his men anywhere. He repeatedly calls Mr Kim, but even it goes unanswered. He eventually comes across a sharp knife, and some blood stains, which freaks him out.
In another scene, we see Mr Kim and Woo-Seok in a room, gagged and tied to chairs. The salesman then announces that the two are going to play a game of ‘rock-paper-scissors, minus one,’ which is a modified version of the game. The rules are that each player has to pick 2 options with both their hands, and take one away at the last second.
It will be followed by the notorious "Russian Roulette. " The salesman loads a single bullet into the six-shot revolver and gives it a spin. He explains that whoever loses the rock-paper-scissors game will have to face the trigger.
There's a one in six chance that they'll end up shooting themselves, and it's a matter of pure luck. Following this, the duo is forced to play rock-paper-scissors. However, neither is shot, even after several rounds.
The annoyed salesman then loads 4 more bullets into the gun, and now their odds of death are 5 in 6. In the final round, Woo-seok accidentally pulls out just rock, while Mr Kim pulls out both scissors and paper. All he has to do now is choose paper to win, but he selflessly retains both his hands, earning him a disqualification.
The amused salesman then shoots him in the head, finally ending the game. In the next scene, Gi-hun returns to his motel, where he shockingly finds the salesman waiting for him. The latter once again says he should’ve gotten on that plane.
But a determined Gi-hun asserts that he wants to meet with the organizers of the game who recruited him. He claims that he wants to thank them, as they gave him a lot of money, which changed his life. The salesman states that he is the messenger, and promises to pass along the message.
However, Gi-hun claims that he’s just a dog who only follows his master's orders. These words enrage the salesman, and he proposes to play the game of Russian Roulette with Gi-hun. He also raises the stakes by choosing not to spin the cylinder each time they pull the trigger.
This ensures that the single bullet will be fired by round six, and one of them will surely die. Gi-hun, who has a point to prove, agrees without hesitation, and the game begins. However, even after four rounds pass, neither of them is shot, increasing the tension.
In the fifth round, it is Gi-Hun’s turn to face the trigger. It is a 50-50, and the salesman mentions that he has something in his pocket that will lead to his superiors. But he also warns Gi-hun that if he goes that route, he will always be perceived as a loser and a lowlife.
Regardless, Gi-hun decides to take the risk and fires the shot, but is miraculously saved. Now, it’s the last attempt, meaning the salesman is going to die. Gi-hun then points out that they are in the same situation, and the salesman can either follow the rules, or shoot Gi-hun to death.
He also begins taunting the man, and once again calls him a dog who is nothing without his master. Upon hearing this, the enraged salesman shoots himself, and dies with dignity. Meanwhile, we see Jun-ho outside the building; he has come to keep an eye on Gi-hun.
He hears the gunshot, and immediately heads inside the motel. Moments later, he hears whimpering from one of the rooms, and when he breaks in, he finds a tied-up Woo-seok. Jun-ho releases his ties, and inquires about Gi-hun's location.
On the other hand, Gi-hun scans the dead man’s pocket and finds an envelope there, but Jun-ho also arrives and is shocked by the sight. He then states that Gi-hun is under arrest for murder, right when Woo-Seok knocks the cop out with a fire extinguisher. After this, Woo-Seok reveals that he is Mr Kim’s right-hand man, who has been helping him track the salesman for two years.
He then breaks down in tears, as he reveals how his boss was brutally killed. Meanwhile, Gi-hun checks the card he found, which has the words “CLUB HDH,” and a time, – October 31st at midnight. Elsewhere, we see a woman named Kang Noeul sleeping in her car when she’s woken up by someone.
A traffic officer states that she can’t sleep in her vehicle like this, so the woman apologizes and says that she works at the amusement park and has the morning shift. Regardless, the cop gives her a final warning not to do it again. Back at the motel, Gi-hun has tied Jun-ho up in the bathroom, and clarifies that he didn’t kill the salesman, and the two discuss where they have met before.
It turns out that they met once on the island, and once at Gi-hun’s home when Jun-ho was looking for his brother. The cop explains that he still hasn’t found him, but leaves out the fact that his brother is actually the frontman of the Squid Game. Meanwhile, Gi-hun also shares that he wants to stop the game once and for all, and is trying to find its organizers.
Jun-ho offers to help, as he has seen one of the VIPs' faces on the island. He suggests they should team up to fulfill their respective missions. Next, Gi-hun takes the two men to a room where billions of wons are stashed in cash.
He states that they are going to use all this money to fight against the people behind the games. After that, he takes them to another room, where he has gathered all kinds of expensive weapons and firearms, and it has a secret room inside. Gi-hun tells Jun-ho that he can come and practice whenever he wants, but he needs to quit his police job if he wants to be part of their mission.
The scene then cuts to an amusement park where we see Noeul, who is wearing a pink bunny costume and entertaining kids. Later, all the workers go to the dressing room and take off their mascot heads. But a little girl suddenly shows up; she gives Noeul a picture she drew of a pink bunny.
However, when the little girl notices a worker swearing while not wearing a mask, she gets scared and begins crying. After her dad takes her away, Noeul learns from a coworker that the girl is actually suffering from leukemia. Later, Noeul visits a smuggler's office, and we learn that she fled North Korea some time ago.
She had abandoned her daughter there, and is now desperately looking for her. She then offers all her savings to the smuggler, but he states that the girl is likely dead since she was just one year old when her mother left. Later that night, Noeul is sitting in her car, drinking and looking at her family's photo.
All of a sudden, someone knocks on her window, and hands her an invitation card for the Squid Game. The next morning, Noeul continues her work at the amusement park and entertains the kids. But at the end of the day, she abruptly hands in her resignation letter.
Later, as Noeul exits the park, she notices the girl with leukemia being loaded in an ambulance. The unconscious girl drops her strawberry hat, which Noeul picks up. The scene then cuts to the motel, where a dentist is seen removing one of Gi-hun's teeth.
He then replaces it with a prosthetic one that has a GPS tracker, so Gi-hun's friends can find him. Meanwhile, Noeul arrives at the hospital, and overhears a conversation between the doctor and the girl's father. It turns out the girl urgently needs a bone marrow transplant, but it is not covered by insurance and is too expensive.
Noeul then approaches the sleeping girl, and holds her hand for a while. She returns the strawberry hat before quietly leaving. Meanwhile, Jun-ho has hired a special forces team with extensive combat experience who are training at Gi-Hun’s place.
They decide to go to Club HDH, but Gi-hun asks Jun-ho to stay outside, since the game organizers have already seen his face on the island. Gi-hun and Woo-Seok decide to enter the club while their team stays outside. Later on, we see Noeul calling the number that is written on her invitation card for the Squid game.
After confirming her details, they give her a location, and ask her to be there on October 31st at midnight. The scene then cuts to Club HDH, where a Halloween party is in full swing. The duo cautiously enters, and Woo-Seok even puts on a mask to blend in.
Meanwhile, Jun-ho, who is outside, notices two men dressed in pink jumpsuits and is immediately alarmed. He decides to follow them to the club and also informs his friends about it. Inside, Gi-hun is approached by a guard dressed in pink, who leads him somewhere.
Woo-Seok tries to go after him, but another guard steps in and tases him. By the time Jun-ho arrives, Gi-hun is already gone, and all he finds is an unconscious Woo-seok. Later, Jun-ho notices that Gi-hun just got into a white limo, so he immediately asks his team to tail the vehicle.
Inside the white limo, Gi-hun finds no one, but hears the frontman speaking to him through a golden piggy bank speaker. The frontman asks why he has been looking for him, and Gi-hun reveals that he wants to end the game once and for all. However, the frontman argues that all the players joined willingly, and no one forced them.
He also calls those people trash, who had nothing good going on in their lives. In the meantime, the team tailing the limo soon realizes that they are just driving in circles. Just then, a sniper stationed on top of a building blows out their tires.
Even worse, Jun-ho’s car is also damaged by an explosive. Gi-hun overhears all of this through his earpiece and shoots at the privacy screen in the front. He demands the frontman stop the limo, but the latter doesn’t seem to care.
With no other option, a desperate Gi-hun claims that he wants to participate in the game again. This confuses the frontman, and he points out that Gi-hun was just talking about stopping the game earlier. However, Gi-hun argues that it would impress their VIP clients, as last year’s winner returning to compete would be highly entertaining.
This prompts the frontman to give it a thought, and he ultimately agrees. Moments later, gas begins to fill the back of the limo, which slowly knocks Gi-hun unconscious. The privacy screen in the front is then lowered, revealing that the frontman had been in the limo the entire time.
Jun-ho, who has been listening to everything, informs his team that Plan B is now in effect. Elsewhere, Noeul arrives at the specified location, and notices trucks parked there. She enters one of the trucks, and steps into one of the cabins As the episode concludes, it is revealed that Noeul is not a contestant in the game, but rather a brutal security guard dressed in a pink jumpsuit.
So what do you think guys? Is Gi-hun going to succeed given that he has already played the Squid Game and knows all the rules? Is he going to save the participants?
Let's find out in our next recap!
