Warning: This article includes MAJOR SPOILERS for Squid Game season 3!
After building up the mystery across the series,Squid Gameseason 3 finally reveals the true reason why In-ho became the Front Man, and the truth speaks to the painful reality of trauma. One of themost interesting new characters inSquid Gameseason 2is In-ho, the man behind the Front Man’s mask. He joins the games alongside Gi-hun the second time around. Prior to this, the audience had learned about him through Jun-ho, his brother, who had been searching for him years after In-ho left to compete in the games.
Despite In-ho appearing throughout Squid Game season 2, the show doesn’t take steps to answer the most pressing question about the character: how he became the Front Man. Luckily, the audience learns the truth about what caused the formerSquid Game championto become the Front Man thanks to season 3’s flashbacks.
Squid Game Season 3’s In-ho Flashbacks Revealed How He Won The Games
In-ho Won The 28th Squid Game In A Less Than Honorable Way
After Squid Game seasons 2 and 3, In-ho is perhaps the most interesting and morally complex character of the show. Although he behaves in a calculated and cold way, he also seems to have a moral code and a small ounce of humanity in Squid Game season 2. This is especially noticeable when it comes to his protection of Jun-hee. As such, the question arises as to how he won the 28th Squid Game. Empathy would undoubtedly make winning Squid Game unbearably hard. Luckily, In-ho winning makes much more sense after seeing the flashback in Squid Game season 3.
22
3
Budget
US $21.4 million in season 1 and ₩100 billion in seasons 2 & 3
Streaming On
Netflix
His strong moral code and humanity seem to have been an act. Rather than taking the prize money fair and square, In-ho won without playing the final game. Instead,In-ho took the cowardly route and cheated. In the Squid Game season 3, episode 5 flashback, Oh Il-nam speaks to him while wearing the VIP mask. He offers In-ho a knife to cut the throats of all his competitors, so that he can win the billions of Won without having to actually play the last game. In-ho agrees to this proposition, the first step towards him becoming the Front Man.
In-ho Became The Worst Version Of Himself By The End Of The Games
In-ho’s agreement to kill the other players with the knife chips away at his last ounce of compassion. It could be argued, though, that he was desperate to take care of his wife, a choice rooted in love. However, the final knife to the chest for his humanity is the literal knife he puts in the chest of his competitors. The suggestion was simply to slit the throats of the competitors, but In-ho takes this a step further. When he’s killing one player,the camera pans out to show that the competitors’ bodies are brutally stabbed and slashed.
He seems to be in a frenzied state based on the speed with which he stabs the other player and his body language. Although it’s not explicitly explained why he went to such great lengths instead of just slitting their throats, we can infer from context clues that the trauma of the games made him snap. This makes the parallels and differences between In-ho and Gi-hun even more interesting because they both had relatively similar motives and went through relatively analogous experiences during the games, but with different outcomes.
Based on the above-and-beyond way that he killed his competitors, he wouldn’t have any qualms giving the orders for the pink guards to shoot competitors with machine guns.
Gi-hun and In-ho both had a loved one with medical expenses that they couldn’t cover. They both made it to the very end, watching the people around them die. However, In-ho succumbed to the system that traumatized him,losing humanity and becoming the embodiment of the phrase “hurt people hurt people.”Meanwhile, Gi-hun held onto his humanity, even if he haddarker moments in Squid Game season 3. He put his life on the line to fight back against the games, proving that not everyone who experiences horrific trauma puts others through the same thing.
In-ho Ruthlessly Killing The Other Contestants Showed Il-nam That He Was Special
Il-Nam Knew In-ho Could Handle The Demands Of Being The Front Man
Although the audience sees how In-ho wins his round of Squid Game, he’s not shown taking on the helm of the Front Man. The question naturally comes up why Il-nam made In-ho the new Front Man instead of picking a winner from a different year. I believe the answer lies in the ruthlessness with which In-ho kills the other players. The fact that the same proposition is offered in both the 28th and 27th Squid Game suggests that the most promising competitors are given that exact offer before the final game.
In-ho probably isn’t the first person to say yes to murdering the other players with a knife so they could have all the money. However,he goes above and beyond when it comes to the killings, unintentionally proving to Il-nam that he would be a valuable member of the Squid Game team. Based on the above-and-beyond way that he killed his competitors, he wouldn’t have any qualms giving the orders for the pink guards to shoot competitors with machine guns.
Il-nam Did To In-ho What In-ho Tried To Do To Gi-hun In Squid Game Season 3
Sae-byeok Saved Gi-hun From Becoming Like The Front Man
As explained, Gi-hun managed to hold onto his humanity during Squid Game seasons 2 and 3, but it wasn’t easy. His choice to kill Dae-ho might have been practical, since he needed to proceed to the next game, but it was also a very personal act of vengeance. It foreshadowed the possibility of Gi-hun going past the point of no return when it came to his humanity.
Then, at theend of Squid Game season 3,In-ho gives Gi-hun the same offer that he received.Seeing how he was with Dae-ho, In-ho might have hoped that the games had pulverized the humanity out of him. As an audience member, I even questioned whether he would transcend into the darkness. He hoped that Gi-hun would make the same decision, turning him cold towards human life.
Luckily, when he needs it the most,Gi-hun sees Sae-byeok. She tells him not to kill Sang-woo in cold blood in Squid Game season 1 because that’s not who he is as a person. This memory or hallucination (it’s unclear which) reminds him of who he was before the games hardened him. It’s the wake-up call that he needs. Had he killed his competitors, it might have turned him into someone who could take over as the Front Man in future years ofSquid Game. However, Sae-byeok’s last act in the story, long after her death, is to save Gi-hun.
