Mister, don't do it. That isn't you. You're a good person at heart.
Kang Sae-byeok to Seong Gi-hun in "Front Man" and a flashback in "⭘△☐"
Kang Sae-byeok (강새벽 Gang Sae-byeog?), also known as Player 067, was a contestant of the 33rd Squid Game, as well as one of the finalists of the competition.
Sae-byeok was a North Korean defector, and fled the country with her parents and younger brother, leading to her father's death and her mother getting caught. She originally worked with gangster Jang Deok-su, but decided to go independent, creating animosity between them. Sae-byeok agreed to enter the Squid Game to compete for the prize money to pay a broker and bring her mother to South Korea and get her brother out of the shelter. After surviving the first round, she is among the minority of players who vote to continue the 33rd Squid Game despite the risk of death, and she later voluntarily returns when the Squid Game resumes. She finds herself 067x101 by Deok-su, and joins an alliance with Seong Gi-hun, Cho Sang-woo, Ali Abdul, 9zhguug in part to gain protection from him.
Sae-byeok displays her cunningness throughout the 33rd Squid Game, at one point sneaking into a bathroom air duct to spy on the 33rd Squid Game organizers and obtain information about upcoming competitions. She eventually befriends Ji-yeong, who sacrifices herself during a game of Marbles to allow Sae-byeok to advance to the next round along with the others who had survived. Her and Ji-yeong's short encounter leads to a deep bond to form between the two of them. Sae-byeok also becomes friends with Gi-hun and they both help each other through the 33rd Squid Game. Sae-byeok is one of the last three survivors of the 33rd Squid Game, along with Gi-hun and Sang-woo, though she suffers a serious injury when she is stabbed in the abdomen by a large glass shard during an explosion of glass in the fifth game.
Sae-byeok dies after Sang-woo stabs her in the neck while Gi-hun was at the door, begging for emergency help because she was losing a lot of blood from being stabbed by a glass shard after the fifth game. She placed 3rd overall, becoming the highest female finisher of the 33rd Squid Games.
Personality
Kang Sae-byeok is very stoic and usually barely expresses emotions. She is shown to be very determined during the Squid Game, in the end becoming a finalist. She mainly kept to herself in the first three games, acting as a lone wolf, and was initially very wary of trusting people, for example after being dropped off on the mainland after the players voted to leave, she initially didn't trust that Gi-hun wouldn't hassle her for the money she pickpocketed. She is also level-headed and can stay calm in dire situations.
Sae-byeok displays her cunning nature throughout the 33rd Squid Game, at one point sneaking into a bathroom air duct to spy on the 33rd Squid Game organizers and obtain information about upcoming competitions.[2] She eventually befriends Ji-yeong, leading to a deep bond forming between the two of them.[3] When Ji-yeong sacrifices herself in Marbles so Sae-byeok could advance to the next round, Sae-byeok is shown crying. She also warmed up to Gi-hun, telling him the right tile to go on in Glass Stepping Stones.
Sae-byeok is one of the last three survivors of the 33rd Squid Game, along with Gi-hun and Sang-woo, though she suffers a serious injury when she is stabbed in the abdomen by a large glass shard during an explosion of glass in the fifth game.[4][5] During her final moments, she trusts him for his promise to take care of her little brother before she dies.
History
For a comprehensive history, see Kang Sae-byeok/History.
Backstory
Sae-byeok with her brother Kang Cheol
Kang Sae-byeok was born in North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. She is the middle child of three children. When she was young, her older brother and grandparents died from a plague. She and her family defected from North Korea but only she and her younger brother Kang Cheol were successful; her father was killed during the attempted escape, and her mother was captured in China and was sent back to North Korea. Her brother stayed in a shelter, while Sae-byeok worked as a pickpocket and attempted to save enough money to buy a home for her brother and bring her mother to South Korea.[6]
Sae-byeok originally worked with a gangster named Jang Deok-su, but decided to "go independent", creating animosity between them. She agreed to enter the Squid Game to compete for the prize money to pay a broker and bring her mother to South Korea and get her brother out of the shelter.
2020
Sae-byeok encountered The Recruiter who played a game of Ddakji with her, later giving her an invitation to the 33rd Squid Game. Prior to entering the game, Sae-byeok accidentally bumps into Seong Gi-hun as he is running from loan sharks, unaware of Sae-byeok walking in front of him. Gi-hun stops to help her, only to later realize she had robbed him of his newfound money. Sae-byeok accepted the offer to join the game is driven to the games arena and wakes up in a room with 455 other people. Gi-hun (Player 456) recognizes Sae-byeok (Player 067) as the pickpocket who stole his money. She is being attacked by Jang Deok-su (Player 101) a vicious gangster, until Gi-hun steps in to stop the fight.
The guards enter the room and welcome the players, explaining that they will play six games over six days, and that whoever wins all six games will win a lot of money. Some players express disbelief of the games, to which the guard says that they know the players are in large debts and that they need the money the games offer them to have a better life. They lead all the players through multiple staircases to the room for the first game, Red Light, Green Light. The game starts off in a room resembling a field with trees with a large doll and a finish line. At the starting line, a voice announces the rules of the game: they can move when the doll sings "무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다 (the hibiscus flower is blooming)" but must stop when it finishes singing. Moving when it's not singing or not making it to the end in five minutes will result in being eliminated.
Once the game begins, players 324 and 250 run quickly, determined to win first. Player 324 accidentally moves when the doll is quiet, causing him to be eliminated as a bang is heard when he falls to the floor. Player 250 checks on him and sees 324 dying and coughing up blood, making 250 run away and get shot as well. When his blood lands on Player 306's face, she screams in horror and is then killed for moving. This leads to a bunch of players trying to run away in panic as they see what "elimination" truly means, with only some surviving due to them staying in place. Eventually, everyone is either still or dead, with the voice once again reminding of the rules of the game.
The game resumes, but every player is too afraid to move forward, with the exception of Oh Il-nam, Player 001, who is enjoying himself despite the carnage. Eventually, other players start to follow his lead, with those who are careless getting eliminated. Sae-byeok creeps up behind Deok-su and threatens to kill him in revenge by pushing him to make the doll catch him. He begs for mercy as she taunts him, but she pulls him to the ground while the doll is looking the other way and overtakes him. Eventually, some players reach the finish line, including Sae-byeok, Deok-su, Sang-woo, Il-nam, Gi-hun and Ali Abdul.
Sae-byeok voting to continue the game
After the first game, all the surviving contestants are brought back to the dormitory. The guards enter and congratulate the players for winning the first game, stating that 255 players were eliminated. At this, several players beg to be let go from the games, promising that they will pay off their debts. A guard clarifies that the point of the games is not to punish the players for their debts, but to give them a second chance.
After being reminded that players who refuse to participate will be killed, Sang-woo invokes the third clause of the consent form that says the game can be ended if the majority vote to leave. The guards agree to the voting but show the cash prize first, with a gigantic transparent piggy bank being lowered from the ceiling that begins to be filled up with stacks of cash totaling ₩25 billion. They reveal that each contestant is worth ₩100 million and that the total prize pot will be ₩45.6 billion. The guards further explain that the players can make a choice between leaving or staying and set up a voting machine with two buttons - a circle to continue and an X to leave. If they leave, they don't get any of the prize money. Sae-byeok votes to continue the games, as do many others including Sang-woo. The vote remains neck-and-neck all throughout, as some players want to end the games, but others are desperate to win the prize money. A fight nearly breaks out as the contestants who want to leave get angry with those who want to continue, necessitating intervention from the guards. The counterargument to leaving is that their lives outside of the game aren't going to improve; at least in the games, they have a chance to get the money. It's Player 001, the old man with the brain tumor, who gets to cast the deciding vote and break the 100–100 tie. He selects to quit the game.
With that, everyone is dropped off back on the mainland, with the promise that if a majority of people want to continue the games after a few days, the games will be restarted. Sae-byeok is dumped with Gi-hun, the man who had his money stolen by her. Sae-byeok visits her little brother Cheol, who is staying in a children's home as she can't afford a bigger place for them both to stay in. Cheol complains to his sister that the other children pick on him and tells her that she abandoned him at the orphanage. Sae-byeok consoles her brother, promising him that she will get him out of the orphanage and rescue their mother out of North Korea. She visits the broker she hired, only to find out the deed has absconded with her money. Ultimately, almost everyone decides to return to the games, waiting on the street at midnight to be picked up by the cars.
As the workers now wheel the players and change their clothes, Sae-byeok, who was pretending to be unconscious, secretly steals a knife from one of the workers. The players then wake up in the familiar facility. During bedtime, Player 212 (Han Mi-nyeo) and Sae-byeok go to the bathroom. Sae-byeok goes to the vents to sneak in and finds workers cooking something while Mi-nyeo makes a deal with her to distract the soldier outside. The next day, Sae-byeok tells Mi-nyeo and Sang-woo that the workers were melting sugar. The players are taken to the next game, which will happen inside a room which resembles a playground. In the room, there are four doors with a shape each: a circle, a star, a triangle, and an umbrella. Each player must choose a shape and stand in a line in front of the corresponding door. Sae-byeok follows Sang-woo's choice and they both get a triangle candy. Then, the announcer says the next game is Sugar Honeycombs. Both Sae-byeok and Sang-woo pass, along with Gi-hun, Ali and Il-nam.
Thirty minutes before the Special Game, Sae-byeok is approached by Gi-hun, offering that she can come to him for safety, although she rejects the offer. After the start of the Special Game, Sae-byeok gets choked by one of the members of Deok-su's team, Player 040. Deok-su goes after Sae-byeok, trying to grab her. She manages to stab him in the leg. He then pushes her back towards the row of beds, nearly breaking her arm. He attempts to choke Sae-byeok, before she kicks him in the groin. She climbs over the bed and is cornered by Deok-su before being pushed over by Player 331. Deok-su manages to stab him repeatedly in the arm. Sae-byeok finds Gi-hun and runs to him, now accepting the offer to join his team. Deok-su appears behind Sae-byeok, and Gi-hun pushes her out of the way to grab Deok-su. Sae-byeok kicks Deok-su, before getting a bottle cracked on her head by Player 303. Sae-byeok, Gi-hun, Sang-woo and Ali manage to protect themselves from Deok-su's team, surviving the game. Player 001, on top of a high bunk bed, screams that he is scared and pleads for the riot to stop. The Front Man notices this and tells the staff to end game.
Later that morning, the players are dividing into teams of 10 for the next game. Sang-woo tells Gi-hun that they need more men for the game, and they look for 5 more players to join their team. Ali meets with Player 276, and they join as a team as they realize their similarities as foreigners. Sang-woo then convinces Player 196 to join his team. Gi-hun asks Player 244, a pastor, if he can join his team, and 244 agrees. Sae-byeok, looking for another member, finds Ji-yeong by herself, so she asks 240 to join her team. The team is short of a member, with Mi-nyeo complaining that their team is weak and that they'll end up with people who got kicked out. Mi-nyeo hears this, and walks into the circle, joining the team, saying that she's better than Sae-byeok and 240 because they're wimpy. The timer then runs out, and the game starts.
The teams get led outside to another room. A guard reveals that they will play Tug of War, explaining the rules of the game. The guard then draws lots, deciding which teams will play in the game. Team 4 (Gi-hun's team) and Team 5 then get chosen for the second round. Player 001 notices his teammates are scared and gets to motivating them, explaining that Tug of War is more than just raw strength - it takes good teamwork and strategic thinking, but his ideas are dismissed by Player 244 and Player 196 due to his old age. Gi-hun tells them to just listen to what the old man has to say. Il-nam explains his method - at the front, a good leader is important, as the rest of the team relies on the leader to be confident in themselves; with an unreliable leader, they don't have as much a hold. In the back, a strong and dependable teammate is placed as an anchor. Meanwhile, the rest of the players should be on opposite ends of the rope per player, both feet should face straight forward, and the rope should be held in their armpits so players can balance and put in all of their strength. Finally, they must hold their ground and lean back for 10 seconds. If done right, this will tire out the opposing team. The two teams get ready as the guards chain them to the rope; Gi-hun is chosen as the leader, while Ali acts as the anchor.
When the round starts, Team 4 holds their ground and Team 5 is unable to make much progress. Sure enough, Team 5's leader slips, and Team 4 immediately starts pulling the rope back. However, right as Team 5 is about to fall off their platform, they pull themselves together at the last second and gain the upper hand. As Team 4 is on the edge of falling, Sang-woo saves the team by thinking of a last-second strategy. As they were being dragged and were on the verge of falling to death, he told his team to take three steps forward to knock down their adversaries, allowing him and his teammates to win the game.
Sae-byeok keeping watch with Gi-hun
The 40 remaining contestants must survive the night, even though no one particularly trusts anyone. Later, while eating dinner, Sang-woo recalls the previous night's riot and advises his team to be prepared in case it occurs again. While his team decides what to do, Sae-byeok informs them that she witnessed a player die in front of her during the disturbance, his neck being snapped by an ally. She inquiries about the team's trust in her and informs them that she does not trust any of them. Sae-byeok is seen assisting Ji-yeong as their group moves sections of their beds after Gi-hun urges them to set up a barricade. While on guard duty alongside Il-nam, Gi-hun appears to be ill. Gi-hun is offered a bottle of water by Sae-byeok, who has just awoken. Gi-hun tells Il-nam that Sae-byeok can go back to sleep, but she reminds him that they planned to keep guard in pairs. Gi-hun expresses gratitude for the bottle of water and promises to repay her the following day.
The surviving players proceed to the next game and have to pick a partner. As the players walk through the staircase room, they notice the bodies of Byeong-gi and his co-conspirators strung up. The Front Man then says over the intercom that the game was created with equality in mind and reiterates that there is no tolerance for cheating in the games. Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong decide to pair up for the game. They are then introduced to the fourth game, Marbles. To win the game, the players have to try to steal all of their opponent's marbles without violence while playing a sub-game with them. The person who ends up with no marbles is killed off and eliminated. They have a time limit of 30 minutes. If no one wins by then, both players will be eliminated. Their opponent in the game is who they chose to be their partner. This comes as a shock to everyone as they had partnered up with someone they trust, not knowing what the game really was.
Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong start talking. Neither of them wants to participate in the game, so they spend the next 30 minutes talking to each other. They start revealing their pasts to each other, with Sae-byeok telling Ji-yeong that a plague in her home village in North Korea had killed her grandfather, grandmother, and older brother. Sae-byeok explains that her family decided to escape to South Korea, seeking a better life, but only she and her younger brother crossed the border successfully, as her father was shot and drowned attempting to cross and her mother was caught and deported back. Ji-yeong reveals that she and her mother were abused by her father, who was a pastor and would pray for forgiveness every time he abused them. One day, after coming home from school, she found her father had murdered her mother, and Ji-yeong killed him out of retribution. She had received the Squid Game card the same day she was released from prison. Ji-yeong asks Sae-byeok what she would do if she won, to which Sae-byeok replies she'd get her mother out of North Korea, buy a nice house for herself and her family to live in, and maybe go on a vacation to Jeju Island. Ji-yeong chides her for having such a basic vacation in mind, telling her to aim for something more extravagant and promises to take her out on a girls' night out shopping before somberly remembering their situation.
Ji-yeong being killed by a Soldier as Sae-byeok looks away in tears
As the game's timer starts running out, Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong play the game. They decide that whoever throws the marble closest to the wall near them, wins. Sae-byeok throws her marble and it lands reasonably close to the wall, but to her immense shock, Ji-yeong simply drops her marble, allowing her to win. When Sae-byeok angrily confronts her, Ji-yeong explains that ever since they started opening up to each other, she realized that she had nothing left to fight for in the outside world, while Sae-byeok still had a reason to live, and tearfully requests for Sae-byeok to live her life to the fullest if she is ever able to leave alive. As Sae-byeok is led away, Ji-yeong calls out to her one last time, and emotionally expresses her gratitude towards Sae-byeok for playing the game with her before getting shot dead, while Sae-byeok cannot bring herself to look at her friend in her last moments, only being able to listen in anguish and devastation.
File:Sae-byeok is hit by exploding glass.webpIn Glass Stepping Stones, Sae-byeok, Gi-hun and Sang-woo safely make it across the bridge just as the timer runs out, and the remaining glass panels are shattered, sending sharp glass shards among the three remaining players. She is then impaled by a large shard of glass from when the bridge exploded. While changing into her finalist uniform, she painfully removes the glass shard from her abdomen and quickly tears off her shirt to wrap it around the wound to prevent further bleeding.
The finalists are given a nice steak dinner in the lobby as a prize for having come this far. Gi-hun and Sang-woo tear into their meals, eyeing each other down, while a clearly weakened Sae-byeok barely touches her food. After the meal, workers clean the table and leave the players' steak knives. The players keep the knives and go to their beds.
Fate
I think I wanna go. I'd like to go home now.
Sae-byeok's last words to Seong Gi-hun
Sae-byeok's final conversation with Gi-hun
Back in the dorms, the finalists rest on their beds. Gi-hun goes over to Sae-byeok, who readies her knife but Gi-hun assures her that he's not going to harm her and hides his knife in his jacket. They talk about what will they do after winning the money and their families and promise each other that they will take care of them should one die. Gi-hun notices Sang-woo falling asleep and takes out his knife, but Sae-byeok stops him, telling him that he is not a killer. Gi-hun then hears Sae-byeok slump over in her bed, and uncovers her wound, which is bleeding profusely. Sae-byeok deliriously asks to go home. Gi-hun quickly runs to the door and begs for help.
The doors finally open and the lights turn on but instead of help, the Workers walk past Gi-hun, carrying a coffin. Gi-hun turns around and sees Sang-woo covered in blood near Sae-byeok's bed. Gi-hun runs over to a lifeless Sae-byeok and cradles her in his arms, before discovering a stab wound in her neck. Realizing that Sang-woo had killed her with the knife in his hand, he furiously grabs his own knife to attack Sang-woo but both are quickly brought down by Soldiers. As the other Soldiers slowly carry Sae-byeok's corpse into her coffin, Gi-hun wails in agony. Sae-byeok placed 3rd overall, becoming the highest female finisher of the 33rd Squid Games. She was later cremated.
Legacy
Sae-byeok's corpse being placed into a coffin by two guards.
During the titular Squid Game, Sang-woo claimed he killed Sae-byeok as she was already in a lot of pain, and wanted to end her suffering. However, Gi-hun dismissed this, saying that she could've been saved. Sang-woo then admitted that he killed Sae-byeok because he thought Gi-hun would've ended the game just to save her. After winning the 33rd Squid Game, Gi-hun kept the promise he made to Sae-byeok to look after her family by putting Kang Cheol in the care of Sang-woo's mother and giving the two of them some of his winnings.
In "Bread and Lottery", a dream sequence scene shows Gi-hun looking over four cameras watching some parts of his local area, only to be met by Front Man repeatedly ringing his doorbell. As Gi-hun grabs his gun and slowly approaches his door, a card slips under his door, potentially inviting him for the next Squid Game. As Gi-hun opens his door, he is greeted by the Front Man, who shows the heads of Sang-woo and Sae-byeok, asking if Gi-hun was "looking for these?" Gi-hun then repeatedly fires his gun at the Front Man in fear and retaliation until he wakes up from the nightmare.
In "⭘△☐", Gi-hun prepares to follow the Front Man's advice and kill the other remaining adult players in their sleep so that he and Kim Jun-hee's baby (who has taken her deceased mother's place as Player 222) can leave safely as dual winners of the 37th Squid Game. Before Gi-hun begins to do this, he experiences a vision of Sae-byeok telling him that he is not a murderer. This convinces him to spare the players and let the next game happen.
Kill count
| Character | Information | Image/GIF |
|---|---|---|
| "A Fair World" Tug of War | ||
| Team 5 | Pulled off the Tug of War Platform by Team 4 to their deaths, losing the game. | 
|
Trivia
- Her name, Sae-byeok (새벽) means "dawn" in Korean. A track also named "Dawn" plays when Gi-hun finds out that she has been eliminated.
- Since her actress is 5'9.3, Sae-byeok is one of the show's tallest female actors.
- She was the only female character, apart from Sang-woo's mother, who appears in all 3 seasons.
- The other characters that appeared in all 3 seasons were Seong Gi-hun, Hwang In-ho, Hwang Jun-ho, Park Man-cheol, Kang Cheol, and Park Jung-bae
- Kang Sae-byeok is similar to her Season 2 counterpart, both injured a main antagonist, both were killed by a O member and both were killed in the dormitory.
- Sae-byeok has a scar on the side of her neck, by which Gi-hun recognizes her as the pickpocket who'd thieved his bet money.
- Some think that she's related to Kang No-eul, having the same surname and birth location. And “Sae-byeok” and “No-eul” in Korean mean “Sun rise” and “Sun set” respectively. Yet, there's no direct evidence to prove that.
- She is the last player to die in the dormitory, being the 30th player who dies in the dormitory, after Player 069, the 27 killed in the Special Game and Player 271.
- She was the only Finalist in the 33rd Squid Game to die with her jacket on.
Behind the scenes
Kang Sae-byeok was portrayed by Jung Ho-yeon. In the English dub of squid game, Sae-byeok was voiced by Vivian Lu.
After the show's airing, HoYeon Jung said she was really crying during the scene where Ji-yeong died in "Gganbu".
Appearances
- Season One
- "Red Light, Green Light"
- "Hell"
- "The Man with the Umbrella"
- "Stick to the Team"
- "A Fair World"
- "Gganbu"
- "VIPS"
- "Front Man"
- "One Lucky Day" (photo)
- Season Two
- "Bread and Lottery" (nightmare vision)
- "Halloween Party" (photo)
- Season Three
- "⭘△☐" (vision)
Quotes
Don't join him. This guy's a damn dumbass. He liked to pick all of his little minions' pockets just so he could fill up his own. He got bold enough one day to go after his head honcho's pockets, but now he's in here. 'Cause he was stupid and got caught. You know what people in my hometown would call you, huh? A damn revolutionary asshole.
Sae-byeok insulting Deok-su in front of his gang in "The Man with the Umbrella"
Ji-yeong: What do you want?
Sae-byeok: Join us.Sae-byeok recruiting Ji-yeong in Tug of War
Sae-byeok: Hey, Gi-hun. I think you and I should make a deal.
Gi-hun: What kind of deal?
Sae-byeok: Just in case either of us… can actually make it out of this hellhole somehow, we'll look after each other's loved ones, okay?
Gi-hun: Don't say that. Come on. We'll beat Sang-woo, and then, we'll get out of here together.
Sae-byeok: I still want you to swear, though. [quiet sob] I need you to swear that you'll look after him.Sae-byeok to Gi-hun in "Front Man"
Don't do it. That isn't you. You're a good person at heart.
Sae-byeok dissuading Gi-hun from trying to kill Im Jeong-dae and Cho Sang-woo
Gallery
.png "Kang Sae-byeok(Error).png (981 KB)")
Promotional
_-_Outfit_-_Fortnite.webp "Glass Bridge Survivor (Featured) - Outfit - Fortnite.webp (61 KB)")
Behind the scenes
Videos
