What's that old Admiral Yi Sun-sin quote? "Those who seek life shall die. Those who seek death shall live." Okay, everyone? Just go in like you're gonna die anyway. Tell yourself you don't care what happens to you. We'll win this thing, take our cash, and get the fuck out of here.
Nam-gyu expressing his belief that an individual can escape the fear of death if they don't care whether they live or die in "Six Legs"
Nam-gyu (남규 Nam-gyu?, 1997 - November 5, 2024), also known as Player 124, was a contestant of the 37th Squid Game.
History[]
Before the games, Nam-gyu worked as a club promoter at Club Pentagon, where he became acquainted with the rapper Thanos. He regularly brought him drugs and got him free drinks through his position at the club. He was an active drug user as well, having tried nearly every street drug he could obtain through the clubbing scene.
In 2024, Nam-gyu invested large amounts of money in a cryptocurrency called Dalmatian, on the advice of the YouTube channel MG Coin. Unfortunately, the currency turned out to be a scam, and Nam-gyu lost over ₩300 million when the rug was pulled. This led him to participate in the Squid Games, where he hoped to find a quick way to settle his financial problems.
Squid Game[]
Throughout the Games, he forms an alliance with Thanos. Thanos seeks revenge on Myung-gi, the crypto influencer whose greed caused him a huge financial loss. Nam-gyu becomes an accomplice to Thanos, and together they plan to take down Myung-gi, whom they blame for their respective downfalls. Their alliance is not only based on a desire for vengeance but also on the desperation they both feel after losing everything in their lives.
Nam-gyu was among the Players who passed through the first game successfully. In the second game, Thanos and he teamed up with Gyeong-su. Together, they proceeded to recruit Se-mi and Park Min-su to form their team for the second game, despite Nam-gyu's apprehensions about the latter due to his timid nature. Whilst waiting their turn, Nam-gyu takes some drugs, and insults Min-su for watching, Se-mi defends her friend leading to Nam-gyu insulting her 'attitude' and expressing annoyance at having her as an ally. Nam-gyu played Spinning Top and eventually, their team managed to pass the second challenge successfully.
At the Dormitory, Nam-gyu expressed his dismay at the number of players who had survived. He then ordered Min-su to count the players who made it through. However, Se-mi interrupted, saying that the Guards would soon arrive to announce the results. Irritated, Nam-gyu's tension with Se-mi began to rise, but Thanos intervened to diffuse the situation. He shifted the conversation by asking about his team's respective ages. Gyeong-su was the youngest, while Se-mi was the eldest. Nam-gyu and Min-su were the same age. Thanos then demanded that Min-su stop taking orders from Nam-gyu and insisted that Nam-gyu refer to Se-mi as noona.
In the vote, despite Min-su wanting to end the game and previously voting "X", Nam-gyu works with Thanos and Gyeong-su to pressure him into changing his vote. Nam-gyu also votes "O", successfully continuing the games.
Later, in the bathroom, Nam-gyu and Thanos confronted Lee Myung-gi, accusing him of being a "traitor" for voting X and choosing to leave the game. They questioned how he planned to pay off their debts with how little the accumulated prize money were and pressured him to stay in the game. Myung-gi, in turn, remarked about Thanos's forgetfulness and his incident at his concert, which greatly annoyed him. Before Thanos could retaliate, Gi-hun's team entered the scene, notably Young Il and both teams ultimately decided to leave Myung-gi alone for the time being.
In the third round 'Mingle', Nam-gyu survived the first round, but on the second the number is 'four'. Thanos physically kicks Gyeong-su away before fleeing to a room with Nam-gyu, Min-su and Se-mi following together. When Min-su asked what happened to Gyeong-su, Nam-gyu angrily insults him stating they will never be friends or equals. The next number is 'three', with Nam-gyu and Thanos proclaiming together that whoever wins rock paper scissors can join them, Se-mi instead tells Min-su to join her, but he betrays her and joins them. They survive the next round of 'six' then the final round is 'two' in which Nam-gyu and Thanos abandon Min-su and survive together by violently pushing out a pair who had already reached a room.
After the game is over, Thanos and Nam-gyu discover Min-su survived, and they hug him, expressing pride in his betrayal of Se-mi, despite her survival. Nam-gyu notices Myung-gi and Kim Jun-hee talking, and deduces they are likely a couple, after watching Jun-hee further he also suspects she is pregnant. Nam-gyu again attempts to pressure Min-su into voting "O". When Se-mi switches her vote to "X", Nam-gyu insults her, and she gives him the middle finger upon noticing his continued abuse of Min-su. Min-su switches his vote to "X", infuriating him. When the vote ends in a tie, Nam-gyu and Thanos follow Min-su to the bathroom, and Nam-gyu scales the stall to physically force Min-su into changing his vote. Myung-gi sees this and attempts to stop them, leading to the bathroom splitting into "X" and "O", after Nam-gyu brings up Jun-hee, the confrontation turns violent. Myung-gi kills Thanos with a fork, the same fork which Nam-gyu then uses to murder several other players.
During the Special Game Nam-gyu faces Se-mi (Player 380), and attempts to kill her with the fork. Min-su attempts to help her by throwing down a glass bottle from above, but he misses Nam-gyu, and despite Se-mi's retaliation with the glass shards, Nam-gyu brutally kills her.
Throughout the season, Nam-gyu's relationship with Thanos and his hatred for Myung-gi continue to shape his decisions, but by the end of the season, Nam-gyu is one of the few survivors of the game. The alliance between the two characters disintegrates when Thanos dies in "O X", leaving Nam-gyu alone in his struggle for survival.
Before Hide and Seek, Nam-gyu takes some pills, gives Thanos's drug necklace to Min-su for him to try one, and vents out his anger of Thanos, even impersonating his accent. Then he walks up to his former enemy, Myung-gi (who just switched sides with Jun-hee) and asks if they could form an alliance. He agrees, but doesn't take the drugs.
During the game, the two of them go on a rampage. After Myung-gi makes the suggestion to stab the player together so that both of them benefit, they go on a rampage, killing Players 235 and 411, passing the game. When Seon-nyeo betrayed her group and left them out to die to the red players, Nam-gyu stabbed Park Mi-hwa. When Myung-gi kills Hyun-ju and realizes her connection to Jun-hee, Nam-gyu asks him if he saw anyone in that room. Myung-gi denies it.
After completing Hide and Seek, Nam-gyu realized that the drug necklace was missing and desperately tried to go back to retrieve it but was stopped by the soldiers. He lost the will to continue and voted X in the resulting vote, then looked in anger as Min-su deliberately voted O.
Fate[]
Nam-gyu's dead body
In Jump Rope, he crumbled in anxiety upon seeing how high he is above the pit at the bottom. When Min-su confronted him and revealed that he took the necklace, he tries to snatch it back and cowardly apologized for his actions, only for Min-su to throw the necklace onto the Jump Rope platform, forcing him to be the first player to attempt the game. As he nervously crossed the platform while jumping over the rope, he retrieved his necklace and opened it to take the drugs, only to find out it's empty since Min-su took the last one. He then looked up in anger and shock as he realized his addiction got the better of him, as the rope sweeps Nam-gyu off the platform, tripping him and sending him falling to his death.
Legacy[]
Nam-gyu makes a posthumous appearance in the episode "⭘△☐", alongside Thanos, as a hallucination experienced by Min-su during the Sky Squid Game.
Personality[]
FOLLOW ME! LET’S GO WIPE OUT HALF THE UNIVERSE! AHHHHH!
Nam-gyu in Hide and Seek to Lee Myung-gi.
Nam-gyu is shown to be a more violent, cruel and sadistic than even Thanos is. While Thanos treats his teammates with respect and is even upset by Gyeong-su's death, Nam-gyu bullies both Se-mi and Min-su frequently, to the point where even Thanos calls him out for it.
While not nearly as unhinged as Thanos, Nam-gyu is still somewhat mentally disturbed. Unlike Thanos, he doesn’t care about using other people to his advantage and sees them as disposable. He also shares Thanos' vengeful nature, and sees any comrade who opposes him as a traitor. He can also act very rudely towards others people and displays crude and inappropriate behavior.
He feels some resentment towards Thanos' treatment of him, feeling as though he was inferior to him. Following his death, he curses Thanos for believing he was an idiot, and takes his cross necklace, taking Thanos' place as the main spokesperson of the group.
In line with his reckless behavior, Nam-gyu states that he believes an individual can escape the fear of death by telling themselves they don't care about whether they live or die.
However, he also appeared to be a coward as he heavily relied on taking the pills to suppress his fears in the games after he asked the guards where he left his necklace in Hide and Seek so he can retrieve it and begged Min-su after knowing he took the drug necklace yet only for him to throw the cross at the Jump Rope platform.
Albeit his cowardice, Nam-gyu is shown to have extreme anxiety, shown through his shaking hands and ability to rely on the pills to gain confidence. More evident showings of his anxiety is his trembling nature whenever his reliance is challenged.
Murders committed[]
| Episode | Character | Image | Method |
| O X | Player 251 and | 
|
Deaths caused by blocking their access to the room during Mingle (alongside Thanos) |
| Friend or Foe | Player 331 | 
|
Stabbed repeatedly in neck and chest with fork |
| Player 185 | 
|
Stabbed repeatedly with fork | |
| Se-mi | 
|
Stabbed repeatedly with glass bottle | |
| The Starry Night | Park Hee-yong | 
|
Stabbed in the chest with a hunting knife; simultaneously with Lee Myung-Gi |
| Player 411 | 
| ||
| Park Mi-hwa | 
|
Stabbed in the neck with a hunting knife |
Trivia[]
- Nam-gyu's scream as he falls to his death is identical to Player 244's (33rd Squid Game).
- Nam-gyu is touchy with other players, particularly Thanos and people he’s familiar with.
- This became his disadvantage, as Min-su (one of Nam-gyu's closest allies) was uncomfortable being around him, as well witnessing his friend's death. But without the cross, Min-su finally got his revenge on Nam-gyu for his false touchy-feely act.
- Nam-gyu didn’t want to continue the games after losing Thanos' pills, another insight on his drug addiction and anxiety.
- Nam-gyu's vote in Round 4 was therefore an unexpected revelation to the viewers.
- At one point during The Starry Night Nam-gyu started singing a real-life song "Love Scenario" (Korean: 사랑을 했다; RR: Sarang-eul haetda), by the South Korean boy band group iKon.
Behind the scenes[]
Nam-gyu was portrayed by Roh Jae-won.
Appearances[]
- Season Two
- "001"
- "Six Legs"
- "One More Game"
- "O X"
- "Friend or Foe"
- Season Three
- "Keys and Knives"
- "The Starry Night"
- "It's Not Your Fault"
- "⭘△☐" (hallucinations)
Gallery[]
Promotional[]
References[]
- ↑ "One More Game"
- ↑ Under the traditional Korean age system, which was changed in June 2023, a year is added to a person's age after birth, meaning he would be 28 in 2024. His age, as stated, is given in international years.
- ↑ The Squid Game that took place in 2024 began directly after Seong Gi-hun met with the Front Man on October 31, with Jump Rope occurring on November 5, and the final game happening on November 6.