Do you know what someone with no money has in common with someone with too much money? Living is no fun for them. If you have too much money, no matter what you buy, eat, and drink, everything gets boring in the end.
Oh Il-nam explaining to Seong Gi-hun his motives for creating the Squid Games in "One Lucky Day"
Oh Il-nam (오일남 O Il-nam?, died December 25, 2021), also known as Player 001, was a rich financial tycoon who was the creator and host of the Squid Games. In 2020, he competed as an elderly contestant in the 33rd Squid Game to relive his childhood memories before he died in the next year.[1]
Personality
Throughout his life, Oh Il-nam was always looking for new ways to have fun. ll-nam seems to have affection for his family, especially his son, based on how he speaks about them. He rationalised the Squid Games by stating that they offered some fun and believed that poor people who played the games suffered as much as wealthy people in terms of lacking purpose.
Il-nam participated in the last death game he created while nearing the end of his life, the 33rd Squid Game, and genuinely enjoyed playing it. During the game, he befriended Seong Gi-hun and became his gganbu. Gi-hun was probably the first genuine friend ll-nam had in a long time, and because of this, Il-nam enjoyed playing with him. Before his death, Il-nam explained to Gi-hun that playing with him made him remember things from the past he had long forgotten and spent his final moments talking him out of his survivor’s guilt and encouraging him to use his money rather than waste his life away. He also casted the decisive vote in the 33rd Squid Game, allowing the participants to go home.
History
As a child, Oh Il-nam would play with his friends until they got bored. Some of the games Il-nam played during his childhood included Red Light, Green Light; Marbles; and Tug of War, rarely ever losing the latter. At some point, he got married and had a child.
Il-nam explaining his decision to play in the 33rd Squid Game to the Front Man.
Eventually, Il-nam became a businessman and tycoon through loan sharking but got bored with living a rich lifestyle. He then befriended some clients in his financial corporation, who shared Il-nam's thoughts on life being no fun for them despite their riches. Wanting to have some fun, Il-nam and his clients came up with the idea of the Squid Games, which began in 1988. Il-nam's clients became the VIPs, who have spectated the games ever since. Il-nam himself became the host, spectating the games alongside the VIPs from 1988 to 2019. At an unknown point during the year of 2015, Il-nam offered Player 132 (Hwang In-ho) a knife to kill the other finalists after the fifth game of the 28th Squid Game. Why he offered him in particular is unclear.
2020
By 2020, Il-nam was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had not very long left to live. Wanting to relive his childhood memories before his death, Il-nam believed he would have more fun playing the 33rd Squid Game rather than watching it; therefore, he decided to participate in the game as Player 001.
When Seong Gi-hun first wakes up in his bunk bed at the training facility, one of the first details he picks up on is that every player has been assigned a number based on when they were recruited. As the last of the 456 players to sign his contract, Gi-hun is Player 456. In what seems like a happy coincidence at the time, the first person Gi-hun speaks to is Il-nam.
Taking pity on the older man for being at such a physical and mental disadvantage in the game, Gi-hun befriends Il-nam ahead of the first round. When it becomes clear that the games they're participating in are potentially fatal, most of the players panic and rush to find a way to escape, unlike Il-nam who remains unfazed and manages to inch across the line with a smile on his face in the "Red Light, Green Light" game before Gi-hun makes it across.
Il-nam wearing his VIP mask.
After the first game, the players decided to vote to end the games, among 201 players, the vote was tied 100-100, leaving the final decision in the hands of Il-nam, the old man thought about his decision... and voted for "X", finishing the vote 100-101 and ending the games. After the games are temporarily cancelled, Gi-hun has a surprise encounter with Il-nam at a convenience store a few blocks from his house. When Gi-hun asks Il-nam what he's doing in the area, Il-nam explains he was visiting a friend and sits down with Gi-hun to talk over a packet of ramen noodles. The two get along and Il-nam uses their time together to discuss his desire to re-enter the games, remarking that he won't live much longer anyway, and he thinks that the outside world is a worse hell than the games. He states he prefers to play the games, claiming he might even have a chance to win, then just sit around waiting to slowly die from his brain tumor. Influenced by Il-nam's words and his mother's medical bills, Gi-hun also decides to return.
As the games continue, Gi-hun and Il-nam form an alliance with Ali Abdul, a factory worker from Pakistan, and Gi-hun's former classmate Cho Sang-woo. Despite his physical and mental disadvantages, Il-nam is able to breeze through the Sugar Honeycombs in round two and provided a tactical plan for the rest of his team in the tug-of-war challenge in round three which, along with a last-minute strategy by Sang-woo, helps them win. He also helped end the Special Game by pleading with the staff to "stop this madness" moments before the Pink Guards enter the room to stop it. At one point during the games, Il-nam had wet himself during the night, which Gi-hun covered up by tying his jacket round him.
The next day, Gi-hun and the other surviving players proceed to the next game and begin picking teams. Gi-hun notices that Il-nam had wet himself the previous night and covers it up by tying his tracksuit round him. He later notices Il-nam sitting alone and decides to become his partner for the next 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.
Il-nam becoming gganbu with Seong Gi-hun before their game of Marbles.
Gi-hun tries to play the game with Il-nam, but the old man seemingly has suffered a severe lapse in his lucidity. He wanders around the game arena, saying this is his home neighborhood and tries to find his house. Because of the old man's confusion, it takes a lot of insistence for Gi-hun to convince him to play. When Il-nam finally accepts to play marbles, Gi-hun finds himself losing until he has one marble left, but realizing Il-nam cannot remember his bet, lies to him and begins winning back their marbles. Eventually, Il-nam finds himself out of marbles and asks 456 if he could borrow one marble. Gi-hun apologizes and is about to hand over his marbles to a guard, when Il-nam reveals he has one marble left. Gi-hun then frantically counts his marbles and sure enough, he is one short and has not won yet. However, instead of continuing the game, Il-nam gets back up again and continues "searching for his house". Gi-hun follows Il-nam around, begging him to keep playing. The old man suggests betting everything on one game, to which Gi-hun is outraged. However, Il-nam then reveals that he was aware of Gi-hun's deception the whole time and has been letting him win. Disgusted at his own actions, Gi-hun begins to cry, but Il-nam hands him his last marble, letting him win anyway, saying that they're "gganbu" who share everything with each other. Gi-hun sobs uncontrollably while the old man hugs and reassures him, telling him that he made his time in the games more enjoyable. Eventually, the timer hits zero, and Gi-hun is forced to leave his friend. Before Gi-hun is escorted out, Il-nam tells him he finally remembers his full name: Oh Il-nam. After Gi-hun left Il-nam with a soldier, a gunshot is heard, and the announcer says that Il-nam was eliminated. Gi-hun continues to slowly walk away, crying.
2021
Il-nam explaining his actions to Gi-hun.
One year after the 33rd Squid Game, Il-nam invited the winner, Gi-hun, to his deathbed. He reveals to Gi-hun that his brain tumor has gotten even more aggressive than before, as seen with his respirator and bald head. Il-nam revealed his role as the creator and host of the Squid Games and explained his motivations to an angry Gi-hun. It is revealed that he was an extremely rich man who made his fortune by lending out money as a career. He created the Games as a source of amusement for other very wealthy people, who would bet on the outcomes and survivors of the games. Il-nam believed the Squid Games ultimately provided a service for the contestants as well, because even though the majority of them were killed, it also provided a distraction from their monotonous lives and an opportunity to win money and escape from their dire financial situations. He also viewed the games as a test of whether people have any innate goodness remaining, and after years of watching contestants betray each other to survive, he had adopted a pessimistic view of the nature of humanity.
Fate
It had been such a long time… since I… was able to have that much fun.
Il-nam's last words before dying in One Lucky Day
Il-nam death.
Il-nam also explained that he participated in the Squid Games just to have some final enjoyment in his life, as he had always been a spectator and never a participant. He made a final wager regarding the nature of humanity, observing a drunk man passed out on the street and betting whether he would receive help or not. With his final words, Il-nam reveals the reason he let Gi-hun live is because he genuinely enjoyed playing with him during the games, noting it’d been such a long time since he’d had that much fun. Gi-hun wins the bet, and Il-nam actually dies moments later. Hwang In-ho later stood next to the bed of Il-nam, reflecting on the conversation he'd had with him a year before during the 33rd Squid Game before closing his eyes and walking away, assuming full control of the games following Il-nam's death.
Legacy
In ⭘△☐, Il-nam is seen in his VIP attire during In-ho's flashback to his offer from 2015.
Later in the same epsiode, when Kang No-eul investigated the host room, she happened to stumble upon both of Il-nam's statues; one that is a mannequin with his VIP suit, and the other is a wax figure, identically resembles Il-nam appearance with his Player 001 attire during the 33rd Squid Game in 2020. The wax figure is presumably created to honor Il-nam's legacy after his death in 2021.
Kill count
| Character | Information | Image/GIF |
|---|---|---|
| "Red Light, Green Light" to "Humans Are..." 1st Annual Games to 37th Annual Games | ||
| Players | Created Squid Game, designed to kill at most 455 players annually, and by making the Special Game, he drove people insane to the point of killing others after finding out that more deaths are equal to more money. People excluded are the 14 people that didn't return after voting in Season 1, himself in the 33rd Squid Game, Park Gyeong-seok and Kim Jun-hee's baby in the 37th Squid Game, and Hwang In-ho in the 28th and 37th editions. | 
|
| "Stick to the Team" Tug of War | ||
| Team 5 | Pulled off the Tug of War Platform by Team One to their deaths, losing the game. | 
|
Total number of victims: 16.862 kills (Approximately)
Relationships
Seong Gi-hun (close friend) - Il-nam developed a close friendship with Gi-hun during the 33rd Squid Game's. It's quite possible that Gi-hun is the only person, other than Il-nam's wife and son, that he genuinely cared about, largely due to Gi-hun reminding Il-nam of his son and his kindness.
Hwang In-ho (student) - Il-nam and In-ho have a mysterious but close relationship. Despite his lack of regard for game staff's lives, In-ho seems to truly care for and respect Il-nam.
Team Four (partners for Tug of War) - Il-nam didn't search for a partner like how Gi-hun suggested to his small team, sitting alone. He admits he didn't bring a partner. However, Han Mi-nyeo joins their team at the last second, forming the complete Team Four. He was the one who made the others apply his strategy to action, like how he had played Tug of War as a child back then. And it nearly fails due to Team Five's brute force, until Cho Sang-woo's last minute trick made their team succeed and complete the game.
Trivia
- He is not listed as a player in the 33rd Squid Game archives due to him being a host, as the book starts with Player 002.[2]
- When visiting with his fellow VIPs, he wears a mirrored owl mask.
- He is the last character who died in the first season.
- Il-nam is likely the oldest character in the show.
Behind the scenes
Oh Il-nam was portrayed by actor Oh Yeong-su. He is indirectly the overarching antagonist of Squid Game, due to his role as the creator of the event.
Appearances
- Season One
- "Red Light, Green Light"
- "Hell"
- "The Man with the Umbrella"
- "Stick to the Team"
- "A Fair World"
- "Gganbu"
- "VIPS"
- "One Lucky Day" (death)
- Season Two
- "Halloween Party" (mentioned)
- Season Three
- "It's Not Your Fault" (mentioned)
- "222" (mentioned)
- "⭘△☐" (flashback)
Gallery
.jpg "001 icon (2).jpg (6 KB)"){kind=icon}
SKY BUILDING, 7TH FLOOR
FROM YOUR GGANBU"