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The story of Hwang Jun-ho from Squid Game.
Background[]
Hwang Jun-ho is the son of Park Mal-soon and the younger half-brother of Hwang In-ho. He works as a police detective in the Dobong District in the city of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. At some point, Jun-ho needed a kidney transplant, so his brother donated one of his to him.
Squid Game[]
Season 1[]
"Hell"[]
After the first game (Red Light, Green Light) of the 33rd Squid Game, the surviving players went home after deciding to interrupt the games with the majority vote. Early in the morning, Seong Gi-hun goes to a police station to report about the Squid Game, the kidnappings and the murders, but the police officers don't believe him. As Gi-hun leaves the station after giving the Squid Game card with the police, Jun-ho enters and asks the other police who he was. As another police officer says that Gi-hun is just a crazy guy, Jun-ho sees the Squid Game card which has three symbols: a triangle, a circle and a square.
Jun-ho finds a Squid Game card in In-ho's dormitory.
Later at night, Jun-ho drives while talking on the phone with his mother about his older brother, Hwang In-ho. Jun-ho tells his mother that he is driving to In-ho's dormitory and says that his brother is probably fine, as he usually avoids calls from time to time. He says that he will contact everyone that might know where In-ho is and will report him missing if he is unable to find him until the next day. Jun-ho reminds his mother he is a police officer and assures her that he will find In-ho. Arriving at In-ho's small dormitory, the owner of the place informs Jun-ho that his brother should have paid his rent a week ago, but she hasn't seen him ever since and he didn't respond any phone calls. Jun-ho tells the owner he will pay his brother's rent after looking inside the dorm, so that she won't remove In-ho's things out. Inside the abandoned dorm, Jun-ho finds a black box with a Squid Game card and remembers that this was the same business card he saw at the police station.
In the following day after seeing the Squid Game card, Jun-ho is at the police station again and questions the police officer who was talking to Gi-hun in the previous day. The police officer wonders why Jun-ho wants to know the name of that lunatic guy. Jun-ho says he thinks that Gi-hun is an old acquaintance of his. When the police officer recalls Gi-hun's name, Jun-ho also asks for his address.
Jun-ho questions Gi-hun, revealing that his missing brother also had the Squid Game card.
During the night, having Gi-hun's address, Jun-ho waits for him in front of his house. When Gi-hun arrives, Jun-ho introduces himself showing his badge, revealing to be an officer of the Dobong Police. Jun-ho asks about Gi-hun recently going to the station and filing a report, saying that people were abducted to play games and were also killed. However, Gi-hun lies telling him he was drunk and bored, so he made that whole story up. Jun-ho tells him that his brother is currently missing and he had the same business card as the one Gi-hun showed at the station. Gi-hun lies that he found the card on the street and tries to dismiss him. Gi-hun moves to enter his house, but Jun-ho stops him. Jun-ho pleads for Gi-hun to help him find his brother. After having a terrible day, Gi-hun apologizes and says he is in no condition to help anyone, before walking through the gates of his house, leaving Jun-ho on the street.
Jun-ho continues to observe Gi-hun from afar. At midnight on June 23, Jun-ho follows Gi-hun as he is taken away by a van to rejoin the games.
"The Man with the Umbrella"[]
After following the van to a port, Jun-ho leaves his car armed with a police revolver. He sees a line of vans and sends a message warning his boss, Chief Kim, that he can't go to the station today and will talk with him later. Jun-ho conceals the weapon and infilitrates the docks by hiding under of the vans. After all the vans left the port aboard a ship to travel to the island where the Squid Game will happen, Jun-ho gets inside a van and pretends to be one of the players, who are all knocked out by a gas. As a masked men, a worker wearing a circle on his mask, uses a device to inspect the unconscious players, the machine does recognize Jun-ho as he is not on the Squid Game records. While the masked worker is confused, Jun-ho punches him. The worker pulls out a knive and attempts to swing it, but Jun-ho grabs his arm and disarms him. Jun-ho then grabs the worker in a head lock, and strangles him.
Jun-ho disguises himself with the uniform of the worker and dresses him with his own clothes. Posing as the masked worker he killed, Jun-ho puts his police ID inside a pocket of the real worker before dumping him to the sea. Immediately after, a soldier (with a triangle on his mask) and a manager (with a square on his mask) see him by the corner of the ship and approach to check what he is doing. Jun-ho tells them he got seasick, but is reprimanded by the manager, who reminds him about the rule of not speaking unless his superior allows him to and orders him to go to his cabin.
Worker Number 28 looks at Jun-ho, who is disguised as the Worker Number 29.
As a disguised masked worker, Jun-ho infiltrates the island where the games take place, to get information from the masked men about the games and find his brother. Jun-ho walks to the room of the worker he got his disguise, Number 29. While opening the door of his room, Jun-ho notices that his neighbor, Number 28, is standing in front of his own door and is watching him. Inside the small room with a single bed, a sink and a table, Jun-ho finds on the wall the three rules the workers should follow: use your mask outside the room, don't speak without permission, and don't leave the room without permission. Looking around the room, Jun-ho also notices a camera, meaning that the workers are constantly being watched. Soon, another masked man stops at Jun-ho's door and delivers him his food. Jun-ho reluctantly removes his mask to eat, still concerned because of the camera. During his first night on the island, before going to sleep, Jun-ho writes notes on his phone about what he saw during the day: the masked men, the kidnappings, the surveillance, and the island. But then he hears his neighbor coughing in the next room.
In the following day, Jun-ho is woken up by the voice of the announcer of the games, who tells the workers that the count of staff members will begin in ten minutes. Jun-ho dresses himself and stands in front of his door for the counting when he notices Number 28 looking at him again. When the counting is done, Jun-ho follows the other workers to the location of the next game, a playground, where the second game is revealed to be Dalgona (Sugar Honeycombs). During the game, Jun-ho observes the players trying to carve their shapes out their dalgona candies, when a masked manager approaches him and scans him from behind. After identifying his number, the manager asks him why he isn't carrying out the eliminated players, which is the duty assigned to him that day. Jun-ho apologizes and says that he got confused. The manager tells him to wait there until after the game ends, so they can talk about his confusion.
Jun-ho gets the mask of the manager killed by the Front Man.
However, when the game ends, the same manager who talked with Jun-ho is held hostage by a player who resists being killed after cracking his candy. The player forces the manager to remove his mask, which then causes this manager to be executed with a shot in the head by the Front Man, who arrives and tells the masked men to never reveal their faces or they are dead. Jun-ho approaches the dead manager and gets his mask with a square from the ground, to disguise himself as a manager.
"Stick to the Team"[]
Right after wearing his new disguise, Jun-ho takes the chance to reprimand a masked soldier that approaches him to ask why he is not working, only for Jun-ho to turn around and show him his mask with a square. Jun-ho reminds the soldier about the rule of not speaking unless his superior allows him to, as the first manager who spoke to him in the ship on the way to the island did.
While disguised as a manager, Jun-ho talks with Gi-hun.
Later, Jun-ho is the manager who accompanies a group of workers and soldiers, as they go to stand in their designated positions during the special game of the competition. Jun-ho, along with the workers and soldiers, stands outside of the dormitory of the players as the lights are out. This causes a riot to start inside the dormitory, and players start to kill each other. While the riot is happening inside, Jun-ho remains in front of the doors of the dormitory and hears when one of the players bangs on the doors asking for help. When the Front Man declares that the special game is over, Jun-ho finally enters the room with the other masked men and sees the many dead players killed during the riot. While the soldiers and workers inspect both dead and living players, Jun-ho approaches Gi-hun and asks if there is anyone named Hwang In-ho among them, but Gi-hun replies that the players don't know each other's names.
After the curfew, Jun-ho returns to his room and writes notes on his phone while laying on the bed, when hears Number 28 coughing in the next room again. However, he realizes that his neighbor actually is trying to communicate through morse code. Decoding the code, he figures out that Number 28 is calling Number 29. In the next morning, when Jun-ho hears Number 28 coughing during the counting of the staff members, he already knows what it means. Once the counting is done, Jun-ho accompanies Number 28. They are later are seen carrying the bodies of the eliminated players from the third game, Tug-of-War. Jun-ho helps Number 28 to put a player, who is fatally wounded but still alive, inside a coffin. He sees Number 28 marking this coffin with blood before it is taken to the furnace with the others.
"A Fair World"[]
Helping Number 28 to carry the coffin to the furnace, Jun-ho sees that instead of being incinerated, the coffin is send to a hidden underground area.
During the night, after the curfew, Jun-ho follows Number 28 to the underground hideout instead of returning to his room. Along the way, Number 28 asks him where he was last night and says that the other members of the scheme don't trust him. Number 28 states that he convinced the others not to kill Number 29, who saved him during their last dive. Number 28 warns Jun-ho not to disappear again because this is the last time he will help him. In the underground hideout, Jun-ho discovers the masked men's organ scheme, as some masked men are using Player 111, a doctor, to extract intact organs from dead players and then sell them for profit. Upon arriving, Jun-ho is reprimanded by two soldiers that explain that they could not deliver the organs last night because Number 29 was missing. Number 28 says that he already warned Number 29 about it and defends him by saying that it is hard find divers like the two of them in this place.
Jun-ho hears the masked men talking while the doctor extracts the organs, when they mention a player who was killed in the first game, referring to this person as a "zombie". They explain that this player was still alive when was brought to have the organs extracted and only had one kidney, so they were not able to receive the full price of the delivery. Jun-ho becomes alarmed hearing this because his brother also only has one kidney. Jun-ho asks what happened with the zombie and Number 28 replies that he used a crowbar to beat him to death. The masked men become confused and wonder why Number 29 is asking this, as he was there and saw everything. Jun-ho replies that he was a bit out of it at the time, leaving them even more confused. A soldier recalls that Number 29 was the one who got rid of the body. While talking with the masked men, Jun-ho is so enraged that he almost reaches for his revolver, but they are interrupted by the doctor, who wants everyone to be silent while he is working.
When the doctor finishes to extract the organs, they are put inside backpacks and given to Jun-ho and Number 28, who are going to take them to a ship where the buyers are waiting. Jun-ho follows Number 28 as they go through secret passages in the facility. When they are going down a ladder to a tunnel, Number 28 tells Jun-ho not to touch a bomb on the wall. Number 28 explains that the passage is an escape route to the VIPs in case of an emergency. Once the VIPs are out of the passage, the bomb is set to detonate and seal the tunnels. Jun-ho asks him who the VIPs are, but Number 28 replies that they are none of his business.
Jun-ho reveals his face to Number 28.
Once they are down in the tunnels, however, Number 28 pulls out a knife and points it at Jun-ho's throat. Number 28 asks why Number 29 would want to know who the VIPs are. Jun-ho lies, saying he is just grateful for the diving gear and the secret passage, because it's like the VIPs prepared it all for them. Number 28 says he is suspicious because Number 29 is not only asking too many questions and but his voice is also different. Number 28 demands Number 29 to remove the mask. Jun-ho questions if this is really needed, but Number 29 threats to kill him to find out in case he refuses to do it. Jun-ho removes his mask and reveals his face, but also pulls out his revolver while doing so.
Catching Number 28 off guard, Jun-ho accuses him and the other masked men of murdering his brother.
Catching Number 28 off guard with his gun, Jun-ho demands Number 28 remove his mask too or he will kill him to find out. Infuriated, Jun-ho tells him that the man they were calling "zombie" only had one kidney because he donated the other one to him, then accuses the masked men of murdering his brother in the operation room. Terrified while being at Jun-ho's gun point, Number 28 quickly corrects him that the "zombie" was a woman. Jun-ho initially doesn't believe him, but Number 28 reveals that the conspiratorial masked men took turns raping the woman before extracting her organs. He further reveals that there is a list with details of personal information of all the players in the leader's room. Number 28 explains that their leader is the Front Man, the one with a different mask.
Jun-ho inside the Squid Game archives.
Number 28 indicates the room of the leader is and thinks that Jun-ho will spare his life when the weapon is lowered. As Number 28 offers Jun-ho more help to find his brother and also the money he got from the sold organs in hopes of being spared, Jun-ho shoots him in the head. Jun-ho climbs up the ladder again and breaks into the Front Man's quarters by shooting the lock at the entrance. Jun-ho enters the archives and finds many shelves with player information from several Squid Games dating back to 1988. Jun-ho looks into the book with players from the current game, 2020, but is unable to find In-ho's profile page. He then comes across a list of winners of all the past games, and is surprised to see his brother's name as the victor of the 28th Squid Game, in 2015. Looking into the book from 2015, Jun-ho finally sees In-ho's profile.
"Gganbu"[]
Still inside the archives, Jun-ho uses his phone to take pictures of all the evidence he found.
As Jun-ho hears the telephone ringing in the Front Man's office and goes see it, he is almost caught by the Front Man himself, who comes to answer the phone. When the Front Man leaves, Jun-ho tries to check the telephone again. He tries to dial a number, but is not able to hear anything, so he puts it back. However, Jun-ho puts the phone in the regular direction, not knowing that the Front Man always puts it down in the other direction.
"VIPs"[]
The Front Man notices the phone in the wrong direction upon returning to answer another call and starts to look for the intruder inside his quarters. As the Front Man looks for him, Jun-ho hides inside the archive room. Jun-ho is almost caught, but the Front Man receives a call from the masked men about the body of the masked worker Jun-ho killed and threw into the ocean while coming to the island, so he leaves to check it.
A VIP flirts with Jun-ho, who is disguised as a waiter.
Hidden inside the Front Man's quarters, Jun-ho sees when the VIPs arrive to watch the fifth game. Jun-ho stops a masked waiter who is serving drinks to them, points his gun at him and steals his clothing to disguise himself as a waiter. While serving the VIPs, Jun-ho uses his phone to record everything. He is also constantly called by a VIP who wears a panther mask. Eventually, this VIP asks Jun-ho to sit down with him. Jun-ho tells him he needs to serve the others, but the Panther Mask insists. The VIP starts to flirt with Jun-ho, saying he has pretty eyes and asking him to show his face. Jun-ho reminds the VIP that he is not allowed to show his face or he will be killed. When Panther Mask demands Jun-ho to take off the mask or he will kill him, Jun-ho asks him to go to somewhere else so they can be alone.
While escaping, Jun-ho is seen by the Front Man.
Inside a bedroom, when the Panther Mask attempts to have sexual intercourse with him, Jun-ho pulls out his revolver. He demands the VIP to tell him everything about the games within 5 minutes or he will kill him, while also recording him with his phone. Jun-ho then escapes, leaving the VIP unconscious in the bedroom. Jun-ho leaves the Front man's quarters, climbing down the same ladder from where he came from and returning to the tunnels. As he does it, he is seen by the Front Man, who looks down at him from the top of the ladder. The two share a glance just before Jun-ho escapes the island after stealing a diving equipment.
"Front Man"[]
Jun-ho arrives on another island and tries to send the information he gathered to the police.
Jun-ho dives and arrives on another island. He takes his phone out of a plastic bag and sees that it is monday, June 29, but the battery is low and there is no signal. He runs around the island while trying to get a signal for his phone, to send the information he gathered to the police. However, around 15 minutes later, Jun-ho realizes he was followed by the Front Man and the masked staff, as they arrive at the island by motorboat. While hiding from them, Jun-ho manages to call Chief Kim, who becomes surprised because he hasn't heard from him in days. Jun-ho promises to explain everything, saying he is on an island somewhere in the southwestern sea. Jun-ho asks the police chief to trace the location of his phone and send back-up right away, the coast guard or a police squad at least. Chief Kim is confused, but Jun-ho tells him that he is going to send all the photos and videos he got, and proceeds in trying to send the evidence. While trying to send the evidence, Jun-ho runs as he is closely followed by the masked men. Jun-ho checks the phone and sees that the files send failed, so he tries to send them again. Jun-ho eventually is cornered on the edge of a cliff.
Surrounded by the masked staff, Jun-ho confronts the Front Man.
Surrounded by the masked men, Jun-ho tells them to surrender because he is from the police and already sent all the evidence to the others asking for back-up. The Front Man tells Jun-ho that whatever it was he tried to send, it probably didn't went through because of poor reception on the island. The Front Man approaches and tells Jun-ho that he might live if he surrenders right away. The Front Man adds that he knows from the police regulations and from the number of times Jun-ho used his gun that he has only one bullet left. Despite this, Jun-ho continues defiant and says that one bullet is enough to kill the Front Man. Jun-ho tells the Front Man to stay away, and ends up firing his last bullet in his shoulder when the Front Man ignores this threat and continues to walk towards him. Putting a hand on his wounded shoulder, the Front Man immediately raises his other hand to order the staff not to fire on Jun-ho even after being shot.
The Front Man once again tries to make Jun-ho surrender, saying that he will let Jun-ho live if he comes with him. Hearing this, Jun-ho becomes confused about why the Front Man would say this and asks who he is. The Front Man takes off his mask and reveals his face to him. To Jun-ho's utter shock, it is the person he has been looking for this entire time: his brother In-ho. While a stunned Jun-ho stares at his brother, In-ho reaches out and asks Jun-ho to come with him. However, Jun-ho shakes his head in refusal. This causes In-ho to raise his gun and Jun-ho asks him "In-ho, why?". In-ho hesitantly shoots his brother in the shoulder, making Jun-ho fall off the cliff into the ocean bellow.
Later, In-ho is seen removing the bullet from his wound, when he has a vision of Jun-ho holding his wounded shoulder in the mirror, making him remorsefully recall the last words his brother said before falling off the cliff.
Season 2[]
"Bread and Lottery"[]
Jun-ho survived the fall into the ocean. He was saved from drowning by a sailor, Captain Park, and taken to a hospital, where he was plugged into machines and received an oxygen supply. After some time in a coma, he finally wakes up in the hospital bed. His mother is at his side and gets emotional seeing Jun-ho opening his eyes. As he recovers consciousness, Jun-ho has flashes of what happened before his fall and the first thing he says is In-ho's name.
In 2024, Jun-ho has fully recovered from the incident and is back to work, but now he has taken a traffic police job in the district of Okin. One day, Jun-ho is patrolling with his police partner and stops a young man driving a motorcycle for not wearing a helmet. The driver accuses him of hiding to take money from the vehicles passing by, but Jun-ho ignores the comment. The man's girlfriend, who is riding at the back, tries to convince Jun-ho to let them go without a ticket since she is wearing a helmet. When this doesn't work, she begins to flirt with Jun-ho, calling him cute and taking selfies with him to post on Instagram. Jun-ho warns she is committing obstruction, but she doesn't stop, to both Jun-ho's and her boyfriend's annoyance. When Jun-ho finally gives the driver the ticket, he drives off without the girl and tells her to go with Jun-ho. The girlfriend runs after the motorcycle yelling, making Jun-ho laugh. Watching this scene, the Chief Kim approaches, asking if Jun-ho wanted to be transferred from his original job to be mistreated like this.
Jun-ho and Chief Kim go eat at a restaurant. The police chief tells him to stop wasting his time as a traffic police and go back to his original job. Jun-ho ignores him, so Kim realizes Jun-ho is still upset because all the information he tried to report about the Squid Game led to nothing. The Chief Kim never got any evidence Jun-ho sent and the phone fell into the ocean. Chief Kim argues he did everything he could to help Jun-ho. He searched the area of the games, but Jun-ho couldn't find the island. Chief Kim tried to convince the higher-ups, but there was no way to convince them of the murderous games without any evidence. The only evidence was the bullet in Jun-ho's shoulder, which was untraceable. He scolds Jun-ho for taking a gun without permission and going rogue, then showing up almost dead. Chief Kim reveals he had a hard time stopping the higher-ups from firing Jun-ho, which Jun-ho is grateful for. Chief Kim insists on the need for evidence in their line of work. Bitterly, Jun-ho agrees and tells him that's why he works in traffic now since the evidence is always so clear in pictures and no one can dispute them. Chief Kim asks if he doesn't really remember who shot him. Jun-ho lies, saying he doesn't, still trying to protect In-ho despite everything.
Later, Jun-ho is changing clothes in the locker room of the police station. After removing his shirt, he looks at the mirror and sees the scar from the bullet on his shoulder, reminding him of what happened between him and his brother before he fell from the cliff.
During a cloudy day, Jun-ho goes to see the sailor who rescued him from the sea, Captain Park. They greet each other as Jun-ho boards the captain's boat. Park gives him a life vest and they prepare to sail off. Jun-ho has been sailing with Captain Park to find the island where the games take place for one year and a half without any success. The captain seems tired of the search and claims he doesn’t know where else they can look, but Jun-ho has been keeping track of the islands they checked with a map and has narrowed down the search. Jun-ho is willing to double-check some places that couldn’t be checked properly due to bad weather or tide changes and points to two small islands as their next destination. As they sail off, Captain Park laments that saving Jun-ho led to all this trouble.
Over the course of several days in June, July, and August, the captain is seen taking Jun-ho to different islands, in good or bad weather. Jun-ho dives to the islands and looks for anything indicating that this is the location of the games, but he finds nothing and returns to the boat. Over time, Jun-ho crosses more islands on his map and gets a bit discouraged but doesn't stop the search. The captain is nice to Jun-ho, making sure he is safe and offering him meals. Unknown to Jun-ho, Captain Park had rescued him at In-ho's request and actually has been watching him to keep him away from the Squid Game island.
On a rainy day, while they are sailing back, Park reprimands Jun-ho for choosing to search in an area with whirlpools in bad weather, saying that even big boats avoid that region. He claims they could have capsized and laments that he is risking his own life for nothing. Jun-ho apologizes, understanding that he has been pushing the captain too far, and is grateful for all his help. Park notes that there are hundreds of islands near where Jun-ho was found, the currents are strong, and there is no way to know how far Jun-ho drifted before being saved. And Jun-ho can't remember either the island he fell from or the Squid Game island. He says Jun-ho should forget about the whole search. Surprisingly, Jun-ho agrees. But knowing how persistent Jun-ho is, Park thinks he will be back soon. Jun-ho is firm in his decision and promises to repay the captain for everything. Captain Park admits he is sad Jun-ho seemingly won't be coming back, but Jun-ho assures he will visit him. Park invites him to fish squid because it's hard to find good crew members like him and says he will pay Jun-ho more than his police job does, making Jun-ho curious. The captain suggests to discuss the payments over drinks once they are back and they see the port ahead.
During another work day, Jun-ho is patrolling with his partner when a car going over the speed limit passes by. Jun-ho drives after the car demanding it to pull over. After the driver complies, Jun-ho tells his younger partner to deal with the infractor. Jun-ho thinks the driver will either try to beg to let it slide or accuse them of hiding to get tickets. He advises his partner to be firm in his duty but to be polite as well. After seeing the driver quickly get the ticket from his partner and drive off, Jun-ho approaches his partner, expressing surprise that it ended so quickly. Jun-ho asks the younger officer if he did everything right and his partner says the driver simply got the ticket and left without saying anything. Jun-ho finds this suspicious and asks about the driver's ID. The partner responds that nothing came up when he checked the ID, but he finds it weird that there were so many phones and tablets inside his car. Jun-ho takes the phone from his partner and checks the ID. It shows no criminal record, but what surprises Jun-ho is that he recognizes the name of the driver: Seong Gi-hun.
At the police station, Jun-ho uses Gi-hun's registration number to search for him on a computer. The search shows more information about Gi-hun, including his old address. Jun-ho then recalls going to that location to ask Gi-hun about games and being dismissed by him. Jun-ho uses the information of Gi-hun’s car to figure out his new address. He takes notes about the car being rented in the district of Dongdaemun-gu. Jun-ho goes to the car rental agency at the location and asks who is renting the car with that plate number. A young woman tells him that the car is being rented by a company called Sunshine Capital, which consists of a group of loan sharks that have been hired by Gi-hun to look for the recruiter of the Squid Games. Jun-ho asks the woman for the company's address.
On a rainy night, Jun-ho goes to Sunshine Capital's address, which is on the third floor of a building. Since the entrance is chained, Jun-ho climbs outside and gets in sliding open a window. The lights are off and no one is around. He surveys the place and finds a mannequin of the recruiter with the Squid Game card. When a loan shark enters talking with a colleague on the phone, Jun-ho quickly hides behind the mannequin and listens. The man says that their boss and a loan shark named Woo-seok were chasing the recruiter when Gi-hun suddenly lost contact with them. He tells his colleague to get weapons and meet at the Daebang subway station. He uses a key to unlock a drawer in a desk and leaves the keys in the lock. After getting weapons, the man notices the open window and becomes suspicious. He looks outside the window but his colleague calls him back to confirm the name of the station. Irritated, the loan shark simply closes the window, yells at his colleague on the phone, and leaves.
Once the man is gone, Jun-ho searches the drawers in the desk that was left unlocked. He goes through notebooks until he finds an envelope with Gi-hun's name. Inside, he finds several documents, including the certificate of registration of the Pink Hotel, which Gi-hun has been using as his base of operations. Jun-ho drives to the place. As he arrives and parks his car across the street, he looks up to see the sign of the hotel glowing pink, indicating that it's open.
"Halloween Party"[]
Still in his car, Jun-ho hears a gunshot coming from the hotel, prompting him to grab his revolver and rush into the building. He bursts into the front door and sees an elevator indicating it is on the fourth floor. Jun-ho runs up a staircase and begins to check each room on the floor until he finds Woo-seok. The recruiter had left Woo-seok just in his underwear, blindfolded, gagged, and tied to a bed. Jun-ho removes his blindfold and the gag. Woo-seok is still trembling in terror after everything he went through. Jun-ho points his revolver at Woo-seak and he begs not to be killed. Jun-ho asks where Gi-hun is. Woo-seok reveals he is in room 410.
Jun-ho enters the room aiming his revolver at Gi-hun and announcing he is the police. He finds Gi-hun next to the recruiter, who lies lifeless on a bloodied chair. He demands Gi-hun to put his hands over his head and proceeds to push him against a glass partition and search his clothes. Jun-ho finds a gun, which he immediately confiscates. However, as Jun-ho declares that Gi-hun is arrested under suspicion of murder, Woo-seak rushes behind him and knocks him out with an extinguisher.
Jun-ho is next seen handcuffed to the faucet of a bathtub in a bathroom at the back of the glass partition. Gi-hun checks Jun-ho's police ID and recognizes him from the time they met in front of his old home. Jun-ho reveals they actually had met a second time in the games when masked men entered the dormitory of the players to stop the riot. Gi-hun realizes Jun-ho was one of the masked men in the games and points his gun at him. Jun-ho explains he had infiltrated the island disguised as staff to find his brother, but Gi-hun thinks this might be a lie. Jun-ho reminds him of the moment a masked manager approached him that night and asked if he knew Hwang In-ho, revealing that he was that manager and In-ho is his brother. Gi-hun remembers it and lowers his gun.
Jun-ho asks who is the man Gi-hun killed before he arrived. Gi-hun explains he was the recruiter of the games and corrects Jun-ho, saying that he didn't kill the recruiter, he actually died for losing a game. Jun-ho asks if Gi-hun is still taking part in the game. Gi-hun responds that he is trying to end it and Jun-ho asks how he intends to do it. Gi-hun reveals he wants to find the man who worked to Oh Il-nam (the creator of the games) as the overseer of the Squid Game, the Front Man. Jun-ho confirms he knows who Gi-hun is referring to. Gi-hun asks if Jun-ho saw the Front Man's face. Jun-ho hesitates, but once again chooses to lie to protect his brother. Jun-ho shakes his head and says he couldn't see the Front Man's face due to him wearing a black mask.
Now knowing that Gi-hun is going after In-ho, Jun-ho wants to know how Gi-hun plans to find him. Gi-hun shows him the Squid Game card with the invitation the Front Man had sent him through the recruiter. The card has the date and place where Gi-hun expects to find the Front Man: October 31st at Club HDH. Jun-ho asks what Gi-hun will do once he does find the Front Man, fearing that Gi-hun might kill his brother. Luckily, Gi-hun says that killing the Front Man will solve nothing because Il-nam had created the games for his clients. Jun-ho promptly agrees, saying they are called VIPs and revealing he saw the face of one of them. Jun-ho promises to help Gi-hun find them if he uncuffs him. Woo-seok, who was nearby cleaning the bloodied chair, warns Gi-hun not to trust any officers because they never help people like them. Gi-hun dismisses Jun-ho's help. He laments for his brother but thinks Jun-ho should forget about it. Jun-ho argues that Gi-hun can't forget the deaths that happened on the island either. He reveals he saw things that Gi-hun didn't while he was disguised behind the scenes and assures he can help with his plan. With this, Gi-hun reconsiders and accepts Jun-ho's help.
Woo-seok protests. He doesn't trust the police due to a bad experience in the past, in which he was arrested after beating a guy who had scammed him, but Gi-hun ignores him. Gi-hun takes them to the room where he has stored stacks of the money he won in the games and promises to give them as much as they want if they help him. Jun-ho, obviously, doesn't care about money, he is doing it for In-ho. Surprisingly, Woo-seok isn't doing it for money either, he wants revenge for his boss' death. Woo-seok considered his boss like a brother and the recruiter had shot him after making them play Rock, Paper, Scissors. So, he wants to kill them in the same way, but Jun-ho tells him that there is an entire armed force on the island and stopping them with a few guns is impossible. Gi-hun then opens the door of a bathroom, revealing numerous weapons he has been collecting. Jun-ho examines a rifle and notes that the guns are from the black market and wonders if they even work. Gi-hun takes the rifle and leads them through a hole in the wall into a firing range created by several adjacent rooms with the walls blown out. He fires the weapon, proving that it works, and tells Jun-ho that he can come to practice whenever he wants but advises him to quit his job at the police.
On the day of the anniversary of In-ho's wife's death, Jun-ho is at the cemetery bringing a bouquet of flowers. Speaking with him on the phone, Jun-ho's mother asks him to look for any sign that his brother might have visited his wife's grave. Jun-ho finds dead flowers on the grave, indicating that In-ho probably wasn't there. After replacing the flowers with the new ones, Jun-ho is seen at home having a meal with his mother. The mother thinks In-ho might have decided to cut all contact with them since they haven't heard from him in years and that he probably resents her for not helping him when his wife was sick. She fears In-ho thinks she favors Jun-ho, her biological son, over him, her stepson. Jun-ho tries to reassure his mother, saying In-ho wouldn't think that and he knew they were in a bad situation at that time as well. But the mother feels guilty because In-ho donated his kidney to Jun-ho and she couldn't do anything for his sick wife in return. Jun-ho argues that if that was the case, In-ho would have resented him instead. In-ho could have sold his kidney to get the money to help his wife if he hadn't given it to him, so it would have been better if he had simply died. The mother begs him to stop talking like that. Jun-ho says she should stop blaming herself too because nothing that happened to In-ho or his wife is their fault. Jun-ho doesn't want his mother to feel responsible for In-ho's wife's fate or for In-ho losing his job because of the bribes he took to try to save her, since that was just the consequence of his own actions.
On Halloween Eve, Jun-ho is watching a group of mercenaries led by a man named Kim practicing at the Pink Hotel's firing range. They were hired by Woo-seok, who introduces them as former members of the Marine Corps, UDT, and ROK Special Forces, which he finds more impressive than Jun-ho, who is just a former police officer. They plan to have the mercenaries on standby nearby while Gi-hun and Woo-seok enter the club to meet the masked staff. Jun-ho offers to go with them, but Gi-hun thinks it's a bad idea since the staff saw his face on the island and they might recognize him. Gi-hun fears something bad might happen to him tomorrow, but Woo-seok assures him that everything will be fine because of the tracker they had secretly put in his tooth. So, even if the masked men take Gi-hun away, they will be able to follow.
On Halloween night, Jun-ho drives with Gi-hun and Woo-seok to Club HDH. Jun-ho parks outside and when it's 5 before midnight, Gi-hun and Woo-seok put on their earpieces and go inside. Staying in the car, Jun-ho confirms with Woo-seok that he can hear them through the earpieces and that Gi-hun's tracker is working fine. It doesn't take long for Jun-ho to see the masked men walking into the club. He warns Woo-seok, who can't tell who the staff is because a lot of people are wearing masks in the club. Jun-ho clarifies that the staff wears pink jumpsuits and rushes to the entrance after them. A bouncer stops Jun-ho from going inside without getting into the line. Jun-ho tells him he is a police officer, but the bouncer points to people wearing police costumes waiting in line. Jun-ho pulls out his revolver and points it to the bouncer to show he is an actual police officer, then he gets inside the club.
Through the earpiece, Woo-seak tells Jun-ho that a masked staff is leading Gi-hun away. Jun-ho warns that he had seen two masked men entering the club. The warning is a bit too late as Woo-seok ends up being tased by the second masked staff. Jun-ho finds Woo-seok unconscious inside the club. He shakes him in an attempt to wake him up, but he doesn't. Jun-ho checks the tracker on his phone and sees that the staff led Gi-hun out of the club, so he tells the mercenaries to get ready to act. Following the signal from the tracker, Jun-ho runs outside and sees a white limousine driving away with Gi-hun. Jun-ho tells the mercenaries to chase the limousine to capture them.
Jun-ho and two groups of mercenaries in vans follow while Gi-hun confronts the Front Man inside the limousine. Jun-ho tells the leader of the mercenaries, Kim, to do nothing until they are somewhere less crowded. But when the limousine starts to drive in circles around the area, Jun-ho realizes the staff might know they are being followed and tells Kim to act. However, a masked soldier hidden at the top of a building shoots at the tires of the two vans, making them unable to proceed. Jun-ho tries to follow, but an explosive hidden under his car stops him too. With no way to chase them, Jun-ho simply listens through the earpiece while Gi-hun talks to his brother and asks to be put back in the games. Checking the tracker on his phone, Jun-ho informs the mercenaries that they will initiate their plan B: following Gi-hun to the Squid Game island.
"001"[]
Jun-ho asks Captain Park for help to follow Gi-hun's tracker. The day after Gi-hun was taken away, he, Woo-seak, and the mercenaries board the captain's boat and get ready to sail. Woo-seok worries that the masked men might have done something to Gi-hun, but Jun-ho assures him that they wouldn't take him that far to simply kill him. Woo-seok thinks that everything is probably going according to Gi-hun's plan B. Jun-ho reminds him that Gi-hun's life will be in danger once the games begin and they have to find him before he is eliminated. They sail off following the signal on their phones.
In the pilothouse, Captain Park tells Jun-ho that he knew he wouldn't keep his word about giving up on the search. He complains that Jun-ho called him out of the blue and boarded his boat with mercenaries without even explaining anything. Jun-ho apologizes and reveals that he now has a lead to find the island, explaining that they are tracking a former player who was taken back there and even showing the signal on his phone. They see an island ahead, which Park claims used to be inhabited but now is visited only by fishermen occasionally. Jun-ho decides to stay aboard and use a drone to check the place and tells Woo-seok to go ashore with the mercenaries to follow the tracker.
With the help of a drone pilot, Jun-ho sends a drone to recon the island at low altitude. While Jun-ho is watching the drone's camera feed on his computer, Woo-seok's group finds out that the tracker was removed from Gi-hun's tooth and put inside a fisherman's bait container. Woo-seok immediately informs the situation to Jun-ho through his earpiece, as they realize that the staff somehow knew about their plans and that this isn't the correct island.
After regrouping on Captain Park's boat, they discuss what to do next. Woo-seok thinks they should check the nearby islands, but Jun-ho thinks that if they lured them to this area, the Squid Game island shouldn't be nearby. Park advises them to go back to the port because there is a storm warning for that night. Kim also thinks they should return and rethink their plans since the search will take a while without any leads. Woo-seok gets frustrated and wonders how their plans got leaked and if someone got drunk and talked too much, but no one has an answer. They prepare to sail back to the port.
"Six Legs"[]
Back to Seoul, Jun-ho storms into the Dobong police station and marches straight to Chief Kim's desk, not even greeting his former colleagues who express surprise to see him after a while. Upon seeing Jun-ho, the chief becomes furious. Jun-ho had asked to resign out of the blue and then disappeared. Despite this, Chief Kim had begged the higher-ups to change Jun-ho’s resignation to a leave of absence, so that Jun-ho could keep his job. Jun-ho ignores the chief's anger and asks for his help. Chief Kim doesn't know what else he can do to help him after everything he already did. Irritated, he guesses that Jun-ho is talking about looking for the Squid Game island. To the chief's frustration, Jun-ho confirms it.
Chief Kim and Jun-ho go talk to a higher-up. Jun-ho explains that they should search the island immediately, otherwise Gi-hun and the other players will be in danger. The higher-up is annoyed to hear Jun-ho talking about the Squid Game island again, as he expected that Jun-ho would have moved on from it by now. Jun-ho explains that things have changed recently and this might be their only chance to find the island. But the higher-up thinks Jun-ho is just being delusional and tells him to go back to therapy. Furious, Jun-ho yells at him, asking if he is just going to let the people on the island die. Unfortunately, the higher-up doesn't believe Jun-ho. Jun-ho has been talking about the island for years with no evidence. And the higher-up demands Jun-ho to show him any evidence because that's what the police do. The higher-up then leaves, but not before telling Chief Kim to process Jun-ho's resignation since he is beyond any help. Chief Kim, who had tried so hard to keep Jun-ho's job, is frustrated with him. The chief knew that bringing up the island to a higher-up was a bad idea. He runs after the higher-up begging him to give Jun-ho another chance, showing more concern about keeping Jun-ho's job than Jun-ho himself, whose only frustration is that no one in the police believes him.
After leaving the station, Jun-ho drives in the rain and calls Woo-seok. Jun-ho tells him what happened at the police station and that they will proceed without their help. Woo-seok isn't surprised, reminding him he always says that the police aren't helpful. Jun-ho suggests they optimize the search by splitting their group into two teams. Luckily, Woo-seak informs him that Captain Park has already got them another boat and more men to do precisely that. Jun-ho tells Woo-seok that they should hurry because if the games have already begun, they have only five days at most before they end. Woo-seok tells Jun-ho they will prepare to sail off once the weather clears up.
"One More Game"[]
The next day, the weather has cleared up, so Jun-ho, Woo-seak, and their two search teams board two boats and get ready to sail off. Jun-ho will join Team 2 (along with Woo-seok and Kim) and sail on Captain Park's boat. Team 1 will sail with a sailor who was called by Park to help them, Captain Ko.
While the teams are boarding the boats, Jun-ho tells Captain Park that Team 2 should head north while Team 1 will go southwest. Jun-ho reminds him that they have only 4 days to find the island before the games are over. Park assures him that everything will be fine, as Captain Ko knows the region very well and they have enough fuel and supplies for a week.
Jun-ho boards Captain Park's boat and the two teams sail off.
"O X"[]
A couple of days after the two teams left, Captain Park's boat floats near an island while the drone is sent towards it. As Jun-ho watches the drone's feed on his computer, Park expresses curiosity about the drone, which is seemingly an unknown technology to him. Jun-ho reminds the drone pilot to keep it at a low altitude because the game staff knows they are looking for them and might have reinforced their camouflage. Woo-seok asks how Jun-ho expects to find the island in 2 days if he couldn't find it in 2 years. But Jun-ho is confident that if they cross out all the places he has already been, they can narrow down the search and find it as long as the weather holds up.
While watching the camera feed, Jun-ho sees something suspicious in the middle of the forest: a large metal door leading to what looks like an underground pathway. Since they can't see it clearly on the drone's feed due to all the trees covering it, Jun-ho tells the team they should disembark and check it.
Jun-ho, Kim, and several mercenaries enter the forest armed with rifles and move along a path in a single-line formation, approaching the suspicious door carefully. But when one of the mercenaries tries to pull the door open, it explodes, killing him and injuring another man.
The team returns to the boat. Jun-ho watches as they put the corpse of the dead man into a bag while the injured mercenary is banded. Captain Park once again suggests they return to the port, but Kim reminds him that they only have a couple of days before the games are over. Park insists saying the injured mercenary needs a doctor and someone just died. Despite this, the injured man says he is still willing to continue and Kim says their dead teammate won't be able to rest in peace if he isn't avenged. However, Woo-seok notes that the staff probably already knows their location if they were able to set up booby traps like that door.
With most of the team deciding to continue the search, Jun-ho tells them that they will change radio channels every day and phones are no longer allowed. Jun-ho asks Captain Park to warn Team 2 about this change and they continue the search.
Season 3[]
To be added