Squid Game Season 2: The Movie

by kanipb806

Based off Squid Game Season 2, The movie revolves around a secret contest where 150 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a 100.26 billion dollar. prize

This TVMA is a fanfic on Squid Game.

Since Squid Game Season 2 releases this year I decided to write this.

The movie revolves around a secret contest where 150 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a 100.26 billion dollar. prize: The movie starts with a flashback of Seong Gi-hun's childhood, when he would play a game called "Squid Game". He fondly remembers playing games like this as a child alongside his best friend Cho Sang-woo. It was a time of happiness and innocence, with no worries.

In the present, Gi-hun is an impoverished divorcee. He's knee deep in debt his elderly mother, and they are both very poor living in a rundown apartment Here

EXT. SEOUL TRAIN STATION - NIGHT

Gi-hun sits slumped on a bench, watching the midnight trains come and go. Despite the late hour, the station is busy with travelers. Gi-hun sighs, running a hand through his disheveled hair - the same mop he's had for 45 years and counting.

His threadbare coat and shoes tell the story of his dire financial straits. This was supposed to be his lucky night, trying to win big at gambling to pay off the gangsters hounding him. But as always, his luck ran out.

Gi-hun notices TWO MEN in sharp suits approaching him, recognizing their threatening aura. He bolts up to flee but it's too late - they've spotted him.

MAFIA GANGSTER #1

You've been a hard man to find, Gi-hun. But your time is up. You owe us, and we expect payment in full.

(This scene is from where The loan sharks threaten to take his organs if they are not paid by the next month and make him sign a contract with his own blood.)

Gi-hun shakes his head desperately.

GI-HUN

Please, I just need one more chance. Give me a week, I swear I can get you the money!

The gangsters laugh cruelly. Gi-hun braces for a beating when suddenly, a blur of motion -

ANOTHER MAN leaps into view, engaging the gangsters in a spectacular fight. He moves with lightning speed, disarming and disabling them within seconds.

The gangsters flee, cursing their attacker. Gi-hun stares slack-jawed as the stranger turns to him, adjusting his mask. It's the Recruiter from earlier.

RECRUITER

I have a proposition for you, Gi-hun. One that will solve all your problems. Consider my invitation to the Squid Game. Gi-hun staggers to his feet, still reeling from the whirlwind fight. He eyes the Recruiter warily.

GI-HUN

Who the hell are you? Why did you help me? What do you want?

The Recruiter pulls an ornate business card from his suit pocket and offers it to Gi-hun, who doesn't take it.

RECRUITER

My name is not important. As for what I want - I represent an organization holding a very high stakes competition. One that could solve all of your financial problems, forever.

Gi-hun barks a harsh laugh.

GI-HUN

Yeah right, pulling some Robin Hood act just to recruit me for your little game? I'm not an idiot. What's the real reason you saved me?

The Recruiter remains eerily calm.

RECRUITER

The choice is simple - take a chance at reclaiming your freedom and dignity through this competition. Or refuse, and those gangsters will be the least of your worries. Your debt drives you to desperate measures, does it not?

Gi-hun's haunted eyes say it all. The Recruiter presses the card into his hand.

RECRUITER

The details are in the card. Report to the coordinates provided at midnight on October 15th. Or don't - the decision is yours. But this is no game. Your life may depend on it.

The Recruiter turns on his heel, disappearing into the night. Gi-hun stands shaking, card clutched in his fist, caught between fear and fate Gi-hun examines the ornate card with growing unease. Before he can reconsider, the Recruiter emerges from the shadows once more.

RECRUITER

You look like a gambler. Care for a friendly wager?

He produces a sleek silver briefcase, popping it open to reveal two paper cards nestled within. Gi-hun eyes them wearily.

GI-HUN

What's the game? And the stakes?

The Recruiter smiles behind his mask.

RECRUITER

It's a simple Korean game called ddakji. We each flip our card towards the other's - if you flip mine over, you win. I'll give you 100,000 won. But if I win... you have to attend the competition. No further questions.

Gi-hun hesitates, then reaches for one of the cards. What does he have to lose? He flicks it deftly - only for the Recruiter's card to flip his over in return. (Determined to win, Gi-hun tries and is slapped many times until he finally wins. The salesman gives him the money along with a strange business card with a phone number on it and tells him to call it if he wants to play other games for bigger prizes.)

RECRUITER

Looks like you're in. Consider this a... preview of the thrills and rewards to come, should you survive the games. Victory is never guaranteed, Gi-hun. Now the choice is set in stone. I'll see you at the rendezvous point.

With that cryptic warning, the Recruiter fades back into darkness, leaving Gi-hun alone with a feeling of impending doom. What nightmare has he signed up for? Gi-hun stands alone, mind swirling as he examines the ornate card in the shadows of the empty platform.

His life flashes before his eyes - the mounting debts, his daughter fleeing overseas to escape their poverty, the gang at his heels demanding repayment. And for what? Another bleak day scraping by, a never-ending cycle of hardship with no end in sight.

Then there is this game. A chance, however slim, to rewrite his future. To gain the riches to bring his daughter home, to live freely without fear. Or die trying, which almost seems a respite from this "life" he leads.

What does he have left to lose? His mother, may her soul find peace, is gone. His country has forsaken him, left him in the gutter to drown in debt. But in that gutter, he finds fury. Righteous fury at the injustice of it all.

With a deep breath, Gi-hun steels his resolve. His knuckles whiten around the card, bearing only an encoded coordinate. To others, a cryptic code. But to him - a flare, lighting the way to destiny. Or doom.

He knows not what mysteries or horrors await. Only that he will face them head on, as he has everything else. For if he is to die, it will be as a man with courage, not as a mouse cowering in the dark.

With a grim nod, Gi-hun pockets the card. His path is set. On October 15th, he will find out if the next game is his last. Or the beginning of reclamation from this "hell".

INT. RUNDOWN POOR HOME

Gi-hun wearily arrives at the rundown home he shares with his ailing mother. He finds her coughing weakly in bed, feverish.

"I'm home, Mom," he says, stirring up a meager broth of ramen noodles. It's the best he can offer on his threadbare funds.

As they eat together, Mom asks about Gi-hun's daughter as she oft does. A bittersweet topic. "Still no word from Mi-Joo or her mother Salish overseas," he sighs.

Salish was a foreigner, their brief marriage crumbling under poverty's strain. She took Mi-Joo to America, abandoning Gi-hun and Mom without support. Another loss to shoulder.

His mother pats his hand frailly. "Do not harden your heart, my son. Times were tough but you gave Mi-Joo life. That is blessing."

Gi-hun chokes back tears, knowing Mom speaks truth. Yet hard times fester bitterness, if he lets them. He vows not to, clinging to hope though it frays at the edges like an old photograph.

A thought strikes him then, of opportunity awaiting. He tells Mom of the recruit's strange invitation, vague hope lifting his spirit. Hers too, though fever-muddled. "Go, and may fortune favor the desperate soul," she smiles.

With her blessing, Gi-hun finds solace. Whatever awaits on October 15th, he will face it fighting. For her, for Mi-Joo - and for a future free of want. His hell will end, one way or another. As Gi-hun cares for his ailing mother, flashes of memories plague him. The last years that brought him so low.

He saw it coming for years, but it still shattered him when Salish filed for divorce, taking Mi-Joo back to America. Isolated and depressed, Gi-hun fell in with the wrong crowds.

He recalls brawling in back alleys, drowning sorrows in soju bottles and pill bottles alike. The gangs sniffed out his weakness, drawing him into their dealings as he fought to pay alimony.

Before long he was mired neck deep in their illegal operations, and in their debt when his addictions cost him a major score. They've hounded him ever since, violence always brimming just below their surface.

Gi-hun has tried everything to claw his way out. Small loans spiraled as he chased losses in underground casinos and street fights. But the hole only grew deeper, and more dangerous men filled its edges.

Now here he sits, contemplating his fate if he turns down this mystery "game". Death or worse, with his mother left defenseless. He can stand it no more - he has nothing left to lose.

With shaking hands, Gi-hun retrieves the card from his pocket. He dials the number scrawled on its face, and waits as it rings, heart pounding. This will be his last roll of fate's dice. May they fall how they may Gi-hun tenderly wipes his mother's fevered brow. "Rest now. I must be off on the train, but I'll return within a month."

She reaches for his hand weakly. "A trip? Where are you going in such haste?

He smiles gently, hiding his storm of emotions. "Just work, Mom. I've been offered a job, and it's chance to pay off debts. Don't you worry - I'll be back before you know it, with medicine and care for you."

Gi-hun knows he can't burden her frail state with truth of the Squid Game's danger. Best she believe it simple work, and pray for his safe return. He leaves unsaid the chance he may never see her sweet face again.

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he whispers "I love you. Now sleep." With a final caress of her hair, Gi-hun steels his heart and turns into the night.

Streetlights cast dim halos as he walks the road away from all he's known into darkness's maw. Towards opportunity, or final moments - he does not know. But his mother will not see him die a coward. Tonight he goes to gamble on fate's chance at ransom from hell Gi-hun hastens through backstreets, hoping to slip past notice unaccosted. But rotten luck dogs his step, it seems.

From darkness leaps a gang of thugs, cruel sneers bearing down on him. Their leader, Kim, steps forward - a man Gi-hun knows well from past "business."

KIM

Fancy seeing you out so late, buddy. Got more rewards for our generous loans, hmm?

Gi-hun backs away, hands raised placatingly. "Please, I was just heading to work so I can repay you, I swear-"

Kim and his goons laugh harshly, descending upon Gi-hun with bruising fists and steel-toed boots. They tear the last of his money and items as repayment, tossing his bleeding form to the street.

As Gi-hun fades into pain's embrace, Kim leans close with parting words. "One month to pay the rest. Otherwise your organs fetch fine coin overseas."

They toss forward a contract signed in Gi-hun's own blood. He has no choice now but the games. With his last ounce of will, Gi-hun drags himself to a pay phone and calls the recruiter's number on trembling lips.

Weakly, he delivers the passphrase "Squid Game wish me luck" and collapses into a sleek black car's backseat. As it pulls away into night, sweet gas slips over Gi-hun, bearing him into sleep's unknown shores... Gi-hun is driven to the games arena and wakes up in a room with 149 other people. Gi-hun then meets Oh Il-nam (Player 001), an old man, who tells Gi-hun that he has dementia and a growing brain tumor. Gi-hun recognizes Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067) as one of the girls he saw at the train station. She is being attacked by Jang Deok-su (Player 101) a vicious gangster Deok-su is a violent, sadistic, and condescending man. He shows little to no remorse or compassion as he progress through the Games' rounds, assaulting and sometimes killing other contestants not only to gain a strategic advantage, but also out of personal spite, until Gi-hun steps in to stop the fight. The guards enter the room and welcome the players, explaining that they will play 8 games over 14 days, and that whoever wins all six games will win 100.26 billion dollar. prize . Some players express disbelief of the games, to which the guard says that they know the players are in large major debts and are in financial hardship and that they need the money the games offer them to have a better life & not die. 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: The first official game in the Squid Game is played by children all around the world. It's the type of game where, the bigger the group, the better it gets. In Red Light, Green Light, a predetermined area is set and while a giant doll stands at one end; with their back turned to the rest of the group, all the others can move. The lone doll chants "red light, green light," and everyone can move. When they get to red , however, everyone has to freeze. If anyone is caught moving, they're dead. The game is simple, and you just have to move from point A to point B without being "seen," but the rules vary. In most cases, the ultimate goal is to get past the doll when their back is turned. In others, you have to touch the tree on which the doll is leaning without being caught moving. The Timer is 15 minutes only Here is my continuation of the harrowing Red Light, Green Light scene:

As the Timer counts down, desperation takes hold. Players 165 and 103 sprint ahead, only to trigger a frenzy of peril as others fall. Player 9's error rings out the first shot, setting Player 70 and 86 into fatal panics.

Chaos erupts as survival instincts war with the rules. Splattered viscera paint the field, dwindling the herd with every shot's cry. By the spree's end, only 120 remain frozen in horror.

All except noble Player 001, who shows compassion lacking in others by demonstratively obeying without fear. His lead emboldens compliance as the ruthless felled pay the ultimate price.

Among the petrified, Gi-hun lies pinned under another's corpse. Childhood friend Sang-woo rouses him from dread, advising reliance on cunning stratagems of camouflage.

Renewed by resolve borne of redemption's call, Gi-hun rises, following Sang-woo's counsel to shadow larger targets unseen. Elsewhere Sae-byeok avenges past wrongs, outwitting her tormentor Deok-su in darkness' cover.

But hindrances intervene, from Sang-woo's falling shelter to injured Player 91 begging aid Ga-hun cannot spare. Liberated at last, Yeong-uk meets grim fate as Ga-hun pushes relentlessly onward.

As survivors near salvation, Ga-hun stumbles at death's threshold, only to be rescued by noble Player 145's final act of mercy. Together they seize redemption from ruin's brink.

The masked overseer watches chillly from above, tallying the mounting cost as dwindling contenders learn cruelty's true face beneath the games. Their crucible has only just begun... As shaken survivors filed in, a guard's words cut through the tumult. Congratulating survivors, he revealed bleak math - 45 lives traded for theirs.

Many broke, begging freedom's boon. But retort came swiftly - redemption, not retribution, birthed these Games. Refusal meant the ultimate forfeit.

Sensing an out, clever Sang-woo sparked hope in clause three's majority rule. The guards agreed, then dropped carnage's costs - cold stacks totalling billions revealing victory's vast veins to be mined.

Yet weighing wealth against worth, opinion divided bitter and fast. As machine awaited their referendum, Gi-hun cast first stone against proceeding, kin following suit.

But for others mired still deeper in desperation's mire, chance shone too bright to refuse, stoking rising tempers as balance teetered on a knife's edge.

Intervention loomed as thunderheads gathered, only broken by noble Il-nam's pivotal vote to end bloodshed here.

Respecting the will of the people, the guards discharged them back to a world whose demons still whispered in nightmares' shroud. Yet their fates now twined - would majority cry compel further iterations of Squid Game in days to come? Only time would tell what horrors, or helps, the future yet held in store... As the vote neared conclusion, tensions flared among divided ranks:

SANG-WOO (passionately): We've come this far - are you all truly willing to cast away fortune for the slim promise of survival outside? Out there we've naught but imminent ruin!

GI-HUN (sternly): And in here only certain death awaits! I'll take my chances in the world before damning others to further sacrifice.

THE WOMAN (desperately): My children starve without this prize! I cannot turn my back on their only hope...

PLAYER 67 (shakily): B-but the things we've seen, the lives lost...can we truly continue bearing such evil?

IL-NAM (wisdom in his weary tone): My young friends, violence breeds more violence, as these Games have shown. We came seeking hope, not each other's end. There must be another way.

As fury crested, a tense hush fell over the gathering as Il-nam neared the lever to end or extend their trial by fire. All watched with bated breath to learn their fates from his frail yet decisive hands. As tensions mount in the vote, players debate their fates:

GUARD: Let the voting commence. Press X to leave, O to continue playing.

GI-HUN presses X with resolve. Others follow suit till it's neck and neck.

SANG-WOO (impassioned): After risking our lives, you'd surrender the reward? This money could change everything!

WOMAN (weeping): My children have no father...please, I need this chance for them!

IL-NAM (thoughtfully): We've seen magic can be mortal. But outside, doom is certain without try.

The crowd grows restless as numbers shift. Fists rise in stands on both sides of the divide.

A hush falls as IL-NAM reaches for the final vote. Eyes lock on his frail hand outstretched over fate's lever...

IL-NAM: Friends, this path brings only pain. Let us leave in peace. Our lives are too great a cost for any game.

His vote drops breaking the tie. X's glow triumphant. GUARD dismisses them with news to ponder - will new games be on horizon? For now, survival must suffice. But daylight reveals old demons wait, relentless, for night's return...

INT. NIGHT STREETS

Gi-hun is dumped with 067 into the dark night. Sang-woo is dropped off with Player 199/Ali who saved Gi-hun in the first game, and 199 asks Sang-woo if he can borrow his phone to make a call. Sang-woo agrees to this, but his phone is dead, so he goes to a nearby convenience store with player 199 to buy a phone charger and some ramen. When he charges his phone, he finds a torrent of messages from the authorities. He nevertheless gives player 199 pizza and cash for a bus ride back home, who proceeds to thank him profusely. Gi-hun immediately goes to a police station and tries to report the game. However, the officers think his story sounds too ridiculous to be true, to the point that they not only refuse to believe him but also mistake him for a crazy person. It's not helped when the business card he gives as proof of the games is redirected to a wrong number, then a disconnected line. Detective Hwang Jun-ho, who has been searching for his missing brother, finds an invitation card in his apartment which was from the game, leading him to suspect Gi-hun is telling the truth. As Ali parted ways with Sang-woo outside the store, gratitude and well-wishes were exchanged:

ALI: Thank you for your kindness, friend. May God walk with you in the dark times ahead.

SANG-WOO: Go safely. And spend that money on something to lift your spirits - we've earned a bit of hope, at least.

Checking his messages, Sang-woo's blood ran cold at numerous MISSED CALLS. Steeling himself, he broke the news gently:

SANG-WOO: My friend, it seems trouble has followed me home. But know you played no part - your conscience is clear.

At the station, Gi-hun's hysterical recounting met only scorn from the jaded officers:

GI-HUN (pleading): Please, you must believe me - lives depend on finding these monsters before it's too late!

OFFICER: Pull yourself together, weirdo. Games that kill? Grow up and go sleep it off.

Days later, Jun-ho's discovery rekindled the dying embers of hope in Gi-hun's eye as they conferred in hushed tones:

JUN-HO: You may have stumbled upon something far darker than imagined. Together perhaps we can shed light in these murky depths...what say you - will you aid my search for truth? Gi-hun's world crumbled further upon finding his empty home. His search led by chance to Sang-woo's plight - debts immense and dear mother's shop all that remained. Though worry for kin bound them, nothing could erase haunts from their recent past.

At the hospital, fresh grief struck as doctors revealed harsh truth - without funds or cure, death's chill crept nearer each day in his mother's failing frame. Guilt's blaze inflamed Gi-hun's every thought; another life now hung on his forgiveness and fortune's turn.

Sae-byeok's sweet brother's words cut deeper still for promises unkept. Yet her meeting with the broker proved darker schemes remained to evade. Hope dwindled for escape and reunion in North Korea's iron grip.

Far from shore, Ali found small mercy fleeting too. Wages denied erupted in an accident most dire, leaving bloody payment in its wake. Flight remained his fragile foothold from vengeance's claim.

So duty and necessity drove them towards an unseen crossroad, where Squid Game's shadows might offer balm, or final blow, to desperate fortunes twisted by other's whims. Redemption's cost grew ever steeper - but what choice had any left but to pay its toll?

Fates were set. In darkness's grip, all that remained was tomorrow's chilling gamble. Answers would come at Blood Price's call... (FULL SCENE EXPLAINED: Gi-hun, not finding his mother at home, searches for her on the street and bumps into Sang-woo, who is afraid to meet his mother, so he watches her from afar while she organizes her fish store. Sang-woo confesses that he has debts totaling 6 billion due to a series of bad investments in futures and had put his mother's store up as collateral in one of those dealings, and he can't pay any of it back. Soon after, Gi-hun receives a call from the Emergency Medical Center that his mother has been diagnosed with severe diabetes and may need to get her feet amputated. At night, despite the doctors' advice and Gi-hun's pleas, she leaves the hospital and refuses treatment, reminding Gi-hun that he had cancelled all their health insurance and drained what little savings they had to get more money to fuel his gambling addiction, hence why they can't afford her getting the treatment and hospitalization to recover. Racked with guilt, Gi-hun swears that he'll make things right and get the money. Sae-byeok, visits her little brother Kang 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.

Meanwhile, Player 199, named Ali, returns to the factory that he works at, and confronts his boss about his pay. His boss refuses to pay him, saying that he doesn't have the money. However, Ali sees him putting an envelope full of cash into his pocket. Ali continues to beg his boss for the money, but Ali's boss becomes annoyed at his persistence and curses at him, starting a fight in which Ali accidentally pushes his boss into a machine when reaching for the envelope, crushing his boss's fingers and causing him to drop the envelope. Ali is horrified at this, but nevertheless snatches the envelope off the floor and runs away.) — Sang-woo speaks to his mother over the phone, lying to her that he is on a business trip. After ending the call, Sang-woo's mother is talking up her son's success to a client when two police officers approach her and inform her that Sang-woo has a warrant out for his arrest, being charged with forgery, embezzlement, and other crimes related to fraud, much to her shock and disbelief. Meanwhile, Sang-woo is lying in a bathtub in his apartment, inhaling smoke to calm down. He is interrupted by someone ringing his doorbell, and when he answers it, he finds a business card to enter in the games again. Ali returns home, his wife alarmed at how he's covered in blood and wondering how he suddenly got a stack of money. Ali only tells her to buy tickets for the first plane back to their home in Pakistan for her and their child, assuring her that he loves her and he'll join them once he gets his job done.

Gi-hun desperately tries to find a way to get the money necessary to save his mother. After being unable to convince a friend to give him a job, he goes to a convenience shop, where he encounters Player 001. The old man claims that he has a friend who lives in the neighborhood and wonders if him and Gi-hun meeting is destiny. They share ramyeon and soju, and the old man reveals that he decided to return to 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. The old man states he prefers to play the games, claiming he might even have a chance to win, than just sit around waiting to die from his brain tumor. Meanwhile, Player 101, a gangster named Deok-su, reconnects with one of his criminal underlings, showing him the game card he got and orders him to gather as many people as he can, figuring they can follow the vans and find a way to break into the location of the games and take all the cash. However, his underling casually informs him that he sold him out and drove him right to a bridge surrounded by armed operators from a Filipino casino, where Deok-su racked up a small fortune in debt without paying it up. Deok-su takes out the traitorous underling and jumps off the bridge to escape and swims to safety.

As a desperate last resort, Gi-hun calling tries to ask his ex-wife for help, only to find that she and her husband are also financially struggling and barely making ends meet as is. They get into an argument about Gi-hun's inability to be a responsible father. Her stepfather offers to give Gi-hun the money on the condition that he cease all contact with with his wife & daughter. Infuriated by the proposal, Gi-hun angrily rejects the money and leaves. On his way home, he encounters Jun-ho, who questions about the business card and the games, but Gi-hun lies and claims he made it all up. Even when Jun-ho informs that he needs his help to save his brother, Gi-hun rejects it, feeling that he can't be of help. As Gi-hun enters his home, he receives another card, an invitation to go back to the games.

Ultimately, everyone decides to return to the games, waiting on the street at midnight to be picked up by the cars. Jun-ho drives close behind, following the van which picked Gi-hun. As they all decide, it's time to run it back ——— All 105 players who quit come back after realizing the outside world is just a hell—which promises equal doses of sweet and deadly— with hidden advantages. Meanwhile, police spy Jun-ho sneaks his way inside. As the vans carry the willing players back to the Game Venue, Hwang Jun-ho follows these vans with his car. The vans arrive to a port going on a ship. Jun-ho sneaks in by attaching himself to the bottom of the last van. On the ship, the workers are now tasked to inspect the players. The worker begins to their job and Jun-ho manages to sneaks into the van pretending to be asleep. When a worker checks Jun-ho's body temperature to check if he's asleep, the device errors and the surprised guard checks again. After the second error, Jun-ho opens his eyes and the two begin fighting. Jun-ho wins by trapping the worker in a headlock, rendering him unconscious. He gets out of the van wearing the worker's clothes, takes his ID and throws the latter into the ocean. A manager notices Jun-ho, who then tells him that he was seasick. The manager buys his lie and warns him about the rules and lets him go. As the ship docked, a familiar chill crept into player's bones though outwardly calm reigned. Behind steel walls uniforms were stripped and issued, hiding knives among flesh.

Ever perceptive, Sae-byeok palmed a blade unseen in mock stupor. Soon the spartan cells echoed waking consciousnesses stirred from fitful rest.

Gi-hun roused Il-nam gently, finding kindred worry in the elder's thoughtful eyes. "Nearly all returned, it seems some debts can only be paid in blood."

Sang-woo and noble Ali joined, solemn greeting exchanged, strength found in unity of purpose. Together over meager fare they pondered terrors to come, bracing spirits as history's harbingers.

Yet for now in this quiet, ghost of camaraderie lingered - faint light glinting off polished steel, hidden talisman against unknown threats stirring further in facility's sterile bowels. Night's true dark business was yet to be revealed, fortunes to be shattered beyond all recognition upon Blood Price's sinister altar...

The final games had begun. Now all that remained was play fate's hand, and hope survival's favor lay among friends new-forged in fire. For beyond these walls entertainment awaited, and with it - judgement for all tied to Squid Game's dark designs. (As players gathered their wits in the grim cellblock, hushed conversation rose:

SANG-WOO: Word travels the Front Man aims higher stakes this round. Caution will be our surest ally.

SAE-BYEOK fingered her hidden blade, eyes steely: Yet greater risk may offer chance to rewrite destinies. I'll not fall to their games tamely.

GI-HUN nodded to Il-nam across from them: And you, old friend? Will you brave the trials to come with us as alliance? Strength lies in numbers, and wisdom such as yours is wealth indeed.

IL-NAM sighed, eyes faraway: I go where this tired body takes me. But together perhaps we can turn fortune's cruel tricks to our advantage, as mice who share one hole against the hunters' hounds.

Footsteps stirred all to wary calm. Breakfast rations arrived through slot in steel, meager fuel for the trial of souls to come. As one they gave silent prayer, and steeled every sinew against the trials destiny held in dreadful promise beyond these walls...

The final game was set. By hook or crook they would play it out, and hope is was fates and not flesh that fell this time in Squid Game's morbid entertainments. Night held its dark bosom close, concealing grim designs none yet dared imagine.) 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. As the game is revealed Honeycomb: Probably one of the hardest or maybe the hardest games in Squid Game, Sugar Honeycombs is frustrating for players because you can't rely on strength, manipulation, or taking advantage of other players. In this game, each player gets a circular tin that can be opened up to reveal a sugar honeycomb with one of four different shapes modeled into it: a circle, a triangle, a star or an umbrella. Armed with nothing but a needle, the players have to carve out the shapes without breaking their design – if the shape doesn't come out whole, the player is killed. Simple, right? The only problem is the sugar honeycomb is extremely fragile, and can break into pieces if you're not careful. While most players use the needles to make tiny incisions on the edges of each shape. everyone is nervous and scared during this game due to the high stakes and almost impossibleness - The room fell into a macabre hush, punctuated only by scrape of needles and held breath.

GI-HUN'S hands shook as he surveyed his umbrella's fragile lines. "Steady...steady..." he whispered like prayer, piercing surface with ginger care.

Nearby, SANG-WOO cut precisely, mask of calm belying racing thoughts. "Gi-hun, focus - see shape as problem to solve. Hesitation will prove killer here."

A strangled cry rent silence as first pip shattered, player collapsing in shock's aftershock. Others flinched as guards dragged broken doll away unceremoniously.

SAE-BYEOK etched with lethal determination, murmuring to sister nearby. "Fear serves only enemy here, little one. Breathe slowly, see creation not destruction. We will see dawn..."

Sobs rose from a child as parents fell, etched into trauma's first etchings. Yet work went on, grim and relentless as any factory line.

IL-NAM placed steadying hand on GI-HUN'S arm. "Within each trial lies hidden lesson, if we have eyes to see. Your gift will guide - have faith." With that, the Old Man returned serenely to his task.

GI-HUN steeled himself anew, focusing past fear's fringes to salvation within the lines. His needle sang salvation's fragile song, as all held collective breath for fates to fall... Sweat beaded Gi-Hun's brow as fragile form faltered under trembling needle. In desperation he held his candy aloft, a glint catching his eye - where perspiration marred smooth surface, shapes edges blurred.

An idea sparked; he swiped the damp spot, watching Form begin to bend yet hold. Stealthy nibbles dissolved boundaries 'til shape slid free, a ray of hope amid crushing tension.

Not far off, defiant Sae-Byeok completed hers with graceful precision, tossing entire delicacy in guards' jeering faces. To Deok-Su she slipped something more, a grin and whisper carrying hidden meaning.

As others grasped Gi-Hun's tactic, new life breathed into fading prospects. Sang-Woo watched keenly, pride warming calculating gaze, while Il-Nam smiled appreciatively at the student now a teacher.

In the control room, baffled workers traded puzzled looks at strange phenomenon taking hold on screens. Rules were bent yet none broken - ingenuity, it seems, finds loopholes even in Squid Game's tightest designs.

With seconds left, final pieces fell as Deok-Su blazed through with Sae-Byeok's gift. Friends old and new breathed easy, survival granted one challenge more. But Jun-Ho's ruse was tested, summoned before watchman's stern inspection... One of the Players, No Sang-hun, to reveal his dalgona back on the playground. Sang-hun gently displays his damaged umbrella as his hands are trembling. Before the soldier can shoot and murder Sang-hun, he climbs upon the guard who is really police spy Hwang Jun-ho, stabs him in the eye with the needle, and steals the guard's gun while holding him hostage as a human shield. Then Sang-hun shouts loudly about how the winners received easy shapes while the losers received difficult shapes. The Front Man then makes his way to the game room while keeping an eye on things from the control room. The soldiers then use their firearms to kill the players who didn't complete in time; the victorious players can even hear the gunshots as they descend the stairs to the lobby. Jun-ho being kept hostage is then ordered to take off his mask by Sang-hun. Jun-ho fears this will be the end of his cover as if he dies the police won't know and the games will forever continues, he then grabs his mask and before he can take it off the front man shoots Sang-hun thankfully saving the undercover police spy. With Sang-hun's shadow already falling from memory, the Front Man's attention turned icy upon Jun-ho and his ilk.

"Your faces are forbidden fruit in this place. Should any grasp what lurks beneath the masks, execution will be your reward - and none left to utter tales beyond these walls."

A chill fell over staff as grim import struck home. Jong-shil spoke hesitant, "But sir, what then of safety if threats arise? Without identity our lives mean little..."

The response came swift as judgment. "Lives mean less than zero here. Only Game matters, and none disrupt its sanctity. From now your identities are void - exist only as extensions of this realm."

With that, the Front Man turned on heel, business concluded. Jun-ho's mind reeled at the bars now caging his investigation. But for now disguise held fast, and through it chance remained to untangle Squid Game's shrouded machinations...

If shapes could be seen, and lives so easily silenced, what deeper horrors lurked in the Front Man's frigid eyes? Jun-ho could only brace for further revelations – and pray skills kept pace with the rising stakes. For here, survival was job one...

the announcer says the results of the game, stating that out of 105 players, 79 were eliminated and 25 made it. The announcer then announces that 100 more bonus people have been added putting the total left to 125. The announcer also announced that it's mealtime, and all the players get in line for the meal, which is a boiled egg and a soda in a glass bottle. Jang Deok-su complains that this isn't enough food, so he, along with his gang players, cut in line for seconds. Due to this, five other players don't get their meals. Player 117 points out who cut the line, and this leads to Player 114 getting angered at the five. 114 attempts to grab the drink from Deok-su, which causes the bottle to break. In a fit of rage, Deok-su then shoves 114 onto the floor, beating him brutally. Cho Sang-woo and Seong Gi-hun check on 114 only to find that he is dead. The guards do nothing besides get ready to dispose of his body, much to Gi-hun's disgust. As dusk's veil fell, four survivors gathered strength in comradery's glow. Sang-Woo laid plans to brace against impending terrors, while Gi-Hun sought solace in numbers and noble heart.

Yet some chose solitude as shield against further pain. Sae-Byeok kept cold council, though Gi-Hun offered warm protection without demand for recompense. In her eyes lingered bloody scenes not soon forgotten, writing a new language upon eyes too young for such schooling.

Still, beneath flinty exterior flickered ember resilient hope, fanned by brave soul's outstretched hand. Though shielding pride from further fracture, part of her yearned to lay fear and fury down a while, and find gentle haven 'til black tide receded from crimson shores.

For now, walls stood fast - but Gi-Hun's promise remained, a quiet prayer unasked but not unheeded, that should dread stir in blackest night an open door awaited bearing light and fellowship for one accustomed to alone.

Darkness crept slow to players deep in preparations, yet none shook more nerves this night than spectres wandering shattered minds' vast and shadowed halls... The stillness of night pressed heavy as players turned fitful on thin palettes, waiting for sleep that would not come. Several yards away, hushed voices wove plans between Gi-hun, Sang-Woo, and Ali.

Sang-Woo spoke low, "Night creates opportunity as much as threat. While some scheme, others may bolster our numbers. Go lightly, my friends - trust and strength can tip the scales."

Gi-hun nodded, stealing glance at a lone silhouette tossing restlessly. Rising, he crept to her side and whispered, "Sae-Byeok? There is mercy, even here, if you wish it. Your burdens need not stand alone, this night or next."

She started at his approach, but lingering embers sparked and she said wearily, "My ghosts find no rest. But your company, perhaps, could starve their hold a while."

As Sae-Byeok joined their circle, Gi-hun made introductions softly. Ali smiled warmly and Sang-Woo inclined his head, ever studying with subtle eyes.

Their talk turned tactics, tales, and slim hopes yet undashed. Bonds strengthen absent light's revelations, but present in shared whispers that lifted shadows from weary hearts and minds, if only for a waning hour.

In sleep's gray mists, plans and comrades become beacons to guide passage from this place toward home and loved ones waiting...if dawn granted leave to go in peace once more. Sae-Byeok's composed façade belied depths none there had plumbed. Sang-Woo, ever meticulous, probed with caution, "Your skills give reason for suspicion. Why join us now in truth, when past sides held to yourself?"

She considered with haunted eyes before responding. "True, I came for sister alone. But monsters prowl this place whose fury I know all too well. Together our chances improve."

Gi-Hun interjected gently, "We all wish home. Your aid is welcome, your motives your own." But Sang-Woo remained unconvinced.

Sae-Byeok regarded him solemnly. "Distrust I bear as badge of pride - it kept me living when all was ripped away. But tonight, survival demands alliance o'er quarrel. Your wariness is well-earned, sir, yet I offer truce sincere."

Her steel glinted dulled by weariness, not malice. In her wounds they saw flickers of their own. Sang-Woo softened, judging her mettle worthy though origins cloaked still in grief-wrought shadow.

A fragile armistice bloomed 'tween souls whose paths and purposes entwined by dark design - one night's shelter from phantoms haunting their tormented dreams. For now it must suffice. Dawn would declare if bonds held 'gainst this game's rising tides... - the announcer tells the staff to get in position for the Special Round. Jun-ho, masked as a manager, gets in an elevator with other guards and head to their rooms for the night. The lights then go out and an all out bloody brawl fight breaks out. Deok-su goes towards 8, stabbing with a part of the glass bottle that broke earlier. As they screams, each row of beds falls down. Sae-byeok then gets choked by one of the members of Deok-su's team but beats them up, the main fight is Sae vs Deok as they both beat the shit out of each other to pulp but Sae takes out a belt and beats Deok as the night of horror continues but the Old Man/Number 001 is scared for his life so it's up to Ali, Sang Woo, & Gi-Hun to protect him The dorm descended into a howling abattoir, bloodlust's miasma thick upon the charnel air. Yet at the hellish heart, one duel yet raged supreme.

Bruises flowered violet upon Deok-su's ruined flesh as Sae-byeok's wrathful rain beat merciless obsession. Countless strikes fell, yet her burning rage found no sating spark. Finally, broken vessel that he was, pleas began trembling from Deok-su's bloody lips.

"Mercy, mercy - I beg of you! No more, please, no more..."

Sae-byeok's eyes held only frozen austerity as she loomed above his shattered form. Her scathing reply cut deeper than any wound:

"Mercy? From me? Only the weak cry such, little boy. Your kind are all piss and wind - you reap what you've sown."

With a resounding crack, her final blow fell. Deok-su knew only pain as she strode off, vengeance satisfied, to find worthier foes amid the fray.

Above, the Front Man watched impassively, sipping ices that tasted far sweeter than the red feast below. Another savage turn had graced his Game - and with it, further tragic truth revealed of the players in his play... — the next morning, The guards come into the dorm, checking through every remaining player. Police spy Jun-ho goes towards Gi-hun, asking him if he knows someone named "Hwang In-ho." Gi-hun states that they don't use their names here. Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Player 001/OldMan, Ali, and Sae-byeok all talk to each other. Gi-hun asks if Player 001 is alright, and Ali expresses worry for him. Gi-hun then asks where he is from, to which Ali says he's from Pakistan. Gi-hun asks where that's at, and Sang-woo says that it's north of India. Gi-hun then notices Sae-byeok, and asks what's wrong carefully, she says she just had a fun night beating the hell out of Deok, pointing to him with his gang in pain across the room, Ali then asks Player 001 what his name is, to which he doesn't reply as he has a hard time remembering what it is cause of his dementia. As guards did their grim tally, voices rouse amid survivors gathered.

Gi-hun gripped Sae-byeok's shoulder gently. "Your fire kept us standing. We're in your debt."

Her lip curled in wry smile. "That bastard won't soon forget."

Ali sighed, patting 001's frail hand. "Rest easy, father. Here are friends."

Sang-woo's keen eyes found Jun-ho across the floor. "That one watches too keenly. His purposes remain unclear."

Jun-ho met Sang-woo's measured look, holding it a beat before moving on. His mission weighed heavy, cloaked in many masks.

Sae-byeok stretched aching limbs. "Prey remains afoot that I've yet to properly bleed. And that cowardly pig - I'll have his other eye before we're done."

Hard roads stretched ahead, but together they yet walked and fought and bled as one. Bonds forged in fury and blood may yet prove this hell's sole refuge, should they weather coming storms as allies true. a few hours later, Necessities called as Sae needed to go to the bathroom, and weary flesh its respite claimed. Sae-byeok followed staff to necessary chambers, fire in her eyes still half-banked by night's abuse.

Deok-su's spite, it seemed, demanded onefinal flame be stoked. Surrounded by slavering hounds, malice writ large upon battered features, headvanced with twisted grin.

"Bitch, you've had your fun. But I've claws yet to use, as you'll shortly see."

Sae-byeok smiled cold, all ice and razored steel. "Come, dogs. I've leash and heel for mutts, if you've bones still yearning break."

Her challenge met was carnage unleashed anew. Fists, feet and fury sang as bones were rent and bodies hurled 'cross shattered stalls. One by one her assailants fell, till only she and Deok-su in ruins stood.

He scrambled backward as she closed in, steel glinting between blood-slick fingers. Cornered, choice was made, and water's kiss would douse his fury's flames for now.

His glare promised more, when chances more auspicious rose, but for today defeat was bitterest draft. Leaving him wet and raging, Sae-byeok strode forth to bearings of her own once more. Let future fight that score decide... Deok-su emerged from stall, coughing bile as Sae-byeok advanced without mercy.

"Had your fill, cur? Or will there be more before we're through?"

His eyes burned with twisted fires banked but far from quenched. "This isn't over, bitch. I'll make you bleed, make you beg—"

A gurgling moan escaped as her boot crushed his manhood underfoot. She leaned close, voice lethal whisper.

"You've spilled your last here, mongrel. Next words from those wormy lips had best be prayers for swift end, lest I flay that grimy hide inch by inch and feed you piece by piece. Now crawl, before I change my mind..."

He scrabbled away like roach, hatred and agony writ plain upon visage striped with tiles. Her work here done, Sae-byeok turned clinical eyes to scan her butchery's remains littering the floor.

One stirred faintly, spitting blood and teeth. She stood over him implacable. "Your masters' debt remains unpaid in full, dog. Tell him so, if words yet form upon that pulped throat..."

Her message rendered, Sae-byeok took leave of charnel scene, each footfall ringing out impending storms yet to break... The Next Game Commences: Tug Of War: Easily one of the best rounds in Squid Game, the tug of war challenges each group of players to use all their strength and the best of their skills to make the other group fall to their death. There is only one rule: pulling on a thick rope to make the opposing team fall past the center mark. In order to make that happen, anything goes: psyching out the adversary group, pulling with all your strength, and other techniques. Players are trying to get the strongest people on their team knowing that's an advantage! As teams gathered for night's next trial, Sang-woo saw shadows gathering fast upon the horizon. Deok-su and his ilk watched them close as wolves circling wounded deer.

Sae-byeok followed his grim gaze, lip curling in a silent snarl. "Leave those mongrels to me. I'll have their hearts for dinner before this game is done."

Gi-hun laid a calming hand upon her arm. "For now, steel your will - we've challenge ahead demanding all our focus and strength united."

Number 001 huddled close by Ali, fear writ plain upon his aged features. But nods and whispers among the group lent each man fragmented promises of purpose and defense 'gainst the evils circling, waiting for slightest fracture in their fragile fellowship to sink teeth into.

As they turned determined eyes to rivals assembled - teams Six, Twelve, Thirty-Nine and One Hundred Twenty-Three sneering hungrily across bloody sands - each steeled heart and limb to give all in desperate gambit for one more sunrise. Beyond this trial of sinew, deeper hells of intrigue and danger awaited... but for now, the Game demanded all their mettle, and more. 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. The first two teams to face off are Team 1, which comprises of Deok-su and his gang, and Team 7. Team 1 wins almost instantly, pulling Team 7 off of their platform and to their deaths. Guard 28 and Jun-ho then carry Team 7 in a box, marking it with a cross. Team 4 (Gi-hun's team) and Team 5 then get chosen for the next round. old Man 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 Sang-woo and Sae due to his old age. Gi-hun tells them to just listen to what the old man has to say. Player 001 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. THE ROUND STARTS: As ropes tensed, Fourth's union held true where others splintered. Fifth strained vainly against immovable bulwark.

Just as victory seemed theirs, tables shuddered - Leader slipped, Fifth regained purchase in nick of doom. Momentum swung swift as pendulum, Fourth dragged ever closer crumbling edge.

Dismay gripped them, terror of the Abyss' call clutching cold hands 'round hearts. All seemed lost...

Yet Sang-woo's steady eyes gleamed, calculating mind crafting desperate stratagem. "Three paces forward - on my mark!"

Sae-byeok shrieked protest, horror etched upon pale features - but Sang-woo's certainty swayed where hers faltered.

Gi-Hun met player-captain's resolute nod, trusting completely in friend bound tight with invisible cords far stronger than any earthly rope. As one, Fourth planted heels...and leapt into void —- Following Cho Sang-woo's advice to take three steps forward in the Tug of War game, Seong Gi-hun and the rest of Team 4 are able to make Team 5 fall over. Team 5 is unable to regain their footing and with their second wind, Gi-hun and his team are able to easily pull back their opponents and win the game as Team 5 fall to their deaths. Gi-hun, however, can't relish the victory, feeling guilty with how he had to send ten people to their deaths to ensure his own survival. The 40 remaining contestants must survive the night, even though no one particularly trusts anyone. Gi-hun and his team create a barricade for protection, and Gi-hun warns Jang Deok-su that he shouldn't put so much trust in his underlings, many of whom are violent criminals themselves and Deok-su is an easy target that many of them would want to kill to weed out other competitors. Deok-su then commands his team to take the night off and spends the rest of the night paranoid.

Sang-woo and Ali Abdul bond as they keep watch to protect the rest of the team as they sleep, and Ali starts talking about his family. Most of his family lives back in Pakistan, and he brought his wife and son with him to work in Korea before he sent them back to the country. Being a poor immigrant without much money made him want to participate in the games. — 4 guards go with Number 29 (Jun-Ho to the sewers to dispose bodies,) The guards also start to become suspicious of Guard 29 (Hwang Jun-ho in disguise), who is acting oddly as he continuously asks questions about his job that he should know - As final watch ticked by, four guards bore grimmest task - disposal of the fallen in depths below. Yet one among their ranks aroused subtle unease with inquiries strange, seemed out of place.

Guard Twenty-Nine - a taciturn man, keeping own counsel. But questions now flew thoughtless, probing corners they knew better left shadowed. His brothers-in-arms exchanged gestures, meaningful looks when Twenty-Nine's back was turned. Trust begins buckling under pressure of the unexplained...

Within dank corridors below, corpses were relinquished cold to scavenging dark. Yet whispers now traveled alleys overheard, seeds of doubt taking whispered root.

"Twenty-Nine's purpose seems more than simple duty calls. Best keep closer eye, lest darker tides creep in unawares."

What deeds were germinating beneath molten panes of inquisitive eyes? Darker scenes yet were these grim seeds' flowering? Time alone would tell, as Squid Game's many mysteries grew deeper still in belly of that beast...

For now, tasks were done. But change was brooding, carried on unseen pale wings where light shed no answers. And Squid Game's shadowed dominion held more puzzles than any eye could see... after getting suspicious however the guards take action. Jun-ho felt the tides turning against him as distrust's tendrils curled ever tighter 'round his mask of lies. When the other guards confronted him, guns bare in challenge's cold steel, panic seized his throat.

"Please, brothers, there must be explanation for inquiries! Duty alone guides me, as with you all."

Their leader eyed him cold. "Cease your protestations, man. We see the shape of serpents coiled behind your words. Remove that visage - now."

Fingers reached, closing death's inevitable grip over crumbling guise. As falsehoods collapsed around his pounding heart, Jun-ho braced for end to come - when rumbling shook stench and shadow from below.

Furious torrents burst pipes' rotting bonds, drowning labyrinth in swirling surge within moments. Men scrambled screams drowned out beneath deluge's merciless depths. As waters rose, Jun-ho spared fleeting thought to grab floating corpse-debris, desperate camouflage as currents bore him twisting into drowned bowels of the place.

For now, the flood had doused his flames of discovery...but how long before lurking evil emerged again to dog his heels and unravel all? Squid Game's tides remained beyond any man's command, yet Jun-ho still vowed to see truth surface, whatever depths it forced him plumb... While the four other guards head out of the sewer, Jun-Ho however makes his way to The Front Man's file room looking for some info. Jun-ho sneaks into the Front Man's office and finds a large room with records of the Squid Game dating back to when it started in "2004" and finds out his missing brother who turns out to be who he asked Gi-him about, Hwang In-ho, had won the game back in 2007. (As waters rose, Jun-ho swam swift currents bearing him into shadows' depths. Emerging ragged, he spied faint light beyond - files, answers cloaked but grasping reach.

Stealth borne of dark calling served well now. Jun-ho stole through halls, holding borrowed breath, till one room's glow parted gloom before him vast as secrets' sea.

Row on row stretching endlessly, a ledger's damning years unfurled beneath flickering fluorescents' pale spell. Hands that shook not from chill alone rifled pages, plucking clues from teeming dark like jewels from some infernal tide.

And there - a name leapt forth, pierced memory healed not by time. "Hwang In-ho...2007." Pain and hope warred on Jun-ho's battered features, storm unleashed anew within by drowned specter dragging him back down pathways better left untouched.

Questions swarmed thicker than the waters left behind. Where had this lead brought fallen brother - and how far would Jun-ho follow, to wring last answers from Squid Game's jealous grasp?

Nothing was certain in this place, but one truth remained - Jun-ho's course was set, into heart of that which hunted sleep by night and drove him ever onward into mysteries deeper than any ocean's floor...) As next trial's gauntlet loomed, Fourth's remnants gathered heavy-hearted. Gi-hun's eyes fell upon 001, horror and pity twisting gut at evidence of terrors endured alone in waking shadows.

Discretely he moved to help cover shame no man should bear, meeting elderly gaze with look holding no judgment, only compassion for all their shared hell had wrought. A tiny gesture, yet one rekindling flickers of hope where all seemed dead.

Deeper in facility's bowels, Jun-ho delved still where no footfalls should sound. But even the most twisted of places hold watchers unseen, eyes that miss nothing.

And as Front Man monitored endless banks of screens, movement caught periphery - shape out of place, seizing focus entire. Intruder, where none should walk but shades indebted to his dark domains.

Rage lit cold fuse within, sending tremors through grim corridors. Prey had been sighted, stalking hallowed hunt where he reigned absolute.

Jun-ho's time of discovery was nearing its end, trapped alone within labyrinthine jaws of the beast he'd dared so greatly provoke... — As partnerships were forged, eyes carefully assessed costs and benefits each bond might incur when next trial came.

Gi-hun watched Sang-woo and Ali pair astutely, judging their union most formidable alliance skill and strength could compose. Declining partners less sure to boost his prospects, he turned kindly eyes to 001's haunted aspect, seeing there debts none but himself could repay.

Their union sealed, gathered Players turned grim eyes to faceless overseer, dreading pronouncement soon to come. And come it did, splitting hearts more surely than any blade:

"Marbles. One bag each, one life. Play to win your partner's marbles or forfeit your own."

Horror fell like shroud upon assembly. Friends and enemies alike, no bond could withstand that fell decree uniting all in dread certainty - that by game's end, hands once clasping hopeful must instead be clenched round other's choking throat.

As pairs withdrew clinging to fleeting instants of camaraderie doomed, deeper mysteries of Squid Game's sadistic conduct loomed. But for now, all was shrouded in funereal silence as Players reconciled themselves to becoming executioner or victim, on morrow that none wished dawn... As dreaded dawn broke pallid light upon Squid Game's bloodied sands, the grim task awaiting weighed upon friends gathered like shrouds.

None spoke, for words seemed feeble veils before the stark prospect of betrayal; comrades' lives reduced to counters in a monstrous wager caring naught for bond or heart. Despair was etched deep upon haggard faces mirroring one another's hellish fates.

Only Sang-woo met Gi-hun's eyes unflinching, thoughts calculating cold behind stoic mask. An understanding passed between them unspoken - in this place, mercy was folly. Victory alone could lift the curse of death's sure and waiting shadow.

So with leaden feet they turned from camaraderie's fragile warmth towards arena calling them to dance upon the darkest razor's edge. Alone each must walk thatStygian path, yet still their gazes sought one another briefly, drawing what small comfort could be had from eyes of kin bound for the same ending, in Squid Game's feast of slaughter soon to come.

None knew which bag held final marble, which hand the friendly grasp that pulled them under endless dark. But all knew dawn had brought them one step nearer to that lightless shore, where memory and torment would be all that awaited those left standing 'mid the ruin.

Onwards then into the pit's maw, as Squid Game's gears ground ever on... Beneath storm-wracked skies, grim partners took their places, each pair staring into abyss reflection of the other held in mirror of their fateful choice.

Ali met Sang-woo's icy stare level, unflinching. "Even or odd, let us begin." His friend - his enemy now, by Squid Game's ruthless decree. Sang-woo nodded, palm extending clenched offerings of life or its end behind fate's veil.

Meanwhile across black sands, Gi-hun carefully explained child's game to aged friend, worn features tightening further in misery that youth must be scourge of elders' years. 001 regarded his savior solemnly, then raised shaking hand in hope that simplicity might stay tightening noose, for moments more.

First draw, first throw - would mercy or malice tip each scale towards its grim conclusion? None breathed as lots were cast, only Squid Game's overseers bearing witness as shadows gathered thick...

Then whispers rippled outwards slow as circling crows, bearing ill news or relief as games commenced in grim earnest and wheels of fate began their grinding turn. Onward all were swept towards destiny's red shores, as Players danced their last upon that stage of funeral shrouds. Player 030 and Player 031, a married couple, are in disbelief to realize that one of them will not survive. The four main pair-ups are Sang-woo and Ali, Player 001/Old Man and Gi-hun, Sae-byeok and Jang Deok-Su. As games drew towards their bloody conclusions, one pairing's fate seem sealed yet still careened towards darkness by way of violence.

Sae-byeok held all but one marble, victory hovering within reach of freedom from this ghastly place. Behind her, Jang Deok-su wavered upon the shuddering brink, desperation leeching sanity from fevered eyes.

"Share them!" he cried raggedly. "Let us both leave this cursed isle! I beg of you - show mercy!" But in Sae-byeok's gaze was flint harder than Squid Game's overseers' hearts.

"You asked for revenge," she spat, turning away. "Now you'll have it." Her words were final as death's own knell...yet still Deok-su lunged with madness' failing strength.

The brawl was brief. Sae-byeok moved with catlike grace honed from battles far deadlier than this, carving talons raking flesh and drawing shrieking gasps in flurry too swift for eyes to follow.

When stillness fell again, she pressed thumb brutally into bruised, battered cheek of man become whimpering, mewling thing writhing at her feet. Calm as gravestone, Sae-byeok uttered last words he would hear:

"The game continues. Either Pray for miracle, or try taking what's mine again - and I will end you faster than you can howl."

With that ominous portent hanging heavy as funeral bells, she walked on towards fate's tangled design weaving all plays' parts in this living nightmare's loom... Sang-woo and Ali begin playing the game. Ali supposedly doesn't know how to play that well, so Sang-woo teaches him, and Ali ends up gaining the upper-hand quickly. Sang-woo quickly grows nervous of Ali, and though Ali is clearly unhappy about beating Sang-woo, the latter forces him to keep playing. Eventually, Sang-woo is down to his last marble and furiously accuses Ali of cheating. Ali denies this, and before Sang-woo can grow more violent, he is stopped by one of the guards at gunpoint. Sang-woo then begs Ali for his life and for his family, as he can't die and leave his mother. But Ali says that he has a family and a life too. Sang-woo, however, tells Ali of a plan where they can both survive, by finding other teams that have not yet finished their games. Sang-woo explains that when the timer runs out, some teams may still have no winner, and the guards will have the remaining players play a new game in teams, which they can then both win. Sang-woo sends Ali to find stronger players to recruit into their team, and ties Ali's pouch of marbles around his neck to prevent anyone else from stealing them. Ali seems hesitant, but being the sweet soul he is ultimately trusts Sang-woo and goes off to find other pairs. Meanwhile, Gi-hun tries to play the game with Player 001, but the old man seemingly has suffered a severe lapse in his lucidity. Player 001 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 Player 001 finally accepts to play marbles, Gi-hun finds himself losing until he has one marble left, but realizing Player 001 cannot remember his bet, lies to him and begins winning back their marbles. Eventually, Player 001 finds himself out of marbles and asks Gi-hun if he could borrow one marble. Gi-hun apologizes, and is about to hand over his marbles to a guard, when Player 001 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, Player 001 gets back up again and continues "searching for his house". (As Squid Game's sands slipped ever faster towards final, inevitable climax, two Players' fates remained yet unresolved upon that dread arena.

Gi-hun stared in quiet anguish at elderly 001's sinking into confusion's depths, memory shattered like seaworn shells tossed by pitiless tides. "Please, we must play - for both our lives!" he urged partner losing grasp on all but oldest recollections.

At length the old man acquiesced, yet proved no match for Gi-hun's desperation-honed skill. Advantage teetered upon razor's edge as victory slipped from feeble fingers time and again.

Seeing winning within grasp yet cost too high, merciful lie tasted as bitter as defeat upon Gi-hun's parched tongue. Through fog of falsehood, tide inexorably turned until 001 spoke words staying hand clutching lone salvation:

"One remains - may I borrow?"

Horror ripped Gi-hun's features as truth emerged too late: game unfinished still, for in elder's addled travels one final marble evaded notice. Hope drained from world as certain as Players' wasting sands, leaving two kin bound to twist alone upon Squid Game's lethal gyre...

Until at last delirium called 001 wandering once more. Their contest remained perpetually unfinished it seemed, as two souls writhed inextricably in torment wrought by Squid Game's design alone. What end might yet bring clemency, for these last standers upon death's brink...?) Meanwhile, Sang-woo reveals that he had hidden all of the marbles for himself, and informs a guard that he has won the challenge. Ali has finished searching the compound, but sees Sang-woo already at the exit about to be led out by a guard. Shocked, Ali checks his pouch to and finds only small pebbles. He realizes that he has been deceived by his friend before being shot by a guard, while Sang-woo can only look away after betraying the sweet soul for his own survival. (The threads of fate weave their cruel design, and so another's story reached its end upon Squid Game's sands now stained with tragedy.

As Sang-woo stood before the merciless guards, proclaiming victory through betrayal's blade, little did he know another's eyes witnessed that moment sealing his friend's doom. For unseen among the ruins, Ali emerged from his fruitless search only to see hope denied in cruelest fashion.

His trembling fingers swept inside the pouch, disbelief curdling to horror as small stones glinted dully in place of life. Then up his eyes were drawn, finding Sang-woo above - once brother, now smiling strangler grinning down through veil of blood.

In Ali struggled waves of anguish far beyond tears - grief, rage, crushing guilt that by trusting one last time, he'd doomed himself to this grim place's slaughter. Yet still, ever gentle soul, part of him wished only to grasp Sang-woo tight and beg meaning from that gloating stare now strange as any overseer's cold mask.

Alas, it was not to be. For as Ali took first staggering step, fate's scissors snapped closure on their thread - and the guard's gun rang out its deathly knell, felling trust's last vessel where he stood.

As Ali crumpled into obscurity's shroud, a stray thought wandered if somewhere beyond sight, a child might look up at change of seasons and feel absence never to be filled. But here, all that remained was one man turning from ruin wrought, while Squid Game's wheels swallowed the fallen into merciless grind once more.) During all of this, Gi-hun follows Player 001 around, begging him to keep playing. The old man suggests betting everything on one game, to which Gi-hun is outraged. However, Player 001 then reveals that he was aware of Gi-hun's cheating the whole time and has been letting him win. Disgusted at his own actions, Gi-hun begins to cry, but Player 001 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, Player 001 tells Gi-hun he finally remembers his full name: Oh Il-nam. After Gi-hun left Il-nam with a soldier, a gun shot is heard and the announcer says that Player 001 was eliminated. Gi-hun continues to slowly walk away, crying. And Sae beats Deok, as the game ends with only Sae-byeok, Gi-hun, Sang-woo, & Player 30 left…… As Squid Game's final players gathered contemplating the horrors that brought them here, each bore private torments seared into soul too deep for words.

Gi-hun stood numb, brother's 001 last embrace lingering as if to shield from truths now cruelly exposed. To cling so near escape, yet have it torn away leaving only agony's hollow mockery of victory...what bitterness could equal this place's masterful cruelty?

Sae-byeok breathed freer without Deok-su's shadow looming, yet could find no joy in another's end - only reminder of beasts humanity creates when driven to extremity. A necessary evil perhaps, but a stain clinging still to spirit scarred by past's old wounds.

Sang-woo told himself Ali's demise a rational choice, yet nights would know different tales as sleeping mind betrayed waking justifications. To live is human; to kill, divine - but what strange gods might know this territory of darkest grays, where mercy and madness blurred in survival's name?

And Player 30...ah, better leave words unsaid regarding depths that one might sink, having witnessed love torn violently into nothingness before uncaring eyes of monsters posing as mankind.

Thus in heavy stillness did few threads entwining all draw taut, awaiting only flick of overseers' cruel fingers to snap completion on their binding - and end this terminal dance of death upon Squid Game's dread carrion stage... Sae-byeok picked at her meal uneasily, the dormitory air heavy with grief. Gi-hun hovered like a ghost, eyes hollow, when Sang-woo approached.

"Still moping over that old man? He was a stranger." Sang-woo scoffed.

Gi-hun didn't respond. Across the table, Player 30 began to weep.

"Please...end this nightmare. I can't live without her."

Sang-woo rounded on him furiously. "After all we've sacrificed? Quitting means it was for nothing!"

Player 30 broke down, pleading through tears. "I have nothing left..."

A hand grasped his shoulder firmly. "We understand." Sae-byeok spoke gently. "But Sang-woo is also right. For now, we must go on."

Gi-hun stared into his meal. "For what purpose?"

Anger flashed in Sang-woo's eyes. "Victory, of course! Don't tell me you're considering giving up now?"

A long silence followed. At last Gi-hun stirred, a new resolve in his eyes. "No...we keep going. For them."

Sae-byeok smiled sadly. "Then we go to the end, whatever it may be."

Player 30 continued to cry as the others prepared for their fateful final challenge, bonds of suffering drawing them into the darkness ahead Darkness before dawn held its breath as Squid Game's next tragedy unfurled. Awaking, players found Player 30's bed demolished - guards revealed its tenant gone, soul fled from burden too much to bear.

Shock gripped all but one. Sang-woo knelt where friend fallen, sickness gnawing guilt he'd stoked to victory's alter yet finding only ashes in mouth. Perhaps in wake of loss, conscience's stirrings had begun...

Too soon, sickle-wielding reaper arrived to cut short mourning. Led once more into hell, players' hearts sank at glass bridge stretching into mist...and rules ensuring each must master alone life's lottery anew.

First launched themselves without gauge, left praying instinct proved sound guide over death's yawn. As turns passed, latter players gained edge from former's fate - yet cost weighed heavier with every soul dropped screaming into fog, imprinting failures on mind like brand.

All knew this game would demand most merciless choice of all. For as clock began its relentless countdown to obliteration, wrong move would see not life alone forfeit...but friends' struggles, blood spilled in vain. Then, decision must be made through smoke - dive into unknown...or stand frozen, and let Squid Game declare its victor by grimmest writ of all.

This, then, was players' final exam - and death held open arms to greet all who dared not pass its test of frail humanity over logic's cold cruelty. Only time would reveal who might emerge living...and who must surrender all that yet remained. Meanwhile, As Squid Game's threads drew taut towards terminal knot, ominous portents gathered beyond contest's grim borders. There, the Front Man performed his part well - playing perfect host to VIP gallery anticipated with unconcealed relish.

Arriving amidst fanfare befitting their lofty stations, masked patrons exuded wealth and influence. Golden masks lent visages of exotic beasts watching humans writhing below for bloodsport's vulgar gratification. Americans, it seemed, held plurality stake - yet subtler tongues betrayed far-flung intrigues woven through this spectacle of brutality.

Led to observation deck amid fawning attendants, silver-tongued Front Man regaled guests with previews of 'entertainment' to come. Wagers were placed with practiced nonchalance, lives reduced to mere counters in grand game none dared admit true design. Excitement permeated sterile atmosphere as zero hour approached - then, signal came.

Down upon the bridge, doomed souls embarked walks to shattering conclusions ignorant of vultures awaiting above. And so the games began anew, observed through one-way mirror separating predator from prey in Squid Game's hierarchy destined since foundation's primal stones were laid... Gi-hun: There's enough panels left, but we must hurry.

Sang-woo: Not if those ahead dawdle. Move, Sae!

Sae: I...can't. My injuries...

Sang-woo scoffed. "Coward."

Gi-hun stepped forward as the light dimmed. "I see faint marks...this one!"

His guess held true, lifting their hopes. But final panel remained shrouded...

Sang-woo growled. "Choose, or I'll end you myself!"

Heart pounding, Gi-hun leapt onto the glass—and felt solidness beneath his feet.

Safe on the far side at last, they watched remaining tiles shatter into razor rain.

Above, masked patrons erupted into cheers and cries of glee, fortunes flooding through bets placed on outcome of life and death.

Through blood sport's grime, players' eyes met—speaking wordless volumes of horrors faced and survived this day, bonding souls now bound by ties none could sever...

Meanwhile, Jun-Ho has escaped the island the games were being held at after going through the sewer and manages to reach another nearby hot island. He checks his phone and sees that it has no signal so he runs towards a steep slope. However, a group of Soldiers/Guards are following Jun-ho and arrive on the island soon after. They find Jun-ho's diving pack and the Front Man orders the Soldiers to find Jun-ho and bring him back alive. Jun-ho sees them and hides in the bushes. He looks at his phone and finally gets a bit of signal so he calls the rest of the police department for back up and tries to send the videos, photos and all the evidence he took, but his police chief can barely hear him. (Jun-ho panted, crashing through sewer tunnels from hell left behind. Emerging onto unfamiliar sands, he fumbled for phone aboard this stranger isle.

"No signal!" Desperation fueled reckless dash up slope toward some salvation yet unseen.

But pursuers' footsteps followed, relentless as tide. He caught glimpse of soldiers crested cliff—and dove into foliage's meager cover.

Heart hammering, phone's faint tones felt gunshot's echo. "Chief! It's Jun-ho, please listen!"

Static answered, barriers still wound tight around ghastly truth. He tapped frantic messages into uncaring void.

"Photos, evidence—you must see! An operation, games of death for entertainment's sick elite!"

At last, ghost of response. "Barely hear you, man...what games? Where are you?"

Footsteps neared, voices carried on ocean breeze. He swallowed panic, rallying final plea.

"Send help...they're coming! Coordinates soon, I promise. But you have to see—innocent lives depend on it!"

Hand clenched phone praying someone, anyone might heed call rising from nightmare's bleeding edge...as shadows converged to drag him back into the dark.) after hanging up, Jun-Ho realizes he's still in the guard uniform so if he pretends to be one maybe he can get away, but knows the other guards know only 3 were assigned to retrieve him so must take out one. (Jun-ho's mind raced, weighing odds of disguises flimsy as tissue. Three guards approached - he must act before facade ripped away.

Steeling himself, he crept from bushes behind lone straggler. A swift chokehold dragged man into shadows, body lowered silent to earth.

Jun-ho worked swiftly to stripped soldier bare, dressing corpse in discarded civvies while donning ill-fitting armor himself. Each motion carried weight of life; one slip doomed mission.

At last transformed, he lugged companion's limp form into open, calling alarm to nearby pairs. "Ambush! Enemy combatants, take them out!"

Startled, soldiers wheeled guns toward 'ally.' Jun-ho breathed prayers as ruse held - then struck.

A crack and one dropped, leaving partner stunned just long enough. Jun-ho's blaster rifled found home, and all fell still.

By skin of teeth, masquerade maintained its pretense. But how long before rest saw through shoddy guise? He fled into jungle greenery, shadows now sole guides toward isle's elusive escape...and truth waiting beyond electric fences holding terrors locked inside, Jun-ho's pulse raced as he traced the shoreline, praying distance would blur pursuit's scrutiny.

But luck was fickle - two guards convened, trooper's altered stature sparking doubt.

"Strange...could've sworn Ryu was taller. And why does he move so stiff?"

Muscles tensed under ill-fitting Kevlar; one careless motion and all fell apart. Jun-ho slowed his breathing, calling sarcasm to mask panic.

"Must be the heat messing with your eyes. I'll check the perimeter - you call base, see if they've found the prisoner yet."

He veered off hoping distance would aid ruse, but cracking branches betrayed hurried footfalls. Twigs snapped behind as hunters closed in for kill.

Jun-ho dashed into mangroves, swampy greenery threatening to drown hope before cries rose from pursuers' throats. Desperate, he shed armor amid cloying fronds and plunged into mud and mire; camouflage became last frail shield against prey turned hunter in this jungle's primal dance.

Heart pounding, he listened...waited...and prayed guards would overlook quarry sunk into swamp's obscuring arms, fortune's wheel still spinning its inexorable turn.) Meanwhile, Tension draws back at the island: Gi-hun: You killed Ali unfairly! I saw you with all the marbles, yet he died.

Sang-woo: And you cheated 001. At least I ensured victory.

Gi-hun growled: Would you have killed me, in Ali's place?

Sang-woo stiffened but didn't answer.

Gi-hun pressed: Always responsible, Sang-woo? Like when you gambled us into debt?

Sang-woo lunged but Sae-byeok cried out, halting them. Workers entered, baring gifts and praise.

The men tore into steak as Sae picked listlessly. Gi-hun glared eat daggers at Sang-woo, who met his stare without remorse.

After, workers cleaned—but three knives remained on the table. Each took one, exchanging no further words before retreating to stony silence of beds.

Tension thickened into dusk, fraught anticipation for final, fatal confrontation beneath Squid Game's merciless stars... Continue with the guards giving all three fancy suits as a prize for being the final 3. Meanwhile, Jun-ho is still being pursued by the several guards luckily they haven't figured out he's the third guard in disguise. He is now on the top of the slope and the Soldiers finally corner him after realizing he's a fake due to hearing his police walkie talkie. Jun-ho threatens them that he already sent the videos that he took to the police, but the guards doubts it because of the island's poor reception. As The Front Man walks in to stop the commotion he gets walks closer, Jun-ho nervously steps back because of the edge and shoots The Front Man on his shoulder. The Soldiers get ready to execute but The Front Man stops them and instead tells Jun-ho to come with them. Jun-ho asks who he is. The Front Man doesn't answer and instead takes his mask off to reveal that he is Hwang In-ho, Jun-ho's missing brother. Jun-ho is shocked and speechless and when In-ho extends his hand, asking him to come along, Jun-ho can only shake his head in disbelief. In-ho points his gun at his brother, and all Jun-ho can ask is "Why?" before In-ho shoots him in the shoulder, causing him to fall into the ocean, seemingly to his death. In-ho puts his mask again and goes back to the island & his room with the VIPS where he remembers his brother asking "why" before shooting him. (Jun-ho backed along the cliff, walkie crackling in grasped fist. Guards closed in like circling wolves.

He warned them through ragged breaths. "I sent it all—they know...you'll be arrested!"

But laughter greeted bluff. Front Man emerged, ending sport with raised hands.

Jun-ho flinched, trigger pulled. A cry went up as shot found shoulder.

Guards tensed to execute defector, retreating prey. But Front Man stopped them, approaching Jun-ho slow.

"Come. All will be explained." He drew off mask, revealing face Jun-ho knew—but changed.

"In-ho...why?" Confusion giving way to anguish. His brother extended hand to lead him in.

Jun-ho shook head, pleading. "Why do this, In-ho? The games, the deaths?"

Sadness filled eyes, as gun raised once more. "Forgive me, Jun-ho."

Shot threw Jun-ho over cliff, plunging into depths. In-ho watched brother fall, placed mask, turned from watery grave.

Back within walls, he paused remembering Jun-ho's final question echoing through steam and steel. "Why...") - Gi-hun approached Sae-byeok's bed. She tightened grip around hidden blade until he spoke gently.

"I wish only to talk. My knife stays sheathed, I swear it."

Wary, she lowered weapon. Gi-hun asked of home and future, mending wounds with hope. Sae smiled, proposing pact—that if but one survived, they'd see other's family provided for.

Peace reigned briefly, 'til Gi-hun noted Sang-woo falling asleep, knife glinting in loosened grip. Rage flared anew...yet Sae touched arm, whispering "You are no killer."

Soon her breaths grew labored. Gi-hun tore back sheets to find her drenched crimson. She begged faintly "Take...me home..."

Gi-hun pounded door in vain, guards dragging casket by unheeding. Spinning, betrayal's confirmation—Sang-woo stood scarletstained over Sae's still form.

Gi-hun lunged but soldiers seized raging grief. Helpless he watched workers bear Sae into wood's final embrace, anguished scream echoing dormitory's smothering halls.

Now, but two souls remained to dance upon Squid Game's razor's edge...and Gi-hun vowed one must fell this night in vengeance's scarlet rain. The remaining players are now in the final round playing Dairy Fairy: In This Game, Players are given the worldest cheesiest garlicky Parmesan cheese in a big container; the goal? Eat the cheese without throwing up' but there's only two people left… it's Seong Gi-hun vs betrayed Cho Sang-woo former childhood best friend fight for 208.9 billion. As the VIPS, Guards & Front Man watch on. _ Gi-hun glared hatred across dining space turned arena, Sang-woo meeting stare without remorse.

A guard entered bearing prize which guaranteed one final feast—and for other, end to nightmare's tortured course.

Fiery cheese's fumes wafted taunt, blending scents of victory and death. Both grasped serving spoons amid hush fallen over room.

Front Man raised arm, crying "Begin!" And so Squid Game reached its terminus, conclusion twisting knife in lingering wounds.

First Gi-hun attacked with voracious need, seeking answers writ in friend-turned-monster's entrails. But Sang-woo matched fervor bite for bite, uncowed by specter of ruin dogging backward steps.

Time bled away unheeded as consumption continued its grim wager, contestants wavering under cheese mountain's slow toppling. Forces beyond call or choice now guided grueling pas de deux...who might stand strongest to lift prize beyond dreams, and send other to overdue rest?

Tension strangled air, electrified palms pressed to glass enclosing space where men wrote histories in guts spilling forth. Final strokes approached...only one could leave victor.

For 208.9 billion won, contest reached paroxysm—and with it, truth Squid Game was built to serve, Upon dining arena, competition raged without relent. Yet elsewhere, conscience stirred from slumber long.

As police helicopters broke across skies once sole domain, Front Man paused. Jun-ho's final question echoed plain — "Why?"

Guilt gripped where iron will once reigned. He had followed Squid Game to furthest dark yet still, brother's face haunted edges of remembrance.

Duty now whispered different tune. Front Man fled grim chambers, shedding cloak and mask upon barren rocks meeting swelling seas. He decides to turn himself in and puts his hands up???

Palms raised skyward, he awaited fate come to deliver justice — or escape from ghosts left strewn across path leading here. Either way, penance must be paid for sparking brother against brother in this factory of flesh.

Within, Gi-hun and Sang-woo neared last stand amidst gathering storm. Outside, one man surrendered all to face what wrongs his hands had wrought...as dawn broke over Squid Game, bursting blood-dimmed tide - Within churning seas of molten dairy, Gi-hun faltered - yet instinct screamed this surpassing favorite fare.

Flashbacks flared of friendships born and nurtured, now salted over with betrayals beyond tallying. Sang-woo grinned across rift widened past mending, some nameless condiment seasoning cheese bringing fumes of ash and memories burning.

Gi-hun's throat constricted yet will rebelled against defeat. With lighting motions, knife pierced gullet loosening grip on rising tide.

Scarlet foamed through new-made wound yet still he persevered, shoveling scorched cheese though flesh threatened mutiny. Behind streaming fingers, crazed eyes vowed contest's bitter end though hell consumed from within out.

Sang-woo watched aghast, calculating spirit at war with ancient impulses holding kindship sacred. Another stroke must fell this foe whose heart refused stopping, final reckoning made merciless by bond abused past forgiveness.

Gi-Hun saw death coming on waves crested bile and blood but would not drown while debts remained outstanding. And so the battle hurtled toward its fiery last, two souls hurtling over chasm where road forked agony from peace...arriving at last. (Gi-hun begins to gag but is confused since his favorite food is cheese and can eat it all day, but discovers once again Sang woo cheated and put hot sauce from the steak in his cheese container. Gi-hun's whole friendship with Sang woo flashes before his eyes as he realizes this is the end… but right before he can throw up he stabs himself in the throat preventing it. even though he's bleeding and can barley breath keeps eating to Sang-woo's surprise as the fight to finish first continues) PLOT TWIST INCOMING: Within blood-drenched arena, all hung on final moments between life and legacy.

Gi-hun swayed upon breaking shores, weighted by oceans flooding from ravaged throat. Darkness seeped across fading vision yet somehow, he felt not alone in creeping shadows' cold embrace.

A guard approached...then drew away steel vizor, revealing face long lost in night's descent. "Jun-ho..." croaked Gi-hun, grasping salvation's fleeting light.

His brother forced his way through glass and guns, refused leaving one soul more to sink in Squid Game's unforgiving surf. Now here as angel coming to lead friend from hell's unraveling seams.

As Sang-woo sensed prey escaping talons' unending maw, smug mien twisting into rictus mask, Jun-ho's pistol barked once—felling final monster before justice's righteous gaze.

Gi-hun collapsed, drowning lands slipping from anchoring hands. Above, Jun-ho's face swam through red waves, lips forming vow of rescue from this place of endings. His loving eyes, last luminescence pierce dying man saw ere black claimed all...

...and then, awakening. Hospital wings, family flocking round. Prized check safe clutched in hands no longer bloodied instruments of torment. At long last, Squid Game's hold released its starving heart. Reborn. Gi-hun barley being able to keep his eyes open realizing this is the end for him. And begins to lean back as he slowly passes out, and as the tension rises as our main character may be dead… one of the guards takes off his mask revealing to be Jun-Ho who survived the gunshot and reveals his brother never shot him and shoots Sang-woo for being a jerk causing Gi-hun to win the squid games as both pass out to the floor… in a dramatic tense as The Squid Games… are over.) —— After the games, Gi-hun is tied and blindfolded in a limousine with Jun-Ho, Jun-Ho explains his brother (The Front Man) faked the shot on him since he couldn't do that to his own brother, and turned himself in cause he realizing he was a horrible person. Jun-Ho wishes Gi-Hun luck on being the richest man in the galaxy "At limo's end, Jun-ho bade luck to traumatized friend. "Live fully, for those lost in Games" and throws him out the limo, Gi-Hun uses his mouth to untie himself and lays in the middle of the road depressed, defeated, drained, & traumatized after all he just went through.

At the airport train station, he spotted recruiter luring fresh souls for butchery. Gi-hun ran, but demon vanished behind steely doors. Rage swelled to meet stone-faced passenger left in wake of devil's smile.

"Do not go with him - he leads only to hell!"

Later, plane awaited new life overseas. But when recruiter's number sounded plains of damnation, Gi-hun demanded justice for f everyone reaved too soon.

"I will not forgive. Who orchestrates such evil?" came heated demand.

"Forget, and live in peace," responded speaker from hell. But Gi-hun had looked too deep into madness' maw. the speaker warns him to not get involved and board his plane to The US for his own good and to live a happy life. However, as an act of defiance, Gi-hun disregards the warnings and turns back, walking away from the plane with a determined look…. Squid Game had not ended - it's just beginning…

Credits

Writer - Me

Director - Me

Writer of original:

Hwang Dong-hyuk