‘Squid Game’: How did Ji-yeong die?

Actress Lee Yoo-mi’s Ji-yeong was one of Squid Game‘s most memorable characters, in great part due to the impact of her death not just on the show’s characters but also on those watching at home.

Also known as Player 240, it’s not until the sixth episode of the show, when she teamed up with Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) for the deadliest game of marbles in television history, that viewers got to know a bit more about Ji-yeong’s past. The pair’s initially one-sided friendship began in episode 4, however, when the North Korean picked a lonely Ji-yeong to join her Tug of War squad despite the team leader’s “all-male” order. The latter sees this as an in to form a bond with the former, though Sae-byeok doesn’t open up to Ji-yeong immediately.

The duo share a lot of the same traits, both being young women in a male-dominated context, who keep others at bay as much as possible after life taught them not to trust anyone. So, when, in episode 6, contestants were instructed to find a pair, still unaware of what challenge they would face, Ji-yeong knows exactly who she wants on her side and approaches Sae-byeok, using their similar young age and personality to convince her. Though reluctant at first, fearing her apparently meek counterpart wouldn’t be much help in a physical contest, Sae-byeok eventually accepts. She didn’t know then just how prophetic her partner’s promise to do “whatever it takes” to ensure her win would be.

Ji-yeong had the most heartbreaking death in season 1 of Squid Game

Squid Game was brilliant at making us care of a whole plethora of characters trapped in this twisted tale of survival of the fittest, but, with Ji-yeong, our connection was snatched away just as soon as it was made.

We knew the young woman had strong feelings about religion and that she wasn’t scared of standing up to hypocrite men, but it’s in her final episode that we truly get to know who she is, and why she is in the Squid Game.

Coming from a broken home, Ji-yeong decided to join the game because she didn’t have much to live for after doing a stint in prison for killing her dad. She tells Sae-byeok that she came home one day to find her mother’s lifeless body and her father standing over her, holding a knife. She’s no less deserving of sympathy than her teammate but we come to learn that the major difference between the two is that Sae-byeok has a family she wants to rescue with the money from the game, and, for Ji-yeong, that’s worth a lot more than what she has waiting for her on the other side.

The two agree that their game of marbles will be decided after just one round and that they will play it at the very last minute — they must each roll a marble on the floor, and whoever comes closer to hitting the wall, wins. After Sae-byeok makes her move, Ji-yeong simply drops her marble on the floor, throwing the game and, for all effects and purposes, choosing to end her life. After her new friend, with whom she successfully formed a bond, desperately begs her to play again, the ex-con makes her motivations clear, telling her “You have a reason to leave this place, but I don’t,” then she encourages her to win the competition and bring her family back together again.

As Sae-byeok walks away, Ji-yeong thanks her for playing with her (read: being her friend) right before she is shot in the head by a guard.