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Sang-woo: When we were young, we used to play like this and our moms would call us in for dinner. But no one calls us anymore...
Gi-hun: Let's go... Let's go home.
Sang-woo: Gi-hun... I'm sorry... (...) Gi-hun... my mom... my mom...
~ Sang-woo's last words to Gi-hun, asking him to take care of his mother.

Cho Sang-woo (Korean: 조상우), also referred to as Player 218, is the deuteragonist of the first season of the South Korean Netflix drama Squid Game. Sang-woo is Seong Gi-hun's childhood best friend and the former leader of a investment team at a securities company.

Being extremely intelligent, Sang-woo graduated as the top of his class at Seoul National University and became a successful businessman. However, after siphoning money off from his clients and failing upon investing it mostly in the future market, he became heavily indebted and wanted by the Korean police. Sang-woo accepted to join the 33rd Squid Game to win the crash prize, in order to pay his ₩6 billion debt and solve his financial problems, especially because they will also cause his mother's financial ruin.

Starting as Gi-hun's closest ally and teammate in the Squid Game, the two friends form a team to survive the games. Because of Sang-woo's more calculated and pragmatic ways to deal with the games, he eventually becomes an anti-villain near the end of the brutal competition for the ₩45.6 billion prize, turning into his friend's rival and final adversary in the games.

He was portrayed by Park Hae-soo, and by Park Si-won as a child. In the English dub, he was voiced by Stephen Fu.

His Good Rankings[]

Debated Validations?[]

  • Some people fault Sang-woo for Player 069's suicide, saying he deliberately pushed him to do it. However, Player 069 was so depressed and unwilling to continue without his wife (besides blaming himself for her death), that he committed suicide upon realizing that no one else was willing to stop the games, so he would have done it even without hearing Sang-woo's speech.
    • In addition to this, Sang-woo's speech to Player 069 about how the players have come too far to go back is absolutely true. Plus, Sang-woo's look of shock and pity upon seeing 069 dead indicates he was not intending for this outcome and he clearly feels remorse for pushing him to the edge.
  • It is heavily implied by the series that Sang-woo was only willing to kill Gi-hun as a last resort. The death of his childhood best friend (who is like a brother to him)[1][2] would certainly leave him psychologically scarred more than the death of any other player. Sang-woo also didn't take some of the chances he had to kill him, with the final game being the only moment in which Sang-woo is really shown trying to kill Gi-hun.
    • Before the final game, Sang-woo kills Sae-byeok to prevent Gi-hun from starting a vote to save her.[3] However, Sang-woo could have easily won the entire competition by simply stabbing Gi-hun while he had his back turned yelling for help, instead of killing a girl who was already on her deathbed and was in no condition to fight.
    • In the final game, Sang-woo also immediately gives up on doing it and accepts defeat upon being beaten. When Gi-hun makes the offer in the end, he leans towards Sang-woo while offering his hand, so Sang-woo could have grabbed the knife and stabbed Gi-hun to win instead of killing himself. The fact that he didn't do it shows that Sang-woo's willingness to end his childhood best friend's life was not that strong and something he ultimately refused to do to win.
    • It's possible this is another reason he didn't tell the second game to Gi-hun; he might have already guessed that there could only be one winner and was trying to avoid killing Gi-hun personally. Regardless of his reasons, the concern and anxiety shown after Gi-hun picked the umbrella and when he leaves the location of the game before Gi-hun, and the relief he feels upon seeing that Gi-hun survived the game, indicates that Sang-woo was very remorseful about choosing to risk his friend's life.
  • Sang-woo being against having women on his team before the third game is not being sexist but rather wisely guessing the next games will require physical strength. He is ultimately proven to be right when the next game is revealed to be Tug-of-War and his team only wins due to his and Il-nam's strategies.

What makes him admirable?[]

  • He saves Gi-hun during Red Light, Green Light round by telling him how to survive by hiding behind someone and encouraging him to move.
  • Is participating and willing to risk his life in the Squid Game to help his mother and make up for putting her house and store at risk.
  • Upon seeing the players begging the masked staff to let them go after first game, he reminds the masked men that the third clause allows players to vote stop the games (although he changes his mind when they introduce the prize).
    • As a result of this, 14 players chose not to rejoin the games and are presumably still alive, so Sang-woo in a way saved these people by bringing up the clause.
  • Helps Ali by buying him ramyeon, lending his phone to him, and offering him money for the bus fare despite being in debt.
  • Gives his breakfast to Ali before the second game.
  • Is the one who reassures Ali when he becomes upset for not knowing the Korean children's games.
  • Becomes visibly worried when he sees that Gi-hun chose the umbrella shape before the second game and almost warns Gi-hun not to pick that shape, but he gives up on doing it partly because he was not absolutely sure that his guess about the game being Dalgona was correct.[3]
  • Shows great relief Gi-hun passed the second round and apologizes to him for suggesting to split up and accidentally putting his life in danger.
  • Holds Gi-hun to stop him from intervening when Deok-su starts beating up Player 271 because he knows Deok-su is stronger than Gi-hun. Afterwards, Sang-woo goes to check on 271 and becomes horrified to learn the man had died.
  • Is the one who suggests his team to stay awake to survive a possible attack from Deok-su's gang, after Deok-su killed 271.
  • Alongside Ali, he saves Gi-hun (more than once) and then Sae-byeok during the night time fight.
  • He saves the lives of his nine teammates in Tug-of-War game with his strategy.
  • Shows concern and care for Gi-hun throughout the games, including asking if he is okay during the riot and at night after the Tug-of-War game. He also feels relief when Gi-hun survives the Dalgona game and is seen more than once looking at Gi-hun to check if his friend is okay during the games, as he does after passing the first, second, third and fifth games.
  • Defends Ali when Mi-nyeo suggests to kick him off the team out of xenophobia, saying they are all equal.
  • Helps to set up a barricade to protect the team, then (alongside Gi-hun) suggests his team to take turns to keep a watch and survive the night.
  • Breaks the corn Ali gave him (as gratitude for saving him in the Tug-of-War game) in half so they can share it.
  • Befriends Ali and is happy when he accepts to call him "older brother" ("hyung") instead of "sir/boss" ("sajangnim").
  • Chooses Ali to be his partner in the fourth game, believing the two would make a good team and promising they would win and leave the games together.
  • Explains to Ali how to play marbles and initially tries to play fair with him during the fourth game.
  • Tries to console Gi-hun after Il-nam's "death", pointing out that Player 069 is in a worse situation because the man had to play against his own wife and cause her death.
  • Him pushing the glassmaker allows him, Sae-byeok, and Gi-hun to survive the fifth game in the nick of time.
    • Sang-woo easily could have stalled and held up the line so Gi-hun and Sae-byeok would die (especially since Sae-byeok was right behind and he is bigger and stronger than her) but he instead choose to advance forward and allowed them to pass the game too.
  • He redeems himself by sacrificing himself so Gi-hun can leave the games with the prize money and help his (Sang-woo's) mother.
    • He also refuses Gi-hun's offer to stop the games to save himself, choosing to let Gi-hun have the money instead. As Gi-hun makes the offer, Sang-woo also could have easily won the games by killing Gi-hun, who had let his guard down and was leaning towards him while offering his hand, but he chooses not to do it.
    • His sacrifice has helped Gi-hun go on to do several good deeds with the prize money, like helping Sang-woo's mom, Sae-byeok's brother and continuing to search for the Squid Game staff.

What makes him inconsistent?[]

  • He siphoned money off from his clients and lost all of it trying to invest mostly in the future market. Since then, he has been hiding from the Korean police instead of facing his trial. Because he feels insecure to face his mother, he lied by telling her that he was abroad in a business trip.
  • He votes to keep playing the games (although he is the one who reminds the masked men that players can stop the games).
  • Despite not being cold-hearted,[4][5] feeling genuine sympathy for others and remorse, he chooses to suppress his feelings to play the games mostly by logic and favoring his own odds of survival to win the games.[6] This makes him willing to betray allies, even Gi-hun and Ali (who are the closest ones to him), if his life is in danger and/or the odds to win are not in his favor.
  • Upon guessing the second game, he doesn't tell his teammates for seeing no reason to guide all of them to the easiest shape.[3] This accidentally nearly gets Gi-hun killed as he ends up choosing the hardest shape, although Sang-woo feels anxious when he realizes that Gi-hun is in danger and thinks about warning him before the game.
  • He betrays his friend Ali to win the fourth round, which causes his friend's death, although he would have died if he didn't do it and feels remorse about it.
    • Additionally, he snaped at Ali and grabbed him by the collar when Ali guessed the marbles correctly, and only stopped when the Masked Guard pointed the gun at him, serving as a warning that violence is not allowed in the Marbles game.
  • He kills the glassmaker for wasting time in the fifth game, although this action was arguably justified as it saves himself, Gi-hun and Sae-byeok and they nigh-surely would have died if he hadn't done it.
  • He becomes angry with Gi-hun over his concern about his action of pushing the glassmaker and insults him by calling him a dimwit and incompetent. He also chooses to play by himself following their argument.
  • Upon being woken up by the sound of Gi-hun banging on the doors and yelling for the masked staff to help a dying Sae-byeok, he kills Sae-byeok out of fear that Gi-hun would try to stop the games to save her,[3] even though she was already bleeding out and would have died anyway.
  • Despite truly caring about Gi-hun and the two of them sharing a very close bond that basically makes them brothers,[1][2][7] in the final round, he is willing even to sever this bond and attempts to kill Gi-hun to win (although he knew about Gi-hun making attempts on his life in the previous night and Sang-woo completely gives up on killing Gi-hun after being beaten).

Trivia[]

  • He is the only Squid Game hero to be Inconsistently Admirable. Although Seong Gi-hun could qualify, it's up to season 3 if his corrupting qualities will stick or not.

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