Handlung

The final round presents another cruel test but this time, how it ends depends on just one player. The game's creator steps out of the shadows.

Calling back to the first episode, during which a narrator outlined the rules of the playground version of the Squid Game (amongst all the childhood games, this was the most violent. There are no restrictions), the sixth trial is, really, just a fight between these two men. There are punches, knives, eager spectators, stabbing, and biting. It's a brutal battle between offense and defense, and at this point good and evil. The VIPs don't complicate matters; if anything, their exclusive tastes for violence against the downtrodden only simplifies things.

Gi-hun is able to win the Squid Game with his morality intact. Despite having the opportunity to kill his former friend, he doesn't take it. In fact, he even tries to sacrifice the prize money by enacting the third clause of the contract (after he has defeated Sang-Woo in battle and is about to set foot in the winner's circle), which would cease the games and save both finalists. But Sang-woo, having already lost the best parts of himself, is having none of that (he even admits to killing Sae-byeok as he knew Gi-Hun would have used her for the majority to call off the games and hence he killed her. Gi-hun reveals Sae-byeok was the one who stopping him from killing Sang-Woo). He stabs himself in the neck, instructing Gi-hun to take care of his mother before expiring. Now a winner, and a very rich man (he has 46 Bn won in his bank account), Gi-hun is taken back to the mainland by the Front Man.

Tragically, though, when Gi-hun returns home, he finds his mother dead. Twelve months later, and despite not having spent any of his prize money, Gi-hun is obviously a changed man. He begs and borrows from strangers to get by and lives a spartan life, in a daze. The events of the games are clearly not far behind him, though, especially not when Gi-hun buys a rose (The woman selling it was poor and wanted some money. Gi-Hun being a nice guy bought the flower from her), attached to which is a note instructing him to visit the 77th floor of the Sky Building on December 24, signed by "your gganbu".

The twist is both good and bad news. The good is that dear old Il-nam is still alive. The bad is that this is because he's the enigmatic "host" and has been orchestrating these games since their genesis. Perhaps most cruelly of all, they were invented as something of a lark, just a way for rich people to spend their money (they were all so rich that buying things was no more a joy to them. They needed something exciting), betting on human beings as they would horses or track dogs - in an odd way, this is a call-back to Gi-hun's gambling habits. His brain tumor, which turns out to be real and the primary motivator behind his actual inclusion in the games this year, to kill him off sooner rather than later.

Il-nam promptly passes away. the Front Man's sudden takeover of the games - begin to make more sense. This also radically alters Gi-hun, who realizes, after a makeover, that he simply cannot let this stand. He honors his promise to Sae-byeok by taking her brother to Sang-woo's mother and setting them both up for life, financially speaking. He interrupts the salesman trying to recruit more people for the games. And he promises the Front Man that he'll make him pay for everything he has done.