Hwang In-ho

Player 456. Did you have fun playing the hero? Look closely at the consequences of your little hero game.

Hwang In-ho to Seong Gi-hun in "Friend or Foe"

Hwang In-ho (황인호 Hwang In-ho^?, born February 2, 1976), also known as the Front Man (프론트 맨 Puelonteu Maen^?), is the current head staff member and the person who oversees the Squid Games. He is the brother of Hwang Jun-ho and became the Front Man after he played in and won the 28th Squid Game in 2015 as Player 132. In 2020, his brother infiltrated the 33rd Squid Game in an attempt to find him after he went missing.

The Front Man wields absolute control over all three classes of guards and observes the survival competition games through several monitoring screens as the games unfold. He sometimes steps in when a situation gets out of control during the games, such as when the identity of a staff member is somehow revealed (which is forbidden in the games), in which case the Front Man storms in and executes the exposed staffer.

The Front Man also is often seen answering phone calls back at his quarters, communicating with the person on the other line about the ongoing competition. This is usually the host, whose orders he carries out. He also ensures that the VIPs have a good time while watching the game.

While participating in the Squid Game in 2024 as Player 001, In-ho used the alias Oh Young-il (오영일 O Yeong-il^?).

Personality

Whether you sell the dead bodies’ organs or eat them or whatever, I don’t give a damn. However, you ruined the most important aspect of this place. Equality. Everyone is equal while they play this game. Here, every player gets to play a fair game under the same conditions. These people suffered from inequality and discrimination out in the world, and we’re giving them one last chance to fight fair and win. But you broke that principle.

Hwang In-ho to a soldier in "A Fair World"

As the Front Man, In-ho is cold and calculating, being the main overseer of the games. He is shown to be remorseless with his killing, showing no sign of hesitation when killing others who get in his way. He is highly analytical and meticulous with his anonymity as well as his planning, ensuring that the games are hidden from the outside world. Despite his overall lack of morality, however, In-ho places a lot of importance on maintaining equality and fairness in the games. He views it as one of the games' most important aspects and is incredibly strict with it to the point of going as far as killing those who take advantage of the games' nature to get ahead.

Under the alias Oh Young-il, he disguised himself as a player of the games, and presented himself as level-headed, logical, and reasonable. He appeared highly empathetic and caring of others, such as when he aided Kim Jun-hee upon hearing that she is pregnant, even offering her his milk during mealtime, and saved Jang Geum-ja alongside Seong Gi-hun during Mingle. He also stood up for Lee Myung-gi against Thanos and Nam-gyu. He appeared to have a humorous side to him as he had a habit of making bad jokes, although this may simply be an attempt to try to fit in more with others. Additionally, despite knowing that killing is allowed, he still had the restraint to spare Thanos when he begged for mercy. This suggests that while he is still a remorseless person at his core, he does not completely lack a sense of humanity as he still harbors some care towards other people. However, his overall lack of empathy towards others leads him to lack understanding of Gi-hun's own empathy towards others. As a result of this, he frequently observes Gi-hun's behavior towards others throughout the games, which he finds himself both puzzled and intrigued by. Despite this, he can be judgmental about Gi-hun's actions, shown when he smirked at the thought that Gi-hun was willing to sacrifice others in order to launch the rebellion as it contradicted his initial ideals of saving as many of the players as he could.

However, it is suggested that In-ho was more empathetic in the past and was capable of loving others as he stated that his main reason for joining the games was to save both his wife and unborn child who were both at risk of dying. In addition to this, In-ho is shown to still harbor some care for his brother Jun-ho, as he gave him a non-fatal gunshot wound on his right shoulder instead of killing him, after which he was rescued and brought back to shore, presumably by a fisherman that In-ho sent to save him. He also appears to hold genuine respect for his master Oh Il-nam, ending the Special Round at his request and visiting his deathbed to pay his respects after the latter passes away.

In-ho's extreme intelligence has been showcased on many occasions, most notably in Season Two. Apart from his behavior during the games, he was able to keep track of Gi-hun who had been searching for him for the past two years without him knowing, and was thus able to capture him which led him to rejoin the games. With his wits, he aided Gi-hun and his team through the second and third games under his temporary alias. However, he was shown to be emotionally manipulative, taking advantage of Gi-hun's ignorance by opening up to him about his reason for joining the games, as well as breaking down during the second game at the thought of losing to gain his trust and get closer to him, just to betray him in the end. His extreme caution comes as a result of his natural intelligence, and he was thus able to betray the team without Gi-hun realizing. He is also shown to have purposefully sabotaged the games, such as when he casted a vote to continue the games after the first game, and when he purposefully failed at the spinning top game in the second game multiple times to slow the team down and put them, especially Gi-hun under pressure. While he outwardly presented himself as a completely different person, In-ho still maintained some of his core traits, namely his ability to kill others without remorse, shown when he killed another player in the third game to save Park Jung-bae.

Appearance

While masked, Hwang In-ho appears in an all-black outfit, including a black geometrically patterned mask. His look stands out from that of the other staff members who don hot pink tracksuits with a black mask each bearing either a circle, triangle or square symbol.

History

Backstory

Hwang In-ho was born on February 2, 1976 somewhere in Gyeonggi Province. During his childhood, his father remarried to a woman named Park Mal-soon, and they had a son Hwang Jun-ho. At some point in his life, he gave one of his kidneys to his brother.

Between 1992 and 1995, Hwang In-ho attended Seoin High School. He then went to police university from 1995 to 1999. After graduating, he began a job as a police detective in 2001, eventually becoming a highly decorated officer within the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. As a member of law enforcement, In-ho held a high sense of duty and justice. He would serve in his position for the next 14 years.

Disguised as Oh Young-il in the Squid Games, In-ho revealed his backstory and reasoning for joining the games (which can easily be interpreted for why he joined the 28th Squid Game); when his wife suffered from acute liver cirrhosis during her pregnancy, the doctor revealed that she had to make a choice: terminate her pregnancy and live, or go through with it but risk death. His wife was adamant to save her child, even at the cost of her life. Since finding the donor and covering the transplant operation was too expensive, In-ho was forced to borrow money from a criminal, which was mistaken for taking a bribe. Despite his perfect track record and the circumstances of his wife, his superior fired him without a second thought. Desperate, he entered the 28th Squid Game as Player 132, and eventually went on to win, but it was too late as his wife passed away before he could use the winnings to pay for the surgery. Maddened with grief, he agreed to join Oh Il-nam, eventually becoming the Front Man.

About a week before the 33rd Squid Game began, he left his apartment and didn't contact his family. This resulted in Jun-ho believing he had gone missing. Jun-ho visited his apartment to investigate and discovered an invitation card for Squid Game, prompting him to reach out to Seong Gi-hun, who'd attempted to report the Squid Games to the police with an identical card. After being rebuffed, Jun-ho tailed Gi-hun when he was picked up by Squid Game staff, allowing him to infiltrate the games.

33rd Squid Game

The Front Man is first seen as he walks into the room where workers are monitoring the players through cameras. When the players enter the area for the first game, the Front Man makes a phone call, telling the person on the other end that the preparations are complete and the game can begin. He then starts watching the game on a big screen, while listening to "Fly Me To The Moon" and drinking whiskey.

After the Squid Game was stopped due to players voting for it to end, it restarted later on due to many players choosing to return. A manager informs the Front Man that 93% of the players returned to the games. The Front Man tells him to keep an eye on the fourteen people who didn't return and to keep him posted.

After another manager is forced to take his mask off by a player who stole his gun, the Front Man enters the room and shoots the worker through the head. He reminds the other workers that once somebody finds out who you are, you're dead. The Front Man then orders the workers to give the players minimal food to set off a fight between the players. He makes the lights flicker to cause more hysteria. When Player 001, In-ho's boss, cries out to stop the fight, the Front Man tells the workers to end it.

After Byeong-gi (a doctor who helped workers with organ selling) lashes out at some workers and kills one, a worker takes off his mask to show he's just human and calm Byeong-gi down. The worker then secretly tries to stab Byeong-gi, but the Front Man enters the room and shoots him. He tells him that he doesn't care about the organ selling, but that he is angry the worker ruined the equality of the players by giving Byeong-gi advantageous information. He tells him that the players suffered inequality in the real world, and the games are their last chance to fight fair. He then shoots the worker again; this time killing him.

The Front Man is informed about another dead worker. He finds out there is an intruder on the island and demands the workers to find him. He then takes the bullet out of the body's head and takes a close look at it, recognizing it as one from a gun which is standard issue for Korean police.

Later, the Front Man returns to his quarters to take a phone call, but he notices that the phone is placed differently than he usually does it. This tips him off that the intruder is probably close to him, so he takes out his gun and goes to search for the intruder. He mentions that he knows that he's a cop and asks the intruder to come and talk with him because that he can not leave the place without his permission. He enters the room the intruder is in, nearly finding him, but gets a call revealing that a body was found on the island. He goes to see it, and is given the police ID that was in the body's pocket. He sees that it's Hwang Jun-ho's ID, his younger brother. He also sees that the body is not Jun-ho, realizing he is the intruder and is still walking around. He tells the guards to incinerate the body, likely as he wants to find and deal with Jun-ho himself.

When the VIPs arrive, he informs the host and goes to greet them. He introduces himself and brings them to the room where they can watch the next game. During the game, he keeps the VIPs informed about the game and the players. As he finds out that the intruder had just been with one of the VIPs, he goes to look for him. He finds out that Jun-ho escaped through a hole and catches a glimpse of him at the end of it. Through a phone call, he's informed that the diving equipment is gone and the intruder must’ve left through the underwater cave. He goes after him in a speedboat with a team of guards. He tells them to bring him alive.

As the guards catch up with Jun-ho and corner him on a cliff, the Front Man arrives. The Front Man tells Jun-ho that he will let him live if he hands over the gun and phone. He explains that he knows that Jun-ho has only one bullet left in his gun because of police regulations. As the Front Man gets closer, Jun-ho shoots him in the shoulder. The workers want to shoot Jun-ho, but the Front Man signs not to. Jun-ho asks the Front Man who he is, to which he responds by taking off his mask, revealing that he is Jun-ho's brother In-ho. He asks the shocked Jun-ho to come with him, but the detective refuses. In response, In-ho shoots his brother non-fatally in the shoulder. As Jun-ho falls off the cliff, In-ho simply puts his mask back on and walks away with his escort. Later as In-ho goes back to his office, he takes care of his bullet wound while looking in the mirror. He's haunted by a hallucination of Jun-ho asking him "why?".

After Gi-hun wins the Squid Game, he sits in the limo with him and congratulates him. Gi-hun asks him why they are doing this, and In-ho compares it with horse racing. He also tells Gi-hun that he's surprised he made it this far and to think of it as a dream.

2021

Hwang In-ho can be seen standing next to the bed of Il-nam, who had just died. He reflects on the conversation he'd had with him a year before during the 33rd Squid Game before closing his eyes and walking away. He has now assumed full control of the games following Il-nam's death.

2024

In-ho continues to not contact his stepmother, and subsequently the still alive Jun-ho, for three years leading to her believing he blames her for his wife's death.

Hwang In-ho retains his role as the Front Man for the annual Squid Games. During the recruiting period, the Front Man learns that Gi-hun plans to kidnap him, and decides to confront him himself. During their conversation, Gi-hun decides to go for another strategy and enters the Squid Games once more. After showing visible frustrations due to the lack of player deaths due to Gi-hun's intervention and leadership in Red Light, Green Light compared to the death toll in the original game, he fears Gi-hun could pose a threat to the 2024 games. Thus, In-ho uses his anonymous identity to enter the games as Oh Young-il, Player 001, and casts the deciding vote to continue the games after Red Light, Green Light. He plays the games in order to keep an eye on Gi-hun and manipulate him on the right occasions. Despite some shortcomings such as naming Gi-hun without being told, he gains the trust of his other comrades and they form a team in Six-Legged Pentathlon - where he played Spinning Top. He’s even applauded by all the others players after defending Myung-gi from Thanos and Nam-gyu. During the games, In-ho participates in all legitimacy and helps his team to win. However, during the game "Mingle", Jung-bae witnesses In-ho guessing the required numbers of players per room, and later killing a man in cold blood in order to survive, disturbing Jung-bae.

In-ho can be seen genuinely connecting with his peers, staying up during the night during "Six Legs" to talk to Gi-hun about his wife, who he claimed was ill and needed a liver transplant; whilst this was true, it occurred during 2015 when he was a legitimate player of the games. This can be seen as In-ho genuinely trying to explain to Gi-hun that the games give desperate people one last chance at turning their life around or otherwise being put out of their misery, in an attempt to subdue Gi-hun's anger around the games.

Immediately following a vote to end the games after the third round, a bloody brawl unfolded in the bathrooms between several players who wanted to end the games and those who wished to continue. Five were killed in the aftermath, but the other players then quickly realized that they could freely kill each other outside the games, in order to further increase the prize money. Two sides clearly formed based upon the voting process, with the players that wanted to continue the games determined to massacre those who voted to leave.

Gi-hun, knowing the bloodshed that would unfold from his previous games, convinces a small group to join him in rebelling against the guards, capturing the Front Man, and ending the games. As the lights turned off, members of the O team rushed through the darkness and begin murdering the other sleeping players, quickly starting a brutal fight reminiscent of the special game three years prior. Gi-hun's group, however, remains hidden under and around the bedding while the others fight, reluctantly sacrificing their fellow anti-game players to maintain the ruse.

Eventually, after dozens are killed, a squad of soldiers finally enter to break up the fighting, separating everyone. But then Gi-hun's group, still hidden under the bedding or playing dead, pounce on the soldiers all at once, disarming several of their MP5A3 submachine guns and fighting back against them. The players, including In-ho impressively manage to kill many of the soldiers, with the Masked Officer calling for the survivors to retreat and sealing the main doors to the dorms, but trapping the squad's Manager inside when he failed to escape. Player 047, enraged at the pro-game players for killing innocents, moves to gun down several of them, but Gi-hun stops him and reminds him that if he killed them he'd be no different from the masked men. Hyun-ju suggests they gather the dead soldiers' guns and ammunition, then destroys the dormitory cameras to hide themselves from the control room. Gi-hun delivers a speech to the gathered survivors and states his plan to fight their way to the headquarters and end the event, imploring anyone with experience handling guns to step forward. When the players all hesitate, Park Jung-bae sympathizes with them but reminds them it may be the last opportunity for everybody to escape and go home, which convinces Player 015 to fight. A few others also step up to join including Players 072, 206, 324, 145, and 246, bringing Gi-hun's group to about twelve fighters. Noticing the others struggling, Hyun-ju steps forward and instructs the rebels on how to operate the MP5A3, revealing to a questioning 246 that she formerly served as a Sergeant First Class in Korean Special Forces.

Gi-hun forces the captured manager to remove his mask, with Jung-bae expressing disbelief at his young age. Smashing through the side door to the bathrooms, the group exits the dorms and proceed into the massive multi-coloured stairwell, where they are attacked by several soldiers from a higher level and pinned down. Hyun-ju rushes forward and manages to kill three soldiers from a vantage point, forcing those remaining to retreat while the players pushed forward, unaware of a larger group waiting to ambush them. They reach the entrance to the complex's management area, where the captured manager states he needs his mask to pass through the security, which he retrieves. As he looks up however, the manager sees Player 001 (Oh Young-il), recognizing him as his boss and standing in disbelief, but is then shot in the head by the ambush group, pinning the players down. The soldiers fire at them from across the towering stairwell gap, killing Player 072 when he fails to reach cover.

Gi-hun orders the others to stay behind and buy time while he and Jung-bae head to the control room, which Young-il questions but complies with. The two find a security door that they pass by using the dead manager's mask, leaving a spare MP5 to hold the door open. They are attacked by two soldiers, but manage to kill them by causing a diversion with the manager's mask, looting them of their ammo before moving on. Seeing them advance, the Officer orders a large group of soldiers to defend the control room, which Gi-hun and Jung-bae have almost reached.

Back in the stairwell, the other rebelling players are locked in a shootout with the soldiers. 047 manages to kill another guard and advises Kang Dae-ho to not waste his ammo after wildly spraying fire, as he is clearly suffering a PTSD episode and beginning to crack from the intensity of the fighting. 047 suggests to Young-il that they meet up with Gi-hun, as they are getting nowhere being bogged down in a firefight, but Young-il fears they will get surrounded if they move forward with no plan and tells them to hold their ground. 206 is suddenly shot and killed by a soldier flanking the group, but 246 and Hyun-ju manage to kill him and another flanker. The extended gunfight begins to wear down on the players, as they all discover their ammo running dangerously low, while a pinned-down Gi-hun and Jung-bae run into the same problem as they radio Young-il for backup. Gi-hun reminds them that the soldiers they killed in the dorms have extra magazines in their pockets, which Young-il orders someone else to retrieve while he, 047, and 015 push on to reinforce Gi-hun. Hyun-ju prepares to retrieve the magazines, but Dae-ho steps up and volunteers to go instead, being out of ammo anyway. Hyun-ju gives him a loaded MP5 and sends him back after the others cover him, advising him to follow the destroyed cameras.

Gi-hun runs out of ammo and bravely runs to a guard's corpse to grab more magazines, narrowly avoiding being gunned down, though he suffers a graze on his arm. Young-il, 047, and 015 arrive to assist, with him suggesting to Gi-hun they attempt to flank the soldiers guarding the control room entrance. Gi-hun agrees and hands him a spare magazine, which Young-il strangely hesitates to take, but does so anyway, leading the others to outflank the guards. Back in the dorms, Dae-ho shakily arrives and starts to gather the dead soldiers' magazines with assistance from Players 149, 222, and 007, managing to gather more than a dozen. As he leaves the dorms however, the distant gunfire from the shootout frightens him, causing him to become unresponsive when Hyun-ju radios him for help, before backing away in defeat from his PSTD. Hearing nothing, Hyun-ju volunteers to run back and grab the magazines, assuming Dae-ho had been killed.

Young-il and the others get behind the soldiers near the control and prepare to ambush them, but 047 is suddenly gunned down by Young-il, 015 suffering the same fate but barely alive. Young-il then radios Gi-hun and fakes his own death, using 015's dying noises through the radio to create the ruse, before executing the injured player with a headshot. Revealing his treachery, Young-il changes his radio's channel and orders the guards to start wrapping things up; in reality he is Hwang In-ho, the Front Man.

Gi-hun and Jung-bae also ran out of ammo and surrendered at this point, held at gunpoint by soldiers. After changing into his Front Man attire, In-ho then arrives with the Officer, questioning Gi-hun if he had fun playing the hero, before raising his M1911 to execute him. Just as Gi-hun accepts his fate with a furious gaze, the Front Man tells him to look at the consequences of his rebellion, before turning his gun to Jung-bae. The two friends share one last look, then the Front Man kills him with a shot to the chest, much to Gi-hun's heart-breaking anguish as two soldiers barely restrain him from lunging at his adversary. The Front Man walks back up to the control room, the rebellion successfully quelled.

Murders Committed

Episode	Character	Image/GIF	Method
The Man with the Umbrella	Unnamed Manager		Shot in the head.
A Fair World	Organ Trafficking Soldier
O X	Sim Jae-seok		Neck snapped.
Friend or Foe	Unnamed soldier		Shot in the head.
	Kwon Byeong-su		Shot in back.
	Player 015		Shot in the chest.
	Park Jung-bae		Shot in the heart.

Trivia

• According to his player file, Hwang In-ho's resident registration number is 760202-1171651 and he lived in 37-124 Chunghyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul at the time of his participation in the 28th Squid Game.
  • Curiously, his player file makes no mention of his wife.
  • In-ho's 2015 player image was not actually taken for Squid Game; it is an edited image of Lee Byung-hun's another character, Kim Hyun-jun, from the 2010 Korean series Iris.
• Hwang In-ho and the subplot with Jun-ho were not in the original script. They were only added after the decision for Squid Game to be a series instead of a movie.
• Lee Byung-hun, the actor who portrays Hwang In-ho, is mentioned in the series by Ji-yeong in "Gganbu" when referring to the movie Inside Men.
• Lee Byung-hun playing Front Man was strictly kept a secret to make his reveal a huge surprise for the Korean audience. He wasn’t credited in early Squid Game promotional materials or cast lists to avoid spoiling it. The director and production team instructed the actor to keep his role a secret—apparently, even his own mother did not know. O Yeong-su, Oh Il-nam’s actor, was reportedly also surprised when he first met him on set.
• While mentioning the plot lines he would like to explore in season two, Hwang Dong-hyuk stated that one of them would be the story of the Front Man and his brother.^[5]
• In-ho always puts the transmitter on the right side of the telephone and puts the receiver on the left.^[6]
• In-ho is shown to be left handed, as he holds and shoots his gun with his left hand. This is further reinforced in Six-Legged Pentathlon game of Season 2, where In-ho fails three times to keep the spinning top spinning with his right hand but is immediately successful when he does so with his left hand.
• He carries a Colt M1911 pistol with nickel finish and untracable .45 ACP rounds.
• He, Seong Gi-hun, and Cho Sang-woo are the only characters that appeared in all nine episodes of Season One.
• Combining both seasons, he and Seong Gi-hun are the only characters who have appeared—in present time, flashback, dream, or voice—in all 16 episodes of the show so far.
• He along with Gi-hun are the only winners known to have later returned to the games as a player.
• He donated one of his kidneys to Jun-ho.^[2]
• In-ho is lactose intolerant.^[7]
• He serves as the foil to Gi-hun as he is what Gi-hun could have potentially become if he gives in to his anger and grievance.
• He is the only character in the show with two episodes named directly after him: "Front Man" and "001".

Behind the scenes

Hwang In-ho was portrayed by Lee Byung-hun. While wearing his mask, he was portrayed by Kwon Yu-Jun. In the English dub, he was voiced by Tom Choi.

Appearances

• Season One
  • "Red Light, Green Light"
  • "Hell"
  • "The Man with the Umbrella"
  • "Stick to the Team"
  • "A Fair World"
  • "Gganbu"
  • "VIPS"
  • "Front Man" (W.I.A.)
  • "One Lucky Day"

• Season Two
  • Bread and Lottery (voice on phone and dream)
  • Halloween Party
  • 001
  • Six Legs
  • One More Game
  • O X
  • Friend or Foe

Gallery

The Leader with his mask in Season 2

The Leader with his mask in the First Season

The Leader Talking to the Traitorous Soldier

Front Man on a spectrogram from a trailer teaser from the official Netflix TikTok.

In-ho's 2024 Player Image

Another Player 001, likely a stunt double, as seen in BTS footage, watching as Lee Byung-hun chants "APT."

IMG 7625.jpeg

Hwang In-ho’s player icon during the 28th Squid Game

References

fr:Hwang In-ho