Sung Ki-hoon's Salvation Journey... Faith Shaken by Partisan Clashes [Return of Ogem①]

Sung Ki-hoon, Who Gave Up a New Life Despite Gaining 45.6 Billion Won
Suffering from Survivor Syndrome... An Unfair and Unjust World
Voting That Breeds Both Competition and Anger... Reflecting Korean Society
Salvation Process Manifested as Human Desire for Independence

'Squid Game' has returned for Season 2. The story unfolds as Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) participates in the dangerous game once again. Many viewers are puzzled by his desire to stop the game. They think it would be enough for him to start a new life with the 45.6 billion won he won as the prize. However, Seong Gi-hun cannot live an ordinary life. He cannot escape from guilt, loneliness, and emptiness. He needs salvation.

The Journey of Salvation

Seong Gi-hun suffers from severe trauma. It is a aftereffect born from experiences so harrowing that he would rather be in hell. His inner self is devastated, making it difficult to maintain a normal daily life. This is survivor syndrome. When someone survives alone while others perish or escapes from a predicament, mental confusion beyond physical wounds follows. The same questions linger in his mind: 'Why was I the only one to survive?' 'Do I deserve this?' 'What should I do now?'

Money cannot heal these wounds. He changes his life priorities, reflects on himself, and resets the direction of his life. He tries to be saved by protecting others from experiencing the misfortune he endured. He wants to break unnecessary shackles and be freed from the prison where he has been confined.

At the opposite end stands the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). He tells Seong Gi-hun, "Don't you get it yet? The game won't end as long as the world doesn't change." He was also a game winner. He witnessed countless tragic scenes of people dying. However, he thinks it is better than the injustice he faced in the outside world. He is deeply assimilated into the emotions of the designer Oh Il-nam (Oh Young-soo). He gave participants a chance to escape predicaments, instilled a strong feeling that they must survive among other participants, and provided a hole to escape from the ruthless outside world, so it makes sense.

As the Front Man says, the game continues as long as human greed does not disappear. But persuasion and coaxing are hollow. In the game world he leads, swindlers, thugs, and selfish people run rampant just like in the outside world. Perhaps the luckiest, the most inhumane, or the one who cheats the most can win the huge prize. As Franz Kafka and Søren Kierkegaard said, the world is unfair and irrational.

Partisan Identity

A new device has been added to the Squid Game shared dormitory. Blue 'O' and red 'X' shaped lights illuminate the floor. There is also a button in the center to choose one of the two. After each game ends, participants vote on whether to quit. Depending on what they choose, groups form and factionalism intensifies. It is a conflict between those who want more prize money and those who do not want to lose their lives.

In the first game, 'Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed' (similar to "Red Light, Green Light"), ninety-one people die. The total prize is 9.1 billion won, about 24.93 million won per person. In the second game, 'Five-Legged Race,' 110 people are eliminated. The total prize is 20.1 billion won, about 78.82 million won per person. Participants who stick to 'O' feel regret. "Ah, I really lived a lot. Damn!" He becomes the de facto leader of the 'O' group and suggests killing the 'X' side participants.

Patrick Miller and Pamela Johnston Conover published a 2015 paper titled 'The Red and Blue States of Mind.' They tested the behavior of American Republicans and Democrats in two stages. According to this, party members had a more overwhelming motivation than lofty elements like policies, ideas, or ideologies. It was partisan identity.

"Elections highlight the team spirit of people who identify with a party, causing them to repeatedly compare Democrats and Republicans as 'us versus them.' This makes them focus on what is lost when they lose an election. Ultimately, it breeds both competition and anger."

One of the important questions in Korea recently is also 'How strong is our group identity?' It values how much we feel we belong to one team in various fields and how different we feel from competing teams. This fosters intolerance beyond political disagreements, causing various problems. The crisis triggered by the December 3 emergency martial law incident is in the same context.

The Hope of Play

Children learn socially approved forms of cooperation and competition through games. Some children are particularly competitive, while others are more cooperative. They must learn by themselves how to apply these two social skills appropriately to the nature of the situation. Even if adults organize and oversee, children have the ability to establish their own rules and social hierarchies.

Squid Game participants are no different. Even within the reality limited by a highly organized game, they know how to create and break their own rules. However, most are blinded by the 45.6 billion won prize money and forget this. Like moths flying into the fire, they repeatedly drive the situation into uncontrollable chaos.

Seong Gi-hun strives to resolve the dilemma between cooperation and competition. He realizes that there are rules that define how to act under certain conditions in the game. Like all social institutions, the game exists only as long as there are participants. If participants do not feel satisfaction while playing, the game cannot continue. However, desperate persuasion and appeals are useless. The organizers cleverly subordinate participants' demands and desires to socially agreed rules and rituals each time.

In a situation where even attempts to overthrow the system fail, only one method remains: the doctrine that one must compete with oneself and cooperate with others. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk expresses this as the human desire for independence and previews Season 3. No matter how much spontaneity and creativity are forced, 'people' find ways to create and break rules themselves and find spaces to grow anywhere.