Front Man (Squid Game)
Hwang In-ho, also known as the Front Man, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Netflix TV series Squid Game. He is the head of the Squid Game hierarchy, initiating and managing the competition of people in severe debt for a prize of billion. He is portrayed as a ruthless and emotionally detached figure throughout the series.
Previously a police officer, he won the 28th Squid Game edition himself in 2015 as Player 132 after executing the offer from Oh Il-nam to kill the other finalists. Some time after his victory, In-ho started working for the organization that orchestrates the games, becoming the Front Man.
In-ho has a half-brother 16 years younger, Hwang Jun-ho, also a police officer, who infiltrated the 2020 games to search for In-ho as he had gone missing. Jun-ho trying to find out what happened to his older brother In-ho while investigating the deadly games is one of the main plotlines and mysteries of the first season. When Jun-ho was eventually caught by the Front Man and his pink guards, In-ho revealed his identity to Jun-ho by taking off his mask, and spared his brother's life. After this, he disappeared from his previous life completely, cutting ties to both Jun-ho and his stepmother.
In the first season, the Front Man is shown to mainly be overseeing and organizing the games. However, he appears in the second season disguised as a participant, going by Player 001 and using the fake name "Oh Young-il" to foil Seong Gi-hun's plans.
In the second season, it is told that In-ho played the 2015 games to save his pregnant wife who was terminally ill, but this could be a continuity error because originally in the first season, his player file makes no mention of him having a wife.
The Front Man was created by Hwang Dong-hyuk and was portrayed by Lee Byung-hun, who assisted in developing the character. He is voiced in English by Tom Choi.
Appearances
''Squid Game'' season 1
In the first season, In-ho is the organizer of the games, going by the alias the Front Man and dressed all in black. During Red Light, Green Light, the Front Man calmly watches the game while listening to "Fly Me to the Moon". After the Sugar Honeycomb game, he goes in the game hall and shoots a rogue for showing his face to a player. When the players return to the game, the Front Man orders a supervisor to keep an eye on those who have not returned. One night, an altercation occurs with guards and a player named Byeong-gi who is a doctor helping to harvest the organs of executed players in exchange for hints on surviving the games; in the end, the Front Man kills a guard and orders Byeong-gi's execution. He also discovers that there is an infiltrator among the workers. Before the VIPs arrive, he discovers that the infiltrator is his brother, police Detective Hwang Jun-ho. In the fifth game, the Front Man serves as a host for the VIPs, and when Jun-ho assaults one of them, the Front Man begins a chase. On a remote island, the Front Man confronts Jun-ho near a cliff, revealing that he is his missing brother and asking him to join forces, but Jun-ho refuses. In-ho then shoots him, and he falls off the cliff. After Seong Gi-hun wins the games, he meets the Front Man, who tells him to think it was all a dream. A year later, Gi-hun finds an invitation card at an airport and calls the number on it, promising to get revenge on the organizers. The Front Man answers and tells him to get on his plane, but Gi-hun hangs up and leaves the terminal.''Squid Game'' season 2
In the second season, after Gi-hun leaves the terminal, the Front Man tells him that he will regret what he has done and Gi-hun replies that he will find the organizers.Two years later, during a Halloween party, the Front Man has Gi-hun picked up in a limousine, where Gi-hun asks him to end the games. When the Front Man reveals that he was aware of Gi-hun's plan to sabotage him, Gi-hun asks instead to return to the games, to which the Front Man agrees.
With Gi-hun in the dorm, the Front Man keeps a watchful eye on him. During "Red Light, Green Light", the Front Man notices that thanks to Gi-hun's instructions, fewer players were eliminated. He then decides to infiltrate the game as Player 001, to teach Gi-hun a lesson, and ends up being the deciding vote to continue the games while he instructs the Masked Officer to control the games.
In-ho, as Player 001, votes O making all players stay in the games. He then approaches Gi-hun and forms a team with him. Gi-hun witnesses In-ho fighting Thanos and Nam-gyu, saving Lee Myung-gi's life, trying to earn Gi-hun's trust. At night, In-ho tells Gi-hun his supposed reason for joining the games: his terminally ill wife fell pregnant, and in an attempt to find an organ donor to save both her and her unborn child, he accepted money from a criminal; the transaction was misunderstood as a bribe, and he was kicked off of the police force. In reality, this was actually part of why he became the Front Man.
In the Six-Legged Pentathlon, In-ho teams with Gi-hun, Park Jung-bae, Kang Dae-ho and Kim Jun-hee. When it is his turn to throw the spinning top in the Six-Legged Pentathlon, In-ho, who is left-handed, purposely wastes the team's time by using his right hand but still manages to gain their trust. After the game, In-ho introduces himself to his team under the pseudonym "Oh Young-il". "Oh" can be used to represent "zero". "Young" can also mean "zero" and "Il" can mean "one". Therefore, "Oh Young Il" literally translates to "Oh Zero One" or "001", forming a pun for the pseudonym "Player 001" and hinting at In-ho's true identity as a fake player. After they return back to the Dormitory, In-ho is seen with Jung-bae and Dae-ho confronting Thanos and Nam-gyu the second time and both stare at each other and Thanos leaves, sparing Myung-gi again.
In the third game, In-ho kills a player via snapping their neck in order to save himself and Park Jung-bae / Player 390, Gi-hun's best friend. During the next vote, In-ho tries to convince people to vote to leave, but they vote to continue the games.
Gi-hun realizes that there will be a fight that night and hatches a plan that leaves In-ho perplexed.
Gi-hun wants his group to start a rebellion to end the games. In-ho initially opposes the idea, saying it's too risky and suggests they should instead attack the O voters first. Gi-hun suggests they hide under the beds as the lights turn off, allowing the O-voters to murder the other sleeping X players to maintain the ruse and keep the plan hidden. This leads In-ho to subtly smile while stating that Gi-hun is essentially sacrificing human lives for the greater good, and he agrees to help with the rebellion.
When the guards enter the dorm to stop the fight, Gi-hun and his team, including In-ho, take the guns from the guards and start a rebellion. During the rebellion, In-ho offers to go with Gi-hun through the compound to find the control room, but Gi-hun chooses to go with his friend Jung-bae instead. In-ho, along with Kwon Byeong-su and another player, go to help them and Gi-hun gives him his last magazine. Eventually, In-ho sabotages and kills the two players who were with him, faking "Young-il"'s death as well. After this, he radios the guards to "wrap things up". Gi-hun and Jung-bae surrender, and In-ho, now dressed as the Front Man, comes with the Masked Officer and several guards and asks him if it was worth it to "play the hero". He then kills Jung-bae in front of Gi-hun, leaving him hysterical and devastated as he walks away with the Masked Officer.
''Squid Game'' season 3
After the failed rebellion, Gi-hun is returned as the apparent sole survivor. In-ho has a phone call with Captain Park who works for him as a mole, keeping an eye on In-ho's brother Jun-ho and the mercenary group hired by Gi-hun, preventing them from finding the island. In-ho orders Park to kill everyone in Jun-ho's team if things go wrong, including his own brother. Subsequently, almost the entire team is later killed by Captain Park after Choi Woo-seok calls Jun-ho and warns him that the Captain is working for the Squid Game organization. Jun-ho manages to fatally wound the Captain. Before his death, Park tells Jun-ho that he saved him from drowning 4 years ago because In-ho had ordered him "to do whatever it took to keep you alive". Later, In-ho calls his brother and tells him that he will die if he continues to investigate the games, but Jun-ho defies him by saying "then you'll have to kill me".In-ho continues to monitor the games when they continue, eventually welcoming the VIPs. During the aftermath of the Jump Rope game which resulted in Jun-hee's death, shortly after she gave birth to her baby, the Front Man decides the baby is designated as Jun-hee's replacement for Player 222.
Gi-hun, who swore to care for the baby after Jun-hee's death, is summoned to meet In-ho in his office where he finally reveals himself as the Front Man. After apologising for Jung-bae's death and explaining that the remaining players intend to kill him and the baby to win the prize money, In-ho offers Gi-hun a knife and proposes that Gi-hun kills the other finalists first to save himself and the baby. It is then revealed that during the 2015 games that In-Ho won, Oh Il-nam made the same proposition to In-ho in a similar situation; In-ho killed the other finalists and was traumatised by his actions. This is implied to be what began his descent into becoming the Front Man.
Gi-hun ultimately doesn't kill the other finalists after a hallucination of Sae-byeok about him not being that kind of person and proceeds with them to the final game, Sky Squid Game. During the final game, with In-ho and the VIPs watching, Gi-hun manages to outlive the remaining finalists including Lee Myung-gi. Due to an oversight made by them in not beginning the final round before Myung-gi's death, Gi-hun decides to sacrifice his life to allow Jun-hee's child to win the final round. As he does, he declares to In-ho and the VIPs that the players are humans, not horses as In-ho previously described to Gi-hun after his victory against Sang-woo. In-ho, moved by Gi-hun's sacrifice and display of humanity, rescues Jun-hee's baby and leaves Jun-ho when confronted by him. Shortly after, the island's hidden explosives are detonated to destroy the facility.
Six months later, In-ho sends the baby and her prize money to Jun-ho. He also delivers Gi-hun's bloody 456 tracksuit and remaining winnings from the 2021 games to the latter's daughter, Ga-yeong, in Los Angeles. While driving through the city, he spots an American Recruiter playing ddakji with a homeless person. He expresses apparent disappointment - having likely been influenced by Gi-hun's experience in the games - before leaving.