What Squid Game Means -10 Things You Might Not Have Known

Squid Game has been the most-watched show on Netflix. You probably have watched it already but there might be some scenes that you might have missed.
As seen from the commentary and his previous works, the director is definitely not the kind that makes scenes with coincidences. Just sharing what you have missed in Squid Game because you don’t know the Korean language or culture or simply because you were too engrossed in the show! Spoilers Alert!

#1 Oh Il Nam in Squid Game

Oh Il Nam
오일남

His name itself in Korean is already a spoiler.

오징어 is squid in Korean. 일 is the number one in Korea. 남자 means man.
His name is literally the abbreviation of “Squid Game Number 1 Man”, in other words, the first man in Squid Game, strongly hinting he is the creator of the game.

#2 The Doll in Red Light Green Light has a Name!

Her name is 영희 (Young Hee), a character from Primary School textbooks in Korea in the 80’s. The director of the Netflix Show Squid Game, being inspired by the friendly character in his childhood textbook, reincarnated her into the gigantic robot that mercilessly shoots at players caught moving in red light. Your childhood friend making a comeback as a killing machine that’s quite a nightmare!

+ Where is the Squid Game Doll in Real Life?

Around the web, it is commonly said that the Squid Game Doll can be found at 진천 마차체험박물관 Jincheon Macha Museum.
However, she is not open to the public anymore.

It’s because the museum misunderstood the manufacturer of the Squid Game doll and thought they could show her to the public after the release of Squid Game on Netflix.
The museum uncovered the veil and revealed her to the public for some days until they received a call from the manufacturer that the doll was supposed kept private.

Thus, Young Hee the Squid Game doll has been transferred to a private storage and we can’t visit her now.

#3 Red Light Green Light in Korean

In the translated English version, Young Hee the Doll in the first game of Squid Game just blurbs “Green Light, Red Light”. However, in the original Korean game, Young Hee sings a melody with the lyrics “무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다” (M00-goong-hwa-kkotchee-pieot-seum-ni-da]. It literally means “The Hibiscus flower has bloomed”. While her face is on the tree, she sings the song and the players are free to move. When the song ends, she spins her head around to face the players and strictly kills those whose motion is detected. Hibiscus is the national flower of Korea. But why should we stay motionless when the flower blooms? Nobody knows just as we don’t know who created the children’s game.

#4 The Meaning of Sae Byeok

Sae Byeok is one of the main characters in Squid Game. Her name Sae Byeok literally means “dawn”, the time darkest time before sunrise, in Korean. Probably due to her dark personality, Gi Hun says the name doesn’t suit her.
Sadly, Sae Byeok dies before she can ever see the sunrise in her life. The name of the song played when she dies is “Dawn”.

#5 Fly Me to the Moon

Have you wondered why “Fly Me to the Moon” is played in Red Light Green Light?
Of course, the graceful music being played behind the bloody kill-spree amplifies the drastic reality of the drama but take a look at the scenes again:

Source: Netflix

Here is the picture of the moon

.

Look at our characters’s beloved piggy bank.

#6 Why Squid Game?

Why is the show named “Squid Game”?
Out of so many children’s games in Korea, why is it “Squid Game” that is chosen?

Do you know how squids are fished?
The boats go out to the sea in the darkest hour of the night with intensively bright bulbs:

The squids, being attracted to the bright light, are lured to the fishing boat, not knowing they are close to death.

Just like the squids, the players, being sunken in the darkest and most miserable moments of life, are lured to the bright ₩45.6 billion piggy bank and into the game, thinking that it is the only hope.

They think can emerge as winners, not knowing that they are indeed driving themselves to death. The bright bulb of the squid fishing boat and the piggy bank also look similar in appearance.
In addition, other than the fish “squid”, squid has a different meaning in Korean slang. The slang “squid 오징어” refers to a person who is ugly. Being ugly in a capitalist society would mean being buried in massive debts they cannot pay off and having irrevocably low credits. In other words, the players are ugly losers in the capitalist society who are lured to the bright piggy bank but in fact they are volunteering themselves to death.

The players are squids. Hence, the game of squids, Squid Game.

#7 Kkakdugi in Squid Game

#8 Inspector Royal 암행어사

“If an attacker cuts through the waist of the squid, then they are given the freedom to use both feet and we called it “암행어사Inspector Royal”

암행어사 or Inspector Royal in translated English refers to an undercover inspector secretly sent by the King in Joseon Dynasty.
Since it was impossible for the King to watch over all officers across the Kingdom, he dispatched his covert “inspector” to check upon the officers. The inspector would disguise into a commoner so that he could infiltrate into the officer’s district and check for any corruption and the people’s well-being. When any corruption is discovered, the undercover inspector would reveal his identity to exercise power and arrest the corrupted officer. Why did the inspector had to be undercover? Because if the officer knows he is an inspector sent from the palace, the corrupted would pretend to be innocent under his presence or assassinate him in the fear of his corruption scandal being disclosed.

#9 One Lucky Day

There was a rickshaw puller whose wife was ill. One day, when he was leaving his house for work, his wife pleaded with him to stay with her just for one day. However, he chided her and left because he had to “earn money”.

That day was his lucky day. He had unusually many customers and earned a lot of money. On his way home, he bought his wife’s favourite soup and medicine.

However when he was back at home, his wife was already dead.

#10 The Identity of the Salesperson Playing Ddakji