1: Introduction: A Squid Game Reality

Seong Gi-hun is presented with a simple gambling game of Ddakji by a mysterious well-dressed stranger in a subway. The goal of Ddakji, a game similar to milk caps or Pogs, is to throw a folded piece of paper at your opponent's folded piece of paper and flip their piece of paper. The stranger says the winner will pay the loser 100,000 won (approximately $83) for every flip. However, Seong Gi-hun is a broke gambler and unable to pay his opponent after he loses. Instead of paying cash, the stranger offers to slap Seong Gi-hun in the face for every loss. After endless rounds of the game, the stranger propositions Seong Gi-hun that he “can make big money playing games like this for a few days.”¹ After this proposition, we learn that Seong Gi-hun owes hundreds of millions of won to loan sharks and the bank due to failed businesses. The stranger gives him a card and instructs him to call the number. This is twenty-first century capitalism – a world without job security, demands to consume more, and debt everywhere – where no job is too degrading for a few bucks.