Nam-gyu

Personality

Nam-gyu is shown to be a more violent, unfeeling and sadistic individual than even Thanos during the Squid Games' progression. While Thanos attempted to display an affable persona and sometimes treated his teammates with respect, even demonstrating remorse for Gyeong-su's death, Nam-gyu was regularly hostile to those around him, with the exception of Thanos. He especially enjoyed bullying Myung-gi and harassing Min-su, to the point where Thanos called him out on his behavior multiple times. Nam-gyu told his teammates that if someone doesn't care whether they live or not, they can ensure their survival, which is reflected in the games. He is an avid drug user, evidently addicted to the drugs Thanos used during the Squid Games. According to his own words, he had previously tried every single street drug he could find. Under the effect of Thanos' drugs, Nam-gyu became much less scared and anxious. However, this simultaneously caused him to act more irrationally. After Thanos' death, Nam-gyu took his cross necklace and later consumed more than one of the colourful drugs inside. This extra tablet was presumably taken to ease his anxiety. Nam-gyu is callous and uncaring towards the lives of other contestants, expressing frustration that not enough people died in each round as more people dying would have led to a more significant prize-pool. Though he initially avoided violence due to the many witnesses, Nam-gyu later had no qualms against murder. In the 'Mingle' game, he was shown to help Thanos kick two other players out of the way in order for them to take a spot for themselves during the final round. Later during the bathroom brawl where the 'O' and 'X' team fought each other, Nam-gyu took the fork in Thanos' neck and used it to brutally murder another player. He possessed a special hatred for Se-mi, who bruised his ego earlier in the 'Six-Legged Pentathlon'. He referred to her as a "bitch" before violently attacking her in the 'Special Games'.

Backstory

Prior to the 36th Squid Game, Nam-gyu worked as a club promoter at Club Pentagon, where he met and became friends with the rapper Thanos. Like Thanos, Nam-gyu invested a massive sum of money in a cryptocurrency called Dalmatian, after being advised by a crypto YouTuber "MG Coin". However, the crypto turned out to be unsuccessful and costed Nam-gyu over 300 Million Wons. Due to this, Nam-gyu participated in the annual Squid Game in hopes of gaining enough money to pay off his debts, completely oblivious to the dangers he would soon have to face. Nam-Gyu is first seen with his close acquaintance Thanos, antagonizing the crypto YouTuber "MG Coin", real name Myung-gi, who had also participated in the Squid Game to pay off his crippling debt from his failed cryptocurrency. Nam-gyu and Thanos were agitated with Myung-gi, and quickly bonded over their mutual vengeance and desperation after losing all of their money, blaming Myung-gi and his advises for their current predicament, stating that it was his fault that they are in debt and threatened him to earn back every money to pay them off. Thanos and Myungi-gi argue back on forth for some time, before it soon escalates into a physical altercation, though Nam-gyu manages to restrain and calm down Thanos and brings him back, saying that people are watching Nam-gyu was one of the majority of people that survived the first game "Red Light, Green Light", and was one of the people that chose to press "O" to continue the game, as 24 Million Wons was not worth nearly enough pay off his debts, let alone risk his life. The next day, during meal time, Thanos and Nam-Gyu yet again began to harass Myung-gi as he was eating. Nam-gyu starts off by taunting him by asking how he still has an appetite after watching people get shot, with Thanos soon joining in and yet again threatening him by telling him that he'd better get enough money to pay them off.

Backstory

When Myung tries to get them to go away, Nam-gyu steals and takes away his food, further insulting him by saying that he "eats like a f**king pig". When Thanos instigates further by taking the plate of food and shoving it in Myung-gi's face, a fight breaks out between him and the latter, but he is quickly overwhelmed as both Nam-gyu and Thanos beat him up. Soon, Young-il would intervene between them, asking them if they were embarrassed for having a 1v2. When Thanos foolishly provokes Young, he quickly grabs Thanos by the neck. Nam-gyu tries to help but is quickly defeated with ease and is left on the floor in pain. Young-il deals with the duo soon and they both leave Myung-gi for the moment. Later, before the second game begins, Nam-gyu notices Thanos taking his colorful drugs and asks what it was, with Thanos being quick to dismiss it as something he doesn't need to know. During the prelude of the second game "Six Legs", Man-gyu is seen with Thanos, with a new player in their team, Gyeong-su, and were looking for more people to recruit into their team. They found two other players, Se-mi and Park Min-su whom they promptly invite over to their team to complete their group of five. After the first two teams had died during the games, Nam-gyu was visibly anxious and asked Thanos for some of his colorful drugs, stating that he would have no problem with it as he had tried nearly every single street drug he found. With some reluctance, Thanos hands Nam-gyu the drugs to calm his nerves. With the drug taking instantaneous effect, Nam-gyu begins to harass Min-su, but is quickly shut down by Se-mi, who taunts him about his shaky hands and reliance of drugs to calm his nerves, with Nam-gyu taking an immediate dislike to her, calling her a "B**ch". They would be able to successfully finish all the mini-games and survive for another day

Backstory

At the dormitory, Nam-gyu is visibly upset that there were more survivors, and that they wouldn't be able to get more money from the prize pool. He then orders Min-su to count the players remaining. However, Se-mi interrupted, saying that the masked guards would come in and announce the amount of players left anyways. This causes Nam-gyu to gain even more hatred for her, causing tension to rise. Thanos would soon stop the rising tension and then calm them down. Thanos asked everyone what their ages were, and when Min-su states that he was 27, Thanos orders Nam-gyu to treat him like a friend and not order him around since they were the same age. When Se-mi states that she was born in 1996, Thanos tells Nam-gyu and insists to call her as Noona, as she was the eldest among them, much to his annoyance. During the second voting session, Nam-gyu threatens and intimidates Min-su into voting "O", telling him to not "betray us", with Min-su being pressured into doing so. Later, in the bathroom, Nam-gyu and Thanos confronts Lee Myung-gi, accusing him of being a "traitor" for voting X and choosing to leave the game. They questioned how he planned to pay off their debts with how little the accumulated prize money was and pressured him to stay in the game. Myung-gi, in turn, remarked about Thanos's forgetfulness and his incident at his concert, which greatly annoyed him. Before Thanos could retaliate, Gi-hun's team entered the scene, notably Young-il, and both teams ultimately decided to leave Myung-gi alone for the time being. During the third game, "Mingle", Nam-gyu and their team survive the first of mingle that required ten people, though it is not shown who they took, or whose group the joined to survive. In the second round that required four people, Thanos kicked Gyeong-su out of the team, both literally and figuratively. So, Nam-gyu, Thanos, Se-mi and Min-su survived the second round by sticking together, even if it required them to kick Gyeong-su out.

Backstory

In the third round that required three people, Nam-gyu and Thanos insisted that Se-mi and Min-su secure their position as the third person in a bout of rock, paper, scissor. Se-mi tried to take Min-su with him by holding her hand for him, only for Min-su to pick scissors in response. Mistaking this as Min-su beating Se-mi in rock, paper, scissor, Nam-gyu and Thanos takes him along with them to survive the round of mingle. Nam-gyu also survives the fourth round that required six people off-screen, and it is unknown who they paired up with to survive. During the final round of the game, which was revealed to be two people, Thanos and Nam-gyu take each other and leave Min-su behind and manages to survive the final round, therefore winning again and making out alive for the next day After the third game, Thanos and Nam-gyu finds a Min-su, who is shown to have survived the final round. Thanos and Nam-gyu begins to further coax Min-su into their team of "O" by fake complimenting him, with Nam-gyu himself saying that he was hard-to-kill and cold-blooded. During the third voting session however, Min-su votes "X" in favor of stopping the games, much to Nam-gyu's surprise and anger. He and Thanos later corners Min-su in the bathroom and yet again tries to coerce Min-su into voting "O" tomorrow. The game ended with Nam-gyu and Thanos winning and receiving the promised money and returning to their previous jobs without making any more mistakes that caused them to run into debt.

Nam-gyu's attitude towards Thanos

Nam-gyu always stuck to Thanos' side, he was always by his side and often tried to touch him in every possible way because of the tactile hunger and affection formed in the squid game, after squid game they decided that they would rent an apartment together, as it would be more convenient, but they only cover their love for each other. in relation to each other