The games really meant a tragedy for Seong Gi-hun's mental health and stability, in his already stormy daily life. Being full of debts, problems with other people for betting or asking to borrow money, was a suffocation that the man couldn't bear and spending a week on said island, made him realize how ephemeral the circumstances of happiness were in the worst moments. His debts were really nothing compared to the life he had on the island. All the lies, betrayals, and instinctive acts of survival that several did —including his now dead childhood friend—, Cho Sang-woo. While 456's life was a complete misery waiting anxiously and fearfully for the next game, there was another who, as a spectator, had an adrenaline rush watching him suffer like that. The panic in the eyes of other players was nothing compared to Gi-hun's. Unlike the rest, Seong Gi-hun clung to a fragile moral compass, attempting to act as an unlikely savior in a pit of treacherous debtors. His restraint —refusal to harm others even when survival demanded it— sparked frustration and admiration in In-ho. Hwang saw a reflection of his younger self, a shadow of the humanity he’d lost.

Throughout the games, Hwang In-ho kept his focus on 456. The screens may have shown every participant, but for him, Gi-hun was the star, his every move scrutinized and mentally cataloged. When the game was over, and 456 was the obvious winner, Hwang In-ho took the trouble to see him off from the pleasant competition. Escorted by two other pink-suited guards as driver and bodyguard, In-ho sat in the back of the limousine, sharing the ride with the winner. He drank a glass of expensive champagne, while Gi-hun lay tied up and bandaged with his face bent, pretending to look at the ground and in absolute silence. Perhaps wondering if it had all been a real experience.

"What did you really expect…?" In-ho asks, speaking coldly without taking his eyes off Gi-hun. "Did you really think everyone was going to win? You still have a very naive mind for a man, 456..."