After playing Red Light Green Light, the majority of players voted to leave the game.
Interestingly, even Player 001 (who we later know had part in creating the games) voted to leave the game.
However, when participants left, they were re-invited back if they desired to. Again, Squid Game allowed let them choose whether they wanted to re-enter the games. This time, realizing that there’s a possibility they won’t leave there alive.
What happened to the 14 participants who decided not to return?
Of course, we may never really find out.
The Front Man asked his staff to “keep an eye” on them when the majority of players returned, so we can only assume that they weren’t killed in the real world — at least not by the organizers of Squid Game.
Here, we’ll talk about a few theories as to what happened to the 14 players who didn’t return.
They were killed by someone or something else
I think this is a very real possibility because with the characters we got to learn about, pretty much all of them were severely indebted and were in dangerous situations.
Sang-woo was on the verge of killing himself, Ali was running away from the authorities after severely injuring his former boss, and Jang Deok-su (the gangster) was being chased by casino gangsters from the Philippines.
I think the nature of Squid Game targeting those who are already vulnerable makes it extremely likely that participants, had they not returned, would have died under some similar circumstances.
After all, this was what the writers were hinting at when they showed how most participants would return to the games after recognizing their real lives weren’t really much better.
They end up as the Red Masked Workers
Given that these participants were targeted because of their debt in the first place, it’s reasonable that Squid Game offered them an alternative way out: as a worker.
After all, we see workers occasionally getting killed off either by their supervisor, the Front Man, or in an accident.
They return as future players
I don’t think this is likely, but it’s possible that they can come back as a participant in future games.
The reason I don’t think it is likely is that they would already have prior knowledge of what the games are about. Because of this reason, they could theoretically warn the other players ahead of time and ruin the integrity of the games.
They gain a different life perspective
I think this may be the most likely outcome. That is, players who don’t return realize their situation isn’t as dire as it feels. They begin to recognize that, yes, their debt sucks. And yes, they will need to figure out some way to settle it.
However, they’ll also realize and appreciate how this is less of a life or death matter than it previously appeared.
After all, in Squid Game, you literally die.
In this way, they win a different kind of prize that isn’t material at all. They come to appreciate being able to live each day with the gift that they are still alive.
The writers wanted to show not every one is that desperate
The real theme here is that not every one is desperate enough to die for money.
At the beginning, these 14 players were curious about the Squid Game when it had the promise they might win a lot of money.
When it became clear that the games weren’t what they expected, they made a clear decision to not return.
This is very reasonable, and something I would expect many people (more than 14, in fact) would choose.
Credits: Images are from Squid Game (Youngkyu Park / Netflix) 2021
