Hwang In-ho

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## Hwang In-ho

### Aliases

Player 132
Front Man (프론트 맨 *Puelonteu Maen*?)
Leader (대장 *Daejang*?) (Guards)
(형 *Hyung*?) (Hwang Jun-ho)

### Relatives

Park Mal-soon (mother)
Hwang Jun-ho (younger brother)

### Occupation

Front Man (Squid Games)
Police officer (formerly)

### Born

February 2, 1976
Gyeonggi-do

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Lee Byung-hun

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**Hwang In-ho** (황인호 *Hwang In-ho*?), also known as the **Front Man** (프론트 맨 *Puelonteu Maen*?), is the current head staff member and the person who oversees the Squid Games. He is the brother of Hwang Jun-ho and became the Front Man after he played in and won the 28th Squid Game in 2015 as **Player 132**. In 2020, his brother infiltrated the 33rd Squid Game in an attempt to find him after he went missing.

Spoilers

## Personality

While masked, this mysterious character appears in an all-black outfit, including a black geometrically patterned mask. His look stands out from that of the other staff members who don hot pink tracksuits with a black mask each bearing either a circle, triangle or square symbol.

The Front Man wields absolute control over all three classes of guards and observes the survival competition games through several monitoring screens as the games unfold, sometimes stepping in when a situation gets out of control. He is often seen answering phone calls back at his quarters, communicating with the person on the other line about the ongoing competition. This is usually the Host, whose orders he carries out. He also ensures that the VIPs have a good time while watching the game.

As the Front Man, In-ho is very strict and ruthless to keep the order within the games and keep his underlings under control, executing the ones who break the rules and disturb the games. He believes in equality and that the games are actually a last chance in life to the contestants, as they play a fair game under the same conditions after suffering because of the inequality and discrimination in the outside world. Despite this belief, In-ho also views the players as a way of entertainment to the rich gamblers behind the games, as he later explains to Gi-hun that the contestants are similar to the horses he bets on races.

In-ho does not tolerate anyone disturbing the equality of the games and will eliminate players and masked workers who violate this rule. He also values the secrecy of the games, as seen when he immediately kills the masked manager that is forced to reveal his face to a player. Despite being a firm and stern person, he is polite and always acts in a sophisticated manner. He also respects the one above him, the Host and the funders, the VIPs. He ends the nighttime brawl at Il-nam's pleading, accepts Il-nam's request to receive the VIPs, making preparations for their arrival and then attending and trying to please them while they watch the games. After Il-nam's death, In-ho visits his house to pay his respects to him. In-ho is also respectful towards Seong Gi-hun after he wins the games, congratulating Gi-hun and admitting he wasn't expecting him to go so far in the competition. In-ho tells Gi-hun to think of it all like a bad dream, implying he is aware that Gi-hun will be left with trauma which he himself possible suffers due to having won the Squid Game previously.

Not much is known about Hwang In-ho's personal life, but he seems to be close to his family, as they noticed his absence just a few days after the games started, and especially his brother, whom he gave his own kidney to. In-ho orders the masked soldiers not to kill him after learning the identity of the intruder. Later, he even breaks the rule of secrecy by revealing his face to Jun-ho in an attempt to ask his brother to come with him so he can ensure his safety. Upon being refused, he simply shoots Jun-ho non-fatally in the shoulder, causing him fall off a cliff to his presumed death. After shooting Jun-ho, In-ho is haunted by his own action, showing that In-ho does care about his brother and feels remorse about what he did.

## History

### Backstory

Hwang In-ho was a South Korean police officer who was involved in bribery, which was likely the cause of money problems which made him participate in the games. At some point in his life, he gave one of his kidneys to his brother.

In-ho participated in the 28th Squid Game in 2015 as Player 132 and ended up winning it. After his victory, In-ho remained involved with the games planned by Oh Il-nam, eventually becoming the Front Man, the competition's masked overseer and administrator.

As of 2020, In-ho was living in a very small dormitory in the city despite having won the Squid Games five years prior. Shortly before the 33rd Squid Game, In-ho began missing rent payments on his apartment and stopped responding to calls from his family.

### 33rd Squid Game

After having no contact for a week, Hwang In-ho's brother Jun-ho visited his apartment to investigate and discovered an invitation card for Squid Game. This caused him to believe he'd gone missing, prompting him to reach out to Seong Gi-hun, who'd attempted to report the Squid Games to the police with an identical card. After being rebuffed, Jun-ho tailed Gi-hun when he was picked up by Squid Game staff, allowing him to infiltrate the games.

The Front Man is first seen as he walks into the room where workers are monitoring the players through cameras. When the players enter the area for the first game, the Front makes a phone call, telling the person on the other end that the preparations are complete and the game can begin. He then starts watching the game on a big screen, while listening to a jazz song and drinking whiskey.

After the Squid Game was stopped due to players voting for it to end, it restarted due to many players returning. A worker informs the Front Man that 93% of the players returned to the games. The Front Man tells him to keep an eye on the fourteen people who didn't return and to keep him posted.

After a worker is forced to take his mask off by a player who stole his gun, the Front Man enters the room and shoots the worker through the head. He reminds the other workers that once somebody finds out who you are, you're dead.

The Front Man gives a few players no food to set off a fight between the players. He makes the lights flicker to cause more hysteria. When Player 001 cries out to stop the fight, the Front Man tells the workers to end it.

After Byeong-gi (a doctor who helped workers with organ selling) lashes out at some workers and kills one, a worker takes off his mask to show he's just human and calm Byeong-gi down. The worker then secretly tries to stab Byeong-gi, but the Front Man enters the room and shoots him. He tells him that he doesn't care about the organ selling, but that he is angry the worker ruined the equality of the players by giving Byeong-gi advantageous information. He tells him that the players suffered inequality in the real world, so they get last chance to fight fair. He then shoots the worker again; this time killing him.

The Front Man is informed about another dead worker. He finds out there is an intruder on the island and demands the workers to find him. He then takes out the bullet out of the body's head and takes a close look at it, recognizing the bullet.

Later, he returns to his quarters to take a phone call, but the Front Man notices that the phone is placed differently than he usually does it. This tips him off that the intruder is probably close to him, so he takes out his gun and goes to search for the intruder. He mentions that he knows that he's a cop as he recognized the bullet as the kind the Korean police uses. He asks the intruder to come and talk with him because that he can not leave the place without his permission. He enters the room the intruder is in, nearly finding him, but gets a call revealing that a body was found on the island. He goes to see it, and sees the police ID that was in the body's pocket. He sees that it's Hwang Jun-ho's ID, his brother. He also sees that the body is not Jun-ho, realizing he is the intruder and is still walking around.

When the VIPs arrive, he informs the host and goes to greet them. He introduces himself and brings them to the room where they can watch the next game. During the game, he keeps the VIPs informed about the game and the players. As he finds out that the intruder had just been with one of the VIPs, he goes to look for him. He finds out that Jun-ho escaped through a hole and catches a glimpse of him at the end of it. Through a phone call, he's informed that the diving equipment is gone and the intruder must’ve left through the underwater cave. He goes after him by boat with a few workers. He tells workers to bring him alive.

As the workers catch up with Jun-ho and corner him on a cliff, the Front Man arrives. The Front Man tells Jun-ho that he will let him live if he hands over the gun and phone. He knows that Jun-ho has only one bullet left in his gun because of police regulations. As the Front Man gets closer, Jun-ho shoots him in the shoulder. The workers want to shoot Jun-ho, but the Front Man signs not to. Jun-ho asks the Front Man who he is, to which he responds by taking off his mask, revealing that he is Jun-ho's brother In-ho. He asks the shocked Jun-ho to come with him, but the detective refuses. In response, In-ho shoots his brother in the shoulder. As Jun-ho falls off the cliff, In-ho simply puts his mask back on and walks away with his escort.

Later as In-ho goes back to his office, he takes care of his bullet wound while looking in the mirror. He's haunted by a hallucination of Jun-ho asking him "why?".

After Gi-hun wins the Squid Game, he sits in the car with him and congratulates him. Gi-hun asks him why they are doing this, and In-ho compares it with horse racing. He also tells Gi-hun that he's surprised he made it this far and to think of it as a dream.
### 2021

Hwang In-ho can be seen standing next to the bed of Oh Il-nam, who had just died. He reflects on the conversation he'd had with him a year before during the 33rd Squid Game before closing his eyes and walking away. It is presumed that he became the new host and head of the Squid Games after this.

## Trivia

* According to his player file, Hwang In-ho's resident registration number is 760202-1171651 and he lived in 37-124 Chunghyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul at the time of his participation in the 28th Squid Game.
* Hwang In-ho and the subplot with Jun-ho were not in the original script. There were only added after the decision for Squid Game to be a series instead of a movie.
* Lee Byung-hun, the actor who portrays Hwang In-ho, is mentioned in the series by Ji-yeong in "Gganbu" when referring to the movie *Inside Men*.
* While mentioning the plot lines he would like to explore in season two, Hwang Dong-hyuk stated that one of them would be the story of the Front Man and his brother.
* In-ho always puts the transmitter on the right side of the telephone and puts the receiver on the left.
* In-ho is implied to be left handed or left eye dominant, as he holds and shoots his gun with his left hand.
* He carries a Colt M1911 pistol with nickel finish.
* He, Seong Gi-hun, and Cho Sang-woo are the only characters that appeared in all nine episodes.

## Behind the scenes

He was portrayed by Lee Byung-hun. In the English dub, he was voiced by Tom Choi.

## Appearances

* Season One
	+ "Red Light, Green Light"
	+ "Hell"
	+ "The Man with the Umbrella"
	+ "Stick to the Team"
	+ "A Fair World"
	+ "Gganbu"
	+ "VIPS"
	+ "Front Man"
	+ "One Lucky Day"

## References

1. ↑ As briefly shown on the documents for the 28th Squid Game in "A Fair World".
2. ↑ In South Korea, the eighth and ninth digits of a person's resident registration number signifies their place of birth, with "22" indicating Gyeonggi-do.
3. ↑ "A Fair World"
4. ↑ Squid Game Season 2: Plotlines The Show's Creator Wants To Explore
5. ↑ "VIPS"

 Guards
 Leadership
 Relatives