Character from Squid Game by Hwang Dong-hyuk
Player 124 — a former club promoter who lost everything to a crypto scam and copes by bullying anyone weaker than himself.
Nam-gyu is a follower who performs dominance. He attaches himself to whoever seems strongest and punches down at whoever seems weakest — particularly Min-su, who he bullies relentlessly. His cruelty isn't driven by survival instinct; it's social currency. He hurts people to impress people. He lost over 300 million won investing in Myung-gi's cryptocurrency scam, and now he's in the same game as the man who ruined him. Instead of confronting Myung-gi directly — which would require actual courage — he redirects his rage onto easier targets. He's a small man in every sense, using the game's atmosphere of fear to inflate himself. The show positions him as the most common type of person the games attract: not the desperate noble, not the calculating strategist, but the petty bully who treats every power vacuum as an opportunity to be the biggest fish in a shrinking pond.
Korean man with the cocky posture of a former nightclub promoter — someone accustomed to performing confidence. His aggression reads as performative rather than genuine, the bluster of someone who needs the room to believe he's dangerous.
Also known as: 124, Player 124, Nam-gyu