How did Ji-yeong die in Squid Game?

Last Modified Mar 20, 2025 12:44 EDT
How did Ji-yeong die in Squid Game?
Ji-yeong in Squid Game. (Source: Screengrab from the show)


Ji-yeong deliberately lost the Marbles game, giving up her life to allow Sae-byeok to progress in the games after concluding that Sae-byeok had a greater reason to live than she did, because she still had a family to support. Ji-yeong was removed from the games after a soldier shot her in the head.


Ji-yeong, who's also referred to as Player 240, competed in the 33rd Squid Game in 2020. The competition featured 456 contestants, and Seong Gi-hun, also referred to as Player 456, emerged victorious with the prize money of ₩45.6 billion, or $37 million.


Ji-yeong is portrayed by Lee Yoo-mi in the series.


Ji-yeong’s background in Squid Game


Ji-yeong’s background in Squid Game, How did Ji-yeong die in Squid Game?
Ji-yeong. (Source: Screengrab from the show)


Ji-yeong was sexually and physically molested as a child by her father, who also killed her mother. She killed her father in retaliation and was imprisoned for this crime. She thought she had nothing to live for in the outside world, so she consented to compete in the Game sometime after her imprisonment, regardless of whether she lived or died.


According to Ji-yeong, her father was a preacher who prayed to God for pardon while hitting his wife and mistreating his daughter. Ji-yeong believes that he killed Ji-yeong's mother because he knew he wouldn't be forgiven, even if he didn't pray. Since her father's beliefs and hypocrisy were closely linked to her suffering, it is inferred that she detested the devout Player 244 because of his affiliation with religion. Because he reminds Ji-yeong of her father, she despises Player 244.


Sae-byeok invited her to join Team 4, an alliance of competitors that also featured Cho Sang-woo and Seong Gi-hun, before the third round. Ji-yeong nearly left after Sang-woo first criticized Sae-byeok's decision to only accept male recruits, but Gi-hun persuaded her to stay. She lived through to the Marbles game's fourth round when she was paired with Sae-byeok. They decided to wait until the last second and then play one round to decide the winner, after finding out that only the winner of the two would survive.


Who played Ji-yeong in Squid Game?


How did Ji-yeong die in Squid Game?
Lee Yoo-mi (Source: Instagram)


Actress Lee Yoo-mi played Ji-yeong in the South Korean thriller horror survival Squid Game. She was born on July 18, 1994. Known for her parts as Gang Nam-soon in Strong Girl Nam-soon (2023), Lee Na-yeon in All of Us Are Dead (2022), and Ji-yeong in Squid Game (2021), she is quite popular.


Her performance as Ji-yeong in Squid Game earned her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, making her the first Korean actress to win in that category. Lee became well-known outside of South Korea in 2021 after acting in Squid Game. In just a few days after the series' global breakthrough, Lee's Instagram following grew from 40,000 to over 6.5 million.


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FAQs about Ji-yeong in Squid Game

A. Ji-yeong was removed from the games after a soldier shot her in the head. Ji-yeong deliberately lost the Marbles game, giving up her life to allow Sae-byeok to progress in the games.

A. Ji-young, commonly known as Player 240, was a former prisoner who was just freed from imprisonment after killing her mother's killer and her violent father, a pastor who was also an alcoholic.

A. Ji-yeong deliberately lost the Marbles game, giving up her life to allow Sae-byeok to progress in the games after concluding that Sae-byeok had a greater reason to live than she did because she still had a family to support.

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