Untouchable: Why Squid Game Season 3 might keep Player 222 alive

Squid Game Season 3 is bringing back one of the most interesting characters from Season 2, Kim Jun-hee, aka Player 222. Being a pregnant contender, she personifies the strong paradox of vulnerability and survival.

In Season 3 of Squid Game, Kim Jun-hee (궀준희) is more than just another contestant. Could she be saved for being pregnant?

Disclaimer: This analysis pushes Squid Game Season 3 to its darkest potential, unraveling the fate of Player 222 and the cruel cost of survival.

There is an eerie irony in her name alone. "Jun" (힀) signifies "talented," "Hee" (혬) means "brilliant," and "Kim" (궀), the most common Korean surname, represents "gold" or "fortune." Taken as a whole, the name has the conundrum of being a "lucky charm," which is somewhat contradictory for a woman thrust into a game where luck is really a harsh illusion.

However, the very name that signifies brilliance and prosperity now serves as a dark reminder of everything she stands to lose.

There might be an escape for her, though.

The dark side of luck: why Player 222 might survive in Squid Game Season 3

In South Korean media, killing a pregnant woman is a rare move. Even the most graphic stories rarely venture beyond this cultural taboo. What if, however, her unborn kid is the true target? Boundaries have always been pushed, and the worst parts of human nature have always been exposed in Squid Game. Season 3 might be no different, but instead of breaking the taboo outright, it could find a way to subvert it by keeping Jun-hee alive while taking her baby away.

It’s not just the premise of survival that makes Jun-hee’s story compelling. Her very presence within the game is infused with twisted irony. In a place that actively works to deprive people of hope, being called lucky feels like a cruel insult. Even if she manages to stay alive, she and her unborn child may face a protracted trial.

In South Korean media, harming a pregnant woman on screen is practically unheard of. Motherhood and new life are highly esteemed in society, which contributes to the cultural reluctance to portray such violence. That's why it feels like a daring narrative choice for Squid Game to feature a pregnant contestant in its harsh universe in the first place.

The question then becomes: will the show kill her, or find a more insidious way to reflect the tragedy of her situation?

One of the few Korean films that broke this taboo is Arang (2006), a horror movie where a pregnant woman and her unborn child are violently killed. The shock factor was undeniable, and it stirred controversy upon release. Yet even in this rare instance, the film leaned into the supernatural to justify its choices, softening the blow by wrapping the violence in a ghost story.

Squid Game doesn’t have that cushion. It deals in raw, unfiltered human horror, which makes the potential decision to harm Jun-hee or her child far more brutal.

But the series might find a different approach: keeping Jun-hee alive while her baby becomes a pawn in the game. It is possible that the system spares her life, not out of compassion, but because her child could have a sinister purpose. This is how the game might change Jun-hee's luck from a blessing to a burden by manipulating the narrative of luck suggested with her name.

A life born to play: what Squid Game Season 3 could do with Player 222’s baby

Imagine the system taking the baby from Jun-hee and raising it as part of the game, a child who never knew life outside the brutal competition. The concept itself is chilling.

An innocent life shaped not by love or family, but by the ruthless logic of survival. The newborn could be conditioned from the start to become the perfect player, detached, calculating, and devoid of the emotional connections that make other contestants vulnerable.

Jun-hee’s presence could then be reduced to that of a spectator, kept alive solely to witness her child being molded into a tool of the system. This would turn the very concept of motherhood on its head. Instead of nurturing and protecting, Jun-hee would be forced to watch the systematic dehumanization of her own flesh and blood.

In this scenario, Jun-hee’s story becomes one of enduring pain, where survival means being kept alive to witness a nightmare. Her supposed luck would then become a twisted form of torture, a life spared not for redemption, but to suffer the ongoing horror of losing her child to the game’s twisted logic.

Born to die: how Squid Game Season 3 could turn Jun-hee’s child into the ultimate pawn

If the system decides to raise the baby as a new kind of player, the implications are disturbing. A child with no connection to the outside world, indoctrinated from birth to view violence as a means of survival. Unlike other contestants who had lives before the game, this baby would grow up immersed in the game’s brutality, making them the most efficient and merciless player ever seen.

Jun-hee’s supposed survival would thus be the ultimate cruelty. She wouldn’t just lose her baby physically. She’d lose the essence of what makes that child human. The show could then explore the paradox of creating a perfect player who is also a victim from birth, forcing audiences to question the morality of the system itself.

This concept could resonate with other narratives where children are conditioned to be weapons, like The Hunger Games or Battle Royale, but with a more twisted psychological layer. While those stories depict young people forced into violence, Squid Game could take it a step further by exploring the complete eradication of choice, where the game itself becomes the parent, shaping the child into a machine of survival.

The curse of luck: how survival can be the ultimate punishment

Kim Jun-hee’s name suggests fortune and brilliance, but in the ruthless context of Squid Game Season 3, it could symbolize something far darker. Survival doesn’t always mean freedom. For Jun-hee, it could mean a lifetime of guilt, watching her baby become a product of the system, a child born to die, raised without hope.

By keeping Jun-hee alive, the game could deliver a message more harrowing than death: that survival itself can be a weapon of despair. Instead of ending her life, the system might force her to continue existing in a state of perpetual grief, knowing her baby is growing up without her, shaped by the cold, unforgiving world that took him.

Perhaps, in Squid Game Season 3, surviving will be more of a hell than a reward. The concept that surviving is always a triumph may be tested when the story delves more into the shadowy side of human nature. Sometimes, it’s just a prolonged loss.

The endless game

What if Squid Game Season 3 doesn’t just keep Jun-hee alive, but ensures her baby remains a pawn in the game indefinitely? Imagine a future where Jun-hee is kept as a prisoner, forced to participate in future games, all while knowing her child is somewhere in the system, growing up to be a perfect player (or even worse).

This scenario wouldn’t just redefine survival. It would redefine loss. Jun-hee would remain alive, but in a constant state of emotional death, a woman whose only purpose is to witness the rise of her own child as a weapon for the very game that destroyed her life.

In this version, Jun-hee’s supposed “luck” becomes the most insidious form of punishment. Living long enough to see her own child become the very monster she fought to escape.

The series could then end with a haunting question: Is it truly better to survive if survival itself becomes the worst form of hell?