Gganbu
The surviving players proceed to the next game and have to pick a partner. Gi-hun notices that Player 001 had wet himself the previous night, and covers it up by tying his tracksuit round his waist. As the players walk through the staircase room, they notice the bodies of Byeong-gi and his co-conspirators strung up. The Front Man then says over the intercom that the game was created with equality in mind and reiterates that there is no tolerance for cheating in the games.
Jun-ho explores the Front Man's office, trying to get more information on him. While this is happening, the players are told to partner up with someone. Sang-woo and Ali pair up, the former figuring they'd make a great team due to the combination of Sang-woo's intelligence and Ali's physical strength. Gi-hun declines partnering up with Player 062 when he sees Player 001 sitting in the corner without a partner, and offers to partner up with him instead, which the old man accepts. Ji-yeong (Player 240) and Sae-byeok decide to pair up for the game. By this point, everyone has a partner besides Mi-nyeo, who is taken away by their guards, presumably to be eliminated.
They are then introduced to the fourth game, Marbles. To win the game, the players have to try to steal all of their opponent's marbles without violence while playing a sub-game with them. The person who ends up with no marbles is killed off and eliminated. They have a time limit of 30 minutes. If no one wins by then, both players will be eliminated. Their opponent in the game is who they chose to be their partner. This comes as a shock to everyone as they had partnered up with someone they trust, not knowing what the game really was, especially Players 069 and 070, a married couple. The four main pair-ups are Sang-woo and Ali, Player 001 and Gi-hun, Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong, and Deok-su and one of his cronies, Player 278.
Sang-woo and Ali begin playing the game. Ali supposedly doesn't know how to play that well, so Sang-woo teaches him, and Ali ends up gaining the upper hand quickly. Sang-woo quickly grows nervous about Ali, and though Ali is clearly unhappy about beating Sang-woo, the latter forces him to keep playing. Eventually, Sang-woo is down to his last marble and furiously accuses Ali of cheating. Ali denies this, and before Sang-woo can grow more violent, he is stopped by one of the guards at gunpoint.
Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong meanwhile decide to spend the next 30 minutes talking to each other instead of playing. They start revealing their pasts to each other, with Sae-byeok telling Ji-yeong that a plague in her home village in North Korea had killed her grandfather, grandmother, and older brother. Sae-byoek explains that her family decided to escape to South Korea, seeking a better life, but only she and her younger brother crossed the border successfully, as her father was shot and killed attempting to cross and her mother was caught and deported back. Ji-yeong reveals that she and her mother were abused by her father, who was a pastor, and would pray for forgiveness every time he abused them. One day, after coming home from school, she found her father had murdered her mother, and Ji-yeong killed him out of retribution. She had received the Squid Game card the same day she was released from prison. Ji-yeong asks Sae-byeok what she would do if she wins, to which Sae-byeok replies she'd get her mother out of North Korea, buy a nice house for herself and her family to live in, and maybe go on a vacation to Jeju Island. Ji-yeong chides her for having such a basic vacation in mind, telling her to aim for something more extravagant and promises to take her out on a girls' night out shopping before somberly remembering their situation.
Meanwhile, Deok-su is losing to Player 278 and starts to get angry. He reminds the guard near them that the game was created with "equality" in mind, and that everyone is equal. He asks if he could be able to have a second chance against Player 278. The guard says yes. The pair decide to throw marbles into a hole in the ground, and whoever lands the throw gets to keep all the other marbles that have also been thrown in previous attempts. Player 278 is about to win when, in a twisted turn of events, his own marble knocks Deok-su's marble into the hole, making Deok-su the winner. Deok-su is beyond ecstatic and laughs at his henchman's fate, before rushing over to collect their marbles. Player 278 runs away before a guard can shoot him, but runs into more guards who gun him down quickly.
Gi-hun tries to play the game with Player 001, but the old man seemingly has suffered a severe lapse in his lucidity. Player 001 wanders around the game arena, saying this is his home neighborhood, and tries to find his house. Because of the old man's confusion, it takes a lot of insistence for Gi-hun to convince him to play. When Player 001 finally accepts to play marbles, Gi-hun finds himself losing until he has one marble left, but realizing Player 001 cannot remember his bet, lies to him and begins winning back their marbles. Eventually, Player 001 finds himself out of his marbles and asks Gi-hun if he could borrow one. Gi-hun apologizes and is about to hand over his marbles to a guard when Player 001 reveals he has one marble left. Gi-hun then frantically counts his marbles and sure enough, he is one short and has not won yet. However, instead of continuing the game, Player 001 gets back up again and continues "searching for his house".
Sang-woo then begs Ali for his life and for his family, as he can't die and leave his mother. But Ali says that he has a family and a life too. Sang-woo, however, tells Ali of a plan where they can both survive, by finding other teams that have not yet finished their games. Sang-woo explains that when the timer runs out, some teams may still have no winner, and the guards will have the remaining players play a new game in teams, which they can then both win. Sang-woo sends Ali to find stronger players to recruit into their team, and ties Ali's pouch of marbles around his neck to prevent anyone else from stealing them. Ali seems hesitant, but ultimately trusts Sang-woo and goes off to find other pairs. However, while Ali is away, Sang-woo reveals that he had hidden all of the marbles for himself, and informs a guard that he has won the challenge.
As the game's timer starts running out, Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong begin to play the game. They decide that whoever throws the marble closest to the wall near them, wins. Sae-byeok throws her marble and it lands reasonably close to the wall, but to her immense shock, Ji-yeong simply drops her marble, allowing her to win. When Sae-byeok angrily confronts her, Ji-yeong explains that ever since they started opening up to each other, she realized that she had nothing left to fight for in the outside world, while Sae-byeok still had a reason to live, and tearfully asks Sae-byeok to live her life to the fullest if she is ever able to leave alive. As Sae-byeok is led away, Ji-yeong calls out to her one last time, and emotionally expresses her gratitude towards Sae-byeok for playing the game with her before getting shot dead, while Sae-byeok cannot bring herself to look at her friend in her last moments, only being able to listen in anguish and devastation. Meanwhile, Ali has finished searching the compound, but sees Sang-woo already at the exit about to be led out by a guard. Shocked, Ali checks his pouch to and finds only small pebbles. He realizes that he has been deceived by his friend before being shot by a guard, while Sang-woo can only look away.
During all of this, Gi-hun follows Player 001 around, begging him to keep playing. The old man suggests betting everything on one game, to which Gi-hun is outraged. However, Player 001 then reveals that he was aware of Gi-hun's deception the whole time and has been letting him win. Disgusted at his own actions, Gi-hun begins to cry, but Player 001 hands him his last marble, letting him win anyway, saying that they're "gganbu" who share everything with each other. Gi-hun sobs uncontrollably while the old man hugs and reassures him, telling him that he made his time in the games more enjoyable. Eventually, the timer hits zero, and Gi-hun is forced to leave his friend. Before Gi-hun is escorted out, Player 001 tells Gi-hun he finally remembers his full name: Oh Il-nam. After Gi-hun leaves Il-nam with a soldier, a gunshot is heard and the announcer says that Player 001 has been eliminated. Gi-hun continues to slowly walk away, crying.
"Gganbu" provides examples of:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Sang-woo realizes he's about to lose against Ali, he gets on his knees and begs Ali to let him win, even invoking his family, but a sobbing Ali reminds Sang-woo that he also has a family to think about.
- All or Nothing:
- The objective of this episode's game is for a player to gain a total of 20 marbles, by adding the set 10 marbles from their partner to their own by any means necessary. They can play any game that requires stakes, but they cannot resort to violence. Furthermore, if neither player has won once the timer runs out, both players die. (This isn't explicitly shown, but a count of the players before and after the game reveals some pairs were eliminated in their entirety).
- Il-nam offers to give Gi-hun the last marble if he wins the last round of the game. However, if Gi-hun loses, he has to give Il-nam the 19 marbles he accumulated during the game. This final round ultimately doesn't happen, as Il-nam forfeits his marble to Gi-hun after calling him out for exploiting his dementia.
- Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok decide to spend most of the time just talking, and then play a single game for all the marbles. Ji-yeong ultimately decides that Sae-byeok has more to live for, and lets her win.
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- By taking advantage of Player 001's apparent dementia, Gi-hun wins 19 out of 20 marbles. With time running out, 001 offers to bet his last marble against all of Gi-hun's. Gi-hun objects that such a bet doesn't make any sense, and 001 asks, "Does tricking your friend like that make sense to you?"
- Before Game 4, Sae-byeok leaves Gi-hun's group in disgust when they talk about not wanting to partner with a woman, whom they deem dead weight. Gi-hun tries to convince her to stay, only for her to ask if he'd be willing to partner with her, a woman. He's unable to answer, so she leaves and partners with Ji-yeong instead.
- Blatant Lies: Sang-woo convinces Ali not to go through with his final gamble for Sang-woo's last marble. He instead suggests the two of them should team up to challenge other contestants so they can both survive the game. Ali is clearly uncertain but goes along with it due to his respect for Sang-woo. This is all despite the fact that the rules stated at the beginning of the game that you can only play the game with your preselected partner.
- Character Death: The game dictates that at least one of every pair must die. And pretty much all of the prominent characters are paired with one another, meaning that half of the primary cast is dead by the end of the episode.
- Han Mi-nyeo is dragged off to her apparent death when she can’t find a partner. Turns out, as the odd one out, she got a pass instead.
- Player 040, one of Deok-su’s minions, runs out of marbles and is executed.
- Players 276, 196 and 070 are all killed offscreen after losing to their respective partners, with 196’s body being shown towards the end.
- Player 278, Deok-su’s Number Two tries to run away and is shot.
- Ali is tricked out of his marbles by Sang-woo and is shot.
- Ji-yeong pulls a Heroic Sacrifice and lets Sae-byeok win.
- Oh Il-nam lets Gi-hun win and is shot.
- Chicks Before Dicks:
- Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong decide to stick together, win or lose, rather than grovel to sexist male players who don't want to partner with a woman, or engage in Female Misogyny like Mi-nyeo.
- Mi-nyeo tries to invoke this with other female players after the male players all turn her down. However, considering she had just tried to appeal to the men by trash-talking the capabilities of the women, none of them buy it.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Mi-nyeo has betrayed and abandoned every team she ever played with by the start of this episode, so no one wants to play with her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: During the fourth game, Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong decide to talk about their pasts to pass the time. Ji-yeong reveals that she was imprisoned after killing her abusive father, who had raped her and killed her mother beforehand. Sae-byeok's father died trying to cross the Korean border, and some of her family members died during an outbreak on her home village when she was young.
- Dead Guy on Display: The bodies of the doctor and the organ-harvesting guards that helped him know the previous games are displayed unceremoniously in the neon stair room, with the intention of warning everyone that this will be their fate if they attempt to cheat the deadly games.Announcer: Each and every one of you are considered equal in this world.
- Desperate Plea for Home: Player 001 appears to lapse into dementia-induced delusions as the fourth game begins, believing that the event's arena is actually his old neighborhood. With only half an hour to complete the game and avoid being eliminated from the contest, he can only wander the streets in a daze, at one point mumbling confusedly that he wants to go home... up until it turns out that he's faking his dementia, however, and is trying to string out the game as long as possible. In the end, Player 001 forfeits the game so that Gi-hun can live.
- Do Wrong, Right: The Front Man has No. 111 and the guards participating in the organ theft killed and their bodies displayed, not for violating the bodies of the dead participants, but because they made the games unfair by having/giving information to other players.
- Dwindling Party: This is the first episode in which central characters in Gi-hun's team die, and only 17 players remain by the end.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Right as the timer runs out, Ali finds out that Sang-woo gave him a bag of pebbles instead of the two's marbles, realizing that his entire plan for both of them to make it out alive was a sham. Once he processes this, he is too stunned to speak, and only looks towards Sang-woo with tears in his eyes just before he's killed.
- Exact Words:
- Deok-su exploits the aforementioned rule of every player having equal opportunity to be granted the ability to change the game when he starts losing — he asks the guard if he can literally change the game he and his partner are playing to another one which he is better at, and the guard agrees. He almost loses, too, but a stroke of luck grants him victory at the last moment.
- When Ji-yeong needs a partner, she promises to do whatever it takes to make sure Sae-byeok wins. When it turns out that they're competing against each other, she throws the game and sacrifices herself.
- Sang-woo tricks Ali into turning over his marbles to him on the technicality that as long as Ali agreed to his terms and he didn't resort to violence, he would be considered the victor of their game.
- There's a theory that both members of a pair could have simply exchanged marble bags and been safe (the rules said that the winner had to obtain all of his or her partners' marbles; it didn't explicitly say that the winner also had to keep all of his own). However, none of the players tested this.
- Foil: Gi-hun and Sang-woo are childhood friends from the same small town, who both narrowly avoid losing their last marble in their game of "evens or odds?" with their partner, and resort to trickery to win. The difference is the Sang-woo aggressively (albeit desperately) exploits Ali's trust and respect, while Gi-hun reluctantly makes use of his partner's confusion. And while Ali feels horribly betrayed when he realizes what Sang-woo did to him, Il-nam reveals that he knew Gi-hun was lying and may have been faking his dementia all together but let him win anyway out of affection for his friend.
- Foregone Conclusion: Due to the nature of the game, it was inevitable that Gi-hun would lose some teammates — and this is the episode where it finally happens.
- Four Is Death: The episode plays the marbles game, the fourth in the series of games. It coincides with the deaths of three main characters in Gi-hun's group.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you look back at the house mockup where Gi-hun is forced at gunpoint to leave Il-nam, you can see someone in a blurry jumpsuit standing next to the guard that killed the old man. Hmmmmm...
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Mi-nyeo is left all alone after everyone refuses to play with her, leading to her being taken away by the guards.
- Game of Nim: Gi-hun convinces a senile Il-nam to play a game of Nim with the marbles. In the first round, Gi-hun loses as he's the one holding the last marble; desperate, he guiltily exploits Il-nam's lapse in lucidity to win.
- Go Out with a Smile: As Ji-yeong calls out to Sae-byeok just before she dies, the former smiles and giggles tearfully as she thanks the latter for their time together.
- Greater Need Than Mine:
- Ji-yeong forfeits her game with Sae-byeok since the latter has something to live for (a family to look after) while she doesn't.
- Il-nam similarly allows Gi-hun to win (though after putting him through the wringer) because he knows he's old and dying of his brain tumor anyway, while Gi-hun still has his life ahead of him and a family to take care of.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Many male characters are averse to teaming up with women at the start of the episode, which they justify by saying that many games thus far have been centered around physical strength and/or games that boys played. Special mention goes to the pastor who uses the Christian Bible to justify his misogynynote . Sae-byeok calls him out on it.Sae-byeok: We're not playing in Eden.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ji-yeong deliberately throws her marble game with Sae-byeok to allow her to advance, as she believes Sae-byeok's family back home gives her what she doesn't have — something to live for.
- Horrible Judge of Character: In previous episodes, Mi-nyeo had pledged herself to Deok-su despite everyone being able to tell he was ruthless scum, and she betrayed and badmouthed every other character despite them being more decent and trustworthy. When Deok-su throws her under the bus again this episode, she's shocked and furious, but can't find anyone else to be her partner because she'd been so rotten and unpleasant to everyone up to this point.
- Hypocrite: The Front Man is furious with the organ harvesters and doctor for "cheating" since he feels they gave certain players an unfair advantage against others in deadly games that he feels give everyone an equal chance. Yet, most of the games are intentionally designed to give some players a bigger advantage over others. "Red Light, Green Light" had sophisticated motion censors that shot players who so much as flinched or wobbled involuntarily, which punished those with nervous or motion issues. The honeycomb game had some shapes that were MUCH harder to separate without breaking than others, whom only those who grew up in certain neighborhoods would recognize it. The Tug-of-War game wiped out most female and elderly players since it was a struggle of physical strength. Most games thus far had also been children's games that men remember playing as boys, but no games that girls remember playing better. The games are far from fair, but yet the Front Man sneers at players for trying to gain the same knowledge he has that he uses against certain players.
- I Have a Family: Sang-woo tries to guilt Ali into letting him win with this, only for Ali to gently counter that he has to think of his family, too.
- I Let You Win: When it's down to the last marble, Il-nam reveals that he's been overplaying his dementia to see whether Gi-hun would take advantage of it or not. When Gi-hun breaks down in tears of guilt, Il-nam smiles and gives him the last marble, throwing the game.
- Involuntary Battle to the Death: Turns out that unlike the last round, where your team worked together to defeat the others, in this round, you have to play against your teammate. If you picked someone you trust and care about? Too bad, you have to beat them and let the guard kill them.
- Irony:
- Before the game starts, no one wants to partner up with Mi-nyeo because they don't like or trust her. Once the game begins, players are told they have to play against their partner, most of whom they chose based on who they felt they could work best with. Suddenly, Mi-nyeo would have been an ideal partner to play against...
- The two criminals are the only pair focused on in the episode who plays an honest game. Everybody else amongst the main cast cheats (Sang-woo and Gi-Hun tricking Ali and Il-nam, respectively) or throws (Ji-yeong, so that Sae-byeok can win).
- It Has Been an Honor: Ji-yeong's last words to Sae-byeok.Ji-yeong: I'm honored that we were partners.
- Mood Lighting: Invoked Trope. In contrast to the harsh fluorescent lighting used in most of the game settings so far, the organizers built a set that looks like a nostalgic Korean village for the fourth game. Fittingly, it's bathed in warm, yellow lighting.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Il-nam's dementia seems to finally get to him in the middle of the game, as he forgets where he is and gets easily distracted reminiscing about his past. Worried at first, Gi-hun attempts to exploit his condition to win, but the old man, with the last marble, takes a turn for the worst. When Gi-hun finally loses his composure and confronts him, Il-nam reveals that he was faking it all along, calling out Gi-hun's deception but surrendering the last marble regardless.
- Precision F-Strike: In the English dub, when Ji-yeong tries to claim that her loss to Sae-byeok was natural.Sae-byeok: Ji-yeong, this is bullshit! Stop acting cool and just do a real throw!
- Red Herring: In game 3, when players had to team up for the first time, those who picked strong teammates ended up with a major advantage. Game 4 requires participants to find a partner to compete with, leading many into attempting to find strong teammates once more. Surely, each duo will compete against others, right? As it turns out, this time around each player will compete not with their teammate like in game 3, but AGAINST their teammate, much to the dismay of many. This includes an unfortunate duo who are married to each other.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- After Gi-hun's group justify their sexism by saying many games thus far have involved physical strength and/or boy's playground games, Sae-byeok leaves in disgust. Gi-hun starts to convince her to stay, only for her to ask him if he'd partner up with a girl like her, and leave when he can't answer.
- Player 278 loses his game of marbles to Deok-su and runs away in a futile attempt to escape execution. He is inevitably cornered and gunned down.
- Shed the Family Name: When Sae-byeok asks Ji-yeong's family name, she says she doesn't have one. This is presumably because she killed her abusive father after he'd murdered her mother.
- Sound-Only Death: Il-nam's death isn't shown on-screen; we see Gi-hun walking away, a wooden door blocks his (and the audience's) view of the old man, and then a gunshot is heard. This later becomes a Rewatch Bonus when Il-nam's fate is really revealed in the finale.
- Take a Third Option: Subverted. When they start to play, Ali realizes that he doesn't want to play a game so deadly against a man to whom he feels indebted. He tries to politely ask the guard if they can switch partners, since he assumed that he and Sang-woo would be playing as a team. The guard is silent, and Sang-woo begs Ali not to goad the guards into shooting them for refusing to play considering how trigger-happy they've been.
- Tempting Fate: Player 278 goads Deok-su while continuing to win his chosen game. He does so again when Deok-su chooses a classic game of marbles, which involves throwing each one in a hole to win the others close to it. When 278 throws his last one, prematurely declaring victory, it hits a random pebble and ends up pushing Deok-su's last marble into the hole. Thus, Deok-su wins and 278's fate is sealed.
- This Cannot Be!: Sang-woo enters denial and accuses Ali of cheating when he repeatedly comes closer and closer to losing.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: At the time when Sang-woo instructed Ali to reconvene towards the end of the game, he has already shown his proof of 20 marbles to a guard and been allowed to advance. Although he has his back to Ali when he calls his name, realizes Sang-woo has cheated him out of the marbles, and is killed moments later, he has a shell-shocked expression throughout, showing that even though his Cold Equation mentality allowed him to survive this game, throwing his friend to the wolves did a number on him.
- Timed Mission: Players have 30 minutes to acquire all of the marbles from their partner, otherwise both players are eliminated.
- Violence Is Not an Option: One of the marble games' general rules is that the players can't resort to violence to win the marbles.
- Wham Episode: Three members of Gi-hun's team are killed in this game, showing that even they're not exempt.
- Wham Line:
- At the start of the game, Gi-hun and Il-nam are given bags of ten marbles each, and they excitedly vow to join forces and crush the other teams competing, considering that has been the goal of the past several games. However, an announcement that sets the tone of the episode is then made:"In this game, using your set of ten marbles, you will play the game of your choice with your partner. The player who manages to take all ten marbles from their partner wins."
- After Gi-hun spends the entire game dealing with what he believes to be a bad flareup of Il-nam's dementia, which he then ends up exploiting to take his marbles, Il-nam proposes a final all-or-nothing round. Gi-hun explodes at him, saying that it would make no sense for him to bet all his marbles to get Il-nam's single one, after which Il-nam drops a bombshell that forces both Gi-hun and the audience to reevaluate the entire span of their game.
- At the start of the game, Gi-hun and Il-nam are given bags of ten marbles each, and they excitedly vow to join forces and crush the other teams competing, considering that has been the goal of the past several games. However, an announcement that sets the tone of the episode is then made:
- Wham Shot: Ali pouring out the contents of the bag Sang-woo made for him and finding nothing but rocks, which reveals that he has been swindled.
- You Owe Me: Sang-woo uses the times he helped Ali in the past (particularly paying his bus fare) to argue why Ali shouldn't continue playing their game when it looks like Sang-woo is about to lose.
