After viewers watched “Squid Game’ Hwang Jun Ho seemingly fall victim to betrayal and a brutal hand-to-hand battle deep within the games’ labyrinthine heart, a question that refused to die was constantly buzzing through fan circles: Could Detective Hwang be dead?
Hwang’s character took no prisoners right after finding Il Nam, the mastermind behind ‘Red Light Green Light’ and other cruel challenges being orchestrated. Their brief conversation revealed Juwon Song, whose organization funded and controlled the games’ bloody spectacle, was in fact alive… and hiding inside. But Hwang Jun Ho’s ultimate fate? A chilling cliffhanger that left thousands debating with theories bordering on supernatural.
The series offers an ending undeniably bleak yet open to interpretation. We see a frantic pursuit leading to the clash between Hwang Jun Ho vs Il Nam, seemingly culminating in murder-suicide as Han Woo Jin throws a punch which was deflected toward Ilnam who was attempting to jump through barbed wire netting that is meant to secure another person of authority (Player 456’s Gi Hun. So it really seems that Han woo Jin saved Hwang from getting killed, leaving him alive on the other side.)
However, this leaves the audience grasping at the truth about ‘Red Lights,’ and those infamous black doors within the games’ structure. Was their a possibility that Jun Ho had escaped through a series of cleverly guarded escape routes to infiltrate those operating under ‘Organization’ to unravel further truths? Some fans posit that his apparent death served double duty; it served as HanWoo Jin’s alibi in order to continue working undercover. Maybe he took control later on, like they say: It wasn’t a suicide, but an insurance policy in case things came crashing down around him – after all: He was one who orchestrated the whole thing from The Front Man (001). His face remains perpetually hidden even now.
The power behind “Squid Game” lies in its ability to prompt dialogue, discussion and theories like this long after its finale screens. Whether or not Hwang Jun Ho ultimately survived the games’ deadly clutches will likely remain a point of fascinating debate for dedicated fans. Could be that he did walk out on one rainy morning a changed man, ready to take another day… only this time it’s not the other half dozen cops and gangsters chasing him, but something far deeper: his own investigation into an enemy far more vast than anything he’d seen in the Games. The mystery surrounding his figure allows “Squid Game” universe to expand, opening doors for future explorations and unanswered questions – making Hwang Jun Ho less of a single narrative endpoint and more of an endlessly tantalizing symbol of a reality always pushing its bounds further.