This character is so dastardly, hated and popular that this character was voted most hated character of: March 2022.
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Jang Deok-su (Korean: 장덕수), also referred to as Player 101, is a major antagonist in the first season of Netflix's K-drama Squid Game. He is a gangster boss in South Korea who decided to participate in Oh Il-nam's 2020 Squid Game in order to pay off the debts he owes to the mafia and to a Filipino casino.
He was portrayed by Heo Sung-tae, and dubbed by Paul Nakauchi in the English dub and Masaki Aizawa in the Japanese dub.
He was already a criminal and a violent gangster outside the games. His reason for joining the Squid Game was to pay the debts he owes to the mafia, after he stole the money from his own minions and then from his boss. Later, he also gambled and lost a lot of money to a Filipino casino, so his motives aren't sympathetic at all.
This also makes him stand out among the other players, because most of them became indebted due to unfortunate events while Deok-su's debts were due to gambling, which means he brought this on himself.
Also, most of his actions in the series aren't even motivated by his so-called "tragedy".
Despite acting tough and dangerous, he's ultimately a coward, as seen when stops and demands other players to move ahead of him in the 5th game and when he begs Mi-nyeo for mercy just before his death.
He's not capable of taking even the slightest criticism and should anyone said or did something that he find offensive, he'll kill them in cold blood, which shows how extremely petty he is.
This is evidenced by him killing Player 198 just for calling his gang out for stealing food, and then intended to attack and kill Sae-byeok for calling out his traitorous nature through his past actions.
He's a cheater with absolutely no sense of honor or fair play, and does everything to get whatever he wants, which is evidenced by:
After leaving the game via the vote, Deok-su planned to break into the Squid Game's facility to steal all the money in the piggy bank (also telling his men to bring guns so they can massacre the guards and facility), but got backstabbed by his own goon.
He conspired with Byeong-gi, who gained inside information from the guards in exchange for the dead participants' organs and used the information to prepare in advance for the following games.
Upon realizing that the guards would not intervene during the games' grace periods, Deok-su started a riot with his team during the first lights-out period to kill as many contestants as possible to gain an advantage. Deok-su targeted weaker contestants, such as Sae-byeok, while also killing the player who called him out for stealing food. This riot resulted in the deaths of 27 players.
He also intended to start another riot. He approached Gi-hun and his team in an attempt to intimidate them, likely intending to attack and kill them first. He only relented out of fear when Gi-hun pointed out that he couldn't trust his minions.
His dialogue with his minions made it clear that they were going to keep doing this until everyone else is killed, even possibly turning against each other afterward, all whilst not having to play any more games.
He is the most dishonorable character in the series, given by his lack of loyalty to anyone, his backstabbing habits, and never being true to his word.
He lacked any form of moral standards or empathy compared to his teammates:
He's the only one to laugh at the deaths of the adversary team in the Tug-of-War game, in contrast to his teammates being shocked and horrified by their deaths. After he wins the game with his team, he tells the protagonist's team he wishes he could have killed them too.
In the Marbles game, he is the only contestant to not only show no remorse but also feel ecstatic after winning against Player 278, even though it meant the latter would get killed (though, to be fair, Player 278 also felt ecstatic upon beating him in the first round and even mocked him despite knowing he could die), contrasting to other players being saddened by their allies' death.
When he saw that Player 069 committed suicide after being unable to live after the death of his wife, he's the only one to laugh at him, unlike the other players who were saddened (even Sang-woo, who unintentionally pushed him to suicide).
He's also the series's biggest hypocrite:
He's easily angered when anyone betrays him, yet never having a second thought before betraying someone. This is evidenced by him mistreating Sae-byeok for betraying him, despite him having betrayed the gangsters and stolen their money, and then later ditched Mi-nyeo before the Tug-of-War game.
He expects everyone on his side to be loyal to him, yet he's not loyal to anyone and will betray them whenever he can. This is evidence by him laughing at 278 after beating him (because 278 wasn't loyal to Deok-su).
He demanded Player 151 to make 244 move when the latter stopped to pray, only to stop moving later on and demand the others to move ahead of him to ensure his own safety, not caring that the other contestants would die if they failed to reach the other side in time.
Unlike other players, who only become more ruthless as a result of playing a death game and are capable of feeling remorse, and are actually nice people in the society, Deok-su in the society is hardly better than when he is in the game, evidenced by him being the only player to have committed a kill onscreen outside of the game. So, it's safe to say that even if the game wasn't deadly, he would still resort to violence and dirty tactics to win nonetheless. This make him one of the rare case of a player being evil and cruel solely for the sake of it.
When he wakes up in the Squid Game, he confronts Kang Sae-byeok, beating her up for betraying and leaving him, which possibly would've killed her had Seong Gi-hun not intervened.
He mocked Sae-byeok for her North Korean heritage.
When one of his thugs betrayed him, he stabbed the thug to death (though due to betraying him to the gangsters and his stupidity, he absolutely deserved it).
Despite being nicer to his teammates, this is only because he need allies to survive and win the game, not because he cares for them.
He did get upset at Byeong-gi's death, but only because he needed his help to know about the next game in advance, not because he cared for him.
He and his gang cut the line to get more food, depriving a few other players of food. When Player 271 called him out for cutting the line, Deok-su angrily assaulted him and kicked him to death.
While this might have been accidental (which is evidenced by his shock when Gi-hun announces 271's death), Deok-su showed no remorse (even sadistically smirking) when he realized that killing between the games would have no consequences. Furthermore, him being shocked by 271's death is more out of fear of him getting punished rather than out of any concerns for 271.
Although it was Mi-nyeo who suggested it, it was his own choice to steal lunch from other players, which he does without any hesitation. It was also his own choice to beat Player 271 to death.
When Player 331 tackled him, causing him to fail at killing Sae-byeok, he brutally stabbed 331 to death.
While he developed a sexual relationship with Han Mi-nyeo, he immediately ditched her when he found out the next game was Tug-of-War without a second thought, instead grouping with stronger men.
Since he would have most likely died in the Dalgona game without her help, this shows how ungrateful he is.
He probably only liked her initially due to her usefulness (as she helped him during the second game) and out of sexual desire, as opposed to a genuine friendship or romance.
When it is announced that players should choose one of the vests with numbers for the fifth game (the order they would play), he violently pushes Player 322 aside for picking the same number as him.
He repeatedly threatened to push the players in front of him to their deaths on the glass bridge.
He stopped in the middle of the glass bridge, proclaiming his refusal to move and that the other players should take the fall for him due to his cowardice, which would've resulted in the deaths of all players, including his own if the game's time limit had expired. His strategy was flawed, but he obviously didn't care at that point and it's despicable that he wanted to take down everyone with him.
He hypocritically accused Player 322 of holding up the line and then pushed him to his death.
When confronted by Han Mi-nyeo, he misogynistically insulted her as she grabbed him and took him down with her, causing Deok-su to die disgracefully.
He is one of the most hateable and evil antagonists in Squid Game, even more than most people who are behind the games (as the mastermind Oh Il-nam had genuine affability and redeeming qualities; the Front Man is honorable, tragic, and punishes unfair cheating; and the Masked Officer cared for the loved one in North Korea that he couldn't save).
Even in Season 2 and 3, the new villains introduced either have some redeeming qualities (Thanos and Myung-gi) or are less heinous than him (Im Jeong-dae and Nam-gyu), even if most of them utterly lack sympathetic qualities.
Despite the nature of the game, in which the losers are executed, none of Deok-su's actions inside or outside the game are justified in any way.
Due to how monstrous he is, he's one of the few characters that not only no audiences feel sad or pitiful during his death, but they even cheer, due to how karmic and well-deserved it is. His death is also one of the most satisfying moments in the series.
While he does have comedic moments, such as his argument with 278 during the Marble game and him whimpering before Mi-nyeo kills him, they are only meant to show how much of a coward he really is and in addition, were very brief and are funny only to the audiences. In universe, he's taken absolutely seriously and no one dared to take him as a joke.
Though he did vote to stop the games, unlike the villains of Seasons 2 and 3, he only did so out of cowardice.
The existence of people like Deok-su is most likely the reason why Il-nam lost faith in humanity, as they represent how rotten and depraved humanity is in the eyes of those behind the games.
Trivia[]
His actor, Heo Sung-tae, is a very kind and good-hearted actor, unlike Jang Deok-su, who is very sociopathic and vicious.
This had become a recurring gag in Squid Game, where the nicest actors (e.g. Roh Jae-won, Choi Gwi-hwa and Lee Sung-woo,...) tend to portray the vilest characters (e.g. Nam-gyu, Kim Gi-min and Kim Yeong-sam,...).
His name in Korean means "morality", which is very ironic, as he's anything but moral.
Deok-su is the only Squid Game Hate Sink to also be Pure Evil, as every other Hate Sink either has redeeming qualities and/or fails heinous standards, whilst the other Pure Evil, The Recruiter, is Entertainingly Detestable due to being too much of an enjoyable character with many Evil Is Cool moments to be a Hate Sink.
Ironically, Deok-su is the main reason why all other Hate Sinks failed the heinous standard and thus cannot be Pure Evil, since no players can exceed his high kill count of 42.
Deok-su shares similarities with two more Hate Sinks:
Im Jeong-dae: His alliance is Player 278 is similar to Jeong-dae's alliance with Kim Yeong-sam, and both eventually betray each other, with their former allies dying in the fourth game. Both are allies with a female player, only to betray them soon after (Mi-nyeo and Seon-nyeo) and both act tough and intimidating but are actually cowards. Their deaths are also similar as they fall from great heights in the games (Glass Stepping Stone and Sky Squid Game). The main differences is that Deok-su left the games before returning while Jeong-dae continued to keep the games going out of pure greed, and Deok-su did initially liked Mi-neyo before he callously betrays her whilst Jeong-dae never had any and all romantic interest with Seon-nyeo, and even Seon-nyeo was far less likable than Mi-nyeo.
Nam-gyu: His rivalry with Kang Sae-byeok is similar to Nam-gyu's rivalry with Se-mi, both end up starting the nighttime riot, both target their former ally (although while Deok-su failed to kill Sae-byeok, Nam-gyu succeeded in killing Se-mi), both vote for the game to end out of pragmatism (though Deok-su left out of cowardice before returning whilst Nam-gyu ultimately stayed until his deserved demise), both are actually cowards behind the mask of being dangerous, both are killed in the fifth game by falling to their deaths thanks to a former ally they mistreated (Han Mi-nyeo and Park Min-su).
Ironically, despite his status as Hate Sink, Deok-su voted for the game to end, contrasting to both of his archenemies, Mi-nyeo and Sae-byeok, who voted for the game to continue, although this doesn't change the fact that he did this solely out of cowardice.
Hate Sinks