Park Gyu-young’s Squid Game Season 2 Character & Identity Twist Explained

Park Gyu-young plays an important role in Squid Game season 2, but her character's narrative is far more twisted than one could anticipate. Like most Squid Game season 2 cast members, Park Gyu-young is a new addition to the show's roster and was not a part of season 1. Best known for her roles in several other TV shows like Sweet Home, A Good Day to Be a Dog, and It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Park Gyu-young appears as one of the main secondary protagonists in Squid Game season 2.

Since most new additions to the show's cast in season 2 play contestants in the titular games, it is hard not to assume that Park Gyu-young would also follow suit. However, after initially maintaining an air of ambiguity surrounding the role she will adopt, Squid Game season 2 finally reveals who she plays. The reveal is surprising in more ways than one because it highlights how Park Gyu-young's character is entangled in the darker, behind-the-scenes power struggles that unfold throughout the season as the games progress.

Park Gyu-young’s No-eul Is One Of The Masked Guards In Squid Game

She Wears The Triangle-Symboled Mask

Like others involved with the games, Park Gyu-young's character, No-eul, also receives the games' calling card in the show's early moments. However, during the "Red Light, Green Light" game, Squid Game season 2 finally reveals that she is one of the snipers shooting the players from one of the booths at the top. This confirms that, instead of being one of the competitors, she joined the games as a guard.

Although No-eul diligently fulfills her responsibility of killing the players who lose the game, she finds herself at odds with other guards when she refuses to become a part of their corrupt practices. No-eul wears a mask with a triangle imprinted on it. Squid Game has not explicitly mentioned what these symbols mean, but the ones with the triangle are like soldiers who rank above the ones with the circles but below those with the square-symboled masks. Based on this, No-eul seems somewhere in the middle in terms of the hierarchy followed among the guards.

No-eul Is A North Korean Deserter Trying To Find Her Daughter

Her Daughter Was Only One When She Left Her Behind

In Squid Game season 2's episode 2, No-eul meets a private investigator and offers him money to help her find her daughter. However, the private detective grows frustrated and assures her he has already tried. He also implies that No-eul attacked one of her superiors in North Korea before fleeing the nation, which makes it nearly impossible for him to find her daughter. Discouraged by the private detective's statements, No-eul looks at a picture of her husband and daughter and wonders if she will ever reunite with her family.

Squid Game season 2's episode 2 also establishes that No-eul lives in her car and receives the games' calling card moments after she finds herself on the verge of giving up. Although episode 2 does not reveal how becoming a guard in the game will help her find her daughter, it hints at a connection between her desperation and the opportunities the games seemingly present. Episode 3 eventually features an interaction between No-eul and the games' Officer, which confirms the real reason why she agreed to become one of the guards.

Why No-eul Became One Of The Squid Game Guards

She Believed The Money From The Games Would Help Her Find Her Daughter

Some of the guards in Squid Game season 1 were involved in an illegal organ trading operation, where they kept some of the lost competitors alive to harvest their organs and sell them on the black market. Even in season 2, some guards are involved with the same. One of them even intentionally shoots a lost competitor from the "Red Light, Green Light" game in the leg to ensure he is alive, and his vital organs are functioning. However, No-eul interrupts the operation by shooting the man in the head and putting him out of his misery.

The games' Officer, who seemingly leads the illegal organ trade operation, asks one of the guards who shot the man dead. When the guard reveals it was 011, which is No-eul's uniform number, the Officer invites her to his office to ask her why she did it. No-eul claims she is only fulfilling her responsibility as a guard by killing the helpless losers of the game. Even when the Officer tries to defend the organ trade operation by claiming that the organs of the dying players will eventually help someone else, No-eul refuses to accept his justification.

This is when the Officer recalls that when he met her seven years ago in the hospital, she was vulnerable and had lost everything after deserting North Korea. He hired her as one of the guards because he felt bad for her. No-eul says she is grateful for the opportunity but refuses to become an accomplice in his organ trade business. Infuriated by her defiance, the Officer also reminds her that she said she would do anything to find the child she left behind. This suggests that No-eul joined the games to acquire enough money to hire a detective and find her daughter.

Why The Other Masked Guards Attack 011 In Squid Game Season 2

They Do It To Stop Her From Disrupting The Organ Trade Operation

No-eul seemingly turns defiant toward the Officer and the other guards in Squid Game season 2 because she starts losing hope in the system she is a part of. She was previously driven by the goal of finding her daughter. However, after the private investigator asks her to give up, she wonders if the pursuit of looking for her child is still worth it. A part of her also seems to empathize with the players when she spots a man who only seems to be at the games to help his child battle cancer, mirroring her own desperation and pain.

After his interaction with No-eul, the Officer realizes she has become a liability for him in the games. No-eul proves him right by killing another player who was intentionally left half-dead by the guards. Therefore, the Officer allows other guards to attack and threaten her. As a result, two guards break into her room in Squid Game season 2 and warn her to stay out of their way.