When the Korean Netflix series Squid Game hit screens, it took the world by storm. In its first month, the show became the most watched program ever released by the streaming site, amassing 1.65 billion hours viewed.

Squid Game captured the hearts and souls of so many viewers, not least because of its complex and realistic characters. While it can be heavy watching at times, the situations each player was put in revealed their best and worst characteristics all while progressing the story.

Your favourite character says a lot about who you are in general, and might even illuminate some of your career attributes. With a huge cast, we’ve picked just five characters from Squid Game to find out what your favourite cast-member says about you and your future career.

Beware! Spoilers ahead.

Seong Gi-hun

As the first person we’re introduced to in Squid Game, it’s only natural to root for Gi-hun. He starts off in crippling debt, lying to both his mother and daughter about his financial destitution, and joins the Games out of necessity.

Gi-hun regularly refuses to become cruel or calculated as the Games progress, always focusing on retaining his and others’ humanity. It’s through combined luck and strategy that he manages to emerge victorious as the sole winner in the final episode of the series, leaving with his life and a whopping prize fund of approximately $54 million in Australian dollars.

If Seong Gi-hun is your favourite character in Squid Game, it’s likely you have a strong sense of morality, justice, and altruism.

You could consider a career in an area like law or the not-for-profit space. You would thrive in an environment that focuses on others, rather than striving for material gain. A future spent working towards improving society would be well-suited to fans of Gi-hun.

Quote: “Do you think money solves everything?”

Oh Il-nam

While Oh Il-nam appears at first to be a harmless if slightly eccentric old man, at the end of Squid Game it is revealed that he is in fact the elusive mastermind behind the Games. He tells Gi-hun that his excessive wealth didn’t bring him joy throughout the years as he thought, but instead exhausting boredom. The Games were, he says, a way to make him feel alive again.

Il-nam is a master pretender, never revealing his true colours to the overwhelming majority of players within Squid Game. He is incredibly jaded and cynical about humanity, believing only in individual gain until the very end.

If you are Il-nam’s number one fan, your priorities might lie with first amassing a fortune, and then simply having fun. You might feel slightly jaded towards your fellow human beings, seeing them as inherently selfish. Perhaps you enjoy a good gamble when it comes to your career, opting to go all in to an opportunity, whether or not you’re bound to win.

Careers for fans of Il-nam could include anything that involves management, like running your own business or rising up the ranks to CEO. On the flipside, you could also focus on the fun of life and damn the consequences.

Quote: “Life is like a game, there are many players. If you don’t play with them, they’ll play with you.”

Cho Sang-woo

Ah Sang-woo, the pearl of Seoul National University, apple of his mother’s eye. Though he’s initially portrayed as intelligent and savvy, these qualities take a dark turn as Sang-woo’s determination to win the Games set in.

Throughout Squid Game, Sang-woo isn’t afraid to go to great lengths to survive. Although he is polite and shrewd, as the show goes on he shows a capacity to be manipulative and cruel, always looking out for himself above all others. This may explain how he ended up in such massive debt, embezzling money from his clients in order to invest in the stock market for personal gain.

If you relate to Sang-woo most out of all of Squid Game’s characters, you may have an individualistic streak that permeates your personal and professional life. You probably wouldn’t balk at going a little rogue as long as you achieve your goals.

A career for a Sang-woo fan could be anything that puts Number One first. You could follow in Sang-woo’s footsteps and go into the banking or investing world. Or, to follow his advice to “try not to keep your eggs in the same basket”, you might try your hand at a number of different things to ensure the safety of yourself and your funds. In any case, you’ll probably want to succeed while staying out of the spotlight. Just try not to be as cutthroat as Sang-woo himself!

Quote: “You won’t get caught if you hide behind someone.”

Hwang Jun-ho

As one of the only main characters who doesn’t participate in the games, we don’t find out quite as much about Jun-ho as the rest of the cast.

What we know for sure, though, is that this police officer is driven by what’s right. He puts himself in dangerous and shocking situations in order to get to the bottom of his brother’s disappearance.

The qualities of a Jun-ho fan are likely to include fearlessness, fairness, and – like Gi-hun – justice. Even if you find yourself in a sticky situation, you are probably determined to persist by yourself for the greater good.

If you felt a kinship to Jun-ho, you could consider a career in an area like journalism. You might be passionate about bringing the truth to light and ridding the world of injustice.

Quote: “Satisfied?”

Kang Sae-byeok

When we first meet Sae-byeok, it is as a petty thief, stealing the gambling winnings from protagonist Gi-hun in the first episode of Squid Game. As the series continues and we learn more about this complex character, we discover she is a refugee from North Korea desperate to reunite her family.

Sae-byeok is perhaps best recognised for her steely sense of calm in the face of difficulty. She is highly moralistic when it comes to people she loves or trusts, but can also be cunning and clever in her manipulation of those she sees as immoral.

Throughout the season, we see Sae-byeok endure through pain, heartbreak, and immense challenge. She is fairly introspective, but kind to those who get to know her. Surprisingly competitive, Sae-byeok becomes one of the last three contestants in the Games, even after sustaining life-threatening injuries in the glass bridge game.

If you feel aligned to Sae-byeok, you might have the same caring qualities as her. A job in the health industry or family services could suit you, as could a role fighting for the rights of the marginalised.

Quote: “Don’t do it. That isn’t you. You’re a good person at heart.”

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash