This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Squid Game.

In the end, Gi-hun a.k.a. Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae) lost Squid Game.

Netflix’s hit Korean drama has never been light and optimistic (understatement of the century), but the series ended on a particularly dark note. Gi-hun not only died in the last round of the game, but he failed his mission to stop the game entirely since, unbeknownst to him, it’s a global operation.

So who ended up winning the second round of the game, and how did Gi-hun die trying to stop it? Buckle up, because it’s a wild ride.

After Gi-hun was given a knife by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), he subverted expectations by not killing the remaining opponents before the final round to prove that humanity could be good. Flashbacks reveal that Front Man ultimately won his own game by taking the cowardly way out and slaughtering everyone while they slept.

That meant everyone survived the night to play the final game, Sky Squid Game, which forced them to push at least one contestant off high concrete columns for three rounds. The tense game eventually came down to Gi-hun, the new Player 222, a.k.a. Jun-hee’s (Jo Yu-ri) newborn baby, and the baby’s father, Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan).

Lee Byung-hun in ‘Squid Game’ season 3.

No Ju-han/Netflix

At this point, Jun-hee was dead (along with everyone else), and Myung-gi fully heel-turned into a villain. He was paranoid about Gi-hun’s offer to sacrifice himself to save both him and the baby, so he began to think Gi-hun and Jun-hee had a romantic connection outside the games. He lost his mind, and revealed that he wanted to kill his own baby to win the grand prize. Gi-hun was disgusted, and realized he couldn’t let Myung-gi win after all.

Since Gi-hun had promised Jun-hee that he’d protect the baby with his life, he did just that. After defeating and accidentally killing Myung-gi in a desperate, brutal knife fight atop the last tower, Gi-hun officially began the final round and sacrificed his own life, falling backwards off the tower. Before he fell, he delivered his final words to the VIPs that he knew were watching: “We are not horses. We are human. Humans are … ”

Lee Jung-jae in ‘Squid Game’ season 3.

Netflix

But Gi-hun didn’t finish his statement before sacrificing himself. What was the end of his sentence? “Humans are … good?” “Humans are … better than this?” “Humans are … ” What?! We’ll never know, because not only did the Front Man confirm that Gi-hun died on impact, the entire island blew up via self-destruct protocols before the arriving Coast Guard could discover any evidence of the game. Gi-hun really died, and his body will never be found.

The game ultimately ended with only the baby alive, meaning the new Player 222 won. As the Front Man picked up the baby to evacuate, his brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) finally infiltrated the island and confronted him from afar. Jun-ho shot out the window of the empty VIP room and aimed his gun at his brother, shouting at him, but couldn’t pull the trigger. Both men safely escaped the island before it blew up, and they never saw each other again. So much for closure.

After a six-month time jump, the show revealed where everyone ended up. Pink Guard No-eul (Park Gyu-young) successfully saved Player 246 (Lee Jin-uk) from the game, and he reunited with his daughter, who is no longer sick. No-eul also got a tip that her own daughter might still be alive, so she flew to China with hopes of her own emotional reunion.

Meanwhile, Woo-seok (Jun Suk-ho) finally got out of jail after serving time for breaking into Captain Park’s (Oh Dal-su) home (because Jun-ho was unable to get any evidence to clear him of his crimes — brutal). Jun-ho also revealed that Gi-hun’s money was stolen from the hotel, but he came home later to find baby Player 222 delivered to his apartment with a message that says “winner” and a credit card linked to an account containing 4.56 billion won. The Front Man actually followed through on his promise that the winner would get the prize, even though it was a baby.

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The Front Man’s business wasn’t done yet. He traveled to Los Angeles to deliver Gi-hun’s remaining prize money to his daughter Ga-yeong (Jo Ah-in), and to tell her that her father passed away. The Front Man also gave her Gi-hun’s bloody green track jacket — there’s no telling what she thought of that disturbing gift.

There was just one happy ending amidst all this doom and gloom, as Sae-byeok (Hoyeon) got her wish from beyond the grave. Her little brother Cheol (Park Si-wan) finally reunited with his mother, thanks to Sang-woo’s (Park Hae-soo) mother (Park Hye-jin), who had been taking care of Cheol after Gi-hun brought them together in season 1. Yay for that!

Cate Blanchett in ‘Squid Game’ season 3.

Netflix

But the series finale delivered one final shock before it ended, really driving home the point that Gi-hun’s entire mission to destroy the game was all for nothing. As the Front Man was driven through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, he heard a familiar sound. He rolled down the car’s window to see an American Recruiter (played by Cate Blanchett in a surprise cameo) playing ddakji with a desperate man in an alley.

As the Recruiter locked eyes with the Front Man, she smirked at him — implying that she knows exactly who he is. The Front Man’s face never changes, so it’s hard to tell if he knew an American version of the games existed or if this is a shocking realization for him. The series ended with Front Man driving away while the American Recruiter slapped the desperate man, who asked to go again. The Squid Game is global, and Gi-hun failed to destroy it.

At least his death wasn’t totally in vain, since he saved the baby, right? And on that depressing thought, that’s how Squid Game ended.