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Char Aznable has declared The Salesman is to be renamed to The Recruiter (Squid Game) for the following reason(s): That's how he's called in all season 2 material, the credits of the episode 1, and within the series. The Squid Game Wiki renamed his page as well Please discuss it on the talk page for this article. "I told you I am not Casval, I am Char Aznable."  ✓
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| “ | I'm sure you've played ddakji before, right? Play a few rounds of ddakji with me. And each time you win, I'll pay you ₩100,000. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter inviting Seong Gi-hun to play ddakji with him. |
| “ | I'm just a messenger who delivers invitations. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter to Seong Gi-hun. |
The Recruiter (also known as The Salesman) is a major antagonist in Netflix's 2021 South Korean survival thriller series Squid Game. His job is to approach people in heavy debt or severe financial issues and offer them a chance to join the Squid Games for the prize money.
Besides this, he has a side hobby of giving homeless people the choice between bread or a lottery card, something he takes sadistic pleasure in. While appearing relaxed and polite while recruiting players, he is later revealed to be a ruthless and sadistic individual with a hatred towards impoverished people.
He was portrayed by Gong Yoo.
Biography[]
Background[]
The Recruiter was formerly a Pink Guard of the Squid Games, originally starting as a Masked Worker who cremated the bodies of deceased players. For years, he told himself that the players were "trash" and grew desensitized to the violence until he was promoted to a soldier. In the role, he executed countless players until one point in the past, he had to execute a defeated player that seamed familiar to him. He recognized the player to be his own father. Despite his father's pleas, the Recruiter killed him and used the moment to solidify his faith in the Squid Games. Having worked within the games, over time, he won the trust of the creator of the games, Oh Il-nam, which allowed him to raise his position. With this, the Recruiter was given the chance to work outside the games in the "real world" by recruiting players into joining the Squid Game.[1]
Squid Game[]
Season 1[]
The Recruiter is first seen approaching Seong Gi-hun on the subway and asks him to play ddakji with him, with the winner acquiring ₩100,000; Gi-hun reluctantly agrees to play with him. Gi-hun loses while the Recruiter wins. He then asks if he has any money on him, but Gi-hun says he doesn't. He tells Gi-hun he can play with his body and slaps him, stating every slap counts as ₩100,000. Gi-hun decides to keep playing only to lose and being slapped in the face several times before finally winning against the Recruiter. Gi-hun then tries to slap him, but the Recruiter grabs his hand and gives him the money for his victory. He then gives Gi-hun a business card, inviting him to enter the 33rd Squid Game and reveals that he knows a lot of details about his personal life, including his debt, leaving Gi-hun wondering who he is and how he knows all of this. The Recruiter tells him to hurry up since there aren't many spots left, and then leaves the subway station.
During of the games, a Masked Manager shows footage to the players that reveals that the Recruiter played ddakji with each one of them, and since all of them had no money to pay, they were slapped by him every time they lost the game.
In 2021, Seong Gi-hun spots the Recruiter on the subway station again. The Recruiter is playing ddakji with another person and is seen slapping his opponent for losing. Gi-hun then rushes towards the Recruiter but before he makes it, the Recruiter gives the person the Squid Game card. The Recruiter then leaves the subway station, smiling and waving Gi-hun goodbye.
Season 2[]
In 2024, while recruiting players, the Recruiter spends a good chunk of his time baiting vagrants with lottery tickets and bread, giving them the choice to choose either one, not both. When the majority of the vagrants choose the lottery tickets and then lose, the Recruiter destroys the bread they rejected stating that it was them that wasted the food, and not him. He was tracked down by two men working for Gi-hun, Mr. Kim and Woo-seok, after a city-wide search for him that began two years prior, but during their initial confrontation, the Recruiter managed to fight and knock both men out. Later, he kidnaps both of them and forces the two men into to play Rock Paper Scissors Minus One, as well as Russian Roulette. The Recruiter loaded the revolver with one bullet, and would shoot at the loser of each round and continue until one of them dies. After a few rounds, the Recruiter grows bored with the game and raises the stakes by loading 5 bullets into the gun, leaving only 1/6 chance of survival. During the next round, when Woo-seok chooses two rocks by mistake, Mr. Kim hesitates to choose which of his hands to pull back, essentially saving Woo-seok's life. Because of Mr. Kim's refusal to play, the Recruiter disqualifies him and shoots him. The Recruiter leaves Woo-seok bound and interrogates him about who sent him.
The Recruiter confronts Gi-hun at his hotel, and the two argue over the philosophy of the games. Gi-hun demands to speak with the game's administrator, and remains adamant on doing so directly despite the Recruiter offering to serve as an intermediary. Gi-hun does this while repeatedly insulting the Recruiter as a mere "dog" and underling who manipulates desperate individuals for his own malicious gain, before claiming that someone like him would never understand what message Gi-hun would try to send. Upon hearing this, the Recruiter displays slight irritation at the remarks as he explains his past as a Masked Guard before becoming a recruiter for the Squid Games, clearly intent on demonstrating his experience in the Games. However, Gi-hun responds by claiming that he is still their "dog" whether he executed players who failed or recruited them into the Games, before proclaiming that someone like the Recruiter could never understand how he made it out alive of there or even playing them.
Now annoyed at Gi-hun's remarks on his backstory while desiring to proclaim the superiority of his viewpoint, the Recruiter proposes to play a game of Russian Roulette with Gi-hun, with the prize for Gi-hun's victory being the chance to directly meet the Front Man. Intending on proving that Gi-hun was not "special" for winning the 33rd Squid Games, the Recruiter makes an addendum that the revolver's cylinder would not be spun, therefore making the game fatal after playing through six rounds. He then places the revolver on the table, spins it, and it points to Gi-hun. After Gi-hun plays the first round and shoots an empty, the two subsequently take turns firing the revolver at themselves for three more rounds, with each time being shot empty. For the fifth round, the Recruiter taunts Gi-hun's position in that he has a 50/50 chance of living and dying. He attempts to goad Gi-hun into breaking the rule by shooting him instead, which would then prove the Recruiter's point that Gi-hun was "a piece of trash" who was no more special than any other player. Gi-hun refuses and shoots at himself, relieved it is empty. Now his turn again, and a 100% chance of a live round in the chamber, the Recruiter hesitates to take his turn. Gi-hun reverses the Recruiter's taunt back in return and claims that the Recruiter could simply shoot him instead, but it would mean that he was a mere obedient underling who was no more special than any other Masked Man. Desiring to prove Gi-hun's taunts wrong, the Recruiter abides by the rules and shoots himself in the head, instantly killing him and putting an end to the elusive individual.
His body is shown during a meeting between Gi-hun, Jun-ho and Woo-seok. Though Jun-ho initially thinks that Gi-hun shot the Recruiter, Gi-hun explains that the Recruiter simply lost the game without Gi-hun killing him. Remembering what the Recruiter said, Gi-hun searches the Recruiter's jacket pocket, finding a business card detailing a date and location for Gi-hun to meet the Front Man.
Personality[]
| “ | What's wrong? Feeling your mind start to race? The odds that gun will kill you are one in two now. That probability is pretty high, right? Now you're afraid, wondering what else you can do. I bet I know what's going through your head. "I already have the gun. Who cares what the rules are? I'm just gonna aim at this asshоlе, pull the trigger a couple of times and blow his ugly face off." Well, am I wrong? If you want to meet the person you were talking about earlier, the key's here, in my pocket. All you have to do is shoot me with that gun, and then it's yours. If you do, though, you'll have to admit one thing to me. You're trash and just as worthless as everyone else. And you only made it out of the dumpster because you got lucky. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter's final words to Gi-hun |
At first glance, the Recruiter appeared to be a polite and relaxed man, carrying himself with a calm demeanor and smile while carrying out his duties and playing games of ddakji with prospective contestants for the Squid Games. Though nonetheless tasked with recruiting financially desperate individuals into the dangerous Squid Games, the Recruiter still appeared to be an amicable individual that honored his promises of 100,000 won to players who won a game of ddakji, as well as congratulating the players for any wins with celebratory clapping and a smile. However, there were still undercurrents of sadism beneath his seemingly honorable actions; the stakes for losing a ddakji game would involve the Recruiter slapping the player to make up for the loss of ₩100,000, and his congratulatory acts were a manipulation tactic for players to be more accepting of the Squid Games invitations that he would offer them.
It was not until Season 2 where the Recruiter's true personality would be revealed. Beneath his polite and amicable facade was a ruthless and cruel individual who took immense sadistic glee in the games he would force players to participate in. The Recruiter was shown to hold an immense disdain and hatred for poor people, which was demonstrated in numerous actions that he took. For example, his "social experiment" involved having homeless people select either a loaf of bread or a lottery card, with most of them selecting the lottery card in order to escape their desperate situations. Upon those who selected the lottery card inevitably losing with their tickets, the Recruiter would dump all of the remaining bread in front of them while cruelly taunting them about wasting food and blaming them for their losses, all before aggressively stomping and destroying the bread in clear view. The Recruiter's sadism would be fully demonstrated in the twisted game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Minus One" and "Russian Roulette" that he would force Kim Jeong-rae and Choi Woo-seok to participate in; throughout the game, he took great joy in the terror and desperation of the two loan sharks as they played the games, eventually elevating the stakes of death by increasing the amount of bullets in the revolver to five upon being bored.
The Recruiter's hatred for poor people extended to even his own father, who he callously executed for losing in the Squid Games without any remorse back when he worked as a Masked Soldier. As is the case with many of the Squid Games staff, the Recruiter was apparently wholly dedicated to the organization to the point where his life had little value to himself. This is best displayed during his fateful game of Russian roulette with Gi-hun, where during his first turn, he grabs the revolver with no hesitation and pulls the trigger almost instantly, unfazed by the risk of death. He also appeared to possess great pride and joy in his role as a recruiter to the Squid Games, as he became increasingly more irritated when Seong Gi-hun repeatedly called him a mere underling to those who controlled the Games. This, alongside his belief that poor people such as Gi-hun were trash and that he was able to win the 33rd Squid Game simply due to luck, was what motivated him to play a fatal game of Russian Roulette with Gi-hun as a result of their philosophies clashing - as well as his inevitable suicide when he lost the game, desiring to prove wrong Gi-hun's taunt of the Recruiter being a mere pawn and obedient dog.
The Recruiter seemed to enjoy classical music, as he would play classical pieces during both of his Russian roulette games, such as the aria "Nessun dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot and "Time to Say Goodbye" by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.
Quotes[]
| “ | We don't have many spots left. Just think about it. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter convincing Gi-hun to join the Squid Game. |
| “ | The Recruiter: Hello. You seem to be struggling, living a life with no future. I have a little gift for you today. Homeless Person: A gift? What is it? The Recruiter: You can only have one. Bread, or lottery. You have to choose one. |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter engaging in his "social experiment" with a homeless person. |
| “ | Homeless Person 2: Why would you throw away perfectly good food like that?! The Recruiter: I gave you a chance, and you made your choice. I'm not the one who threw these away. It's you, ladies and gentlemen. |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter moments before aggressively destroying the bread in front of numerous homeless people. |
| “ | You're going to play a game now. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Minus One. I trust you know the rules. You form a shape with each hand, then take one away. The game is decided by the remaining hands. Of course, there's a penalty for the loser. I'm sure you've seen this before in the movies. It's called Russian Roulette. I'll place one bullet into a revolver and close it. I'll point the gun at the loser's head and pull the trigger. Your odds of death are one in six. Your odds of survival are five in six. Not that bad, right? | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter before subjecting Kim Jeong-rae and Choi Woo-seok to his twisted game. |
| “ | You didn't play. You broke the rules for the first round. Disqualified. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter to Choi Woo-seok when he fearfully hesitates to participate, moments before exacting a penalty on him. |
| “ | Now, let's play again. Rock, paper, scissors. Minus one. Don't be so nervous. Like I said, your odds are five in six. Let's play again. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter starting a second game that Kim Jeong-rae loses. |
| “ | The Recruiter: It's getting a little boring, isn't it? Let's reverse the odds now, shall we? Your odds of survival are now one in six. Choi Woo-seok (muffled): Please don't... The Recruiter: Your odds of death are five in six. All right, let's play again. Let's speed it up, okay? |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter increases the chances of fatality in his twisted game. |
| “ | Too bad. You didn't take one away. Disqualified. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter upon Kim Jeong-rae sacrificing his life to save Woo-seok by refusing to play after a series of repeated games. |
| “ | Congratulations on your win. Now, can we have a talk? | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter to Choi Woo-seok after executing Kim Jeong-rae. |
| “ | The Recruiter: I'm just a messenger who delivers invitations. Seong Gi-hun: Who had you deliver those invitations? Let me meet him. I have something to say. The Recruiter: Give me the message, and I'll pass it along. Seong Gi-hun: It's not something I can discuss with an underling like you. You prey on people who are hanging by a thread and con them at subway stations. Someone like you wouldn't be able to understand what I'm trying to say. The Recruiter: How do you think I got to where I am now? Seong Gi-hun: I don't care how you became their dog. Bring me your master. |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter and Seong Gi-hun. |
| “ | The Recruiter: Hmm... I used to work at the games when I was younger. I removed and burned the bodies of countless people like you. "These things aren't human. They're just trash, utterly useless in this world." I kept telling myself that and worked hard for a few years. Then gave me a gun. It felt pretty good. Like my existence was acknowledged for the first time in my life. I don't know which year it was, but one day, I was about to shoot a man who had lost a game. This guy seemed familiar. Guess who it was. My dad. My dad was suddenly standing right in front of me. He was in tears, begging me desperately to spare his life. And so do you know what I did? I shot him right in the middle of his forehead, and realized, "Ah. I'm cut out for this job." Seong Gi-hun: Whether you shoot people in there or con them outside, it doesn't change anything. You have always been... nothing more than their dog. The Recruiter: Do you think you're special because you've won the game? Seong Gi-hun: Someone like you could never know... or understand how I made it out of there alive. And how it feels... to play the games. |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter elaborating on his past as a Pink Guard to Seong Gi-hun. |
| “ | The Recruiter: Let's play a game. I'm sure you've seen this before in the movies. It's called Russian Roulette. Usually, you place one bullet in the gun, spin the cylinder, and pull the trigger. And before the next round, you spin the cylinder again. It resets the odds back to one in six. But I'd like to make this game a little more serious. Because you're special, Mr. Seong. Seong Gi-hun: Cut to the chase. The Recruiter: We'll take turns pulling the trigger without spinning the culinder again. The bullet will be fire within six attempts, and the game will be over. What do you say? |
„ |
| ~ The Recruiter proposing one last game for Seong Gi-hun to play with him. |
| “ | I've always wondered how you made it out of there alive. For one thing, you were even terrible at ddakji. What's the matter? Is your mind starting to race? Now your odds of death are one in two. That's pretty high indeed. I'm sure you're afraid. Lots going through your mind. Let me guess what you're thinking right now. "The gun is in my hand. Screw the rules. Pull the trigger once or twice, and I can blow this guy's face off." Isn't that right? If you want to meet the person you mentioned earlier, the key is in my pocket. You can simply shoot me with that gun and take it. But I'll have you admit one thing. That you're a piece of trash, just like everyone else. A piece of trash who got lucky and made it out of the dumpster. | „ |
| ~ The Recruiter's final words to Gi-hun before eventually losing the Russian Roulette game and ending his own life. |
Known Victims[]
- His father - Shot in the head while serving as a Pink Guard.
- Kim Jeong-rae - Shot in the head in a game of Russian Roulette after refusing to play a round of "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Minus One".
Gallery[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Trivia[]
- The Recruiter's actor, Gong Yoo, also portrayed Choi Han-gyeol in Coffee Prince and Seok-woo in Train to Busan.
- Despite his death, there is a strong indication that there are other recruiters for the Squid Games besides the Salesman, considering the wide scope of the games' operations.
References[]
External Links[]
- The Recruiter on the Squid Game Wiki
[]
 Villains
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Masked Men Players Others | ||