Squid Game - Blog Posts

Chapter Three Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63964906/chapters/165188986?view_adult=true

No because I am the niche. Or maybe the niche was made for me. Honestly, what am I even learning in college if I cannot even articulate this properly?

Anyway—I am obsessed with the Star Wars prequels and Squid Game, and when I say I have been thinking about this exact crossover too?? I am losing it. I need to write this immediately. They really do have so many parallels and both pairings make me want to sob 😭

In-ho as Anakin | Vader and Gi-hun as Padmé? The emotional devastation. The tragedy. The drama. And now I cannot stop thinking about who the rest of the cast would be in this AU. It is over for me. I have no choice but to write this.

this is so incredibly niche, but i don't even care anymore.

inhun and anidala, as couples and as separate people, have quite a few parallels, and i need to talk abt them.

the way that inho's front man outfit and the darth vader suit are similar. a mask hiding their faces, modifying their voices, making them seem unhuman with its features. the way that both suits set them apart from the other workers and the way they completely hide the person beneath it.

inho and anakin both being on the "right" side, a cop and a jedi. people who protect others, who should be a positive force in the world. but both the police and the jedi have a lot of problems in how they can intervene during certain situations.

both of them wanted to save their pregnant wives and both failed, with anakin believing both padmé and their child died, while inho's actually passed away.

they both have an older man who serves as a mentor and introduces them to the dark world they will soon be a driving force in (palpatine with the sith, and ilnam with the games). in both cases, anakin and inho are the successors when said mentors die.

anakin tried to recruit luke to the dark side, and inho tried to recruit junho to join the games.

padmé and gihun are both idealists who sacrificed their personal lives to make the world a better place. they are protectors and nurturers.

padmé accepts the role of senator because she needs to try to change the current status quo, and gihun pursues those who are being the games to bring them to justice for what they have done.

gihun watches as the man he loves becomes unhinged and cruel (sangwoo), and the same happens to padmé as she witnesses anakin's descent into madness. both plead with said men to turn back, and both almost die at the hands of these men.

padmé and gihun both thrive for justice and for those who harm others to be brought down, and they are both key players in trying to destitute a power-hungry leader (padmé creating the rebel alliance against palpatine and gihun leading the revolt against the front man).

and, finally, the speech anakin gives padmé in aotc:

From the moment I met you, all those years ago, not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you. And now that I'm with you again... I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you- I can't breath. I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me... what can I do?- I will do anything you ask. ...If you are suffering as much as I am, please, tell me.

and later on, padmé's response:

I'm not afraid to die. I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life. [...] I love you. [...] I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway. I truly... deeply... love you and before we die I want you to know.

these are so inhun coded to me 😩

inho can't stop thinking about gihun after first seeing him yell at the cameras abt deok-su killing that player (for me, this was when inho's fascination with gihun began), and now that gihun is near him again, he can't breath, haunted by the friendship and camaraderie and love gihun handed him when he was "youngil".

and gihun loves inho, even as his life is being destroyed around him. he doesn't want to love him but he does, so much. he's not scared of dying, he's scared of his feelings for inho, of how much he loves this seemingly cruel man. and now gihun needs inho to know that everything gihun gave him was real.

That means so much to hear from you—thank you!!

I adore merpeople AUs too, and I'm thrilled you're enjoying this one! I can’t get enough of imagining Gi-hun with his striking red hair and a deep green tail—like the same shade as the Squid Game tracksuits, which feels so poetically fitting. And oh wow, I hadn’t thought of In-ho as a Prince Eric parallel until you mentioned it, but now I can’t unsee it and I’m obsessed. It fits him so well!

Poor Gi-hun, truly. In my headcanon, he’s the child of two merfolk himself but was abandoned young—left near the ocean floor to fend for himself, hunt, survive. So like you said, he knows nothing about raising a child, specially not one with a human parent, which is completely unheard of in mer society. I imagine Gi-hun was genuinely heartbroken to leave the baby with In-ho—he just didn’t know he had a choice. No one taught him otherwise.

Because the baby is half-mer, he can breathe underwater, but Gi-hun, being used to the way merchildren are, handles him with a kind of reckless affection that would horrify a human parent. Merbabies develop fast and are tough, so Gi-hun will just casually drop him in the water or even toss him in the air and bop him gently with his tail like a dolphin playing with a ball. The baby’s completely fine (maybe even giggles), because in mer culture, that’s considered normal caregiving—for the two whole days they do keep their kids 😅

Looking ahead, I love the idea of Gi-hun eventually finding a way to gain legs so he can be with his baby and his eventual husband-slash-co-parent-slash-accidental soulmate. And once he learns how to really care for a child, he takes to it like he was made for it. He adores that baby with his whole heart—and mourns, quietly, that he never knew love like that himself. But he’s so grateful to In-ho and Jun-ho for showing him that there’s another way.

Thank you again for letting me ramble—it means the world! I’m definitely going to keep building this story out. I’ve got so many ideas!

Also, just imagine Gi-hun doing this with zero context and In-ho having a minor heart attack.

I need someone to rant to about a potential story idea for In-ho x Gi-hun inspired by fanart on Pinterest, which I have included below, so I hope you do not mind. To begin, In-ho and Jun-ho live on an island and work as police officers but do a lot of fishing together in their spare time. One time while out, they witness another fisherman heartlessly throw a kitten in a sack into the water, and when they go to rescue it and plan on going after the fisherman, a massive green tail emerges from the sack with the kitten in it, and they think it is a big fish trying to eat it, so they net it and drag it in with the sack. Only to find it is what appears to be a merman with bright red hair who takes the kitten and resuscitates it and tries to keep it away from the brothers, thinking they were planning on harming it too.

This merman cannot speak but does understand human language, having watched them from afar for so long, so they communicate and eventually become friends. In-ho names the merman Gi-hun since his actual name is a series of unreplicable screeches. Well, In-ho, Jun-ho, and Gi-hun develop a deep friendship, though In-ho and Jun-ho only get to see GI-hun a couple of months of the year since he moves based on the seasons. Well, eventually Gi-hun and In-ho catch feelings for one another, and one thing leads to another, in a cave specifically, but Gi-hun has to leave for the winter afterward. But In-ho waits patiently for him to come back.

Gi-hun comes back months later with In-ho and Jun-ho waiting for him eagerly; only he has a basket he obviously scavenged from the water, and in it, a newborn baby with human legs and dark hair. Of course, In-ho, who had no idea mermen could carry, nearly faints into the water while Jun-ho loses his mind. “You fucked a merman???” When both finally calm down and turn back to the water, they find Gi-hun gone.

Turns out merpeople are absentee parents, so they mate with other merpeople or humans and then dump their offspring on them, thinking it is like a gift. Well, next time In-ho sees Gi-hun, he patiently explains how humans are expected to raise their children together and not just dump them on one another 😂😂😂 So they learn to co-parent their half human half merperson baby with Uncle Jun-ho.

Sorry for the rant but as soon as I saw the fanart below this whole story came to me. I obviously want to finish other things first but what do you think?

please never apologize for ranting at me!!! i love it 💞🙌

i love merman aus so much!!! 💖 i'm also loving that between the green tail and the red hair, gihun is looking exactly like ariel... plus his love interest is a dark-haired charming man with a four-letter name....

i absolutely love the story!! it has a lot of potential going forward since u can expand on the fact that gihun, due to merpeople being absentee parents, would have no idea how to raise a child. nor would he have any idea on how to raise a child with humans.

since the baby is half-merperson, im assuming it can breathe underwater but imagine inho and junho's shock when gihun grabs their tiny baby and just dunks it into the water 😭

also - totally get if u haven't thought that far end - but would gihun ever, little mermaid style, make a deal with a witch and get legs so that he can walk with inho, junho and their baby?

AND OMG I LOVE THAT GIHUN LOVES CATS IN EVERY UNIVERSE!!! HE SAID CAT PERSON 4 LIFE 😩🙏🤧

in sleep, he sang to me.

idea from @grimeshound

Chapter Two Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63964906/chapters/164652766?view_adult=true

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

[Gi-hun storms into the room, clearly agitated.]

Gi-hun: Kids. Bed. Now. I want to talk to your father.

In-ho: No! Kids, stay! Please, stay!

Gi-hun: Go!

In-ho: Stay!

Gi-hun: Go!

In-ho: Stay!

Gi-hun: You go!

In-ho: Dae-ho, stay!

Gi-hun: Now!

In-ho: Jun-hee, don’t move!

Gi-hun: You go!

In-ho: Jung-bae, stay!

Gi-hun: Get out of here!

In-ho: Don’t leave me!

Gi-hun: You get out of here!

Chapter One Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63964906/chapters/164072335

Here is what inspired the wedding outfit Gi-hun wears in this chapter for those who were asking:

Chapter Six (Final Chapter) Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/163991815?view_adult=true

Chapter Six (Final Chapter) Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/163991815?view_adult=true

Chapter Five Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/163598866

Jun-ho after risking life and limb to find Gi-hun and the island only to find In-ho and Gi-hun:

Geum-ja, barely holding it together after being trapped in the Mingle Room with “Young-il” and Gi-hun:

Geum-ja, barely holding it together after being trapped in the Mingle Room with “Young-il” and Gi-hun:

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

In-ho | The Front Man: [coldly] What makes you think I will end these games, Player 456?

Gi-hun: [without hesitation] I'll sit on your face.

[The Front Man, caught completely off guard, makes a choked noise—somewhere between a gasp and a strangled cough.]

[The Front Man flashes back to watching Gi-hun during the dalgona game. The camera zooms in on Gi-hun, hunched over his candy, tongue out, licking furiously like his life depends on it (it does).]

How Gi-hun was going to walk out that mingle room if he paired up with Young-il in the last round:

Chapter Four Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/162940264

omg love the pfp 🤝

Oh my God, another babygirl Gi-hun enthusiast?! I absolutely love yours too! The way a middle-aged man can radiate that kind of energy in a single photograph is both baffling and utterly captivating.

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

In-ho: So, you like cats?

Gi-hun: Yeah.

In-ho: [Maintains intense eye contact and deliberately nudges a glass toward the edge of the table.]

[The glass wobbles, teeters, then slowly tumbles off, shattering on the floor.]

In-ho: [Deadpan, barely blinking.] Meow.

Stoppp, I love this movie so much!!! But now all I can think about is who all lives and dies in this universe?! Because if both In-ho and Gi-hun do not make it I will shatter. And now I have a new draft document 📃

Zombie apocalypse inspired by Train to Busan with In-ho, who is still a police officer alongside Jun-ho and Gi-hun, who is a single divorced father. Gi-hun has been divorced from Sang-woo for months now; only during the proceedings did they find out Gi-hun was pregnant with their second child, complicating things. In-ho and Gi-hun are neighbors, and In-ho is down bad, though they remain friends because Gi-hun feels guilty saddling him with everything. Well, In-ho has to take the train to Busan with Jun-ho for a case and runs into Gi-hun (who is heavily pregnant at this point), who is taking Ga-yeong to be with Sang-woo for the weekend, though she objects heavily.

Gi-hun and In-ho sit together, third-wheeling poor Jun-ho (who is completely done with his love-struck older brother at this point). Then the zombie virus breaks out on the train, and In-ho and Jun-ho take charge, leading the uninfected survivors. Well, when the survivors have to change trains to get to Busan, Gi-hun is bitten protecting Ga-yeong. In-ho is DEVASTATED, as is Ga-yeong, who has to be dragged away by Jun-ho. In-ho cannot kill Gi-hun and instead handcuffs him to the sink in the back of the train and tearfully rejoins the other survivors at the front.

Well, later, In-ho, who has been receiving updates on the virus on his phone, learns that it has been discovered that pregnant people, because of their endorphins, are resistant to the zombie virus and only experience flu-like symptoms, meaning Gi-hun and his baby will likely not turn. In-ho, without hesitation, races to the back of the train to rescue Gi-hun, and when he reunites with him, looking at the man he loves terrified and teary-eyed, still handcuffed to the sink, he sobs and finally kisses him. Then he practically carries him back to the front of the train with the other survivors and is just like: I am your husband now. This is my child. 😤

ANON, U JUST DELIVERED AN OSCAR WINNING SCRIPT ON MY INBOX!!!

i love everything abt his!!!

protective inho, gihun defending his daughter, junho being tired of their asses.... i know gayeong accidently kills a zombie and the men around are proud and horrified in equal measures.

INHO CLAIMING GIHUN'S BABY AS HIS OMGGGGGGGG 😩🤧

Plus, people always forget that one of his greatest strengths is his resourcefulness, like in the dalgona game. And in the final game his move with the sand, which is always 🤌💋 Chef’s kiss to me.

sometimes i see people saying that gihun has no physical prowess and wouldn't hold his own in a fight. and yeah i agree up to a point.

gihun has no training, that's true. but he fights dirty.

i think we all collectively forgot that gihun bit a chunk out of sangwoo's ankle during their fight.

he didn't just bite him, he bit through him. he literally spits out a piece of sangwoo's skin like 😭

AND he got stabbed three times and kicked in the face and strangled, and still he literally pulled the knife out of his own hand to use it against sangwoo.

that doctor pulled his tooth out with no anesthesia, and gihun cut out a tracker out of the back of his ear.... that's an insane pain threshold 😭

yes, inho would ultimately kick his ass with his cop training but gihun looks like the type to dig his thumbs into someone's eyes if he's cornered and scared.

Gi-hun’s life truly is miserable because imagine losing people you love in such horrific ways, winning a death game, harboring some of the worst trauma imaginable, and desperately looking for the person responsible for all of it for three years.

then when you finally do find him, he is basically just an unhinged homosexual pretending to be some guy to manipulate you, and when he realizes you won’t let him hit he fucking kills your best friend. crazy!

Gihun, finding out Youngil is actually alive and is the Frontman: You know what? Next time I join the games I’m gonna wear lipstick and a dress-

Inho: ???

Gihun: -because I like to look pretty when I get FUCKED.

Thank you so much for responding! I would definitely recommend the movie is science fiction horror is your thing! The unintended bonus for the movie for me is definitely Ripley and Hicks, hence why I could not help imagining Gi-hun and In-ho as them. Not to mention Gi-hun is so final girl-coded—survivor’s guilt and all✨

Also, I loved your description of the scene. It actually made me blush 😊 🫣 Now, I definitely want to write this! Thank you again!

Hey! I don’t know if you have ever seen the film Aliens, which, full disclosure, is science fiction horror. Quick summary if you have not seen it: Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien attack on her ship, agrees to return to the site where her now-dead crew first encountered the alien creatures with a unit of Colonial Marines with Corporal Dwayne Hicks to investigate.

Anyway, I want to write Gi-hun as Ripley and In-ho as Hicks so bad solely because of the chemistry they have through the film being so protective of one another. But mainly because of the scene below where Hicks shows Ripley how to fire a pulse rifle to defend herself:

Seeing In-ho show Gi-hun how to fire a gun would be so 🫣 🫣 🫣

hi!! 💖

i've never seen it unfortunatley but i hear it's an amazing movie!!

omg, can u imagine inho behind gihun kinda realizing that with their height difference he can't quite get his arms around gihun, so he presses up against his back, their bodies touching from shoulders to hips. he hooks his chin over gihun's shoulder and uses his hands to bend gihun's arms this way and that, speaking soft instructions the entire time. gihun is tense, trying to concentrate on what inho is saying but his body is firm as it presses against gihun's own, and his hands are warm and calloused, and every time he turns his head his breath ghosts over gihun's neck and makes goosebumps erupt all over his skin. when gihun finally gets a good grip, inho's hand leave his arms and trail down, fitting themselves over gihun's trim waist, thumb brushing soft circles over his shirt. he tells gihun to relax and to always remember that inho will be there every step of the way. gihun almost presses his finger against the trigger and, in a moment of weakness, leans back against inho's body, feeling those fingers tighten on his waist and flex, almost as if inho wants to press them against one another even harder.

Chapter Three Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/162193801

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

In-ho (“Young-il”): [leans in with a smirk, voice low and smooth] One last question I just have to ask: Would you mind if I ripped off all of your clothes with my teeth?

Gi-hun: [without hesitation, eyes shining with enthusiasm] God, I’d be honored.

In-ho: [blinks, brain short-circuiting] … [mouth slightly open, trying to process the fact that this actually worked]

Chapter Two Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/161628754#workskin