Player 001 is one of the most interesting characters in Squid Game season 2, and here is the real reason why he messed up the Spinning Top game during the Six-Legged Pentathlon. Squid Game season 2 is full of all kinds of twists and turns, but one of the biggest is undoubtedly the fact that the Front Man decided to join the Squid Games as Player 001. Under the fake name of Oh Young-il, In-ho befriends Gi-hun and his team of players, with him accompanying them throughout Squid Game season 2, leading to one of the season’s most tense moments.

Squid Game season 2 finally continues the incredible story of Squid Game season 1, with Gi-hun returning after winning his first Squid Game competition in order to bring the shadowy organization down. Armed with billions in won and an army of mercenaries, Gi-hun hopes to storm the island and stop the Front Man, although he has no idea how powerful the organization is. In-ho is always one step ahead of Gi-hun, with the Front Man being right under Gi-hun’s nose the entire time, allowing him to sabotage the protagonists at every turn.

The Front Man Purposedly Messed Up The Spinning Top Game In Season 2, Episode 5

He Used His Non-Dominant Hand

The second game in Squid Game season 2 is the Six-Legged Pentathlon, a competition in which teams of five are chained together and forced to play five minigames and finish a race within five minutes. Two teams go at each time, with the team that Gi-hun and In-ho are on being one of the last two teams to participate. While watching the other teams compete, Gi-hun’s team comes up with a variety of strategies that will help their chances during the race. As they begin to compete, the team flies through Ddakji, Flying Stone, and Gong-gi, but their luck changes when they reach Spinning Top.

In-ho messes up the Spinning Top several times during his time playing the game, with him pretending to accidentally throw the top in a variety of directions. With each failed attempt, the team has to run, get the top, and return to the line. In-ho eats up most of the remaining time before finally getting the top to successfully spin, with the team finishing the final minigame and crossing the finish line with mere seconds left. However, some Squid Game season 2 viewers may have realized that In-ho intentionally lost the Spinning Top game.

Throughout Squid Game, it can be seen that In-ho is left-handed, with this being demonstrated several times throughout the series. However, each time In-ho attempts to spin the top, he does it with his right hand. Although In-ho could have messed up the Spinning Top game with his dominant hand, using his right hand allowed him to do so in a more convincing way. This prevented Gi-hun from catching on to In-ho’s scam, with the cast of Squid Game season 2 never learning that who they believed to be Oh Young-il was actually the Front Man.

When In-ho finally manages to spin the top, he throws it with his left hand. This is a dead giveaway that In-ho has been intentionally messing up the game, with it being clear for fans who have noticed which one of In-ho’s hands is dominant. This is just one of the many ways that the Front Man plays with Gi-hun and his friends in Squid Game season 2, making the season all the more frustrating.

Why Player 001 Really Wasted His Team’s Time During The Six-Legged Pentathlon

There Are Two Main Theories

Gi-hun’s team ended up winning the Six-Legged Pentathlon, causing many fans to wonder why Player 001 intentionally wasted his team’s time during the game. One theory is that In-ho simply wanted to break Gi-hun’s spirit, once again reminding them how close they are to death at any moment. Allowing Gi-hun’s team to win the Six-Legged Pentathlon in such an easy way could have given them extra confidence, giving them the power to sway more votes after the game or even to win more allies in the fight against the Front Man and the Pink Soldiers.

It could also be that In-ho needed to buy time, allowing the other team that was playing the Six-Legged Pentathlon to win the race first. Since Player 001 is secretly the Front Man, if Gi-hun’s team had lost the Six-Legged Pentathlon, the Pink Soldiers wouldn’t have killed him. However, if Gi-hun’s team had lost, before the other team was killed, they would have seen In-ho walk away, giving away his ruse. Thus, either the other team had to win before Gi-hun’s team was killed, they had to die, or Gi-hun’s team had to win.

Gi-hun’s team ended up successfully clearing the Six-Legged Pentathlon game, meaning that In-ho’s complicated Spinning Top plan didn’t matter anyways. On top of that, the other team ended up failing, with them all being killed before they could have exposed In-ho’s ruse. As a contingency plan, however, In-ho intentionally throwing the Spinning Top game makes sense, covering his tracks and allowing him to walk away unscathed if the situation arose.

What Would’ve Happened Had Gi-hun’s Team Failed To Complete The Second Game

In-ho Obviously Wouldn’t Have Been Killed

One of the biggest questions from throughout Squid Game season 2 has to do with how much Gi-hun’s performance in the Squid Game actually matters. If they had failed, In-ho obviously wouldn’t have been killed, with him most likely walking away as the rest of Gi-hun’s team was massacred. However, In-ho seemingly wants Gi-hun to stay alive as a punishment for him coming back to the Squid Game competition. Thus, it could be believed that the Pink Soldiers wouldn’t have killed Gi-hun, with In-ho having a different plan for the former champion.

In-ho provided much of the strategy during the planning period before the Six-Legged Pentathlon began, meaning that he seemingly wanted the other four team members to fly through their games. In-ho probably would have proportioned the time he spent on the Spinning Top game differently if his teammates did poorly on the previous three minigames. Since they flew through it, however, it allowed In-ho to pretend to fail for a little longer, making the team finish Squid Game season 2’s second game with only a few seconds left.