Competitors jump headfirst into the extreme game, putting their lives on the line for 45.6 billion won. Each has their own agenda and story to tell, with every round delivering shocking twists. It goes without saying that the actors lead the audience to accept and immerse themselves into the unconventional setting without doubt. Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Oh Young-soo, Wi Ha-jun, Jung Ho-yeon, Heo Seong-tae, Tripathi Anupam, Kim Joo-ryoung and others transform into characters who have gathered together despite age, gender or nationality, acting out an unimaginable and extraordinary tale.

After being laid off due to restructuring, Gi-hun bounces between loan sharks and gambling until his eventual divorce. He continues a listless existence. Feckless to the point of stealing cash from his own mom to make bets, Gi-hun is in desperate need for a large sum of cash, some for his daughter who wants to follow her new stepdad to the U.S., and some for his diabetic mother who needs to be hospitalized immediately. A mysterious man he meets on the subway hands him a business card. Although quite wary, Gi-hun decides to partake in the game for the grand prize of 45.6 billion won. But he has no idea what he has really bet with until he enters the game.

Considered a genius since his childhood, Sang-woo is a neighborhood pal a few years Gi-hun’s junior. Everyone thinks he is living the high life, having graduated from the prestigious Seoul National University, hired by a major conglomerate and moving up the corporate ladder. But in reality, Sang-woo is up to his neck in debt from a failed investment, even attempting to use his customers’own funds. He has no future and no hope. But here comes a risk good enough to stake his life on.

Jun-ho is a police officer who infiltrates the game after finding the same business card with a circle, triangle and square that Gi-hun brought to the police station from his missing brother’s cheap rental room. He disguises himself as one of the masked game managers while searching for his brother, but in the process he comes close to discovering the game’s hidden secrets.

Sae-byeok is a North Korean defector who had a hard life, resorting to pickpocketing. She’s scrimping and pinching because of her family — her younger brother, still at the orphanage, and her parents, still in North Korea. But she gets swindled by her broker and loses all of her savings. This is her last hope to be reunited with her family, and she’s putting everything on the line for this game.

Despite his bravado, the gangster Deok-su is on the run after losing everything at a casino, including money from his own gang. If caught, he’s going to be as good as dead. Deok-su believes winning the game could solve all his problems, so he’s willing to do anything. Even commit murder.