WWhen we meet for the first time Squid game The protagonist Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) in season 1 doesn’t have enough money to buy his daughter fried chicken for her birthday. This lack of resources, made worse by his crippling debt, influences Gi-hun’s decision to enter the Squid Game – even after he finds out that the stakes are deadly. When Gi-hun emerges as the sole survivor of the gauntlet, he takes home 45.6 billion won.

Watch the deadly Korean competition drama Squid game As an American, it can become an exercise in pausing high-risk actions to google the won to USD exchange rate. (At the time of writing, the amount is $1 to approximately 1,447 won.) The series communicates that 45.6 billion won is a life-changing sum of money for the Korean participants. But what exactly does that mean in concrete terms?

Ahead of Squid Game’s second season, out December 26, let’s break down what the prize is really worth in the context of 2024.

How much is 45.6 billion won in USD?

As of December 2024, at the time of writing, the prize pot of 45.6 billion won was equivalent to approximately $31.5 million. Notably, the Korean won is at its lowest level in 15 years relative to the US dollar.

The prize pot is the same for the game in Season 2 as it was for the game in Season 1, even though it has been three years in both our world and the world of the show and the cost of living in Korea has increased. In 2021, the prize money of 45.6 billion won would have been closer to $38.5 million if converted to USD. Apparently those in charge don’t care about the vagaries of global currencies or inflation.

What does 45.6 billion won get you in Korea?

How much would 45.6 billion won mean to a “normal” person in Korea? Well, the average monthly salary in Korea is 3.9 million won, or about $2,696. That’s 46.8 million won per year (around $32,347) before income tax. With his profits, Gi-hun could pay the average annual salaries of around 974 Korean workers.

Half of the country’s population lives in the Seoul metropolitan area, which was ranked the ninth most expensive city for expats in a 2024 survey. In the Seoul rental market, a studio apartment outside the city center costs about $475 per month, or about $2,500 per month for a three-bedroom apartment in the city center.

From a US perspective, this monthly rent may seem very cheap, but it is important to note the unique rent payment structure, known as jeonsecommonly used in Korea. The system requires the tenant to deposit a large amount of “key money” when renting an apartment, which they receive back at the end of the rental period, which is usually two years. The “key money” is typically between 50 and 70% of the property value, making it difficult or impossible for many Koreans to enter the rental market. In November 2023 the average jeonse The cost was 423 million won, or about $292,000. After winning the game, Gi-hun would have no problem renting; he could afford to pay the median price jeonse Costs for around 108 apartments.

Of course, with the game’s prize money of 45.6 billion won, Gi-hun could afford to buy something in the Seoul real estate market, which is almost completely inaccessible to the average Korean. A government study published in 2023 found that a Seoul resident would have to do this not spend a single cent of their income for 15.2 years to buy a house in the city. The average apartment in Seoul’s richest district, Gangnam (made famous by Psy’s satirical 2012 banger “Gangnam Style”) sells for 2.25 billion won, about $1.56 million.

As for fried chicken? Gi-hun could now afford to buy his daughter more than 1.8 million of the 25,000 won tongdak Signatures at this August Chicken branch near Yaksu Station in Seoul. Unfortunately, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and stepfather in season 1.

How much is 500 million won?

In Episode 1 of Season 2, “The Search”, Gi-hun casually offers his gangster network a 500 million won bonus for finding Gong Yoo’s “The Recruiter” somewhere in the Seoul subway system. The men are highly motivated by this amount of money, which is approximately $346,000.

How much is 45.6 billion won compared to the wealth of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk?

Here are a few final metrics that seem relevant in context Squid games depiction of the absurdity of wealth accumulation under capitalism: Jeff Bezos earns $1.9 million per hour, which is about 2.75 billion won, or about $45.8 million in a 24-hour period – so he earns in one of his days more than Gi-hun won the whole game.

In 2024, Elon Musk overtook Bezos to become the richest person in the world; His net worth recently reached over $400 billion, boosted by Donald Trump’s re-election. Gi-hun would have to win the game more than 12,700 times to accumulate that much money.