Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
The survivors of Red Light, Green Light demand to leave after learning that 255 contestants have died. Sang-woo points to the clause allowing a majority vote to end the competition. The guards first display the growing prize and explain that the living will receive nothing if they quit. The vote is nearly even until Player 001 chooses to stop, sending everyone back to the mainland.
Freedom does little to solve the problems that brought them there. Gi-hun reports the killings to the police and is dismissed, then learns that his mother's diabetes requires treatment they cannot afford. Sang-woo faces arrest and enormous debts that threaten his mother's livelihood. Ali confronts an employer who refuses to pay him; after a struggle injures the man's hand, Ali takes cash and tells his wife to leave with their child.
Gi-hun's attempt to borrow from his former wife ends badly when her husband offers money on the condition that he stop contacting their family. Meanwhile, detective Hwang Jun-ho connects Gi-hun's report to an invitation found among his missing brother's belongings. Gi-hun refuses to help him, but receives another chance to enter the contest. He and the other returning players climb into the collection vehicles. Jun-ho follows them, while Sae-byeok keeps herself awake rather than surrendering to the gas.