Squid Game/Tear Jerker

Tear Jerkers in  include:

General

 * The fact that the competition exists, and keen viewers can see that they've dated all the way back to 1989. A group of the wealthiest men in the world bets on the poorest people in South Korea, those who are so desperate that they can willingly return to the games even after a group vote to end them. The Host reveals to Gi-hun that it's a test for him, to see if humanity can truly keep its fundamental goodness in desperate times.
 * Mi-nyeo is mainly a comic relief character, but her arc is tragic. She's introduced as a Drama Queen and a compulsive liar that smuggles in cigarettes, while allying with the strongest side. Yet, in each challenge, she pulls her weight, sometimes literally, and figures out ways to survive. It's hinted that her constantly switching sides and being a jerk to those not useful to her is a coping mechanism for how she survived with her debt. Mi-nyeo finds out that game four is in pairs, and no one wants to partner with her because of how disloyal she is. She's in tears and screaming as the guards drag her away, fully expecting to be executed. Yet the guards give her a Cruel Mercy; they dub her the "Weakest Link" and then escort her back to the barracks, where she can sleep the day away. Mi-nyeo is left with the realization that no one will love her or want her with how she's beena cting, and it's all her fault.
 * Sang=woo as a character, being a [{Fallen Hero]]. The prologue shows that he used to be a nice kid, playing Squid Game with his friends, including Gi-hun. He was a prodigy, the golden boy of the neighborhood who graduated top of his class at business school and got a cushy job. Then thanks to a lot of embezzlement and bad stock decisions, he ends up mired in debt and investigated for white-collar crime. Sang-woo also put up his mother's restaurant for collateral, meaning that if he is arrested, she will end up homeless. We see his ruthless pragmatism come out more and more the different games progress, where he starts his darkness by betraying Ali rather than either accepting the loss or calculating if there is a loophole in the Marbles game. Gi-hun remains painfully oblivious that his best firend is not the same sweet boy he remembers until he witnesses Sang-woo pushing the glassmaker that was helping them navigate the last few panels.
 * Il-nam is another Tragic Villain. He is a monster and fully admits that he is one on his deathbed to Gi-hun while pointing out that everyone participated willingly. Yet, from what we know, he didn't lie about anything, merely hid details of the truth. So the timeline is this: he had a wife and a son, and they were so close that his wife would make their lunches, and he would play with his son in the streets. Either before or during, Il-nam became a loan shark, and started earning lots of money by ruining others' lives. This may have pushed away his family, as they are nowhere in sight in the present. Alone at the top, wealthy and bored, Il=nam created the games. Even this bit of entertainment didn't last when doctors found he had a terminal brain tumor. So Il-nam enters the games, and explains his motive was to relive his childhood for a little bit longer, and have some fun rather than spend his days receiving endless medical treatment.

Red Light, Green Light

 * Gi-hun at first doesn't come off as the nicest guy. He steals from his mother to bet on horses, albeit while promising to use the winnings to spoil his daughter rotten on her birthday. Then Gi-hun gets pickpocketed, the loan sharks make him sign a blood contract. and he's reduced to playing arcade games to win her a present and treating Ga-yeong to street food. You feel bad for him as Ga=yeong hides her dismay about receiving a gun-shaped cigarette lighter, saying that maybe her dad should keep it, but shouldn't use it.
 * Ga-yeong has a sad look on her face when Gi-hun says that he'll get her a real gift next year. He finds out later that his ex and her family are moving to the States within a few months, so he's unlikely to keep that promise. Gi-hun's mother urges him to find some work and prove that he can fight for custody of her. That's how he ends up calling the number on the business card...

Hell

 * The survivors are in the barracks, huddled in groups. When the guards come and congratulate them for passing round one, Mi-nyeo gets on her knees and begs for her life, saying that she will pay her death and has learned her lesson. Several women follow suit, and the whole crowd minus a few people start begging.
 * The sad look on Sang-woo's face as he looks at his mother discreetly, from a distance. Shortly after he leaves and lies on the phone that he's on a business trip, cops come by and tell her they have an arrest warrant for her son. She can't believe it, and insists there must be a mistake.
 * After they meet for morning coffee and cigarettes, Sang-woo explains his financial problems. He invested money that didn't belong to him in stocks and futures. Gi-hun is confused and asked if his best friend gambled his future away. While Sang-woo doesn't bother to clarify, his face indicates that's a pretty apt summary of the situation.
 * Sae-byeok visits her brother after the disastrous trip with the broker, trying to treat him to ice cream. He's mad at her because the other kids in the orphanage say that she's left him, and she won't ever get their mother across the border. She hugs him tightly, promising they'll be a family again.
 * Ali's last conversation with his wife. He gives her the money he took from his boss, and orders her to take their baby to Pakistan, but leave him behind.