[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Squid Game Season 3.]

Squid Game‘s second season introduced a few unique players to the game for fans to fall in love with… and then for the show to rip away in excruciating fashion.

In addition to boasting Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as a previously-unheard-of winner-turned-return player, the season also featured a mother-son duo, a trans player with a strong military background, and a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy… and they all became allies and members of the “X” side of the vote.

Season 3 picked up with all of them still alive, despite Gi-hun’s failed rebellion against the guards, resulting in several of their allies’ deaths. However, the season steadily began to eliminate them in increasingly devastating ways, leading to four of the show’s most gut-wrenching moments ever. So, which of their deaths was the most upsetting?

First, let’s revisit why the pain of each of these losses was so exquisite.

Hyun-ju had a chance to walk away from it all and sacrificed herself instead

Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), a.k.a. Player 120, had her life viciously claimed in front of her friends, despite having a chance to escape it all. Hyun-ju fought — literally speaking — to protect two of the most vulnerable players still in the game at the time: the very, very pregnant Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), a.k.a. Player 222, and the elderly Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim), a.k.a. Player 149, whose son had to play on the opposite team … more on that later.

Hyun-ju dispensed with several aggressors who meant them all harm during the hide-and-seek game, pushing through numerous injuries to keep them safe. However, after Jun-hee suddenly gave birth, Hyun-ju ventured out to find another place for them to hide. She then found the room they were all looking for, with the fabled exit. She had the keys needed to go through it on her own, but even despite opening the door and hearing a song of congratulations, she turned back to help her friends, and it cost her everything. She was then stabbed to death by Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), a.k.a. Player 333, who’d partnered with Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), a.k.a. Player 124, on a drug-addled murder spree.

Geum-ja made an impossible decision and couldn’t live with herself as a result of it

No Ju-han / Netflix

After Hyun-ju’s death, Geum-ja was the only one left to protect Jun-hee, who was newly postpartum and had a debilitating ankle injury, and her newborn baby girl. Both of the women were on the blue team during the hide and seek game, which meant they were simply supposed to hide and survive from the red team players, who’d been given a knife and instructions to kill someone before the clock ran out or die themselves. Geum-ja’s son Park Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), a.k.a. Player 007, was on the red team and promised to protect his mother after finding someone else to kill. However, when he arrived in the same room as they were just about to exit, it was clear he was desperate and going to attack Jun-hee and/or the baby.

Geum-ja first tried to offer herself as a sacrifice to her son, but he refused to stab her and proceeded to confront Jun-hee. However, he never reached her because Geum-ja used the small blade hidden in her hairpin to stab him in the back instead. He was then killed by the guards. Gutted, she returned to the dorms with Jun-hee and advised her to put her baby first before giving Gi-hun a maternal pep talk about his depression over the lives lost in his rebellion. The next morning, though, she was found hanging from one of the highest bunks, apparently unable to live with the grief of what she’d done, however justified it may have been.

Jun-hee became a casualty of the VIPs’ cruelty, too

No Ju-han / Netflix

Squid Game Season 3 spent a good bit of time behind the scenes in the VIP lounge as the new rich betters, who’d also been allowed to suit up as guards and execute those who didn’t pass the hide and seek game, observed the games in motion with various glib remarks to share about the contestants’ fates. It was them who ultimately made a devastating decision about what would happen after the birth of Jun-hee’s baby — the helpless child would have to participate in the game or else be eliminated just like any other player.

Jun-hee, who was already set back by her massive ankle injury, had no way of carrying the baby across the bridge, so Gi-hun volunteered to go across with the baby and come back to help her across, too. However, after Gi-hun successfully crossed, the other players began to come across as well and blocked him on the bridge until the final minute. Though the baby’s father Myung-gi offered to help Jun-hee, she didn’t trust him, and he wouldn’t have been able to carry her across anyway. With just over a minute left on the clock, Gi-hun still insisted he would race back to her, but Jun-hee told him to stay and help the baby then tearfully dropped off of the platform.

Gi-hun’s fate was determined by the push of a button

In the show’s final challenge, Sky Squid Game, Gi-hun made it to the third and final round, where he was left to face off with Myung-gi while he also tried protecting the man’s baby, who was left in his care by Jun-hee. When things got physical, Gi-hun managed to stay alive, only to be faced with a horrible decision after Myung-gi plummeted to his death. Since an activation button wasn’t pressed prior to Myung-gi’s fall, his death didn’t count for the round, meaning at least one more person had to die. In the end, Gi-hun chose to kill himself, which allowed the baby a chance at a life with the sole winnings. Considering why Gi-hun entered the games again, his death was doubly tragic because he didn’t end the games and he lost his chance at freedom.

All of these characters’ fates were particularly heartbreaking, considering the circumstances of their deaths and the sheer likability and relatability of the players. So, which one of them hurt the most for you? Weigh in with our poll below.

Squid Game, Streaming Now, Netflix