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Kim Ki-woo (played by Choi Woo-shik), the only son of the Kim family, begins the movie as a young man without a clear path to follow. He has failed his university entrance exams multiple times. He seems in danger of being trapped by the same economic limitations that have defined his mothers’ and fathers’ lives. However, Ki-woo is more ambitious and imaginative than his parents. In early scenes, Bong shows him studying English with Min-hyuk, a more successful friend who describes Ki-woo as someone who “could succeed, if only given the opportunity.” When Min-hyuk offers him the chance to take over his job tutoring a wealthy teenager, Ki-woo accepts quickly and resolves to lie about his credentials without hesitation. With the help of his family, he forges a university document from one of Korea’s top schools and totally reinvents himself under the name “Kevin.” This first step into a life of professional deception begins the family's broader infiltration of the Park household.  

Ki-woo plays the role of tutor well. Even though he doesn’t come from money, he knows how to present himself in a way that satisfies the Parks’ desire for status and prestige. He speaks politely and formally, dresses neatly, and flatters the family’s illusions about themselves and how their life seems from the outside. His performance earns their trust quickly, and Mrs. Park, who is drawn to his confidence and academic polish, hires him without bothering to check his background. This success boosts Ki-woo’s sense of control, and he decides to convince his family to follow him into the Parks’ home. He helps each of the Kims secure roles in the Park household: first, he creates a new identity for his sister “Jessica,” who poses as an art therapist for the Parks’ young son, and then later finds ways to displace the Parks’ driver and housekeeper so that his parents can replace them.  

As Ki-woo spends more time in the Park house, he starts to see their world of extreme privilege as one he might eventually enter permanently. He goes so far as to form a romantic connection with Da-hye,as he knows Min-kyuk had planned to do. Because the relationship is built on Ki-woo’s lies, it lacks any real potential to last, but Ki-woo begins to imagine a future in which he marries Da-hye and takes his place as the Park family’s heir. He dreams about one day fitting in with their life and being the master of their hilltop mansion himself. Ki-woo never fully grasps how deeply class boundaries are inscribed into his life. He believes that cleverness and performance might be enough to buy him a ticket into the Parks’ orbit but is quickly proven wrong.  

Spoilers below! 

In the film’s final moments, after Ki-woo’s elaborate plan has unraveled completely, he imagines a future in which he earns enough money to buy the Park house, reunites with his father, and lifts his family out of poverty. These hopeful visions play out as if they might be real—until the camera slowly pulls back to reveal Ki-woo still sitting in the same dim, semi-basement apartment where the Kims began. At the start of the film, he’s an idealist who believes that boldness and clever strategy can rewrite his family’s fate. By the end, he is physically and emotionally scarred, trapped not only in the same space but in the same social reality he once believed he could outsmart.  

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