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Photo: Netflix
Hyun Kyung Ryul
Google engineer
★ Society Game S1 team winner
PhD, Seoul National University
알파경
In the game0 pieces
A software engineer with a PhD from Seoul National University's computer science department, Hyun Kyung-ryul was introduced in season 3 coverage as working at Google. On tvN's Society Game season 1 (2016), as a grad student, he dominated the brain challenges and was nicknamed 'Alpha-kyung'. Though seen as weak at politics, he survived to the end and, as Madong's final-day leader, led the team to victory in the final. Season 3's announcement highlighted him as an SNU PhD 'Googler' known for his clever Society Game play.
Did you know
- Of the seven season 3 players with prior Jung Jong-yeon survival experience, he is the only Society Game season 1 alumnus.
- He never played a season with Jang Dong-min, but teamed up with him as a guest on Society Game 2, episode 11.
- A fellow player has said he deliberately hid his ability on the pre-show brain test to avoid becoming a target.
- Teammate Lee Byung-kwan coined 'Alpha-kyung', and the show's official social accounts used it too.
- He has said he often goes to escape rooms and has never failed one.
Survival show record
- 2016Society Game Season 1 (tvN)★ Team win (Madong)
Won nearly every mini-game and challenge he entered by wide margins. In the final he led Madong, cracked the 'Puzzle Tower' answer (PEOPLE) at a glance, and won round 3 with a stalling tactic that wore out the opposing runner.
Background
PhD program, SNU Computer Science and Engineering (Movement Research Lab)
Special guest, Society Game 2 (tvN), episode 11
Returned with fellow season 1 winners and handled the memory segment alongside Jang Dong-min.
Appeared on KBS Documentary 3 Days
Featured in episode 482 on SNU graduate researchers, shortly before his PhD defense.
Software engineer (Google)
Listed as a software engineer in Netflix's reveal video and as a Google employee in news coverage.
Previous shows only (excludes this season). From news and Namuwiki, as of 2026-10-13