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The following contains minor spoilers for the Solo Leveling manhwa.
In the power fantasy anime seriesSolo Leveling, the protagonistSung Jinwoo seems to take great effort, at least at first, to hide his ability to level up and get stronger from the rest of the world. However, it’s unclear why Jinwoo has to go to such great lengths when his powers will eventually be found out anyway, if he keeps getting involved in protecting the world from dungeon gates.
Why is Jinwoo so intent on hiding his powers from the rest of his hunter allies, friends, and family? It feels like the idea of the “hidden power” protagonist was part of the original premise for the series, but as time passed, this concept fell by the wayside inSolo Leveling.
Avoiding Fame
Jinwoo Doesn’t Seek Glory
It seems that one of the main reasons that Jinwoo is keen to keep his powers hidden and operate in the shadows is that he cares more about his family than showing off his power. We see that in the world ofSolo Leveling, powerful hunters are basically superstar celebrities whose every move is watched by the world and media.Jinwoo wants to remain focused on his goalof saving his mother from her mana-related illness and helping his sister get through school. He also wants to avoid disrupting the hunter status quo too much, lest he be forced to confront jealous rivals who want to stop his rise to the top.
“This place is crawling with the press. Any idea what they are doing here?” -Baek Yoon-Ho watching the media gather in Episode 19.
A huge media event in the series was held just to announce the new A-ranked hunter, Mingsung Lee’s decision to transition to battling dungeon gates full-time. With this reaction to only an A-rank hunter, becoming an S-rank hunter would likely garner evenmore unwanted attention for Jinwoo. This idea is further reinforced after Jinwoo makes his S-rank debut in the live broadcast of the Jeju Island raid, making his name and deeds much harder to keep a secret. Even in this moment, Jinwoo strong-armed the camera operator not to record parts of the fight so Jinwoo could still hide some aspects of his power from the world. This quality of Jinwoo’s character meshes well with his desire to shoulder the world’s burdens while protecting as many people as possible. Towards the end of Jinwoo’s initial story in the world ofSolo Leveling,we see just how far he is willing to take this ideal by turning time back 10 years so that he can fight the Monarchs on his own without risking the lives of Earth’s inhabitants, even though no one will know what he did for them.
Revealing Himself
Why Did Jinwoo Change His Strategy?
Although Jinwoo seemed to be going out of his way to keep his powers and abilities a secret at first, it seems that he stopped trying as hard later on. Why did Jinwoo decide to reveal himself publicly when he was still concerned about potential rivals and the effect his fame would have on his family?
“Everyone is different. I changed a lot because a lot’s happened.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 10
This change may have resulted fromthe monumental growth of Jinwoo’s powers. We see that by the end of Season 2, Jinwoo has become much stronger than even Korea’s best hunters combined. He has also developed an ability to place a protective shadow to guard anyone he wants. This gives him greater peace of mind about protecting the ones he cares about, and he can use shadow exchange to teleport right to them if something happens. As Jinwoo gained unbeatable strength, he likely stopped worrying about protecting his family as much because nobody could hope to match him.
While being known as a powerful hunter would draw the attention of the world and the media to his family, at the same time, it could be a powerful deterrent for anyone who would want to mess with him. If somebody tried to interfere with Jinwoo, they would risk not only the wrath of Korea’s most powerful hunter but also the ire of a grateful population whom he saved.Jinwoo chose the correct moment to reveal himselfand take full advantage of the public protection of those close to him, though he would still need to worry about strong opponents targeting his loved ones, a trade-off he seemed willing to make in light of his immense power gain.
Solo Leveling
Cast
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong’s popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
