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Does Sung Jin-Woo kill humans in Solo Leveling? Take a look at his first human kill and how it fundamentally changed his character.
Sung Jin-Woo from Solo Leveling has certainly made a name for himself in the anime community. The overwhelming popularity of the anime’s second season further propelled him to the top of the industry, cementing him as one of the most iconic main characters in modern anime.
As more and more people get introduced to the anime and the manhwa, a question naturally pops up in everyone’s mind: does Sung Jin-Woo actually kill humans? After all, ruthlessly killing people isn’t exactly a staple for main characters of shonen anime.
To answer the question, yes, Sung Jin-Woo absolutely does kill humans in Solo Leveling. Now, does that make him a serial killer or mass murderer? Absolutely not. He doesn’t just go around killing anything that moves; he kills humans only when there’s either no other way out of the situation or if the person in question deserves it.
Sure, you can argue that there’s always a choice not to kill, but for Jin-Woo, the cruel and unforgiving world of Solo Leveling unfortunately never presented him with the luxury of choosing whether to kill or not.
Who Was Sung Jin-Woo’s First Human Kill?
Sung Jin-Woo’s first human kill took place during the Dungeons and Lizards arc of the Solo Leveling manhwa, which was covered in the anime’s first season. In this arc, Jin-Woo joins a strike squad for a C-Rank Dungeon Raid to make some quick cash. Unfortunately, Jin-Woo soon discovered that his raid party members weren’t the friendly Hunters they pretended to be.
In reality, eight members of Jin-Woo’s raid party were actually malicious Hunters who used their powers and the nature of a Dungeon raid to commit crimes inside the Dungeon. The leader of the group, Hwang Dong-Suk, decided to leave Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho behind in the Dungeon Boss’s lair. He expected them to die in a few minutes, after which he and his group would charge in and take all the crystals for themselves.
To their surprise, Dong-Suk and his party members discovered that Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho had somehow managed to defeat the Boss. Therefore, they decided to kill them on the spot, attacking Jin-Woo first. Even at this point, Jin-Woo didn’t consider killing them. However, when the System suddenly gave him an emergency quest to kill the humans, he realized one crucial thing – in this cruel and unforgiving world of Dungeons and Hunters, it’s either kill or be killed.
This was a significant turning point for Jin-Woo’s character. He absolutely decimated all of the members one after the other, cutting through all of them with relative ease. What’s even more surprising is the fact that Jin-Woo neither hesitated for a single moment in killing them, nor did he feel any remorse or guilt afterwards. It was an experience that he never forgot, as from that point onwards, he stopped holding back from killing his opponents if the situation called for it.
Why Did the System Force Sung Jin-Woo To Kill?
The reason behind the System forcing Sung Jin-Woo to kill is pretty simple – to ensure his survival. The System, or rather Ashborn, had chosen Jin-Woo as his successor. And to be his successor, Jin-Woo would need to let go of his morals. He’d need to stop hesitating or holding back and be prepared to kill if ever pushed into a corner.
Even as a Hunter, Jin-Woo wouldn’t have lived very long if he was restricted by his morals. It didn’t take him long to realize that his enemies wouldn’t think twice about killing him. Thus, he could either let go of his morality and be prepared to kill or die a pathetic death inside a Dungeon, where no one would ever find his body.
The System had a massive role in transforming not only Jin-Woo’s body but his personality and mindset as well. Inside the C-Rank Dungeon, it basically ordered Jin-Woo to kill those who wanted to kill him, or else the System would kill Jin-Woo itself – thus stripping away the freedom of his choice in the matter. From thereon, every mission and every fight systematically erased Jin-Woo’s hesitation towards killing.
As for Jin-Woo, his own journey was never about abandoning his morality – it was about survival. And seriously, who can blame him? Throughout his whole life, he was mocked, used, and conveniently thrown away for others’ sake. So when the time finally came for him to prioritize his own life, he did just that without hesitation.
Sung Jin-Woo’s First Human Kill Was a Turning Point for His Character
After killing Hwang Dong-Suk and his raid party members, Sung Jin-Woo crosses a line he could never return from. Before this moment, he only killed monsters inside Dungeons. But taking a human life with his own hands? That definitely left a mark. Upon realizing he had no other choice but to kill the men in front of him, Jin-Woo spared no moment in cutting them down, one by one.
The way the whole scene played out was pretty chilling. Apart from the fact that it was a complete one-sided massacre in Jin-Woo’s favor, the part where he accepted the fact that he was being used by the System hit the hardest. As such, he decided to use the System for his own survival in return. While he wasn’t completely sure of what the System wanted from him, he knew one thing for sure – the System wanted him to live above anything else.
This was also where Jin-Woo stated the one difference between him and others – only he could level up and get stronger endlessly. No one could ever match his power since it was only a matter of time before he surpassed them. He alone had the absolute authority to decide who lived and who died. Thankfully, he didn’t abuse this power for his own selfish desires. If anything, he only sought to become stronger than anyone – strong enough to protect his family from harm.
How Many Humans Did Sung Jin-Woo Kill in Solo Leveling?
The actual number of humans Sung Jin-Woo killed in Solo Leveling isn’t exactly massive. However, it’s significant enough to confirm that he’s no pacifist. To narrow it down, through the entirety of the Solo Leveling manhwa, Jin-Woo killed around 13 humans. The first 8 are Hwang Dong-Suk and his raid party members. Subsequently, he also killed the A-Rank Hunter, Kang Tae-Shik, and an unnamed rehabilitator inside a Dungeon.
Inside the Red Gate, Sung Jin-Woo killed an A-Rank Hunter from the White Tiger Guild, Kim Chul, whom he turned into a shadow soldier and named Iron. In the International Guild Conference arc, he killed Hwang Dong-Suk’s brother, the S-Rank Hunter Hwang Dong-Soo, after which he turned him into a shadow soldier as well – naming him Greed. Lastly, in Solo Leveling’s epilogue, he also causes the death of an unnamed prisoner. This brings the death toll of Sung Jin-Woo’s human victims to 13.
Conclusion
So, to answer the titular question – does Sung Jin-Woo kill humans? Yes, he does. Does he enjoy killing humans? Or better yet, is he a cold-blooded serial killer? Not really, since most of the people that he killed tried to kill him first.
Sung Jin-Woo definitely isn’t the average shonen protagonist who values all human life and goes above and beyond to save his worst enemies. Instead, he’s a pragmatic and realistic character who’s more than willing to eliminate anyone who threatens him or his family.
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