Solo Leveling Season 2 Introduces Sung Jinwoo's Father

The following contains heavy spoilers for Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-, as well as the Solo Leveling plot as a whole. Proceed with caution.

The third episode of Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-, titled “Still A Long Way to Go” revealed a potentially plot-shattering element with the introduction of Sung Il Hwan, the father of Sung Jinwoo and Jinah, who went missing ten years prior to the events of the series.

Emerging within a Gate that appeared somewhere in the United States, Il Hwan’s first appearance presents him as one of the most powerful characters in the series thus far, easily defeating an entire Raid Party of A-Rank Hunters, as well as humbling Hwang Dongsoo. What does the introduction of Sung Il Hwan mean for the story of Solo Leveling going into the rest of season 2, as well as the narrative as a whole?

Who Is Sung Il Hwan?

A Hunter Strong Enough to Survive Within a Gate For a Decade

Upon his introduction, Sung Il Hwan is shown to have strength that can outclass several A-Rank Hunters, not to mention his insane claim that he has survived inside a Gate for ten whole years. To put this into context, the Red Gate Incident claimed the lives of multiple A-Rank Hunters within a few days; survival for a decade is simply unthinkable. Up until this point, there has been little to no reference to Sung Jinwoo’s father, so his abrupt emergence, from within a gate is quite the curveball. When he is questioned by the American authorities, he complies without putting up a fight, but when Hwang Dongsoo came to speak to him and revealed an intense bloodlust upon learning Il Hwan’s relation to Jinwoo, the “human-shaped monster” thoroughly defeated him.

Sung Il Hwan was once a firefighter who fell in love with a woman named Park Kyung Hye and had two children, Jinwoo and Jinah. When the Gates first appeared, Il Hwan quit firefighting to become a Hunter, rising to become one of Korea’s very first S-Class Hunters. However, back then, the Hunter Ranking system had not yet been implemented, so Il Hwan’s strength was never measured, nor did he enjoy the various privileges afforded to contemporary S-Class Hunters.

The Reason For Sung Il Hwan’s Strength

Solo Leveling’s Real Story Begins

A full-blown battle between S-Class Hunters is an event that has been described as incredibly destructive to the surrounding area, making their conflicts very costly, hence Woo Jinchul’s intervention in the hostilities that brewed between White Tiger Guild leader Baek Yoonho and Hwang Dongsoo. However, Hwang Dongsoo was defeated without the damage even reaching the surrounding buildings, leading first-responders to theorize that the S-Rank Hunter, considered to be one of the world’s strongest, was defeated in an instant. Il Hwan’s introduction serves as the first time we come to understand that just because a Hunter is S-Class, doesn’t mean there can’t be a massive gulf in class between them and another S-Class Hunter. Ten years prior to the events of the main story, Sung Il Hwan was trapped in a Dungeon after a Raid and presumed dead, leaving Kyung Hye to raise their children alone.

Sung Il Hwan had no means of escape; however, before he could die of starvation or dehydration, he was saved by the Rulers, the angelic primordial inhabitants of the Solo Leveling universe created by the Absolute Being – the entity depicted in the Statue of God found in the Cartenon Temple. The Rulers, also known as Fragments of the Brilliant Light, have a dark counterpart called the Monarchs, their arch-enemies with whom they have waged war for aeons. In exchange for saving his life, the Rulers enlist Il Hwan to assassinate the vessel of the Shadow Monarch, whom we know is none other than his son, Sung Jinwoo, an event that sets into motion the greater Solo Leveling storyline and the eventual exploration of the origins of the System and Sung Jinwoo’s powers.

The Impending Tragedy

Father and Son Are Now Fated To Battle Each Other

Il Hwan’s return correlates with Jinwoo’s achievement of the Shadow Monarch title, meaning that the fated reunion between father and son will also be a deathmatch that perpetuates the war between the Monarchs and the Rulers. The fact that the “angelic” beings are the ones enlisting a father to murder his own son is a taste of the interesting things the greater Solo Leveling lore does, particularly with the relationships between the individual Monarchs and Rulers, who will begin to emerge over the course of the developing story as Jinwoo becomes even stronger. Il Hwan being forced to assassinate Jinwoo at the Rulers’ behest, which is tragic because of the Sung family’s strong bonds and protectiveness towards each other, but is also illustrative of the humanity Jinwoo is throwing away in his quest for power.

The Absolute Being, a God of Light, is actually a twisted spectator who enjoys suffering and sees the violence ensuing between his creations as entertainment. This “twisted king” archetype is often dispatched by a close ally, and it turns out that seven of the eight Rulers conspired to assassinate the Absolute Being. Only Ashborn, the strongest Ruler, remained loyal to the Absolute Being; however, he was overwhelmed and defeated by the others. To survive, he transformed himself into the Shadow Monarch and tried to return to the battlefield, but by then the assassination was complete. Il Hwan’s introduction is major because it sets into motion the series of events that will make both Jinwoo and the audience increasingly aware of how the Solo Leveling universe came to be.

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. 

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