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Main Characters

Sung Jin-Woo

Voiced by: Taito Ban (Japanese), Aleks Le (English)

I'm going to protect my family, even if it means turning all the hunters in the world against me.

^{Click here to see him Pre-Player appearance}

"It's a given that I'll be betrayed because I'm weak."

Sung Jin-Woo (성진우) is the protagonist of Solo Leveling. He was previously known as the World's Weakest Hunter, and later and journeyed down the path of becoming the World's Strongest Hunter after he was Reawakened and became a Player.

Jin-Woo was reawakened as a Player after surviving the Cartenon Temple and completing the secret quest "Courage of the Weak". The mysterious System has allowed Jin-Woo to level up without limits and increase his strength and stats, unlike other hunters, who are unable to increase their strength unless reawakened.

He is the founder and guild master of the Ahjin Guild, which he created alongside Yoo Jin-Ho to allow him to clear dungeons using his shadows.

An Offer You Can't Refuse:
- The offer to become a "Player" comes to Jin-Woo while he's lying on a sacrificial altar, bleeding out, with an animate statue's blade fractions of an inch away from his chest, the quest window even warns him that if he refuses, his heart "will stop in 0.02 seconds", not giving him much choice in the matter.
- Similarly, when Jin-Woo gets attacked by Hunters who want to kill him, the system gives him "urgent quests" to kill his attackers, again warning him that if he fails to do so, his heart will stop. It is not entirely clear whether the system is simply warning him that he would be killed by his assailants, or threatening to stop his heart anyway if he attempts to find a way out of the situation that does not involve killing.
- The System penalizes Jin-Woo if he doesn't fulfill his daily quest, dumping him into an incredibly dangerous dungeon he's unprepared for or killing him if he doesn't comply.
Anti-Hero: After becoming a player and gaining Jade-Colored Glasses as well as his personal encounters with other violent Hunters forcing him to kill people for the first time, Jin-Woo firmly sits in this threshold. If you're after his life or out to kill others around him, he will hunt you down and either put the fear of god into you, or in a worst case scenario, kill you and then resurrect you as a shadow knight if you're at all worthwhile. If you're a nice person, or even a friend or family member of his, he's often aloof but polite, pleasant and means the best. Anyone else he's likely to murder if it'll benefit him at all and he doesn't have a strong reason not to.
Babies Ever After: By the end of the series, Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In have a son named Sung Suho.
Bad Powers, Good People: Jin-Woo is a good guy and though he Took A Level In Cynicism he will still help people and protect his friends and family when he has to. On the other hand, he gains the power of Shadow Monarch which allows him to raise and enslave the dead to his will which is usually the powerset given to the Evil Overlord not The Hero.
Berserk Button: Never intend to do harm to Jin-Woo's friends and family. Whether you be monster or human, it's a surefire way to end up dead, or his shadow slave.
Big Brother Instinct: Very much against the possibility of Jin-Ah becoming a Hunter, and he keeps several of his stronger shadows attached to her to ensure her safety. Eventually develops a bit more of this trope towards Song-Yi and Jin-Ho, as well.
Big Damn Heroes: While he isn't looking to go out and be a hero, Jin-Woo is often put into situations where things have gone south and he has to help the people around him not get murdered horribly. He does it so much his nickname may as well be "the big damn hero".
- He rescues Yoo Jin-Ho from a C-ranked Giant Spider boss and then the team of C and D Ranked "lizards" that set them up to die and later tried to kill them when that didn't work.
- He rescues his friends and teammates from a B-ranked assassin that was trying to kill all witnesses to his crimes.
- He rescues his sister's best friend along with several hunters from a red-gate that they were trapped in for (a subjective) 7 days, the whole time killing monster bears and vicious ice elves that were trying to hunt them down.
- He rescues the Hunters Guild secondary attack team from an army of High-Orcs and their sorcerer leader.
- He was the only one to voluntarily go to Japan during the Giant crisis, and single-handedly saved the country from certain doom. Though he might say he only did it to level up, the millions of lives he saved can't go unnoticed.
- When Hwang Dong-Su kidnapped and tortured Jin-Ho to near death, Jin-Woo not only killed Dong-Su, but he decimated America's top guild, even Thomas Andre, one of the top hunters in the world.
Born Lucky: His incredible luck has been commented on multiple times. This is most apparent during the Job Quest arc, where he defeated the vastly superior Igrit through what he admits was mostly luck, and then almost loses his life in the subsequent gauntlet, only to be yanked to the (relative) safety of the Punishment Zone because he had forgotten to do his daily quest earlier, which additionally massively inflates his score, netting him the powerful Shadow Monarch class. He is also saved from the wrath of the S-ranker Hwang Dong-Su, who at that point is much too powerful for him to defeat, by becoming stuck in a Red Gate long enough for Dong-Su to lose interest. Not to mention that even up to this point, his very survival as "the weakest Hunter" despite staring Death in the face many times is nothing short of miraculous. Even in the Double Dungeon, the dungeon that kicks off the plot, while the courage and guile he displays are certainly admirable, he himself admits that a few of the decisions that save his life and wind up turning him into the World's Strongest Man were motivated by nothing more than gut instinct and blind luck.
The Cape: Downplayed and Played With. Jin-Woo was more like this in the beginning until after the double dungeon incident where he was left for dead by some of his teammates. At first, he wanted to help people but became more cynical as he saw the much uglier side of hunter work. That said, while he doesn't actively go out of his way to help people, he won't just let innocent people die if he can do something about it. Jin-Woo may have his own problems and he doesn't want to take on more trouble than he needs but he will intervene to save lives if there's no other choice. He slowly becomes more of The Cowl as he gets stronger, right down to wearing black Clothes and often intimidating hunters that are weaker then him, underestimating his powers.
Casting a Shadow: His signature ability after obtaining his Job is to summon living shadows.
Chick Magnet: After leveling up a bit his body becomes much more developed. Because of this he has gotten a lot more attention from the women around him.
The Chosen One: Ashborn's successor as the Shadow Monarch
Contractual Boss Immunity: Flipped on its head - Jin-Woo has contractual player immunity. One of the rewards he received from the Double Dungeon was immunity to all negative status conditions, including poisons, diseases, and most other debuffs. This proves invaluable several times, allowing Jin-Woo to shrug off things like Kargaran's crippling curses and Beru's paralytic poison, and letting him consume Kasaka's venom to gain the defense bonus without suffering the crippling Strength penalty.
Crazy-Prepared: With the sheer force of hunters heading to Jeayu Island to deal with the S-ranked gate that could no longer go unnoticed, he figured he wasn't needed, but in the unlikely event he was wrong, he put a shadow on one of the Korean members. The moment he saw the sheer cluster-fuck that was going on in the news, he used swap to save the day.
- He keeps shadows on his mother and younger sister, just in case something or someone goes after them. When the orc gate broke in his younger sister's school, the high-orc shadows kept the orcs at bay until he showed up and showed the orc lord why messing with her was a really, really bad idea.
Critical Existence Failure: As a result of becoming a Player, he seems to enjoy this as a perk from the System. Despite running on a paltry handful of health after nearly dying in the job change quest, he is still able to fight the Giant Centipedes in the Penalty Zone just fine. This is most definitely not the case for most Hunters, who would have probably passed out and bled out upon taking so much damage.
Cynicism Catalyst: Jin-Woo is shaken when Kim Sang-Shik flees to save his own skin, nearly dooming everyone else in the process. He becomes much more cynical and dour afterward, and this attitude only gets stronger when Dong-Gu's group tries to kill him and Jin-Ho.
Death Glare: Jin-Woo has a particularly interesting one, in that when he employs it, his face is typically half in shadow. The eye in the shadow glows completely purple, while the eye in the light only has the pupil and iris glowing.
Domain Holder: His Domain of the Monarch skill grants a 50% stat boost to all shadow soldiers standing within Jin-Woo's shadow.
Doom Magnet: In the few months since he became a Player, he seems to get himself in situations where he or his entire group would have been massacred if it wasn't for him becoming a player. This causes some higher ups to start noticing him.
Didn't Think This Through: More like he doesn't care. Jinwoo chose to stay on Earth after defeating all the Monarch although he was warned by the Ruler it would have unforseen consequences. In addition, the reason why humans can gain power is because the Gates expose humans to magical energy, something Jinwoo radiates due to his status as a Monarch.
Earn Your Happy Ending: In the end with all of his enemies defeated, he opts to undo the past to before the appearance of the Gates (thus resurrecting all of his previous enemies) so that he can stop the war before it even reaches Earth, thus preventing all resulting tragedies and loss of life from occurring.
Everyone Has Standards: If you're a Jerkass that he sees little worth in as a human being, Jin-Woo isn't afraid to resurrect a shadow from your corpse if you're even worth the effort. But when he has to resurrect Min Byeong-Gu's decapitated body into a shadow to help cure Cha Hae-In of poison, Jin-Woo goes through with it - and then releases the shadow to let the soul pass on proper out of respect shortly afterwards. This gains him Baek Yoon-Ho's earnest gratitude after his initial misgivings.
Extremely Protective Child: Harming or threatening any member of Jin-Woo's family might as well be a death sentence.
- When Groctar tries to kill Jin-Ah under the mistaken belief that she's the one controlling the High Orc Shadows, Jin-Woo drops out of the Knights Guild Raid he agreed to partake in, flies to her location and, when he notices the bruise on his sister's face, is only barely able to contain his rage long enough to evacuate her along with the rest of the surviving students. He then gives the rest of Groctar's orcs his undivided attention as he violently tears them apart.
- During the International Guild Conference, surrounded by some of the strongest Hunters who, in turn, represent countries from across the entire world, Jin-Woo coldly declares to the assembly that, if "Suspect S" is indeed his father, then he will defend him with everything he has, even if that means picking a fight with every single Hunter on the planet.
Face Framed in Shadow: Is fond of pulling this, usually with the aid of a dark hoodie.
Game Face: When he activates Bloodlust. So far he has successfully terrified a B-rank assassin and an S-rank Demon Noble.
Giver of Lame Names:
- Jin-Woo's names for his shadows are not exactly the cutting edge of intellect and wit.
- Later when he makes his guild, he initially wants to call it "Solo Player", and everyone tells him that's a truly terrible name, with Jin-Ho initially assuming he's joking. Not only is the name pretty counterintuitive since the very purpose of a guild is teamwork, but Jin-Ah also points out that Jin-Woo is technically not even a solo player, what with his army of shadows and all.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Displays these at several points, particularly when he's fighting a boss or other Hunter. Unlike the evil Hunters that display red eyes, Jin-Woo's glowing eyes are typically blue.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Jin-Woo has to rely on this when facing a heavily armored enemy.
Happily Married: With Cha Hae-In in the epilogue.
Heroic Neutral: Jin-Woo isn't the type to be a hero or set an example but he won't let innocent people get slaughtered if he can do something about it.
Hero with Bad Publicity: Jin-Woo was referred to as the "World's Weakest Hunter" at the start of the series due to his inability to ever really improve from the bottom rung of the Hunters. Even after he becomes a Player, conspiracies and controversies mire his reputation that try to imply he's been exploiting the goodwill of others and rising by no means of his own, never mind how he repeatedly comes out of dangerous Gates never the worse for wear while far stronger Hunters end up dead. By the time he's in the good graces of Go Gun-Hee, however, this begins to die down - and then Jin-Woo becomes an S-Rank, which both earns him immense respect and great fear of what his true power might be.
Horrifying Hero: He is mostly heroic if unscrupulous, but many people who cross his path become terrified of his immense power, necromantic abilities and the fact that his ranking does not correspond to his level, which usually means bad things (hunters who can and do hide their true power level usually do so in order to get sent on low-level raids with weaker hunters, slaughter them all and blame it on the monsters). His Bloodlust ability weaponizes this.
Horrifying the Horror: His overwhelming strength and his camouflage skill has caused some monsters to become scared of him.
Humble Hero: Jin-Woo was never arrogant as he was initially one of the weakest hunters at E-rank. However, even after becoming a player and gaining the ability to level up and get stronger, he never acts arrogant or flaunts his power. Often he would even try to hide how strong he really was. Partially because he didn't want the attention of others or people to know about his unconventional abilities for fear of the world's reaction but also because after a certain point in the story, money is a non-issue with him and he doesn't care about fame or materialism. He's also polite and courteous while respecting others even if they are weaker than him provided they don't act like a Jerkass. His overall attitude is laid back and he values friends or family over worldly concerns.
I Am Not Pretty: He notes that he has gotten taller and more muscular since awakening, but doesn't think he is that handsome. He just thinks he's above average.
It Gets Easier: Jin-Woo ruminates on the fact that he killed humans, mostly in self-defense, and wonders if he's gradually losing all sense of empathy for lives. And to a degree, he does stop caring if a Jerkass gets murdered by himself or monsters. He thankfully doesn't lose his caring for those close to him, and shows a benevolent side when it comes to Hunters that don't deserve the shit that gets thrown at them.
Level Grinding: Once he gains the ability to level up and get stronger, Sung Jin-Woo makes it a point to throw himself into combat and dungeons even at the risk of his own life as the stronger the monsters he fights and kills, the stronger he gets.
Like Father, Like Son: After his physical upgrade, Jin-Woo is shown to heavily resemble his father. He also inherited a preference for knives and his signature Death Glare from his father.
Magikarp Power: Of the Level Grinding variety. Unusually, the trope itself applies to Jin-Woo's ability to level up and get stronger since he's the only hunter to have this ability while everyone else is stuck with a power that's fixed outside of Reawakenings. Before long, he becomes stronger than even the calamity-level S-Ranks, and just keeps getting stronger after that.
Master of All: He can allocate stat points into several categories that apply to his physical attributes. He generally spreads them out evenly with slightly more emphasis on his strength and agility stats which makes him a Lightning Bruiser. He fights as an Assassin Type but has the brute strength of a medium level warrior hunter which means you can barely see his fist when it's coming for your face and he hits like a truck. He also has capabilities reminiscent to those of a healer (through his potions and the Status Recovery he gets from leveling or accepting daily quest rewards) and other skills that are even harder to qualify, like the Bloodlust debuff. People he faces have no idea what the hell to make of him. All of this before he becomes a Shadow Monarch.
- Later when he becomes a Necromancer he raises creatures and warriors with abilities that can specifically cover any area he lacks in like mages who can cast offensive magic, tanks who are high on power and defense to act as a shield, along with other creatures with specialties that range from airborne combat to underground combat.
Mind over Matter: Monarch's Hands grants Jin-Woo telekinesis. The strength and more importantly range of the telekinesis depends on his level. Early one when he first got it he could pull humanoid figures towards him at close range or crush a knight's steel helmet. By the time of the Jeju Island raid, it's strong enough to crush an class S monster from above the same way a person swats a fly.
Mistaken for Pedophile: Yoo Jin-Ho assumes that he's been getting hot and frisky with Han Song-Yi because the two of them came home tired and in the middle of the night (the real reason is that they had been stuck together in a dungeon). When he points out that Song-Yi is not of legal age, Jin-Woo, having no idea what Jin-Ho is talking about, asks "Your point?" Jin-Ho naturally assumes Jin-Woo is fully aware and does not care, but does not press because powerful hunters cannot be judged by the same standards as common men.
Necromancer: A rare heroic example given that the ability to raise the dead and use them as your slaves isn't something you associate with a good guy. Jin-Woo gains the job class test to become a Necromancer but when he takes the class test, he does so well that his class is upgraded to Shadow Monarch. Instead of simply raising corpses as puppets, Jin-Woo extracts the mana left over from the deceased and raises their soul from the nether world giving them a body made of shadows which can solidify into a tangible substance. His shadow summons retain all of the powers, abilities, skills, and personalities of the being they were raised from but become absolutely loyal to Jin-Woo. Even if the being he raises originally hated his guts to the point of Revenge Before Reason, once they are dead and brought back they are filled the the sole desire to serve him as their lord and feel delight from the simple act of being of service to him.
Never Gets Drunk: One of the skills he gained from his transformation is an immunity to toxins, including alcohol. As a result, the System will naturally detox any kind of liquor that enters his body, letting Jin-Woo drink as much as he wants.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When the orc tribe attacks his sister's school and nearly kill her, he is utterly furious and mercilessly massacres them all without even bothering to make it look like they had a chance.
Oblivious to Love: Downplayed. He initially completely fails to notice Cha Hae-In's painfully obvious crush on him, although he actually wises up when he sees what lengths she is willing to go to in order to join his fledgling guild.
Older Than They Look: Pre-Player, despite being 24 he looked around the same age as his younger sister. This changes a lot after he starts leveling up to where he is now a Chick Magnet.
Ominous Foreshadowing: His upgraded title of Shadow Monarch when he becomes a necromancer hints at him being chosen as the new vessel for the original Shadow Monarch and the system the other monarchs created specifically to bring about the return of the Shadow Monarch, their most powerful member. Several different monsters and demons take notice of this, to the point that those who can speak indicate they do not detect him as a human.
- Later when he raids a dungeon with the Knights Guild, it's full of undead monsters that seem to run away from the party without fighting back. When Jin-Woo has to leave, instead of attacking him, all of the undead he comes across while exiting the dungeon begin bowing to him and offering gestures of respect and fealty. Then when the Knight Guild raid team being watched over and supported by Beru, Jin-Woo's strongest summon creature at the time, they confront an Arch-Lich who identifies Jin-Woo's summons as "The Shadow Army", the personal army of the Shadow Monarch. The lich is shocked and doesn't understand why his lord's army is attacking him and his minions.
One-Man Army: Even without counting the literal armies he can summon thanks to his Necromancer powers, he's more than capable of destroying entire armies of monsters. Jin-Woo eventually takes this to the logical extreme by forming his own guild with the bare minimum of members required by the Hunters Association for the express purpose of soloing Gates, with chairman Go Gun-Hee explicitly describing him as a One-Man Guild.
Outside-Context Problem: The Hunters of the series are quickly established and laid out over the course of the story as the general gist that everyone knows and understands. Jin-Woo somehow being accepted into the mysterious System and becoming a Player is not only left field for him, but contextless in Earth's knowledge altogether. Half of the series is his attempts to understand what the System is and why it made him able to level beyond Hunter limits. To the rest of the world once Jin-Woo becomes S-Rank, he might as well be an inexplicable curveball no one understands. This isn't even getting into his inheritance of the Shadow Monarch legacy, which ties into what would effectively be a Cosmic Horror Story of gods and the ends of worlds far and wide; not a single person on Earth at the start of the series even understands what causes the Gates or Hunters in the first place, so Jin-Woo being so closely tied to their origins and causes makes him nearly alien as a Physical God by the end of the series.
Physical God: Once the series hits its conclusion, and especially into the side-story chapters, Jin-Woo is effectively a deity in human form, keeping all of Earth safe and able to engage in Reality Warper affairs through his shadow powers. When a powerful Gate opens up and a race of conquering monsters called the Titans appear, which would've likely been an S-Rank threat in the old timeline, Jin-Woo and his shadow army slaughter them with little effort.
Reforged into a Minion: A rare heroic variant as Sung Jin-Woo is a Shadow Lord and can raise the monsters and even people he kills as shadow summons. The new shadow versions of the beings he's raised keep all of their intelligence, skills, and personality but become completely loyal to Sung Jin-Woo and would willingly kneel before him even if he doesn't command them to.
Shadow Walker: Gains a variant of this ability later - able to switch places with shadow soldiers that he has previously concealed in somebody's natural shadow.
Signed Up for the Dental: The main reason as to why he chose to be a Hunter despite barely being stronger than a normal human, getting hurt in weak dungeons, and just getting enough pay to take care of his sister. It was because his mother was being taken care of in a hospital that gave special treatment to Hunters, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford her care.
Start My Own: Not wishing to join any Guild where he would most likely be put in more of a figurehead position rather than in the gate, he creates his own Guild.
Supernatural Aid: The system helped him to grow and gave him many advantages others hunters can't even dream of, like special quests, an online shop to buy items...
This Is Unforgivable!: Following Chairman Go Gun-Hee's murder at the hands of the Monarch of Frost, Jin-Woo swears on his life that he will kill him.
Took A Level In Bad Ass: In this instance, the trope is literal as, after becoming a player supported by the system, Sung Jin-Woo can now level up and increase his strength through fighting and slaying monsters. In a relatively short amount of time, he goes from being the weakest hunter to one of the strongest in the world.
Tsurime Eyes: Prior to his transformation, he had Tareme Eyes to represent his positive outlook despite his less-than-ideal circumstances. He develops these afterward, representing his increased cynicism and maturity.
Two In One: Jinwoo's powers is not just the shadow powers, but also "Ruler's Authority", due to his predecessor is both a "Monarch" and a "Ruler".
Unscrupulous Hero: He will usually try to do the right thing, but he's not afraid of resorting to get his hands dirty to do so, or even to take justice into his own hands sometimes.
- He finds out that Kang Tae-Shik was hired to assassinate the three prisoner Hunters in his "care" by a man whose daughter they had raped, causing tragic consequences for the family. After killing Tae-Shik in self-defense, he finds out that one of the prisoners is still alive. Instead of helping get him to safety, he drags the rapist to the boss's lair, where he is torn apart.
- During the battle with the ice elf boss Baruka, Jin-Woo realizes he is outmatched and needs a new strong Shadow. His solution? "Accidentally" tossing a sword to Kim Cheol, the A-rank who had first left him and his fellow low ranks to die in the Red Gate, then tried to lash out at them when it turned out that they had survived while his elite group got massacred. Exactly as planned, the maddened Cheol tries to use the "opening" to kill Jin-Woo... thus providing the necromancer with the moral justification to kill him and turn him into a Shadow.
- In the wake of the Jeju Island raid, Cha Hae-In is fatally wounded. She has sustained too much damage for Jin-Woo's potions to save her, getting her to a hospital is impossible, and the raid's only healer lies dead. Jin-Woo's solution is to raise said healer as a Shadow. However, he immediately returns him to his eternal rest once Cha Hae-In is safe.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After Jin-Woo kills all the Monarchs inn the new timeline, he is warned by the Rulers' emissary that should he stay on Earth in his current condition, he will attract unwanted attention to their world and suffer unforeseen consequences. In the spinoff novel, they are proven right.
Weak, but Skilled: Pre-Player he was known as the Weakest Hunter to the point that other Hunters would be happy to see him as a placeholder, since if he was allowed there then that means the Gate should be very easy. However, when the Double-Dungeon event happens, what few Hunters survive make it out alive mainly thanks to his quick thinking. After he becomes a Player he's still very weak, forcing Jin-Woo to rely on the knowledge he acquired over many years to outwit the much stronger monsters.
What Are You: He gets this frequently after becoming a player. Because the abilities given to him by the system are things no other hunter has, he constantly defies the expectations of everyone who either sees his power or ends up fighting him.
Who Are You?: Gets this from people constantly after he becomes a player and starts to level up and gain power. His abilities aren't normal for a hunter and because he isn't well known early on in the story most people who see him demonstrate his skills often wonder where the hell this unknown crazy strong hunter came from.
Willfully Weak: He did his best to hide the fact he was getting stronger, knowing this would bring a lot of unwanted attention. He didn't openly show how strong he was until he knew he was around an S-Rank as after that point they could no longer measure the difference in his power level.
With Great Power Comes Great Hotness: As a consequence of dumping so many of his early stat points into strength, Jin-Woo's body grew to accommodate it, making him grow taller and much more muscular. His features also get sharper and more mature-looking, shocking anyone who knew him before he got his powers.

Sung Jin-Woo's Shadows

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadows.png

^{Click here to see the Shadow Army's Leaders}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Army after Sung Jin-Woo becomes the Shadow Monarch}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Army's multitudes}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Monarch's original Shadow Army}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Monarch's original Shadow Army being created}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Bears}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Orcs}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Ants}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Giants}

^{Click here to see the Shadow Dragons}

The Servants of the the Shadow Monarch and an undead race of monsters that the Shadow Monarch can raise from slain beasts and hunters using the Shadow Extraction skill.

Cavalry of the Dead: The simplest way to summarize the Shadow Army. They are all monsters slain by Jin-Woo, who later extracted their souls and bound them to his will.
Character Level: Regardless of their initial power, as Jin-Woo's shadows, they all gain the ability to level up in combat and grow stronger. And eventually promote to a new tier.
Fantastic Rank System: Shadows are ranked by grade, with the weakest having little personality and generally being ranked around the C-rank hunters, while the strongest have very noticeable personalities and are considered to be capable of standing against S-rank hunters. There are a few general ranks a Shadow can achieve, listed here in ascending order:
Basic Grade
Normal Grade: Normal Grade shadows serve as foot soldiers in the Shadow Monarch's army. In terms of strength, they are usually C-Rank or below.
Elite Grade: Elite Grade shadows are the most common shadows in the Shadow Monarch's army and are about as strong as B-Rank Hunters.
Knight Grade: Knight Grade Shadows are about as strong as A-Rank Hunters. Shadows of this grade or higher are also able to be named.
Elite Knight Grade: Elite Knight Grade Shadows can be as strong as weaker or mid-level S-Ranks like Baek Yoonho .
Commander/General Grade: General Grade Shadows are incredibly powerful, with some capable of easily overpowering S-Ranks as strong as Goto Ryuji.
Marshal/Commander Grade: Marshal Grade is the highest grade that a shadow has been shown to be able to evolve to. As a result, shadows with this grade are some of the strongest members of the shadow army.
Grand Marshal Grade: Grand-Marshal Grade is the highest grade possible. As a result, there can be only one shadow with this grade and they serve as the leader of the entire shadow army, only second to the Shadow Monarch himself.
Fearless Undead: Fearless shadows, rather. They have absolutely no hesitation in a fight, even when sent into combat against enemies so much more powerful than they are that they can instantly kill entire groups of them.
Good Thing You Can Heal: They take a LOT of punishment throughout Jin-Woo's various battles. Slashed, mashed, bludgeoned, incinerated, squashed, and cut to pieces, but regardless of the amount of punishment they take, they will ALWAYS regenerate as long as Jin-Woo has mana. Even if he runs out of mana they simply stop regenerating, but cannot be permanently killed. They only stop returning if Jin-Woo deliberately releases them or if a Monarch grabs a hold of them.
Happiness in Slavery: When the corpse is created into a Shadow Soldier, they are filled with an overwhelming joy in serving their master and feel very happy when they are able to follow his orders.
Line-of-Sight Name: They are each named for a noticeable trait or their previous name slightly altered.
Perpetual-Motion Monster: As long as Jin-Woo has mana, they are unstoppable.
Purple Is Powerful: Their blue light turns purple as they leveled up to another tier.
Red Shirt Army: Normally more of a Badass Army. However, when Jin-Woo has to face a particularly powerful opponent, he will usually only involve his most powerful shadows, or even eschew the shadows completely in favor of a one on one duel, in order to avoid his mana being uselessly wasted trying to regenerate soldiers that can't really keep up with the enemy. In many such cases, the enemy will have minions of their own, such as Baran's demon army or the Ant King's ants, so the rest of the army still has something to do while Jin-Woo deals with the main threat. Played painfully straight when Jin-Woo confronts the three Monarchs - the King of the Snow Folk simply freezes his entire army with a single frost breath.
Reforged into a Minion: By the very nature of Shadow Extraction, every Shadow is this. Shadows are effectively a powerful form of undead created from the deceased, and every single one of them was originally a defeated enemy of Jin-Woo’s. No matter how they were in life, all of them are now completely loyal to their master.
Shipper on Deck:On the revised timeline, they are excited and accepted their liege's mutual affection for Chae Hae-In
The Speechless: Although capable of some degree of independent thought, communication with facial expressions and hand gestures, and using some sound-based abilities, none of the shadows are capable of actual speech. At least until they have a certain level of power.

Igris

Igrit

^{Click here to see Igris as a Marshal-Grade shadow}

^{Click here to see Igris being used for Shadow Exchange}

^{Click here to see Igris in action}

^{Click here to see Igris with the Shadow orcs}

A humanoid enemy Jin-Woo encounters as part of his class advancement quest, "Igris the Crimson" was the captain of the knights Jin-Woo had to fight against in the instant dungeon he entered. After gaining the ability to resurrect fallen enemies, Igrit became the first named shadow Jin-Woo raised.

Baritone of Strength: Considered to be one of the strongest shadows in Jinwoo's army, and one of the few Marshal-grade shadows out there, and Jin-Woo is surprised to see that once Igrit regains his ability to speak, he actually has a very deep voice.
Clean Cut: Fond of these, often going through multiple enemies in a single swing.
Combat Parkour: The most agile of Jin-Woo's major shadows, particularly demonstrated in the fight with the High Orc Generals.
Decapitation Presentation: Is fond of gathering up heads in a pile for Jin-Woo. Jin-Woo can't seem to get him to stop, and Iron is quick to follow his example.
Hidden Depths: In addition to his fighting skill and strength, Igrit is also very intelligent and academically focused. In the new timeline, he helps Jin-Woo study and later recommends academic paths for Jin-Woo’s son to follow rather than the warrior paths Bellion recommends.
Honor Before Reason: During his battle with Jin-Woo, when Jin-Woo puts down his weapon, Igrit throws away his sword and daggers and fights him without weapons. As Jin-Woo later notes, Igrit would have EASILY killed him if he'd just used his sword.
Multi-Melee Master: Carries multiple daggers at the back of his belt that he uses to great effect several times during his Combat Parkour.
Not So Above It All: When Jin-Woo allows Igrit to stand behind him (as opposed to Bellion and Beru flanking him), Igrit makes a fist pump in response.
Number Two: Technically, he shares the Number Three spot with Beru as Marshals, since Bellion is the Grand-Marshal of the Shadow Army (and thus the highest-ranked officer beneath Jin-Woo), but before the Army joined Jin-Woo's forces, he was the first named shadow and thus led a major part of Jin-Woo's soldiers for the remainder of the story.
One-Handed Zweihänder: His blade is huge, and he almost always uses it one-handed.
Shipper on Deck: In the new timeline, he is aware of Jinwoo's interaction with Chae Hae-In.
Shock and Awe: After defeating Demon King Baran, Jin-Woo gives Baran's lightning-throwing sword to Igrit.
Summon to Hand: One of his special abilities. He has so far only used it once to return his sword to his hand. Jin-Woo gained the ability from a rune after he defeated him. Though technically it was never Igrit's ability, as Telekinesis is a signature ability of the Rulers. He borrowed it from the Shadow Sovereign, who is also a Ruler, as part of the test for Jin-Woo.
Viewer Name Confusion: His name, 이그리트, is officially written as "Igrit". As a potential Shout-Out, it can also be written as "Ygritte". One fan translator also went with "Igris".

Iron

^{Click here to see Iron as a Elite Knight-Grade shadow}

Iron was created from the corpse of the A-Rank hunter Kim Cheol. Upon creating it, Iron grew larger in size than his original body. His full plate armor, weapons, and body turned pitch black like the other shadows.

Annoying Younger Sibling: The other Marshals tend to treat him like this, even Tank.
Berserk Button: Iron becomes upset when Kargalgan's High Orcs No-Sell his Taunting Cry, upon which he decides to simply smash them with his hammer.
Boisterous Bruiser: Has shades of this when he shows off his kills and his power to the other Shadow Soldiers.
Big Fun: When outside of battle, he can regularly be seen getting the other knights to cheer after the battle.
The Big Guy: He was already big before, as a shadow he is HUGE and absolutely towers over Jin-Woo.
The Brute: Doesn't have a lot of battle strategy other than 'hit them until they stop moving.... then keep hitting them'.
Carry a Big Stick: His weapon is a massive hammer that's almost as big as Iron is tall.
Dumb Muscle: Seems to actually be dumber than the Ice Bear shadows.
Decapitation Presentation: When he sees Igrit bringing heads back, he starts doing it himself, much to Jin-Woo's chagrin.
I Shall Taunt You: As a tank, one of his main abilities is Taunting Cry — a scream that makes all enemies in the area target him if they don't resist it.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Carries a massive tower shield that is almost as big as he is.
Meaningful Name: Jin-Woo names him "Iron" because Cheol (철) means iron in Korean.
Mighty Glacier: His big hammer swings can dish out plenty of hurt, but they are slow and telegraphed.
Practical Taunt: Despite being incapable of speech, he can wordlessly shout to use abilities like Taunting Cry.
Stone Wall: Downplayed, being somewhere between this trope and the Mighty Glacier. While he packs a lot of physical power, he is nowhere near as proficient at melee combat as Igrit is and displays no combat techniques more advanced than big overhead swings... but the real threat he represents is wearing the enemy down with his insane toughness and creating openings for the actual damage dealers of the group to exploit.
Use Your Head: Headbutts one of Kargalgan's elite guards, visibly cracking and denting the High Orc's helmet and stunning him long enough for Iron to flatten his head with his hammer.

Tank

Tank is a huge Ice Bear and the boss of all the Ice Bears and has three claw marks on its right eye. Like all shadows of that level, Tank's color changed into black and blue color. Uniquely, Tank wears a pauldron on its shoulders.

Animals Not to Scale: Got his name when Jin-Woo called him out to ride him and he just plowed past demons in the way without even slowing down.
Bears Are Bad News: When they're giant undead bears made of shadow that can't be killed they sure a hell are.
Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Is sometimes this towards Iron due to the latter's antics.
Meaningful Name: Jin-Woo names him "Tank" because, against weaker monsters, he's basically that: an unstoppable mount.
Raising the Steaks: The first indication that Jin-Woo was not limited to humanoids only.

Tusk

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fang_55.png

^{Click here to see Tusk as a General-Grade shadow}

High Orc Sorcerer Kargalgan was the boss of an A-rank dungeon known as the Hunters Guild gate. After Jin-Woo eliminated him and his army and raised them as his shadows, he renamed Kargalgan to Tusk. Tusk is the leader of Jin-Woo's shadow sorcerers.

Barrier Warrior: One of his main defensive spells, he was able to deflect Jin-Woo's attack until it was broken by an Orb of Avarice powered magician.
Gravity Master: One of his signature spells; he can pick somebody straight up off the ground so they are effectively helpless or push them against the ground to immobilize them.
Kill It with Fire: His main offensive spell, taken up a notch when Jin-Woo gives him the Orb of Avarice that doubles his spell power.
Magic Knight: As befitting an Orc spellcaster, while he prefers to leave the frontline fighting to his minions as he slings around curses and offensive spells, he'll turn into a giant and personally charge into the fray if the situation calls for it. However, Jin-Woo promptly demonstrates that when it comes to melee, he's slow, clumsy and no match for a powerful Hunter.
Make My Monster Grow: One of his spells, Hymn of Giants, can make Tusk grow absolutely massive.
Meaningful Name: Jin-Woo named him after the orc's most visible facial trait.
Power-Up: Has several different buff spells that he uses on himself and on Jin-Woo.
Status Effects: In addition to the status buffs, he also has many powerful debuffs, including blinding, petrifying or weakening a target, or simply inflicting extreme pain. Unfortunately for him back when he was alive, Jin-Woo is immune to Status Effects.
Took a Level in Cheerfulness: As Karugalan he was a sadistic, grumpy, Sorcerous Overlord to his army of high orcs. As Tusk he's generally laid back, only destroys/kills on Jin-Woo's order and can get a bit embarrassed when he makes a mistake or sees many people watching him like when he exited a dungeon carrying a giant naga's corpse and was surrounded by reporters taking pictures.
Viewer Name Confusion: Depending on the translator, his new name is either "Fangs" or "Tusk", but officially it's "Tusk".
Western Zodiac: Each one of his 12 spells represent a sign of the zodiac.

Kaisel

Kaisel is the shadow of Kaisellin, a Wyvern that Demon King Baran used as a mount. Sung Jin-Woo obtained him in the Demon Castle after killing him and defeating Baran.

Horse of a Different Color: Jin-Woo uses him as a mount when he needs to get somewhere fast and cannot Shadow Exchange.

Beru

^{Click here to see Beru as a Marshall-Grade shadow}

Beru is the shadow of the Ant King extracted on Jeju Island and the first shadow of Sung Jin-Woo who had the ability to communicate with him.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Easily the strongest of Jin-Woo's summons, the only one able to talk at least until the others rank up high enough, the only one generally seen giving explicit orders to lower-ranked shadows, and is clearly the Number Two to Jin-Woo until Bellion comes along..
Berserk Button: Insulting or threatening Jin-Woo is a good way to earn Beru's undivided attention. Even other Monarchs aren't safe from this.
Beru: What you said just now... take it back. The price for slandering my liege is heavy.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Has several blades he can extend and use in combat on his wrists and elbows.
Cannibalism Superpower: Could absorb some level of ability from enemies by eating their heads. This even extends to gaining the ability to speak Korean and cast healing magic after eating a healer's head and obtaining a paralyzing venom after eating a non-magical cone snail.
Challenging the Chief: Tries to pull this on Bellion when he shows up. It doesn't go well for Beru.
Dragon-in-Chief: He is not the boss of the Jeju Island dungeon, that would be the Queen. But the Queen is quite weak for an S-tier dungeon boss, because her specialty is spawning countless minions. This makes the Ant King the real main threat to contend with.
Dragon Their Feet: Thanks to the distraction from the Japanese hunters, he arrives too late to stop the Korean strike team from killing the Queen.
Flash Step: Does this several times to try and intimidate opponents who are clearly weaker than he is. It generally works except against Cha Hae-In.
Healing Hands: While not nearly on the level of dedicated healers, he does possess the ability to heal others to some degree (inherited by eating Min Byung-Gu).
It Can Think: Shows that he can grieve by visibly mourning the body of the slain Queen. Shows that he can hate by making sure the Korean hunters that killed her die very slowly and painfully, in contrast to his previous clean and quick kills. Shows that he is capable of acting intelligently in combat by zeroing in on the S-rank healer, the only one who could help turn the tides against him. All that before he starts talking.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: While he was alive, so, so much:
- His method of killing (prior to the Queen being killed), was to quickly chop off his target's heads as soon as possible and move on.
- He always targeted the most dangerous hunters first, killing Ryuji Goto when he claimed to be the hunters' leader and incapacitating Cha Hae-In first out of the Korean hunters as she was the most likely to put up a fight. The only reason he didn't kill her was because he wanted them to suffer for killing the Ant Queen, but it's implied he would have just killed them immediately if he felt they were any real threat to him.
- The first Korean hunter that he makes sure to kill is Min Byung-Gyu, the S-Rank healer, preventing the hunters from keeping the "fight" going.
- When he fights Sung Jin-Woo, he makes sure to use all of his arsenal - powerful attacks, poison, speed, numbers... - if it wasn't for the fact that Sung countered everything he could throw at him, Beru would've likely won.
- When all else fails and he realised he's not going to win, he tries to flee. "Tries" being the key word here.
Off with His Head!: While he was still the Ant King, his favorite method of killing enemies quickly was to simply chop off their heads with his mandibles before they could even register his presence.
Orifice Invasion: Performs this on the S-Rank Giant boss from Japan, going in through its EYE.
Percussive Prevention: When he is not killing enemies he is frequently seen keeping the stupider summons in line, particularly the ants and their tendency to eat ANYTHING that isn't nailed down, regardless of how valuable it may be to Jin-Woo.
Straight for the Commander: During the Jeji Island raid, he goes looking for the hunters' "King" - their most powerful hunter - to take them out before they can do much damage or tire him out. He takes out Ryuji Goto this way after the latter foolishly claims to be the "King" of the Hunters.
Sizeshifter: To a limited degree, Beru can make himself bigger to significantly increase his strength, or make himself smaller to significantly increase his speed.
Torso with a View: His favored method of killing things is to punch a gigantic hole in their chest.
Winged Humanoid: Maintains his wings as a shadow, which grant him by far the most mobility of the humanoid sized shadows.

Jima

^{Click here to see Jima as a Elite Knight-Grade shadow}

The third non-humanoid monster to join Jin-Woo's army, Jima is a powerful Naga.

Dual Wield: Uses a pair of tridents, cross with Prongs of Poseidon.
Informed Attribute: Jima and his kind are noted to have hard scales, strong enough to be used as key ingredients in making armor and shields that A-ranks Hunter can't pierce. Doesn't help in his fight against Jin-Woo.
Prehensile Tail: Has a massive tail which Jima uses to move around and lunge at his enemies.
Prongs of Poseidon: Cross with Dual Wielding, Jima wields a pair of trident with shorter shaft to compensate.
Sea Serpent: A massive snakeman who lives in a water-based Dungeon with corals and reefs.
Sizeshifter: Has a power that makes him grow larger and stronger. Becoming an Elite-Knight Grade Shadow lets him become as strong as a Giant.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Jima, much like Iron, wields a simple weapon and often resorts to brute force to pummel their opponents into the ground.

Greed

^{Click here to see Greed in action}

The second human recruited into Sung Jin-Woo's army, Greed was the third strongest Shadow and the few that could compete against Beru. In his past life, he was Hwang Dong-Su, the S-Rank Hunter who sought to kill Jin-Woo.

Blood Knight: A subtle one, as he proudly proclaim to slaughter the Monarch after freeing himself from the ice prison.
Cool Mask: A horned skull-like mask that exposes the upper right half. Played with considering that's actually his face.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Unlike most of the shadow soldier, Greed utilizes his fist to beat up the enemies.
Heel–Face Turn: Forcefully. After getting killed and revived as a soldier under Jin-Woo he became much more humble and polite.
Power Hair: Overlaps with Anime Hair. After becoming a shadow soldier under Jin-Woo, he grew a flaming purple hair.
Purple Is Powerful: Became one of Jin-Woo's top fighters before the arrival of Bellion and Ashborn's remnant army and had purple hair and purple hue.

Kamish

^{Click here to see Kamish being resurrected}

^{Click here to see Kamish fading away}

^{Click here to see Kamish in life}

^{Click here to see Kamish during his rampage}

^{Click here to see Kamish's Wrath}

Kamish (카미쉬) was an immensely powerful magic beast and the boss of the first S-Rank Gate that ever opened. He was responsible for single-handedly devastating the American west coast area and massacring all but five of the S-Rank Hunters who were fighting against him. As a result, Kamish is regarded as humanity's greatest calamity. A former servant of the Monarch of Destruction, Kamish would eventually serve Sung Jin-Woo as one of his shadows for a brief time, quickly crumbling away due to the prolonged amount of time since his death.

The Dreaded: The single most feared magical beast the Hunters have ever faced, and his impact on the world is still felt years after his death. The mere realization that Sung Jin-Woo's Shadow Army has three dragons just as big if not bigger than Kamish is enough to send hunters into panic mode.

Bellion (unmarked spoilers)

Bellion

^{Click here to see Bellion with Sung Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see Bellion with his sword}

^{Click here to see Bellion against Beru}

^{Click here to see Bellion in action}

^{Click here to see Bellion in silhouette}

The former Grand Marshal of the Shadow Army back when they served the original Shadow Monarch. He reclaims his position in the present after Jin-Woo's ascension.

Curb-Stomp Battle: Effortlessly defeats Beru in their match for his position.
Fallen Angel: With his four black wings Bellion certainly evokes the imagery. It fits, considering he is one of the many who followed Ashborn after turning to the Monarchs for allies.
Foil: To Igris, who recommends academic paths for Su-Ho in contrast to Bellion's more military-minded recommendations.
Large and in Charge: Not the largest amongst the shadow soldiers but bigger than the human-sized shadow soldiers, towering over Jinwoo and Igris. He was also the one in charge of the Shadow Army while Jinwoo was growing in strength.
Number Two: Ashborn's second-in-command (Grand Marshal), and now Jinwoo's.
Purple Is Powerful: The strongest shadow soldier.
Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to discuss Bellion in any way without spoiling the true nature of the Shadow Monarch's title.

Sung Jin-Woo's Family

Sung Jin-Ah

Voiced by: Haruna Mikawa (Japanese), Rebecca Wang (English)

Jin-Woo's sister. She's a promising model student who plans to go to medical school.

The Gadfly: She loves to tease her brother at the idea that he has a girlfriend.
Gamer Chick: She was the one who explained how to work the System to Jin-Woo since it operated a lot like an RPG.
Meaningful Name: Jin-Ah ends up suggesting what ultimately becomes the name of Jin-Woo's Ahjin Guild, meaning "I go forward". That it's her own name spelled backwards is just a bonus.
Muggle Best Friend: Is one of the very few named characters that isn't a Hunter.
No Badass to His Valet: Is incredibly apathetic to the fact her brother is one of the most powerful human beings on Earth.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Jin-Woo notes that since the School Gate Break Incident, she has been more worried about his Hunter work.
Teen Genius: Implied. She seems to get very good grades to the point that her friend thinks she studies nonstop and there is a rumor that she puts notes around her bed to absorb the knowledge through osmosis. Jin-Woo states that she is a normal girl and has just always been good at school.
Trademark Favorite Food: She is noted to enjoy spicy chicken wings.

Park Kyung-Hye

Jin-Woo's and Jin-Ah's mother. She has been in a coma of "Eternal Slumber" ever since her husband vanished years ago, leaving Jin-Woo to provide for their family.

Deep Sleep: Has been trapped in an Eternal Slumber coma for four years. Jin-Woo first became a Hunter in order to pay for her hospital bills, and one of his goals is to find a way to wake her up. He succeeds.
I Will Wait for You: Jin-Woo notes that the reason they still live in the same old apartment, despite the ridiculous amounts of money he now makes as an S-Rank Hunter, is because Kyung-Hye is hoping one day Sung Il-Hwan will come back to their old home, and she wants to be there when he does. After Il-Hwan has one last talk with Jin-Woo before his body crumbles away from becoming a vessel for the power of a Ruler, Kyung-Hye somberly accepts Jin-Ah's earlier request to move and sheds a tear in her husband's memory.
Improbably Quick Coma Recovery: The Holy Water of Life Jin-Woo uses to cure his mother of the Eternal Slumber allows her to walk normally within a day, something which is considered a sheer abnormality on top of the fact that she woke up in the first place.

Sung Il-Hwan

Jin-Woo's and Jin-Ah's father, he's a Hunter who vanished while exploring a Gate ten years ago, forcing Jin-Woo to provide for his family in his place.

Barbarian Longhair: His ten years in a Gate without a barber has left him with incredibly long hair and plenty of Perma-Stubble.
Big Damn Heroes: In chapter 162, when the attacking monarchs try to finish off a helpless Jin-Woo, Il-Hwan utterly blindsides them and sends both flying.
Beware the Nice Ones: He goes out of his way to avoid killing others and would much rather start a conversation than a fight, but woe betide anyone who manages to piss him off.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Despite being a relatively unremarkable Hunter ten years ago, he easily defeats an attack force of 10 A-Rank Hunters without killing them, being mistaken for a human-type monster in the process. He repeats the feat with S-Rank Hunter Hwang Dong-Su. As one-sided as the first is, it's clear he was still holding back considerably, since Hwang Dong-Su survived, and Sung Il-Hwan was concerned about limiting collateral damage for the sake of innocent bystanders.
Disappeared Dad: Il-Hwan vanished years ago and was presumed dead, forcing his son to become a Hunter to pay for his mother's medical bills and save for Jin-Ah's college tuition.
Dual Wielding: Wields a pair of daggers in the fight against the two Monarchs.
Dynamic Entry: Joins the fray in Seoul by kicking the Beast Monarch in the face before either he or the Frost Monarch can notice his presence, sending both flying through a nearby building.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: In the revised timeline, only Jin-Woo seems to remember the original timeline. In truth, Il-Hwan also remembers, being a former vessel for the power of the Rulers, but pretends not to in front of his son. He later meets with one of the Rulers to ask that his memories of the old timeline be erased, so that he can be a normal father who can worry for his son.
Papa Wolf:
- Even after spending 10 years in a Gate, his fatherly instincts haven't diminished in the slightest. When Hwang Dong-Su tells him his son is dead, Il-Hwan demands an explanation and utterly curb-stomps Dong-Su in the process.
- Later, he protects an unconscious Jin-Woo from the Beast and Ice monarchs, declaring that no more harm will come to his son now that he was there.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about him without talking about his reappearance and the knowledge he brought back with him.

Sung Suho

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suho1.jpg

^{Click here to see him as a child}

^{Click here to see him as a baby}

Jin-Woo's and Hae-In's only son. Due to his unqiue lineage, Suho was born with an immense strength but had it locked away by his father out of fear he may never fit in with others. The protagonist of the last arc of the Manhwa's side stories and Solo Leveling: Ragnarok.

Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Stands out different than his father as he has a love for battle unlike his father who developed it at a alter point in life.
Combo Platter Powers: Unlike his father, he would gain access to the power of the Beast Monarch, Plague Monarch and a couple others.
Dual Wield: Much like father dearest, Suho eventually learned to use two daggers to fight with.
Hero of Another Story: In the new spin-off, Suho is the protagonist of Solo Leveling Ragnarok
Casting a Shadow: Like his dad, Suho gains the same ability once he proves his worth
Mind over Matter: Gain Ruler's Authority, the same power his father wielded.
Walking Spoiler: His existence spoils the fact that Jin-Woo and Hae-In get married, and to a lesser degree, the ending.

Hunters

In General

^{Click here to see a Fighter in action}

^{Click here to see a Mage in action}

^{Click here to see an Assasin in action}

^{Click here to see a Ranger in action}

^{Click here to see a Tank in action}

^{Click here to see a Healer in action}

Hunters (헌터) are humans who possess magical powers and use them to fight magic beasts and clear dungeons.

They first appeared around the same time humanity was exposed to the existence of magic. As hunters turned out to be the only ones who could kill magic beasts and close gates, a global billion-dollar industry eventually developed around them as a result. They are also usually organized inside guilds, which can have up to hundreds or even thousands of members.

Hunters are ranked by an international S-E system to show how strong they are, with E being the weakest and S being the strongest, and can possess a wide range of abilities. A hunter's rank and stats are determined at the time they receive their powers and cannot be increased. However, there are rare cases of hunters receiving a "second awakening" and climbing up in rank.

It should be noted that hunters and humans with powers are not always the same thing, as humans only become hunters when they obtain hunting licenses and participate in dungeon raids. As such, there are plenty of humans with powers who chose not to become hunters and pursue normal civilian livelihoods instead. Good examples include Yoo Soohyun, who became a famous model, and Han Song-Yi, who chose to stay in school and get her high school diploma.

An Adventurer Is You: Hunters tend to get slotted into one of several typical RPG roles depending on what powers they got from their Awakening.
- Assassins: Quick, highly-damaging hunters who specialize in using knives for massive critical damage. Some high-ranking assassins can even turn invisible.
- Fighters: Frontline fighters that are beefier than Assassins, but faster and harder-hitting than Tanks.
- Healers: Their job is to heal and buff allies to keep them on their feet and gain the upper-hand. Their combat skill usually ranges from mediocre to nonexistent, with S-tier Min Byung-Gu being comparable to an A-rank combatant, while the B-rank Lee Ju-hee is completely helpless in a fight.
- Magicians: Powerful and versatile spellcasters who can fulfill a variety of roles, but have piddling defenses. Most focus on area damage, but some specialize in summoning minions, binding enemies in place, and so forth.
- Tanks: Beefy Stone Walls who wear heavy armor and carry shields. Their job is to Draw Aggro away from the party's frailer members, like mages, healers and assassins. Most tanks have abilities to force enemies to focus fire on them.
- A "Martial Artist" class has been mentioned on occasion. Represented by a fist icon, they are presumably weaponless agility-based Hunters, like the monks of Dungeons & Dragons, but since none of them have been prominently featured in the story, their exact role remains unclear.
Can't Catch Up: A Hunter's rank is measured and quantified by measuring devices, and cannot increase without a second Awakening. While Hunters can increase their effectiveness and use of abilities with training and practice, it is accepted that no matter how skilled they become, a Hunter can't increase their rank or compete even with unskilled hunters of a higher rank.
- They also face this in regards to the real powerhouses of the System: at best the most rarest gear and the strongest of Hunters can seem like a Physical God by our standards. Compared to a Player like Jin-Woo, however, who lacks the usual physical cap of Hunters and can seemingly continue to grow indefinitely, never mind some of the insanely powerful top-tier monsters, the Hunters are capped at an absurdly low "level", effectively rendering them little more than Cannon Fodder in the grand scheme of things. S-ranks and especially Nationals thought they were the top of the totem pole, but ended up falling to this in the end too.
Random Power Ranking: The hunters are ranked based on power and are ranked from E(lowest) to A(the highest measurable) and the rare S(any hunter whose power is so high it can't be measured).
- E-rank is the lowest level and is seen as a joke among hunters. While they are still noticeably stronger than the average human, they're relatively unremarkable by hunter standards, and they can only find work in the lowest risk dungeons or in menial jobs, like joining the miner teams or collection teams. Most people who are categorized as E-rank often won't even bother to become hunters, since they can do other jobs.
- D-Rank is the minimum level for any hunter who hopes to make a decent living. D-rank is significantly stronger than E-rank and anyone ranked at D-rank is clearly superhuman. D-ranked hunters can kill normal humans with ease. D-ranked threats that break out of dungeons are serious enough for a major military response.
- C-ranked hunters are extremely powerful. A C-ranked mage can create destructive spells capable of major property damage, while C-ranked warriors are physically comparable to literal tanks. C-ranked monsters include creatures like a Giant Spider, giant snake, and a giant stone golem. C-rank threats are the highest threats that a nation's standard military can handle.
- B-Ranked hunters are considered elite and drastically stronger than the other lower ranks, even C-rank. In general, it's accepted that it would take at least 10 C-ranked hunters to beat a normal B-ranked hunter. B-ranked hunters are very well off, receiving a considerable paycheck and a measure of fame. B-ranked mages can use their magic for things like controlling gravity, extreme levels of healing magic (to the point where they can regrow someone's missing limb), and summon creatures as independent fighters. B-ranked assassins can move at super speed that is unperceivable to normal people, and B-ranked warriors are strong enough to deflect artillery fire.
- A-ranked hunters are capable of being a One-Man Army and can be equated to the military might of a small nation. A-ranked hunters are generally seen as national celebrities and are very wealthy. A-ranked hunters are the highest rank that a country's government can safely police and bring to justice should they commit any serious crimes.
- S-ranked hunters are basically Physical God in terms of power. An S-class mage can destroy a building with a single spell easily, and it's said that a fight between two S-class hunters would erase a city or significantly change the landscape. S-class hunters tend to be the most influential people in the world, on top of being global celebrities. Aside from have a massive amount of wealth and connections, S-ranked hunters are above the law, since they're so powerful that it wouldn't be worth the cost to even attempt to bring them in for a crime. S-class threats have caused millions of deaths in the past, and any S-class monster is considered a threat to the people of an entire country.
- National/Special-Authority Rank: Said to be even stronger than S-Rank. There are rumored to only be 5 of them in the entire world. It is stated that in order to obtain this rank, one needs to have conquered an S-Rank Gate. They are considered a nation unto themselves, and while they can choose to live and offer aid to certain countries, they are rarely always bound by the laws of those countries for this reason.
Next Tier Power-Up: Although extraordinarily rare (and yet to be shown in the manhwa), it is possible for Hunters to Awaken a second time and significantly increase their power. Everybody THINKS this is what happened to Jin-Woo.
Take Over the World: Downplayed and not the active variety. Basically the hunters are the only only ones who can destroy gates and kill the monsters. Normal humans and conventional weapons can barely do anything to the stronger monsters with the strongest monsters being city destroyers. The monsters are so dangerous that they must be fought inside the gates before they can break out, which takes about 7 days after a gate appears. Technology and modern weapons don't work in the gate, so the hunters are the only ones who can go in to kill the monsters and close the gates. Aside from the fact that the strongest hunters are basically Person of Mass Destruction with the ability to destroy cities, humanity has no choice but to put its well being into the hands of these new magical superhumans. While hunters and hunter guilds don't actively control the world governments, their influence is such that governments have very little control over them, and world class guilds can affect world events. Hell, if a hunter is S-Rank, it's literally impossible to hold them accountable for any crimes, as their skills are too valuable and trying to bring them in would require other S-ranked hunters and millions in collateral damage along with thousands of casualties.

Guilds

Guilds are organized groups of Hunters that raid Gates. The leader of a guild is called the Guild Master and with the top guilds in a country, the Guild Master is typically an S-Rank Hunter.

The top guilds actively recruit high-level Hunters with large bonuses depending on rank. As a result, joining a top guild ensures access to large salaries and a higher degree of safety, since raids are well-planned and cautious. On the other hand, the lower guilds recruit just about anyone they can get their hands on and have a tendency to raid Dungeons that are tougher than they can handle. As a result, joining a lower guild is fraught with risk and comes with a significantly higher mortality rate.

South Korea

In General

The country where the story takes place. As a smaller country, South Korea doesn't have much influence on the world stage and only has 10 S-ranked hunters (9 in the beginning of the story), which is small compared to Japan which has 15 S-ranked hunters. Not to mention the USA, which has over 50 S-ranked hunters. Currently, power is being balanced between the 5 top ranked guilds and by Go-Gun Hee, the chairman of the Hunter's Association. However, the chairman is not long for this world and should the balance of power change it could cause major upheaval in society.

Hunter Association

Go Gun-Hee

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)

The Chairman of the Korean Hunter's Association, widely lauded as the strongest S-Rank Hunter despite his age.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Gun-Hee is this in spades. He is the Chairman of the Hunter Association, and even in his elderly age, not only is he still considered one of the most powerful Hunters in the entire world, but he commands such power and reputation, that it's explicitly stated that he is the sole factor in how the Hunter Association manages to keep the Hunters of South Korea in line with the law, because they're that afraid of getting on his bad side.
Armor-Piercing Question:
- When announcing his intent to honor Jin-Woo's wishes of being a one man guild, Senator Nam Joon-Wook is trying to throw the rules at his face, claiming this is blatant preferential treatment and to honor it is out of the question. Gun-Hee straight out agrees, but he also asks the following question: if they can't even give preferential treatment to someone who's already proven their worth ten times over, how can they expect them to stay and protect them, especially when every other country in the world would gladly do just that at the drop of a hat?
- Also, Gun-Hee points out that Senator Joon-Wook recently moved to a safer location, despite costing more. While the Senator tries to change topic, Gun-Hee asks him if he is willing to repeat the same mistake they did of losing Hwang Dong-Su to the United States. And more importantly, who will protect South Korea from another inevitable S-Rank Gate.S
Badass in a Nice Suit: One of the strongest men alive, and always in a nice suit.
Battle Aura: Jin-Woo can easily see how powerful he is because of this.
Big Good: A large man and very powerful: both physically and influential. However, he uses those powers to maintain peace in his country.
Dented Iron: Despite his age and scars, he is still one of the most powerful Hunters in the world.
Feeling Their Age: He knows he doesn't have many years left.
Go Out with a Smile: In the revised timeline, Gun-Hee is given ten years of life after Jin-Woo cures his disease with the Holy Water of Life, time which he uses to put his affairs in order before his age catches up with him. Though he solemnly accepts his death, Gun-Hee asks one Last Request from Jin-Woo: to restore his memories from the previous timeline, so that he could remember the world where they fought side by side. Once Jin-Woo complies, Gun-Hee sheds Tears of Joy before peacefully passing away with a smile plastered on his face.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Covered in scars, but clearly a good man. He loses the scars in the revised timeline, having never become a Hunter.
Handicapped Badass: Is strong enough to be recognized as a National Rank, but his age makes his body unable to actually obtain the Rank.
"Hell, Yes!" Moment: His grin and breaking of his armrest in excitement when he sees that Sung Jin-Woo is about to take on the Ant King can only be described as this.
Hunter of His Own Kind: One of the main objectives of his Association is to keep other Hunters from breaking the law, as most normal people can't police them.
Red Baron: Also known by the epithets "S-rank among S-ranks" and "The Sky Above Skies".
Reasonable Authority Figure: As he comes to understand just how monstrously strong Jin-Woo is, he begins to grant him all manner of concessions that spit in the face of the rules the rest of the Hunters have to abide to, well aware that Jin-Woo could easily break said rules if he really wanted to and that most of them are just obstacles in the way of his work.
Seen It All: He takes the reports of Jin-Woo's increasingly ridiculous accomplishments in stride. There's nothing the young Hunter can do that could surprise him anymore.
We All Die Someday: Despite how strong and powerful he is, he is fully aware of this trope.
World's Strongest Man: Before Jin-Woo, it was widely accepted by everyone in South Korea that he was easily the strongest S-Rank, which is why he alone is able to maintain peace among the Hunters. However he knows he doesn't have much time left and wishes to find a successor.
Your Days Are Numbered: Knows full well he is getting up in age, and is looking for a successor.
- Doubly so when the Monarchs start going after the "Fragments of Brilliant Light"... aka the most powerful Hunters in the world.

Woo Jin-Chul

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese), SungWon Cho (English)

A-Rank Hunter who barely missed out on an S-Rank, who acts as Chief of the Korean Hunter's Association's monitoring division.

Almighty Janitor: Played With. He's certainly no slouch, and is a well respected A-Rank Hunter, but comes across as this with regards to the S-Rank Hunters he often interacts with. It's worth remembering he was almost classed as an S-Rank, but he lacked the Magic Stats to justify the ranking. He is able to put a halt to an almost-battle between Hwang Dong-Su and Baek Yoon-Ho without sustaining any serious injuries, although he does comment that they held off, because otherwise he would have suffered great injuries to his arms.
Beard of Sorrow: Grows a short stubble, coupled with Messy Hair, for Chairman Go Gun-Hee's funeral one day after his murder. The Gray Rain of Depression only barely masks his tears under his sun glasses.
Cool Shades: It's part of the uniform.
Exact Words: When asked by a miner from the Hunters Guild if Jin-Woo is some kind of murderer, Jin-Chul merely replies with "You'll find out on the news tomorrow", which the miner takes as a confirmation. Indeed, the next day all of South Korea learns... that Jin-Woo has awakened as an S-Rank Hunter.
Failed a Spot Check: Suspects Jin-Woo may be a reawakened Hunter in the D-Rank Dungeon Arc, and officially comes to assess his mana levels. However, given the unique nature of Jin-Woo's abilities and the gradual rise of his strength as opposed to a sudden jump, the measuring tool measures Jin-Woo as an E-Rank, and subsequently it takes Jin-Chul a little while to realise Jin-Woo really has grown much stronger than his initial assessment.
The Glasses Come Off: The aforementioned Cool Shades normally only come off when he's making a point. Such as when Lee Min-Sung tries threatening Jin-Chul with his name and his father's position as a benefactor of the association to get into the testing centre early.
Oh, Crap!: Visibly panics when he feels the humongous energy coming from Kargalgan's Gate, before taking a second measuring on site and realizing it is dangerous even for an A-Rank Gate.
Secret-Keeper: He does eventually become one of the few who are aware of Jin-Woo's sudden jump in power ahead of his official rank change announcement, and is in charge of monitoring him and preventing his secret leaking before he's officially assessed.
Wistful Amnesia: In the revised timeline, Jin-Chul constantly lives with the vague sensation that he has forgotten something important that he can't remember no matter how hard he tries, as nothing really seems amiss. A chance encounter with Jin-Woo restores his memories from the old timeline after their fingers graze each other.
You Are in Command Now: Takes over as Chairman of the Korean Hunter's Association, following Go Gun-Hee's murder at the hands of the Monarch of Frost.

Kang Taeshik

An inspector from the Hunter Association who's not as clean as he looks.

Blood Knight: Loves a good fight and becomes thrilled when Jinwoo proves himself a match.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: When killing his targets, Taeshik never goes for lethal blows; instead, he inflicts weak wounds that accumulate over time, allowing him to savor the kill for that much longer.
Graceful Loser: Takes his loss and death at the hands of Jinwoo pretty well, all things considered.
Hypocrite: When Jinwoo throws Taeshik a Death Glare, Taeshik tells him he's making a scary face. He says this while sporting a Slasher Smile.
Personality Power: Is a serial killer prior to his Awakenening and gained the power to turn invisible.
Psycho for Hire: He may get paid to kill the prisoners under his charge, but he was already a psychopath before he monetized his murderous tendencies and takes pleasure in killing both good and evil people alike regardless of anything else.
Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Is of the belief that Hunters, by nature of being inherently superior to normal humans, have no real obligation to follow human laws due to their power.
Shoot the Medic First: Taeshik unveils his true colors by trying to kill Joohee first. Jin-Woo catches his attack in the nick of time.
Vigilante Execution: His job is to escort a bunch of prisoners as they participate in a dungeon raid in exchange for reducing their sentences. However, the father of one of their victims secretly paid Taeshik to ensure they did not leave the dungeon alive, as his daughter committed suicide because of the trauma and his wife ended in the hospital from the shock of losing their daughter like that.
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: In the new timeline he's shown being arrested by Woo Jin-Chul.

Hunters Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hunters_4.jpg

The Hunters Guild (헌터스 길드) is the strongest and largest guild amongst the top five Korean guilds. It is active in the Seoul Metropolitan Area and is the only guild in Korea to have two S-Rank Hunters.

Due to being the largest guild in Korea, the guild has two strike squads instead of just one. The first squad is led by Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In, and aside from them, consists of entirely A-Rank Hunters. The second squad is led by Son Kihoon and consists of both A-Rank and B-Rank Hunters.

Choi Jong-In

Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)

The Ultimate Soldier

S-Rank Mage-type Hunter who specializes in devastating fire magic. Master of the Hunters Guild.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Fire-focused S-rank mage with fiery red hair.
Badass in a Nice Suit: When he's not in a dungeon he tends to wear extremely nice tailored suits. Even his dungeon outfits tend to be a combination of a Badass Cape and a suit.
Black Mage: An offensive magic focused S-Rank Hunter.
Calling Your Attacks: "Flame Spear". Ironically, it's one of his weakest attacks, while his more powerful Kamehame Hadokens are not called.
Friendly Rivalry: With Baek Yoon-Ho, sort of. They're the masters of the two strongest guilds in Korea and constantly vying for an advantage over each other, but they've never come to blows over it and they're perfectly happy to collaborate when a greater threat presents itself.
Kill It with Fire: His signature move.
Overshadowed by Awesome: He feels this way when Sung Jin-Woo enters the scene as an S-rank, and says bitterly that his title has become a joke, since he is no longer the "ultimate" anything.
Person of Mass Destruction: His magic is so incredibly powerful that it can devastate entire sections of an A-rank dungeon in one single spell, even when he's holding back to avoid completely destroying valuable monster remains. His tanks have to worry about protecting his team from the backlash of his spells more than actually dealing with the enemies.
Red Baron: He's nicknamed "The Ultimate Soldier".
Scary Shiny Glasses: You bet his glasses are gonna shine when he's about to do something cool, which is most of the time.
Smoking Is Cool: He smokes and can seemingly use the fire of a cigarette to fuel his magic attacks, though it's not a necessary component.
Swiss-Army Superpower: You wouldn't expect a power like his to be useful for many things other than nuking an area, but he can use his flames in surprisingly creative ways, like forming a net of fire to trap enemies. While exploring a labyrinthine area, he solves the issue of finding the right way by launching fireballs down every passage. If there's no flaming backlash, that means the passage probably leads deep inside.

Cha Hae-In

Voiced by: Reina Ueda (Japanese), Michelle Rojas (English)

S-Rank Fighter-type who specializes in swordsmanship. Vice-master of the Hunters Guild.

Blessed with Suck: Has a talent that lets her identify other hunters by their smell. Unfortunately for her, they smell TERRIBLE, to the point that she has to hold a scented cloth over her mouth inside gates. Except for Jin-Woo.
Cloudcuckoolander: Has shown some tendencies of this so far, particularly when deciding to enter the B-team's raid to help them.... in civilian clothes with a miner pickaxe.
Combat Parkour: When Jin-Woo was busy streaking through the High Orc mob, the first thing that the Hunter Guild members watching thought was that he looked like Cha Hae-In fighting.
Dance Battler: Noted for her immense speed and graceful movements on the battlefield. Her nickname in the Hunter Guild used to be "The Dancer", but she found it so embarrassing members were banned from calling her it. Which had the secondary effect of keeping her skills relatively unknown outside of the guild, allowing her to gain the edge over opponents who underestimate her speed. Notably, when she's fighting one of the Japanese Hunters in their mock battle ahead of the Jeju Island Raid.
Declaration of Protection: When the Architect asks Hae-In who she is and why she's so vested in Jin-Woo, she simply retorts that she is a friend of his and that she has come to rescue him.
Draw Aggro: She has a skill called "Quake of Provocation" which seems to serve this purpose. This wouldn't be out of place on a tank, but Cha is a damage-focused fighter. However, her impressive agility allows her to "off-tank" if need be.
Laser Blade: Her "Sword of Light" skill creates a blade of pure energy, although she cannot use it much because it's very mana-consuming. This attack managed to actually hurt a shadow Beru.
Last Girl Wins: One of the last main females to be introduced, and she ends up with Jin-Woo.
Love Epiphany: Seemingly has one after the raid on Jeju Island, where Jin-Woo goes out of his way to save her life after she's mortally wounded and their healer has been killed.
Luminescent Blush: Her cheeks go quite red at the thought of Jin-Woo after she starts crushing on him.
The Nose Knows: Her 'talent'. Unfortunately, hunters smell horribly, the more powerful the worse the smell. Jin-Woo being the only exception is what triggers her initial interest in him.
Number Two: She is the Hunter with the second-highest authority in the Hunters Guild.
Seen It All: In the revised timeline, Hae-In is not even remotely fazed by Jin-Woo's shadows arguing over the path their son Soo-Ho should take, having become used to them at some point after they started dating. Soo-Ho spontaneously learning how to fly, however...

Son Kihoon

A-Rank Tanker. He is being groomed to lead the Hunters Guild's second squad.

Armor-Piercing Response: Upon being asked by Choi Jong-In who is stronget between himself and Jin-Woo, Kihoon retorts with the following question:
Kihoon: Could you clear a high level A-Rank dungeon all by yourself?
Kneel Before Frodo: After Jin-Woo kills Kargalgan and wipes out the High Orcs, both Kihoon and his entire squad bow to Jin-Woo to express their gratitude for saving their lives.
Heroic Sacrifice: Upon being offered to take his squad to meet with Kargalgan or dying on the spot, Kihoon accepts his invitation while secretly planning to attack in order to buy Jin-Woo enough time to escape the dungeon and call the first squad, which he expects will be able to defeat Kargalgan in his place. When Jin-Woo points out that, even if this plan works, by the time the reinforcements return both Kihoon and his entire squad will be dead, Kihoon retorts that his Guild was hired to close the Gate, not to survive it. His squad says nothing, but it becomes clear that they, too, have accepted their fate. Thankfully, Jin-Woo's presence means they all survive.
Know When to Fold 'Em:
- After barely surviving an ambush by High Orcs, at the very entrance to the dungeon and without a single casualty (thanks in no small part to Jin-Woo secretly supporting his squad), Kihoon decides to do the sensible thing and retreat in order to come back with reinforcements. A pity that Kargalgan has other plans for his "guests".
- Once Kargalgan gives Kihoon a demonstration of his own power and Kihoon realizes just how hopelessly outmatched they really are, he is saved from death by Jin-Woo and asked for permission to wipe out the High Orcs even though he's not a member of the Hunters Guild. With no realistic options left, Kihoon bets everything on Jin-Woo and begs him to save his team. For Jin-Woo, that's all he needs to hear.
Reasonable Authority Figure: While he would very much rather continue the raid in spite of the evidence pointing towards how difficult things will be, aware that he may not get another chance to be promoted to squad leader, upon being urged by his team to come back with reinforcements Kihoon ultimately chooses to put the safety of his team above his own ambition and orders a strategic retreat.

White Tiger Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flat750x1000075f_8.jpg

The White Tiger Guild (백호 길드) is one of the top five Korean guilds. It is active in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. The guild also has a practice of training their newer recruits by having them go on raids with their stronger members into low-ranking Gates.

Baek Yoon-Ho

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)

An S-Rank Hunter and Guild Master of White Tiger.

Adaptation Expansion: The anime mentions he was a firefighter before becoming a hunter.
Animal Motif: White Tiger, duh.
Beast Man: Partially transforms into this at several points when agitated, getting ready to fight, or if he just needs to get across town quickly.
Did Not See That Coming: His training program for new recruits backfired hard when a low-level gate, which the group should have been more than capable of handling easily even with minimal experience, warped into a very high-level Red Gate after the party entered. If it hadn't been for Jin-Woo's presence, everyone involved would have died horribly.
Know When to Fold 'Em:
- Following the Red Gate incident, he tries to get Jin-Woo to explain what happened inside the dungeon, only for Jin-Woo to ignore him and walk away. Baek Yoon-Ho does not take kindly to this and grabs Jin-Woo by the shoulder while demanding that he give him an answer. When Jin-Woo gives him a Death Glare in response, Baek Yoon-Ho instinctively realizes that he does not want to pick a fight with Jin-Woo and lets him go.
  "To be so confident against me... I should be prepared to lose an arm in a fight against him."
- It takes only one glance at the Beast Monarch for Yoon-Ho to drown in fear and realize he has no hope whatsoever of surviving a fight with him, leaving him unable to so much as look him in the eyes.
Magical Eye: If he transforms his eyes, he can see another Hunter's power level.
Meaningful Name: 'Baekho' means White Tiger. So he's the leader of the Baekho guild, can transform into a Baekho, and his actual name is BAEK Yoon-HO.
Shapeshifting: Can transform into a White Tiger, and can execute a Partial Transformation on parts of his body (usually his eyes or hands).
Secret Secret-Keeper: Due to his above Magical Eye, he is the first person to realize that Jin-Woo hasn't merely reawakened, but has actually gained an ability that lets him grow in power continuously.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Downplayed; while he doesn't get bouts of PTSD, Baek Yoon-Ho is a veteran from the ill-fated Jeju Island Raid that took place 4 years ago, where he had a near-death experience. Even in the present, he describes the event as "a nightmare he doesn't want to remember" — just thinking about it is enough to make him sweat.
What Have I Become?: He finds his beast form hideous and for that reason rarely fully transforms.
Willfully Weak: He avoids fully transforming into his White Tiger form unless lives hang in the balance, even if it means losing some less important battles he could possibly have won.

Kim Cheol

An A-Rank Tank who ends up stuck in the Red Gate.

Attack! Attack! Attack!: Rather than stop to rest and gather provisions in case the raid takes longer than he predicted, Kim Cheol insists that his party press forward to kill the boss as soon as possible.
Didn't See That Coming: In his rush to attack Jin-Woo, Kim Cheol is completely blindsided by Igris emerging from Jin-Woo's shadow and impaling him.
Didn't Think This Through:
- His lack of foresight leads to the raid becoming extended for three days, during which he suffers from starvation and exhaustion because he thought he could finish in one day and neglected to gather supplies or rest.
- He also rushes to attack Jin-Woo from behind, ignoring or uncaring that he's currently fighting the dungeon boss. Even if he had succeeded in killing Jin-Woo, Baruka would've just killed him next.
Dumb Muscle: Though he's received coaching to become a party leader, the circumstances of the Red Gate draw out his worst facets and push him to make impulsive decisions that get his party killed.
Entertainingly Wrong:
- After getting his entire party killed and running away from the ice elves, Kim Cheol runs into a clearing littered with ice bear corpses left behind by Jin-Woo and his shadow soldiers. He promptly assumes there must be more ice elves in the area and turns around to hide somewhere else.
- When he finds the weaker Hunters he left behind just fine and having a nice meal around a campfire, he wrongly assumes that they had brought more supplies and deliberately hid them from the rest of his team.
- He also assumes that Heejin volunteered to stay behind in spite of being a B-Rank beause she wanted to hoard the supplies by minimizing the mouths to be fed.
I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: After time was rewound and Iron turned back into Kim Cheol, he starts crying when he reunites with Jin-Woo but doesn’t know why. Jin-Woo knows why but doesn’t restore his memories and lets Kim Cheol continue living his life as a reward for fighting by his side.
Never My Fault: When the Red Gate raid doesn't go as he expected and his entire team gets killed, he is quick to make excuses and pin the blame on everyone else rather than admit he's not as good a leader as he thought he was and that he didn't make proper preparations for an extended raid.
Sanity Slippage: Getting beaten and humiliated, on top of suffering from freezing temperatures, exhaustion and starvation for three days, does a severe number on Kim Cheol's psyche, to the point that he becomes quick to anger and make hasty accusations.
Unscrupulous Hero: After being trapped inside a Red Gate, Kim Cheol elects to split his party between those who are above and below B-Rank, since he estimates the former should be enough to defeat the dungeon boss and the latter will only slow him down. He later makes it pretty clear that he expects the Hunters he left behind to end up dead either way. Jin-Woo makes sure to call him out for it later.
Unwitting Pawn: As part of Jin-Woo's Batman Gambit, Kim Cheol wakes up with a sword that the former kicked towards him and immediately rushes to try and kill Jin-Woo for attacking him earlier. This gets him impaled by Igris and resurrected by Jin-Woo as his newest shadow soldier, Iron.

Park Heejin

A B-Rank Healer who ends up stuck in the Red Gate.

Awesomeness by Analysis: Is able to tell that Jin-Woo, supposedly a mere E-Rank Hunter, is at least as strong as an A-Rank by picking up on the fact that he noticed the arrows from the ice elves before even Kim Cheol.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Rather than try to clear the Red Gate with Kim Cheol's party, Heejin chooses to stick with Jin-Woo in order to maximize her chance of survival. This ends up saving her life.
Nice Girl: Heejin is gentle, affable and polite to her peers regardless of ranking.

Ahn Sangmin

Chief of White Tiger's 2nd Division Management Department. Attempts to scout Jin-Woo in order to recruit him.

Awesomeness by Analysis: Through the smallest of hints (the incidents with the Double Dungeon, Hwang Dong-Suk and Taeshik), Sangmin connects the dots and realizes that Jin-Woo is far stronger than his E-Rank would indicate. All just from noticing that Jin-Ho was reserving all the C-Rank Gates and that he was partnered with Jin-Woo.
Didn't Think This Through: In his rush to recruit Jin-Woo, Sangnim neglects to investigate the full details of his deal with Yoojin Construction and makes an offer that he can't actually deliver on based on what he assumes Jin-Woo was being paid. More importantly, he lets Jin-Woo realize that he can be investigated by anyone who's sufficiently motivated, leaving him to threaten Sangnim into silence since he wants to lay low for the time being.
My God, You Are Serious!: Initially assumes Jin-Woo is bluffing when he claims that Yoojin Construction offered him a 30 billion won building as part of their deal, only to realize Jin-Woo is being dead serious when he offers confirmation.
The Social Expert: As part of White Tiger's Management Department, Sangmin spends a lot of time looking to recruit Hunters that show promise into the guild. He's proven to be a reliable scout for talent in this regard, enough that Baek Yoon-Ho starts listening the second Sangmin mentions that Jin-Woo got his attention.
Worth It: Even after he's outsmarted and outright scammed by Jin-Woo, he's content with having confirmed his level of skill and getting his phone number.

Fame Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fame_3.jpg

The Fame Guild (명성 길드) is one of the top five Korean guilds. It is active in the Honam region and apparently has far more Mages in its ranks than Fighters.

Ma Dong-Wook

S-rank Tanker-Type Hunter who is a capable individual. Master of the Fame Guild.

Armoris Useless: Considerably justified as Ant King was far stronger than the average S-rank and destroyed his shield in one powerful grip.
The Big Guy: Largest out of all the S-rank Korean Hunter but he isn't the strongest out of them all.
Blood Knight: Downplayed as he does love a good fight and spars against fellow hunter
Gentle Giant: Slightly downplayed as he was the friendliest out of all S-ranks and didn't rise to Jong-Soo's challenge.
Graceful Loser: Doesn't take losing to Baek Yoon-Ho at heart and does the same after losing against Kenzo either.
Made of Iron: Was able to get up after getting slammed into the ground hard enough to crack it and stay awake after getting both arms destroyed by Ant King.

Fiend Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fiend_3.jpg

The Fiend Guild (사신 길드) (also translated as the Reapers Guild) is one of the top five Korean guilds. It used to be the strongest guild in Korea until some of the members split off to form the White Tiger Guild. It is active in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.

Lim Tae-Gyu

S-rank Ranger-Type Hunter who is also able to conjure up magical arrows. Master of the Fiend Guild.

Adaptational Expansion: In the spin-off, Tae-Gyu has a slightly larger role as he is the unknowing accomplice of a drug-enhancing ring.
Action Dad: Applies to the sequel, having a son who is also a hunter.
Butt-Monkey: Wound up spending a fortune hiring an A-ranker who is useless and in the new timeline becomes the personal chaffeur to said A-ranker.
Projectile Spell: Has the ability to make magic construct, usually in the forms of arrows to hurl at enemy.
Made of Iron: Was able to handle a trashing by Hoshino, a Japanese Hunter and survives albeit barely at the hands of the Ant King.

Lee Minsung

An A-Rank Hunter and famous actor.

It's All About Me: Minsung is incredibly obnoxious and self-centered, constantly trying to hog the cameras and be the center of attention.
Miles Gloriosus: Minsung constantly plays up how he will fight for the people as a Hunter, and his rank certainly gives him plenty of credibility. However, because he has no experience whatsoever, he quickly loses all bravado when sent on an actual raid.
Overshadowed by Awesome: As an A-Rank Hunter, Minsung is not weak (on paper). But Jin-Woo being re-evaluated as an S-Rank Hunter quickly kills any interest the reporters on the site might have on him.
The Prima Donna: Starts making a scene when the Hunters Association does not immediately re-evaluate him, even though he's been scheduled after Jin-Woo.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tries to intimidate Woo Jin-Chul into letting him have his re-evaluation early by pointing out his father is the vice-president of Yoojin Construction and one of the Hunters Association's biggest sponsors. To say that Jin-Chul is not impressed would be an understatement. It's especially ironic considering Jin-Woo's connections run deeper, what with the Chairman himself coming to collect Jin-Woo in person.

Knights Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/knightguild.jpg

The Knights Guild (기사단 길드) is one of the top five Korean guilds. Although it has no S-Rank Hunters (the guild master is an A-Rank Hunter), the Knights Guild has the highest number of A-Ranks out of any other guild in the country. It is active in the Yeongnam Region.

Park Jong-Soo

The only A-rank hunter's guild leader in South Korea.

Outof Focus: All characters in the series doesn't get much showcase but he takes the cake.

Ahjin Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahjin.jpg

^{Click here to see Ahjin's members}

The Ahjin Guild (아진) is the strongest guild in Korea. Unlike most No. 1 guilds in other countries, the guild only has three members and only one of them is a S-Rank Hunter. However, with Jinwoo's shadow soldiers included, it surpasses every other guild in both strength and numbers, making the Ahjin Guild the most powerful guild in the world. Founded by Sung Jin-Woo and Yoo Jin-Ho.

Yoo Jin-Ho

Voiced by: Genta Nakamura (Japanese), Justin Briner (English)

The son of a prominent business leader, Jin-Ho wants to start his own guild by clearing C-Rank dungeons. He winds up bumping into Jin-Woo on his first raid and becomes the first person to witness his power first-hand. Later co-founded the Ahjin Guild with Jin-Woo.

Awesome, but Impractical: The second suit of armor he brings to a raid was handcrafted by Italian artisans to be incredibly strong... but it's all way too heavy for Jin-Ho to wear. Jin-Woo easily tips him over just by poking him, leaving Jin-Ho struggling to get off the ground.
Berserk Button: Disrespecting Jin-Woo.
Best Friends-in-Law: Post time-reversal he's married to Sung Jin-Ah, making him Jin-Woo's brother-in-law.
Bling of War: Jin-Ho's family wealth lets him purchase glitzy, top-tier equipment despite his relatively low strength as a D-Rank Hunter.
Big Brother Worship: Jin-Ho idolizes Jin-Woo to an almost embarrassing degree. After the establishment of the Ahjin Guild, he spends a good part of his time rebutting those who criticize Jin-Woo.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Subverted. Jin-Woo expects him to be this because of his glitzy armor, but Jin-Ho is as generous and friendly as he appears. Jin-Woo is surprised when Jin-Ho tries to protect him when offered the opportunity to live by killing him.
Can't Catch Up: Every time Jin-Woo jumps up in power, Jin-Ho feels more and more useless as a mere D-Rank Hunter. After Jin-Woo gains the ability to produce shadow monsters to do chores like mining crystals, Jin-Ho is distraught over losing even that job.
Did You Just Have Sex?: The morning after Song-Yi and Jin-Woo clear the Red Gate, Jin-Ho notices how unusually friendly the two are. Combine that with the fact that they talked about not being able to sleep, being up at 4 am, and being exhausted from the experience, Jin-Ho comes to the understandable conclusion that they just had sex.
Family of Choice: Jin-Ho (while a little tipsy) tells Jin-Woo that his brother has always been cold and aloof to him, and that Jin-Woo, who has always been helping him, is more of a brother to him than his actual brother. Jin-Woo is initially stunned, as he had assumed their relationship was completely professional, but says he'd be happy to treat Jin-Ho like his brother.
Honest Corporate Executive: Jin-Ho is willing to offer incredibly generous terms for those willing to help him, giving 3 million won to anyone willing to help him fill a quota and promising Jin-Woo 3 billion for helping him clear 20 C-Rank Dungeons, which he needs to get the Guild Master certification.
I Owe You My Life: Jin-Woo saved Jin-Ho's life shortly after they met, which is the main reason behind the latter's Undying Loyalty.
Naïve Newcomer: While his family has been in the business of profiting off dungeons for years, Jin-Ho himself is inexperienced and naive to the intentions of the Hunters accompanying him.
Nice Guy: One of the first things he does upon meeting Jin-Woo is to offer to protect him with his superior gear without expecting anything in return. He continues to try to back Jin-Woo when they're betrayed even when told he could live by killing him.
Plucky Comic Relief: His emotional outbursts, clumsiness, and bumbling personality make him endearing to Jin-Woo and a comedic foil who reacts appropriately to Jin-Woo's insane antics.
Riches to Rags: His father cuts him off from the family fortune after he chooses to start a guild with Jin-Woo rather than work as the guild master of his father's own. All he has left is his truck and the clothes on his back, forcing him to beg Jin-Woo for a place to stay.
Secret-Keeper: He's the first to witness Jin-Woo's strength and is sworn to secrecy under threat of death. But since Jin-Woo saved his life, Jin-Ho sees no issue with this.
What You Are in the Dark: When Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho end up facing the Spider Queen dungeon boss, Jin-Ho thinks they won't be able to survive, and yet stands in front of Jin-Woo in an attempt to protect him. Then, when the "lizards" return and offer Jin-Ho his life if he kills Jin-Woo, he still stands with him even though he's scared to death thinking that he is a "false ranker", who tend to be infamous psychopaths (admittedly, that's after he had already witnessed Jin-Woo in action, so he was well aware he has a snowflake's chance in hell of actually defeating him anyway).

Yoo Soohyun

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoo_1.jpg

Yoo Soohyun (유수현) is a famous model in Korea and Jin-Ho's cousin. She's scouted to serve as the third founder of the Ahjin Guild.

Loophole Abuse: Because the regulations of the Hunters Association indicate that a Guild needs a minimum of three people before it can be recognized as legal, Soohyun is scouted by Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho to be their third founder since, though she's certified as an A-Rank Hunter, she's not actually interested in hunting, making her an ideal candidate.
My God, You Are Serious!: Initially thinks her cousin is trying to pull her into a scam, and is understandably reluctant to join a Guild she had never heard of before, until Soohyun is told the Guild Master would be none other than the Sung Jin-Woo. She immediately agrees to be their third founder.
Selfie Fiend: Downplayed, but in exchange for joining the Ahjin Guild Soohyun asks to take a selfie with Jin-Woo to post on her social media. Because they're both celebrities at this point, her social media practically explodes from all the attention it garners.
Silk Hiding Steel: Though she focuses exclusively on her modelling career, Soohyun is an A-Rank Hunter.

Unaffilliated Hunters

Lee Joohee

One of Jinwoo's friends from his early Hunter days. A B-Rank Healer and survivor of the Double Dungeon.

Actual Pacifist: Doesn't have the heart of a Hunter in spite of her awakening. During raids, she's quick to panic in the face of violence (especially after the Double Dungeon). Eventually Joohee decides she's just not Hunter material and retires.
The Medic: Joohee is a B-Rank Healer. She's well acquainted with Jin-Woo on account of constantly having to heal his injuries since before the start of the story.
Nice Girl: Is always quick to help not just Jinwoo, but anyone who needs her help.
Romantic False Lead: While Jinwoo likes Joohee, they only stay as friends for the remainder of the story after she retires and returns home to Busan.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: The events of the Double Dungeon prove too much for Joohee. After the incident with Taeshik she decides that she cannot continue working as a Hunter and retires so she can go back to Busan.

Kim Sangshik

A D-Rank Hunter. One of the survivors of the Double Dungeon.

Action Dad: Is one because he has a kid.
Broken Tears: Tears start running down his face as the pressure from the Double Dungeon overwhelms him.
Cool Old Guy: Sangshik is a middle-aged man but he can fight well.
Karmic Death: Abandons Jinwoo and the others in the Double Dungeon for the sake of self-preservation and dies in another Dungeon while thinking about his family, something Jinwoo personally goes through.
My God, What Have I Done?: After the Double Dungeon, Sangshik comes to regret his treatment of Jinwoo. As he succumbs to his fatal injuries from fighting Taeshik, he laments that he never got to apologize properly, and how he can't even bow to Jinwoo in his current condition.
Never My Fault: After more and more Hunters start dying, Sangshik blames Chi-Yul's "hasty decision" to enter the Double Dungeon, even though it was a majority vote and Sangshik also voted "yes". He then has the nerve to demand that Chi-Yul offer himself as a sacrifice to fulfil the third commandment in order to take responsibility.
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: In the new timeline Sangshik is shown working as a laborer in a construction project.

Song Chi-Yul

A C-Rank Hunter and leader of the party that finds the Double Dungeon.

An Arm and a Leg: The Double Dungeon raid costs Chi-Yul his left arm. A small price to pay, considering he survives.
Handicapped Badass: On top of being a C-Rank Hunter, C Hi-Yul is recognized as a skilled kumdo master even though he only has one arm after the Double Dungeon.
Magic Knight: Downplayed. Chi-Yul had already spent years as a kumdo practitioner before he awakened; unfortunately, his awakening did not boost his physical prowess and instead granted him the ability to use magic. In the present he finds the whole thing ironic and a waste of his pre-existing skill, but chooses to believe that there must be a purpose behind things turning out that way.
Old Master: While he's not that old just yet, Chi-Yul works as a kumdo instructor when he's not hunting. Even with just one arm he's still recognized as a skillful practitioner, with one of his students lamenting not being able to fight him in his prime.
The Worf Effect: Taeshik defeats him with little effort even after Joohee buffs him, showcasing that, for all of Chi-Yul's skill, Taeshik is still a B-Rank Hunter.

Hwang Dong-Suk

Older brother of Hwang Dong-Su. A C-Rank Tanker who recruited Sung Jin-Woo and Yoo Jin-Ho as members of his raiding party.

Asshole Victim: He had planned to leave Jin-woo and Jin-ho to their deaths at the spider dungeon. He ends up meeting his death at the hands of Jin-woo when he and his party attack him.
Berserk Button: His own younger brother is implied to be a sore spot for Dong-Suk, who is a mere C-Rank while Dong-Su is an S-Rank.
Dirty Coward: Once Jin-Woo has him at his mercy, Dong-Suk is quick to beg for mercy even after having tried to kill him just to satisfy his greed. As Jin-Woo prepares to kill him, Dong-Suk tries to use his brother's reputation to threaten Jin-Woo, but is decapitated before he can finish.
Greed: Dong-Suk and his team regularly recruit weaker Hunters to fill vacant spots in order to meet the minimum quota for C-Rank Gates, then get them killed within the dungeon to split the reward six ways instead of eight. This has happened enough times that the Hunters Association got suspicious and considered investigating them, but relented because Dong-Suk's brother, an S-Rank Hunter, would've interfered.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Jin-Woo beheads Dong-Suk while he's in the middle of trying to use his brother's name to save himself.
"You little shit! Do you have any idea who my brother—"
Off with His Head!: How Jin-Woo kills him: by severing his neck with Kasaka's Venom Fang.
Successful Sibling Syndrome: It's quite clear that Dong-Suk is very envious of his younger brother's strength and success, if his teammate's warning to not mention Hwang Dong-Su in front of him is any indication. At one point he thinks to himself about how Dong-Su is not always right even if he is stronger than him.
Villains Want Mercy: Dong-Suk begs Jin-Woo for mercy in his final moments. Jin-Woo has none of it, pointing out that Dong-Suk tried to kill him three times in one day.

Han Song-Yi

A friend of Jin-ah and an E-Rank Hunter. She wants to drop out of high school in order to become a full-time Hunter.

Berserk Button: Hates it when people treat her like a kid, and insists upon being treated as a Hunter.
School Is for Losers: Wants to drop out of high school in order to start making money as a Hunter. Jinwoo is asked by her teacher to persuade her to stay in school, if only for her own safety.

USA

Christopher Reid

One of the two National-Rank Hunters of America and ranked 3rd strongest.

Adaptational Wimp: Was one of the strongest Hunters in the original series but became weaker in the revised timeline. Evident as he is no longer blessed by the Rulers.
Always Someone Better: Believed himself better than Thomas despite being officially ranked 3rd worldwide.
Animal Motif: Lions. He compares himself to one and same goes to Thomas.
Curbstomp Battle: Often at the receiving ends as he died at the hands of a joint attack by the Monarchs and finished off by Thomas in the new spin off off-screen.
Fatal Flaw: Pride and Wrath. Hearing Norma warning him of his potential demise caused Christopher to almost lose his temper.
Jerkass Has a Point: For all his fault, Christopher wasn't wrong to get angry at Norma for prophesizing he may die considering he is one of four survivors of the worst Dungeon ever recorded and one of the four strongest to boot.
Last Stand: Christopher died to the joint attack of Monarch of Iron Body, Monarch of Beastly Fangs and Monarch of Plagues.
Playing with Fire: Through a special transformation, Christopher can wield flames that even S-ranks Mages can't extinguish, not to mention it took them days to do so.
Worf Effect: In the spin-off, Christopher Reed became a victim of the Itarim's plot and wound up getting killed off-screen by Thomas Andre.

The Scavenger Guild

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scavengers_5.jpg

The Scavenger Guild (스케빈저) is the strongest guild in America. Due to how large it is, the guild operates all over the country and sends their members overseas from time to time to other countries that are incapable of clearing gates on their own.

Hwang Dong-Su

An S-rank hunter who decided to move to the United States because they could offer better terms, he enters the story after Jin-Woo kills Hwang's elder brother in self-defence.

Batman Gambit: He knew he stood no chance against Jin-Woo, but he also knows his boss, one of the strongest Hunters in the world, doesn't like people breaking his "things" and is too prideful to turn down fighting someone strong. So, his plan was to get his boss to kill Jin-Woo for him.
Blood Knight: He is always looking for a fight or trying to start a fight. It is heavily implied that he was using the death of his brother more as an excuse to kill someone rather than to actually avenge him. He even lied about Sung Il-Hwan being a monster just as an excuse to fight him by Revenge by Proxy, which leveled the building.
Dirty Coward: Acts tough and talks a big game with people weaker than him but is gutless when faced with someone much stronger (though, being an S Rank, that is a very small amount of people). He isn't a sniveling coward that begs for his life but Jin-Woo clearly described the "look of someone who is strong towards the weak but weak towards the strong creeping up'' on Dong-Su's face. In fact, it's heavily implied that Dong-Su still challenged Jin-Woo despite knowing Jin-Woo might be stronger because he knew his guild master, who was one of the 5 strongest Hunters in the world, would protect him or at the least avenge him. He doesn't.
Fatal Flaw: Hwang Dong-Su has several, but chief among them is Pride (with a mix of Wrath as well). Dong-Su blames Jin-Woo for his brother's death (though to be fair Jin-Woo did kill his brother but only because he tried to kill Jin-Woo first, 3 times) and swears to make him pay. Hwang Dong-Su is also a high level S-Class and very arrogant because of his power and the fact that he is in one of the best guilds in the world. Dong-Su constantly looks down on others who are weaker than him and believes that he can do whatever he wants because of his strength. However, his arrogance also blinds him to rather obvious things and keeps him from learning from his mistakes. When he tries to kill Jin-Woo's father as Revenge by Proxy, Jin-Woo's dad absolutely mops the floor with him as he has above S-Class strength. It wasn't even a close fight with Dong-Su getting hospitalized with broken limbs and Jin-Woo's dad never got a scratch. Yet Dong-Su was so humiliated that he swore to beat Sung Il-Hwan and was convinced that he just needed some magical gear as support to beat him. Keep in mind that at best, magical artifacts can only raise your abilities by 50% at most and Il-Hwan was probably more than twice Dong-Su's power. Later, after Jin-Woo gets famous and the entire world learns how powerful he is, Dong-Su still tries to attack and kill Jin-Woo using Jin-Ho as bait, which really wasn't a good idea considering how pissed Jin-Woo was when he confronted Dong-Su. Dong-Su never stood a chance and ends up brutally killed by Jin-Woo and then raised as one of his shadow soldiers.
Foil: He is pretty much the exact opposite of Jin-Woo. Where Jin-Woo is fiercely protective of his friends and family, works to constantly become stronger and treats people kindly as long as they return the courtesy, Dong-Su only ever looks after himself, has the unshakeable belief that he can never lose to anyone (except for Thomas Andre), treats everyone like dirt (except for, again, Thomas Andre), and his obsession with killing Jin-Woo is less about avenging his brother and more about Jin-Woo insulting his pride by killing him and getting away with it unscathed.
The Friend Nobody Likes: It is made very clear that absolutely no one likes this guy. If it wasn't for the fact that he is an S-Rank, making him essentially untouchable, they would have dealt with him a long time ago. Even when he requested to join in on the attack on an S-Rank gate after the United States turned them down the first time. They can easily see through what he is really after and reject it outright.
Greed: He has no loyalty, be it family or nation. He merely works for whoever pays him the most.
Karmic Death: His constant antagonism of Jin-Woo, from trying to paint his father as a monster needing to be killed as a form of Revenge by Proxy to kidnapping and torturing a close friend of his, all for an incredibly petty and unfounded need for revenge, just ends up with him unceremoniously killed and turned into a shadow soldier despite his guild master's pleas to let bygones be bygones. What's more, despite ultimately being cowardly enough to hope that his guild would either protect him from Jin-Woo's wrath or avenge him if he was ever beaten, they end up decimated with an equally low amount of effort when they try to do so.
- Doubly so, as he's killed in the same way he almost killed Jin-Ho.
Laser-Guided Karma: He purposefully had Jin-Woo's father falsely identified as a human-type monster to have an excuse to kill him out of pure spite. He gets curb-stomped right into the emergency room in turn, and it's also implied that the people he told this to now know better when they witness the latter rescuing people from the fallout of their battle.
- Again, when he tries to confront Jin-Woo when he's in America. He's told not to directly engage with Jin-Woo under any circumstances, so he goes after Jin-Ho - a D Rank hunter - instead, and pays the ultimate consequences when Jin-Woo catches up to them, with no one truly blaming Jin-Woo for the outcome.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Dong-Su constantly lords over everyone and treats them like they are beneath him (and usually he's right), but even he is pants-shittingly terrified at the idea of upsetting Thomas Andre, who is unquestionably stronger than him. It's implied that he only goes behind his guild master's back to kidnap Jin-Ho and pick a fight with Jin-Woo, in direct defiance of his explicit orders to get the hell away from Jin-Woo, because he's not expecting to survive.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Flashes red eyes when he's feeling homicidal. Which is a lot.
Too Dumb to Live:
- As shown above, after being completely and totally outclassed by Jin-Woo's father, decides that he just needs better gear. Keep in mind that Jin-Woo's father was wearing nothing but basically a prison jumpsuit during the fight, and that the best artifacts known to hunters can only increases stats by AT MOST 50% (most are lower), and he's definitely deep in this trope.
- Again, with regards to Jin-Woo. By the time he does meet him face to face Jin-Woo has single-handedly wiped out the ant population on Jeju Island and saved Japan from a S-ranked dungeon break, and he still believes he can easily overpower and kill him as part of his revenge. He also manages to royally piss Jin-Woo off before they meet each other, guaranteeing he will face Jin-Woo at his most powerful and least forgiving. No one is surprised by the outcome.
Translation with an Agenda: When Sung Il-Hwan appears, the Americans bring Dong-Su to translate because he's the only Hunter strong enough to deal with him that knows Korean. When Dong-Su realizes he's related to Jin-Woo, he lies and tells everyone else that Il-Hwan is a monster, so he can attack him without backlash.

Thomas Andre

The leader of the Scavenger Guild, and one of the few National Rank Hunters in the world.

Adaptational Wimp: In-Universe. Thomas is still considerably powerful in the new timeline but he is no longer empowered by a Ruler, so it's a downplayed example.
Chrome Champion: He gains golden armor when he uses his skill "Reinforcement". This clues Jin-Woo to the fact that he's channeling the power of the Rulers.
Cloud Cuckoolander: He almost always wears a Hawaiian shirt, even to formal events. At one point, he commands one of his underlings to give him his fancy tie (as punishment for losing a wager, even though the guy had not actually wagered anything) and wears it over said shirt. When someone points out the outfit doesn't really mesh together, he just throws the tie away like garbage. Suffice to say, Andre is a little eccentric - and, being the One-Man Army above all others (Sung Jin-Woo excluded), he can get away with it.
Debt Detester: He hates owing a favor to someone.
Defeat Equals Friendship: While he's certainly impressed with what he hears about Jin-Woo, and has enough savvy to warn his guild not to let Jin-Woo and Hwang Dong-Su run into each other knowing Hwang Dong-Su's vendetta against Jin-Woo, he is notably friendlier and more amiable with Jin-Woo after the latter stops just short of killing him and his entire guild.
Empowered Badass Normal: He was physically strong and powerful before he became a Hunter.
Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: He is always dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, even at formal events, because who in their right mind would tell a National-rank Hunter otherwise?
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Thomas got blonde hair and for all his jackassery, he's a pretty cool dude willing to save lives and defend others
I Owe You My Life: The way he sees it, after his defeat at Sung Jin-Woo's hands over the life of Hwang Dong-Su, Jin-Woo would have been justified killing him and wiping out his entire guild, as such is the right of the strong. But Jin-Woo stuck to killing only Dong-Su, the instigator of the incident. Due to this, Andre feels himself indebted to Jin-Woo and gives him the Kamish's Wrath daggers to thank him for sparing him and the Scavenger Guild.
Large and in Charge: Thomas Andre isn't massive; at over 2 meters tall and built like a tank, he's freaking huge.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end of one later in the series. He and his guild step in to fight Jin-Woo after he seeks out Hwang Dong-Su to rescue Jin-Ho, and end up delivered one by Jin-Woo and his Shadow Soldiers. Notably it's this incident that clues Jin-Woo in to some abnormalities in The System. Namely that, despite Thomas admitting he attacked him with a killing intent, the System didn't flag up a killing event in defence of this.
Mind over Matter: In addition to his massive brute strength, he is also capable of telekinesis.
Moral Myopia: Tries to appeal to Jin-Woo's better nature and asks him to let bygones be bygones regarding Hwang Dong-Su... after the latter had kidnapped, tortured and almost killed someone Jin-Woo saw as his surrogate little brother. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
Pride: He believes that his overwhelming power is what defines him, so when someone challenges him, he will stop at nothing to prove his superiority. However, unusually for this trope, once Jin-Woo serves him a slice of Humble Pie, he ultimately proves himself to be a Graceful Loser.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Zig-zagged. On one hand, he genuinely respects Jin-Woo's strength (although he mistakenly believes he's stronger) and doesn't hold his defeat at Jin-Woo's hands against him, and seems to care about the Hunters in his guild to some extent. He does, however, suffer from Pride as a Fatal Flaw, and being a National-rank Hunter who is essentially above any and all consequences, his sense of morality is somewhat... eccentric.
Red Baron: "The Goliath".
Unrealistic Black Hole: His skill "Capture" creates an orb that sucks in everything in range.
World's Strongest Man: He might be the most powerful Hunter in the world, at least in terms of brute strength (well, was until Jin-Woo came along), and damn right he's proud of it. He can even give the Monarch of Fangs a good run, although he ultimately stands no chance in the face of his full power.

Laura

Secretary of the Scavenger Guild. She answers directly to Thomas Andre.

Girl Friday: When Thomas Andre orders that Hwang Dong-Su, who has kidnapped Jin-Ho, be found before Jin-Woo finds him first no matter what it takes, Laura convinces the Hunter Bureau to help Scavenger find Hwang Dong-Su by telling them that if they can't find him, Thomas Andre and Jin-Woo would collide. Within minutes the entire Bureau is scrambling to find the smallest clue as to his whereabouts.
Honest Advisor: She's not afraid to question Thomas Andre's decision to gift Jin-Woo with Kamish's Wrath, noting that the daggers are two-of-a-kind and that the world will most likely never see weapons of such quality again.
Nerves of Steel: Dealing with a Cloud Cuckoo Lander like Thomas Andre and a sociopath like Hwang Dong-Su is bound to have made her mentally stronger, considering they aren't known for having a gentle disposition and enjoy using their strength whenever they can.

Japan

Draw Sword

The Draw Sword Guild, also translated as the Blade Guild, was the strongest guild in Japan and the second largest guild in Asia. Although it originally had eleven S-Rank Hunters, seven of them, including their strongest Goto Ryuji, were slaughtered by the Ant King during the Jeju Island Raid, leaving only four S-Ranks alive and causing the guild to fall from power.

Elite Army: Within the 10 years since the Gates have been open, South Korea has only ever had 10 S-Rank Hunters. There are 11 S-Rank Hunters in this guild alone, and it is unambiguously the strongest in Japan, although only the 2nd largest guild in Asia.
Famed In-Story: The unchallenged top guild in Japan by a wide margin, and well known to all Hunters in the story.

Matsumoto Shigeo

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the light novel, as soon as he realizes his plan is exposed, he has the nerve to beg Go Gun-Hee to not reveal it, as it would surely ruin any hope for help from anyone.
Betrayal by Inaction: It was his plan to have most of the Korean S-Rank hunters to die in the Ant raid, so Ryuji Goto can rise to National Rank Hunter by technicality and have South Korea owe them immensely.
Despair Event Horizon: Having to watch as his homeland, the citizens and everything he wanted to protect destroyed because of him and him alone led.
Dramatic Irony: His plan of taking over South Korea was to have all their top hunters die on Jeju Island and have his top hunter sweep in and be the hero, having South Korea at their mercy. Not only were more than half of his top hunters, including Ryuji Goto, killed effortlessly, but South Korea only lost one top hunter, and he was already retired. This comes back to bite them hard as Japan later became overrun by giant monsters, killing millions in the process, leaving Japan at the mercy for help from other countries, including South Korea. Not only was their plan exposed and lost all sympathy, but only one man volunteered to save Japan, and he did so singlehandedly. A South Korean Hunter, Sung Jin-Woo. Even Matsumoto realizes it in the end.
My God, What Have I Done?: Because of his arrogant plan, it caused Japan to lose the lives of some very talented and powerful hunters, which left Japan defenseless in the wake of the Japan Crisis arc. Millions of people dead, and he realize very quickly that all the blame is on him. He also admitted that had he met Sung Jin-Woo before the Jeju Island plan happened, he would have abandoned it immediately.
Smug Snake: In the light novel, he was all too confident that, after the Jeju Island incident, he could get Jin-Woo to come to Japan. He even declined Japan's reward from the island just for a chance to speak with him. After Go Gun-Hee declined and revealed he knew about his plan from the start, Matsumoto smugly showed that he recorded the accusation and threatened legal actions for it. His smugness drops on a dime when Gun-Hee revealed some hard evidence of the plan, leaving Matsumoto fearing for not only his life, but for his country.

Ryuji Goto

Ambition Is Evil: Presents himself to Go Gun-Hee as somebody that wants to end the Jeju Island threat to both their countries and has a plan to do it. And actually cares about nothing but his own advancement.
Betrayal by Inaction: His intended strategy during the Jeju Island raid. Let the South Korean hunters die, clean up the monsters with just his own guild, get declared a National Rank hunter, and take over South Korea now that they have no S-Rank hunters left to defend themselves.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents himself and his guild to Go Gun-Hee and the Hunter Association seeking their cooperation to end the Jeju Island threat to both their countries. In truth he thinks he can clear it himself and is just using this as a way to get rid of South Korea's S-Rank hunters.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. He thinks that his guild is strong enough to clear Jeju Island themselves, so he just hangs the South Korean hunters out to dry and doesn't actually have a particularly good plan for clearing the island with just his guild. Goes straight into Too Dumb to Live territory when the Ant King suddenly shows up and demands to know who their King is, and Ryuji declares that he is, with predictable results.
Katanas Are Just Better: Wields a red-bladed katana in the raid of Jeju Island.
Make It Look Like an Accident: His excuse if his plan had worked.
Straight for the Commander: How he dies, after he was dumb enough to confirm to the Ant King that he was the commander.
Underestimating Badassery: He firmly believes Sung Jin-Woo, a fresh S-Rank at that point officially, was beneath him in capability. The resulting spar has everyone freak out that Jin-Woo might accidentally kill him, to the point that Goto himself realizes he stood no chance and that Jin had become beyond S-Rank. This is part of the reason for his pride flaring during the Jeju Island raid which gets him killed by the Ant King in a Single-Stroke Battle by failing again to realize a far stronger opponent.
World's Strongest Man: He thinks he's in contention for this, and his main goal of the Jeju Island raid is to get promoted to National Rank, something only 5 other people in the world have attained. The Ant King demonstrates rather conclusively that he's nowhere near as strong as he thinks he is.

China

Liu Zhigang

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zhigangface.jpg

The Hero of China

^{Click here to see Zhigang's gear}

^{Click here to see Zhigang after a fight}

Liu Zhigang (류즈캉刘志刚) is the strongest hunter in China and one of the five National Level Hunters, ranking 2nd in the world.

The Ace: Hailed as the strongest Hunter in China as he is the only one labeled as a 7-star Hunter in his country where the strongest is only labelled as a 5-star.
Blood Knight: Seems to be one, since he expresses disappointment that he didn't get to fight against the Ant King.
Deadpan Snarker: Has shades of this, bluntly telling the reporters that Jinwoo is stronger than he is.
Dual Wield: Use two longswords in battle against the Giants and Ants.
Humble Hero: Is one as he was the only one offered a handshake to Jinwoo after soundly thrashing Thomas and even went to South Korea to provide aid against the Gate.
Mind over Matter: Capable of doing this using Ruler's Authority, since he's one of the vessels of the Rulers.
Unknown Rival:Becomes one to Siddarth in the new timeline.

Gold Dragon Guild

The Gold Dragon Guild was a major guild in China.

At some point in the past, the Gold Dragon Guild was completely wiped out in a battle with an Arch Lich. The result of the guild's failure to kill the Arch Lich caused a dungeon break that would have developed into a total catastrophe had it not been for Liu Zhigang, who stepped in to handle the situation and killed the Lich by himself.

Other Hunters

Siddharth Bachnan

Siddharth Bachchan (싯다르트 밧찬) is the strongest hunter in India and one of the five National Level Hunters, ranking 4th in the world.

Adaptational Expansion: Received a massive one in the spin-off/sequel, becoming one of the antagonists of the series.
Adaptational Personality Change: Underwent one as his memory of the past timeline came back, choosing to become a servant of the Itarim willingly. Also becomes one of the antagonists of the sequel series.
Killed Offscreen: He died to a dragon during the final battle in the previous timeline.
Mind over Matter: Implied to have had this ability in the original timeline, due to being a vessel of the Rulers.
Weredragon: He subjects himself and his entire guild to becoming one of these in the new timeline
Well-Intentioned Extremist: After gaining his old memories back, Siddharth grew fearful for humanity's fate as he realized they do not have a chance to win if it were not for Jinwoo. This became the method of how the Itarim brainwashed him.
Unknown Rival: Siddarth was often compared to Zhigang and the news media had always wondered who is the stronger one between the two, but Siddarth knew the Hero of China was the superior fighter.

Yuri Orloff

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orloff.jpg

Yuri Orloff (유리 오를로프) was a Russian S-Rank Hunter who specialized in support magic, specifically in barriers.

Jonas

Jonas (조나스) was the strongest hunter in Brazil, ranking 6th in the world.

Lennart Niermann

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/niermann.jpg

^{Click here to see Niermann in action}

Lennart Niermann (레나트 니어만) is the strongest hunter in Germany, ranking 12th in the world.

Jay Mills

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mills.jpg

^{Click here to see Mills in his gear}

Jay Mills (제이밀스) was the strongest hunter in Canada, ranking 17th in the world.—-

Jerkass Has a Point: Points out they have no reason to trust Jinwoo's warning about the Monarchs' arrival because he provided no proof, and even stated Jinwoo was able to pull out the portals like the enemies he claimed existed.
Large and in Charge: Not as tall as any of the stronger Hunters but is quite tall amongst his guild. He is also the strongest of his guild and serves as the leader.

The Invaders

Monsters

Magic Beasts

Magic Beasts (마수), also called the Denizens of Chaos, are magical monsters that reside inside Dungeons. Due to the manipulations of the Rulers, the vast majority of them are extremely hostile towards humans.

Much like the Hunters who fight them, their power levels vary from individual to individual and thus their threat levels are categorized by the same S-E ranking system.

Although they generally appear to be mindless monsters, Magic Beasts are able to forge their own gear and can be as intelligent as humans, with some of them even able to speak human languages. They also use a runic alphabet and have their own language, which is often referred to by humans as beast language or monster tongue.

Given the presence of Mana in them, Magic Beasts cannot be fought with conventional weapons, so only those awakened with Mana, the Hunters, are able to kill them.

The beasts are killed by the Hunters in order to prevent their spread to the human world through the Gates. Also, the Essence Stones they contain are a valuable source of energy, so Hunters can take advantage of them to earn money.

Our Monsters Are Different: The monster race comprises magical beasts that came to be known around the same time humanity first discovered the gates and magic was found. Also called the Denizens of Chaos, these monsters are magical creatures that reside within the gates. Due to the manipulation of the Rulers, a large part of the monsters bear extreme hatred toward humans. Most of them appear to have no intellect and are mindless, but they are later shown possess the capacity of evolution and eventually gain enough intelligence to rival humans to the point where some are even capable of human speech and cunning. Like hunters, monsters are also ranked using the international S-E Ranking system to gauge their varying threat levels. Beyond their rankings, monsters are categorized into eight classes: the Undead, the Demons, the Beasts, the Snow Folk, the Giants, the Insects, the Humanoids, and the Dragons.

Poisoned-Toothed Giant Desert Centipedes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/centipede_1.jpg

Poisoned-Toothed Giant Desert Centipedes are a race of centipede monsters that appeared during the Penalty Zone. True to their name, they are gigantic centipedes with sharp mandibles, sharp teeth, brown shells, and six small white eyes.

Although it's not made clear as to how powerful they were, they were able to give Jinwoo a decent challenge when he got sent there while he was trying to clear the Job Change Quest Dungeon. As he already at the level of an A-Rank at the time, it can be assumed that they were at least on the level of a B-Rank.

Steel-Fanged Raikans

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raikans.jpg

Steel-Fanged Raikans are Magic beasts that can be found in the Instant Dungeon at the Hapjeong Subway Station, generated by the System, notable for the steel fangs which give them their name.

Razor-Clawed Briga

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/briga.jpg

Razor-Clawed Brigas are monkey-type monsters generated by the System. They appear in groups along with the Black-Shadow Razans, with the Razans attacking from the ground and the Brigas ambushing from the roof.

Black-Shadow Razan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/razan.jpg

Black-Shadow Razans are panther-type monsters generated by the System. They appear in groups along with the Razor-Clawed Brigas, with the Razans attacking from the ground and the Brigas ambushing from the roof.

Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kasaka.jpg

Kasaka was a large cobra about the size of a house, with glowing amber eyes, blue scales, and a long black forked tongue, and the boss of the Hapjeong Subway Dungeon.

Stone Golem

The Stone Golem was the boss of an unnamed D-Rank Dungeon that spawned near the Hapjeong Subway Station. It was a hulking beast about the size of a small building, with a body made completely out of rock and glowing blue veins all over its body.

Giant Arachnid Buryura

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Giant Arachnid Buryura was the boss of the Insects Dungeon, It is a massive spider with grey carapace on its' abdomen with eight legs, covered in black chitinous armor with grey exposed joints. It also has multiple glowing red eyes. As a C-rank Boss, it is a powerful Magic Beast, capable of great power. Is also able to spit burst of corrosive acid.

Cerberus

Cerberus was the first boss of the Demon Castle and the gatekeeper of the castle itself, Much like the original Cerberus in the Greek myths, Cerberus was a huge black dog with three heads and glowing red eyes. The two left heads had fiery orange hair and brown horns. The right head wore a gray mask that left only its eyes, ears, and mouth exposed. A mane of brown fur. All three has razor sharp fangs and four pronounced fangs.

Goblins

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goblin_71.jpg

Goblins are a race of grotesque dwarf-like magic beasts. They take after how they are stereotypically depicted in fantasy-themed media in appearance, with child-like physiques, green skin, sharp ears and teeth, and glowing red eyes. Although it is implied that they have a subspecies amongst them, only one kind shows up in the webtoon, As demonstrated by Kang Taeshik's opinion of them, goblins are notoriously known for how weak they are, with even E-Rank hunters capable of killing them with little trouble, and only have strength in numbers. As a result, they typically attempt sneak attacks on their targets and are regarded as very annoying by higher-ranking Hunters.

Werewolves

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Werewolves are a race of humanoid wolf monsters that Jinwoo encountered during his C-Rank dungeon raids with Jinho. They look a lot like how werewolves are described in the myths, with thick brown fur, sharp fangs and claws, long brown tails, and humanoid physiques.

Hollow Knights

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hollowknight.jpg

The knights were sword wielding close range fighters covered in heavy armor found in the Job Change Quest Dungeon. The armor was strong enough that It was difficult for Jin-Woo to cut through it while Jin-Woo was still in the B-rank. As shadows, the knights were at B-ranked as measured by the Hunter's Association.

Hollow Magicians

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Hollow Magicians equipped with a full set of armor. They create the Knights which are actually mobs. It is not known how powerful they are but it is assumed they are at most B-rank if not at least A-rank Magic Beast given how they were arisen at the Elite-grade Shadow Soldier, They appear in the form of robes-wearing creatures with no face whatsoever and also holds a staff and a tome holstered to the hip. In addition to those, they have a winged pendant with blue gems pinned on the chest.

Hollow Assasins

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Hollow Assassins were equipped with a full set of armor and a daggers and found in the Job Change Quest Dungeon.

Hollow Archers

Hollow Archers are equipped with a full set of armor, as well as a bow, and were found in the Job Change Quest Dungeon.

Ice Elves

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iceelf.jpg

Ice Elves (백귀), also known as Hyakki or Ice Slayers, are a race of elves typically found in frozen environments. They were ruled by the Frost Monarch, the King of Snow Folk and one of the nine Monarchs. In terms of appearance, they are about the same size as humans and have blue skin, white hair, and sharp white eyes. Unlike most magic beasts, they possess human-level intelligence and are skilled fighters, wielding bows and daggers in battle. They also all seem to be able to use Stealth collectively and appear to be very sadistic, as they take great pleasure in slaughtering humans.

Ice Bears

Ice Bears are a race of bears that are typically found in frozen environments. Although they share their white fur with polar bears, they differ from polar bears in that they are significantly larger, with some as big as army tanks, and much more hostile towards humans. Ice bears also travel in packs and are led by an alpha, who is distinguished by his greater size and the purple, leaf-shaped crest on his chest.

Yetis

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Yetis are a race of ape-like monsters that appeared during the Red Gate Incident. They are hulking in size, to the point that they are about 2-3 times larger than the average adult male human, and have pink skin with dark red stripes, white fur on their arms and upper legs, sharp teeth, disproportionately large hands, and glowing red eyes, A group of Yetis appeared during the Red Gate Incident and stumbled into Kim Chul and his squad while they were looking for the dungeon boss. Due to the fact that Chul had foolishly chosen not to stock up on food, he and his squad members had starved over the past few days and thus were no in shape to fight, let alone against Yetis. As a result, the beasts easily wiped them out in the ensuing battle.

Vulcan's Guards

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Vulcan's Guards were a group of demons who worked for Vulcan, the second boss of the Demon Castle. Just like Vulcan himself, they all have red skin and red eyes and wear red armor. Despite the fact that they were at least A-Rank monsters, they were no match for Iron and Igris.

Earth Golems

Earth Golems are a race of golems that Choi Jong-In and his strike squad encountered during one of their guild's A-Rank dungeon raids. Despite the fact that they were A-Rank monsters, Choi was still able to incinerate them with just one large blast of fire.

Earth Giant

Earth Giant was the boss of an unnamed A-Rank dungeon bought out by the Hunters Guild. It was about the size of a small building, with sharp teeth, multiple arms, and one big red eye in the middle of its face. Although it was never seen in action, according to Jinwoo, it was more powerful than both Vulcan and Metus, and was the strongest boss-level magic beast that he had seen at the time.

Dungeon Jackals

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/djackal.jpg

Dungeon Jackals (던건 가칼) are a race of hyena-like monsters that appeared inside the Hunters Guild Gate. They are about as big as wolves, with red fur, black ears, black legs, and black tails. Much like real wolves, they can also be domesticated.

High Orcs

High Orcs are a race of red-skinned orcs that first appeared during the Hunters Guild Gate. They are the strongest type of orcs and each one is powerful enough to contend with an A-Rank Hunter. As a result, they are seen as highly dangerous and generally only appear in top-tier A-Rank Gates. As they are at least A-Rank monsters, high orcs can exhibit intelligent behavior, with some of them even able to communicate with humans. They are also quite strong, as displayed when one was able to easily destroy Son Kihoon's shield with just brute strength. Strangely enough, despite the fact that high orcs are said to be the strongest type of orcs, other types of orcs are never discussed or named in the story, even when a group of green-skinned orcs led by Groctar appeared later on during an attack on a local high school in Seoul. Also, as stated by Groctar, an orc's tattoos symbolize their victories in battle, meaning that the number of tattoos they have indicate just how many foes they have killed.

Ants

Ants were a race of human-sized mutant ants who were responsible for turning Jeju Island into a wasteland unfit for human habitation about four years before the events of the main storyline. As the Korean S-Rank Hunters were too weak to take back Jeju from them, the ants resided on the island without a problem until their food supply began to run low, prompting them to evolve and gain the ability to fly long distances. However, as the Korean Hunters Association was able to find out about their new abilities relatively quickly, the ants were all eventually annihilated by the Jeju Island Raid Party during the 4th Jeju Island Raid, As noted by the Korean Hunters Association, the typical foot-soldier ant was able to fly at least 150km and contend with an A-Rank Hunter. They also possessed a degree of intelligence and were smart enough to weed out their weakest enemies first in a fight. Due to these factors and the fact that there were thousands of them back at their nest on Jeju, they were seen as highly dangerous to nearby countries, particularly Korea and Japan.

Twin-Headed Ogres

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Twin-Headed Ogres are a race of two-headed ogres that first appeared during the Busan Gate. They are about the size of small buildings and look as if they were made from two separate one-headed ogres crudely stitched together, Twin-Headed Ogres are considerably powerful, to the point that they are able to take on multiple A-Rank Hunters at once and are notoriously known by the nickname "Gravekeepers," partially because they are often found in dungeons that contain undead magic beasts. As a result, they usually appear as dungeon bosses, although there are exceptions where they appear as foot soldiers instead.

Nagas

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Nagas (나가) are a race of half-humanoid, half snake creatures. They are large in size, about 2-3 times bigger than the average male human, and have shiny blue skin, sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and light blue back fins. As noted by Woo Jinchul, Nagas are strong enough to contend with A-Rank Hunters and have scales thick enough to serve as armor or shields.

Giants

Giants are a race of man-eating humanoid magic beasts of gigantic size. They were ruled by Legia, the King of Giants and one of the nine Monarchs. The giants from the Tokyo S-Rank Gate were each about as big as a large building. All of them had gray skin, thick hair, armor, and horns. Given that they typically serve as the dungeon bosses of top-tier A-Rank gates, the average giant is strong enough to contend with and even overpower the average S-Rank Hunter. The so-called "supergiant" was also strong enough to destroy Yuri Orloff's barrier in one swing and easily overpower shadow soldiers as strong as Jima and Tusk.

Notable Monsters

Blood-Red Commander Igris

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brci1.jpg

^{Click here to see Blood-Red Commander Igris' full armor}

^{Click here to see Blood-Red Commander Igris in action}

Blood-Red Commander Igris (기사단장 핏빛의 이그리트) was the boss of the Job Change Quest Dungeon. As one would expect given his name, Igris was a large knight covered from head to toe in blood-red armor with a Y-shaped hole built into his helmet. He also wore a tattered red cape, wielded a massive red sword that was equal to him in height, and had a long red hair-like ornament extending out of the back of his helmet. Igris' most defining trait was his loyalty, as displayed by how he refused to become one of Jinwoo's shadow soldiers until the latter offered him a reason to be loyal to him. He was also fair and chivalrous, as he tossed his sword aside once Jinwoo decided to fight him bare-handed. Later on, It is revealed that Igris was actually one of Ashborn's strongest shadow soldiers and had been tasked with testing Jinwoo in battle due to his status as Ashborn's successor.

Mind over Matter: Displayed this skill when fighting Jin-Woo, later dropping a rune with the same ability, and a indicator he served a Ruler, in this case Ashborne.
Summon to Hand: One of his abilities allowed him to summon objects to him, primarily his sword.
Undying Loyalty: Igris is introduced standing guard in front of his former master's empty throne, protecting it from any and all intruders. After his defeat, he actively refuses to become a shadow soldier until Jin-Woo asks if he would rather serve a long-gone master or him, who is still alive and present. It is later revealed he also had this to Ashborne, the original Shadow Monarch.

Baruka

An ice elf warlord, S-Rank monster and boss of the first Red Gate Jin-Woo encounters. Baruka was egotistical and sadistic, boasting frequently during battle and taking great joy in killing humans. He was also noticeably intelligent for a magic beast, as he quickly realized that Jinwoo was not completely human.

Blood Knight: Crosses with Bad Boss as he merely grins when Jinwoo effortlessly kills one of his subordinates.
Clothing Damage: Getting bombarded by Jin-Woo's mage shadows ends up destroying Baruka's fur coat.
Didn't See That Coming:
- While at first he chastises Jin-Woo for throwing one of his daggers at him, Baruka doesn't get to finish his sentence when Jin-Woo uses Dominator's Touch to accelerate the dagger hard enough to shatter Baruka's own weapon.
- He's also completely blindsided by Jin-Woo using Stealth, a skill he had neglected to use throughout their fight, in order to become invisible and stab Baruka in the gut unseen.
Hammered into the Ground: How he meets his end: he is flattened by Iron's warhammer.
Hearing Voices: According to Baruka, he and his people are always hearing a voice in their heads compelling them to kill humans (and it's implied that this applies to all monsters). For some reason, Baruka can't hear the voice in Jin-Woo's presence, from which he deduces that Jin-Woo is not a human. Jin-Woo, for his part, deduces that this is because he's become a "player".
It Can Think: While Jin-Woo already figured the ice elves are deliberately cruel from one of Baruka's subordinates taunting him, he is very surprised to learn that Baruka can speak.
Made of Iron: He is able to shrug off powerful blasts of flames. Too bad he could not handle Iron's pummeling.
My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Declares his name to Jin-Woo as they prepare to fight, before asking Jin-Woo to do the same.
You Will Be Spared: Offers to spare Jin-Woo if he sacrifices the rest of his party. Naturally, Jin-Woo refuses.

Vulcan

Ruler of the Demon Castle's lower floors; a powerful demon and the second boss of the Demon Castle, appearing on the 50th floor, Vulcan was a morbidly obese demon about the size of a small building, with red skin, three glowing red eyes, sharp teeth with large lower fangs, and four horns, two of which were gray and two others were white. He wore only a small white loincloth and wielded a large brown club.

Acrofatic: Do not let his overwhelming girth fool you; Vulcan is fast — enough to move vast distances from a sitting position in the blink of an eye. And that's before he uses his Wrath skill!
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Vulcan is not just big, he's massive. At the very least, he's the size of a small building.
The Berserker: Using his Wrath skill turns Vulcan into one, allowing him to increase his stats by 50% along with his pain tolerance.
Carry a Big Stick: His weapon of choice is a massive club. Massive for his size, which means it easily dwarfs a human.
Demon Lords And Arch Devils: Being an S-Rank boss demon, it's a given that he's pretty high up the Demon Castle's hierarchy.
Orcus on His Throne: Vulcan is introduced sitting on his makeshift throne while his bodyguards do the fighting.
Praetorian Guard: Has his own bodyguards, appropriately named [Vulcan's Guards]. By the time Jin-Woo reaches the 50th floor, however, he's leveled his shadow soldiers enough that they can easily handle them.
Red Baron: "The Avaricious Vulcan."
Red Eyes, Take Warning: All three of his eyes are completely red to reflect how dangerous he is.
Super-Toughness: Even after Jin-Woo punches Vulcan across several streets into a building, he simply gets back on his feet with little more than scratch damage.
Villain No Longer Idle: Once Vulcan's Guards prove to be no match for Jin-Woo's shadow soldiers, he decides to get off his throne and start fighting personally.

Metus

Ruler of the Demon Castle's middle floors; a necromancer and the third boss of the Demon Castle, appearing on the 75th floor. Metus was a demon of hulking size, about two times larger than the average male human, with glowing red eyes, black horns, and a skull-like mask over his face. He wore a brown shawl over a tattered black cloak, a large bone necklace, and a dark green tassel over his groin area

Demon Lords And Arch Devils: Being an S-Rank boss demon, it's a given that he's pretty high up the Demon Castle's hierarchy.
Flunky Boss: Metus seems to rely exclusively on his undead summons for combat.
Horrifying the Horror: Upon realizing how powerful Jin-Woo is, Metus freezes in fear.
Meaningful Name: "Metus" is Latin for "fear". Which is exactly what Metus experiences when he realizes how outmatched he is.
Necromancer: Can raise an army of undead that easily outnumbers Jin-Woo's shadow soldiers by the hundreds. Unfortunately, being more numerous does not make them more powerful.
Quantity vs. Quality: Metus can control hundreds of more summons than Jin-Woo, but the shadow soldiers are vastly stronger. They rout the undead with little trouble while Jin-Woo goes for Metus.
Red Baron: "The Guide of Souls."
Squishy Wizard: Metus may be a powerful necromancer, but he's quite lacking in the durability department. Once Jin-Woo gets close and personal, he only needs a few seconds to slice him into pieces.

Kargalgan

^{Click here to see Kargalgan using Hymn of the Giants}

A High Orc shaman, chieftain, boss of the Hunters Guild Gate and S-Rank monster. When Jin-Woo volunteers to serve as a porter for the Hunters Guild second squad while they raid an A-Rank Gate, the team falls prey to an ambush by Kargalgan, trapping them inside until he is killed. As a high orc, Kargalgan had bright red skin, glowing red eyes, and gray hair. Unlike the rest of his kind, however, he had an array of neon teal tattoos covering his face, hands, and wrists and wore a tattered brown hooded cloak, a grayish-white face mask that only exposed his eyes and lower jaw, a necklace made of human skulls, and red armored shoulder guards. Kargalgan looked down on the humans, viewing them as no more than insects. He also derived pleasure from violence, as demonstrated when he invited Kihoon and his teammates to his castle to provide himself and his soldiers entertainment until the dungeon break occurred. Following his death, he was turned into a shadow soldier and given the name Tusk.

The Archmage: Mostly fights using devastating magic. Even an A-Rank mage in the attack force describes herself as a "third rate" when compared to him.
Barrier Warrior: Hymn of Protection conjures a magic shield that can block all attacks. A shadow soldier mage empowered by the Orb of Avarice, however, proves too powerful for Kargalgan to block.
Breath Weapon: In a manner of speaking. Hymn of the Fire Dragon doesn't allow Kargalgan to breathe fire: he conjures the head of a dragon, which then spits a massive fireball at his target. He can play the trope straight after growing into a giant.
Death by Irony: Jin-Woo finishes him off by having his own resurrected elite guards kill him.
Didn't See That Coming:
- Never imagined that Jin-Woo would give him more trouble alone than the rest of the attack force combined.
- He also didn't expect Jin-Woo to be an assassin-type instead of simply a necromancer. When Kargalgan turns himself into a giant, Jin-Woo simply jumps to his face and pokes one of his eyes out.
Eye Scream: As Jin-Woo points out, making himself bigger only makes Kargalgan an easier target. He demonstrates this by stabbing him in his left eye.
Flunky Boss: While perfectly capable of fighting by himself, Kargalgan prefers to send his warriors to fight for him. From his earlier intention to wipe out the Hunters Guild attack force for mere "entertainment", it can be deduced that he sends them to fight so that they won't get too bored.
Gravity Master: Gravity Magic is his speciality, and he uses it to deadly effect by tossing his target around while they are helpless to fight back.
Hyper-Awareness: Is able to sense that Jin-Woo is not normal even before he makes his presence known.
It Amused Me: The reason he keeps the attack force from leaving the dungeon and has escorted to his throne room is so that he can entertain himself and his warriors by having them killed one by one until the dungeon opens and they can go outside.
Killing Intent: Kargalgan exudes such an intense level of magic power that the attack force vividly hallucinates being torn to shreds.
Magic Missile Storm: Hymn of Blazing Fire bombards several targets with powerful blasts of fire magic.
Make My Monster Grow: Hymn of Giants can turn Kargalgan into, well, a giant.
Oh, Crap!: Kargalgan visibly loses his cool when Jin-Woo adds slain High Orcs to his shadow soldiers, which clues him in to the fact that Jin-Woo might be a Monarch.
Slouch of Villainy: Spent most of his fight with Jin-Woo and the attack force slouching in his throne, using magic to protect himself and throwing curses and fireballs around.
Smug Super: Has more than enough magic power to justify his massive ego.
This Cannot Be!:
- Reacts with disbelief when Jin-Woo casually brushes off his magical curses.
- Kargalgan ultimately dies screaming how there's no way he could be defeated.
Underestimating Badassery: Kargalgan's High Orc warriors easily number in the thousands, while Jin-Woo's shadow army is around a hundred. He assumes that he will have an easy victory; Jin-Woo warns him not to make such assumptions.
Viewer Name Confusion: Due to romanization, his name can also be written as "Kargargan" and similar variations.
Villain No Longer Idle: Takes a more active role in the fight once Jin-Woo displays the ability to raise the dead as shadow soldiers, and starts going all out after Jin-Woo forces him to his knees.
Zodiac Motifs: Among his repertoire of magic spells, Kargalgan can use one or several of twelve "Hymns". Each time he casts a Hymn, a magic circle with the associated Zodiac symbols shows up.

Esil Radir

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/esilsl.jpg

^{Click here to see Esil's first armor}

^{Click here to see Esil's second armor}

^{Click here to see Esil with Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see Esil with Suho}

The daughter of the Radir Demon Clan leader, she meets Jin-Woo while he's doing the Demon Tower Quest. After a brief fight in which he proves he's way more powerful than her, she surrenders and offers to help him reach the top of the tower. Despite being a demon, Esil has an open, honest, and affable personality. She is also somewhat selfish and shameless, as displayed when she had no problem begging for her life after all of her knights had been mercilessly killed by Jinwoo and claimed that her knights would be happy to sacrifice themselves as long as she survived. At the same time, she can be sneaky and deceptive, as she attempted to stab Jinwoo in the back when he lowered his guard against her.

Defeat Means Friendship: After Jin-Woo spares her life, she helps him reach the higher floors of the Demon Castle. Throughout the remainder of their journey, she slowly grows to develop a crush on him, and even distracts Baran long enough for Jin-Woo to land the killing blow.
I Surrender, Suckers: Attempts to do this on Jin-Woo after she realizes he's got her beat, but Jin-Woo's quick reaction to her attack convinces her to surrender for real.
Luminescent Blush: Begins to spring one after being defeated by Jin-Woo and getting a crush on him.
Noble Demon: After surrendering to Jin-Woo (the second time, at least) she proves to be willing to make an honest deal with him and guides him to the top of the tower.
Posthumous Character: As the matters of the Demon Tower are effectively events of the long past, Esil and her entire clan are long since dead, but the manhwa doesn't have the opportunity to say it. Thanks to Jin-Woo taking over for a lot of matters, however, she and her Clan continue to exist in their Gate dimension, effectively having a second chance at life even if as simulacrums aware of their fate.

Kaisellin

Kaisellin is a wyvern that Demon King and Monarch of the White Flames Baran used as his battle mount during the final boss fight of the Demon Castle.

Groctar

Groctar was an orc warlord and the chief of the Red Blade Tribe, Due to the voices coming from the essence stone inside his body, Groctar was extremely murderous towards humans. He also looked down on high orcs and was disgusted that his warriors could not defeat them. He was also observant enough to correctly deduce that Jinwoo's orc shadows were all linked to Jinah and that they would disappear if she were to die. Despite his extremely aggressive and arrogant demeanor, he was still capable of showing fear, as displayed when his entire tribe was single-handedly slaughtered by Jinwoo

Entertainingly Wrong: From observing the High Orcs shadows defending Jinah, Groctar determines that she is their master and that they will disappear if she dies. Acting based on that conclusion draws the wrath of Jin-Woo, who is the true master of the High Orc shadows.
My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Repeatedly tries to introduce himself to Jin-Woo, who shuts him up and doesn't give him a smidge of attention until he's evacuated Jinah and the rest of the students in the room. By the time he's done, Jin-Woo is far too angry to give a damn about Groctar's name.
Oh, Crap!: Upon realizing that Jin-Woo is far stronger than he looks and that he's incredibly pissed, Groctar quakes in fear.
Straight for the Commander: Moves to kill Jinah after coming to the conclusion that she's the boss of the High Orc shadows defending her. Jin-Woo personally makes him regret this.

The Ant King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antkingsl.jpg

"Are there others? Others you call king?"

^{Click here to see The Ant King's egg}

^{Click here to see The Ant King roaring}

^{Click here to see The Ant King using Gluttony}

^{Click here to see The Ant King with a Hunter's head}

^{Click here to see The Ant King roaring at Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see The Ant King trading blows with Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see The Ant King being overwhelmed}

^{Click here to see The Ant King cowering}

^{Click here to see The Ant King fleeing}

^{Click here to see The Ant King's remains}

The Ant King (왕) was an immensely powerful magic beast and the hidden boss of the Jeju Island S-Rank Gate. He is also one of the most powerful monsters to appear in the entire series and was single-handedly responsible for the deaths of eight of the S-Rank Hunters who took part in the 4th Jeju Island Raid, including Goto Ryuji and Min Byung-Gyu. The Ant King was a huge humanoid ant with a black armored exoskeleton, glowing red eyes, sharp claws, two small pincers extending from his abdomen, and two transparent ant wings. The Ant King was an arrogant and murderous individual who desired to fight a worthy opponent above anything else, as demonstrated when he repeatedly demanded the Korean and Japanese hunters for their "king." He was also capable of strategy and was smart enough to know when he couldn't win, as displayed when he tried to flee after realizing that Jinwoo was too powerful for him to beat Upon his death, he would serve Sung Jin-Woo under the name Beru.

Ant Assault: Leader of the Ant hordes, and created by the Ant Queen to be the greatest of the Ants.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Has several blades he can extend and use in combat on his wrists and elbows.
Blood Knight: Repeatedly showed a desire to fight the strong, what with asking the Hunters he fought who their king was.
Cannibalism Superpower: The Ant King was able to utilize the skills and knowledge of those he consumed through his Gluttony skill.
Dark Is Evil: A black colored ant, and one of the deadliest monsters seen by the Hunters, and meant to lead the Ant hordes in killing humanity.
Dragon-in-Chief: He is not the boss of the Jeju Island dungeon, that would be the Queen. But the Queen is quite weak for an S-tier dungeon boss, because her specialty is spawning countless minions. This makes the Ant King the real main threat to contend with.
Dragon Their Feet: Thanks to the distraction from the Japanese hunters, he arrives too late to stop the Korean strike team from killing the Queen.
Flash Step: Fast enough to perform this with utter ease, an unfortunate discovery learned by the first Hunters who faced him.
It Can Think: One of the smartest monsters seen in the series, and through the use of his Gluttony skill capable of understanding the speech of humans.
Strong Ants: Created to be the greatest and most powerful of the Ants, and strong enough to slaughter S-Rank Hunters with utter ease.
Off with His Head!: His preferred and favorite method of killing enemies quickly was to simply chop off their heads with his mandibles before they could even register his presence.
The Paralyzer: Obtained the ability to create a paralyzing venom after eating a non-magical cone snail.

Arch Lich

Arch Liches are a race of undead monsters that usually appear in S-Rank Gates or top-tier A-Rank Gates. They are very notorious for their strength, primarily due to the fact that one of these monsters was able to single-handedly wipe out a major Chinese guild several years back. As a result, they are regarded as extremely dangerous, to the point that only S-Rank Hunters are qualified to fight them. Just like one would expect them to look like given their names, Arch Liches are large floating skeletal monsters with black horns, glowing red eyes, ghostly green hair, and thin skeletal arms. They also wear long black cloaks and have their green hearts exposed in the middle of their rib cages, which are very prominent and stick right out of their chests. Through Revival and control over the dead, Arch Liches can control the bodies of the dead if they aren't completely destroyed.

This Cannot Be!: When told by Beru that he (the Arch Lich) was not chosen to serve Jin-Woo, the Arch Lich refuses to accept that such a thing could be possible and decides to personally meet with Jin-Woo to correct that, but Beru kills him moments later. It's one of the few hints that indicate to Jin-Woo possessing the power of the Shadow Monarch, whose power is necromancy in all but name; the Arch Lich recognizes himself as a servant of the Shadow Monarch as a lesser necromancer, and is thus shocked that his liege would not recognize him.

The Statue of God and The Architect (spoilers)

The Cartenon Temple

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cartenon.jpg

The Double Dungeon

^{Click here to see The Cartenon Temple's bosses}

The Cartenon Temple, also known as the Double Dungeon, is a mysterious hidden Dungeon that appears within two separate D-Rank dungeons over the course of the story. It also serves as the base of operations for the Architect, the moderator of the System, and was used by Ashborn to find a human who was worthy of serving him as his host and inheriting his powers as the Shadow Monarch. Unlike most other dungeons, the temple contains no monsters, but a series of gigantic statues designed by the Architect. Some are armed with weapons, while others hold musical instruments, and those who hold weapons will kill anyone who fails to follow the temple's three commandments.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Filled with gigantic statues, each big enough to loom over grown adults with ease.
Bonus Dungeon: An incredibly dangerous Dungeon found within two separate D-Rank dungeons throughout the story, and home to the creator and moderator of the System.
Superboss: The Architect serves as one for this temple as its hidden boss, although the Statue of God can also serve as one for lesser Hunters.
Temple of Doom: A dungeon that serves as a temple and base of operations for the Architect, and one of the most dangerous places Sung Jin-Woo ever visits.

The Statue of God

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/statueofgodsmile.jpg

"Thou shall worship God, Thou shall praise God, Thou shall prove thy faith, Those who fail to obey these commandments shall not be spared."

^{Click here to see The Statue of God being worshipped}

^{Click here to see The Statue of God immobile}

^{Click here to see The Statue of God grinning}

^{Click here to see The Statue of God's Heat Vision}

^{Click here to see The Statue of God punched by Jin-Woo}

The Statue of God (신상) is the Architect's masterpiece and strongest puppet. It is a gigantic stone copy of the Absolute Being with glowing red eyes and black sclera. Its most defining trait is its extremely creepy and sadistic smile, a characteristic that it shared with its creator.

Angelic Abomination: A large stone statue of what passes as God in this world, and an incredibly dangerous monster nonetheless.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Is absolutely titanic in size, its foot alone being several times larger than a grown adult.
Eye Beams: Capable of shooting beams of heat. It targets anyone who raises their head above a certain height, but relents from attacking if its target lowers their head once more. According to Jinwoo, these beams of energy move faster than the speed of sound and are so powerful that he wouldn't have survived a direct hit from them even though he was already over level 100 at the time.
Hopeless Boss Fight:
- The Statue of God is not meant to be defeated by even an S-Rank Hunter. It's sole purpose is to weed out those who fail to correctly interpret the first two commandments. Once the second commandment is fulfilled, the Statue returns to its throne and leaves the rest of the statues to take over.
- It stops being "hopeless" after Jin-Woo reaches level 100, which has made him several times stronger than a mere S-Rank Hunter.
Living Statue: It passess off as a normal (if colossal) statue when first introduced, before Jin-Woo and his party become trapped in the Double Dungeon. It then stops pretending to be a statue and starts killing them.
Oh, Crap!: It stops smiling when it realizes Jin-Woo is standing on its shoulder.
Slasher Smile: Sports a very chilling and sadistic smile upon revealing itself to the Hunters.
The Worf Effect: While the Statue of God was absolutely nightmarish the first time around, Jin-Woo doesn't take long to dominate the fight in their rematch, demonstrating how much stronger he has become.

The Architect

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/architect_1_8.jpg

"At last, you have made it this far."

^{Click here to see The Architect's half visage}

^{Click here to see The Architect's arms}

^{Click here to see The Architect's weapons}

^{Click here to see The Architect confronted by Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see The Architect looming over Hunters}

^{Click here to see The Architect overwhelmed by Jin-Woo}

^{Click here to see The Architect's remains}

The Architect is the hidden boss of the Double Dungeon, a servant to the Monarchs and the creator, moderator and administrator of the System used by Sung Jin-Woo. The Architect is a large stone statue of a hooded angel with six wings, eight arms, glowing red eyes, black sclera, and a thin oblong-shaped purple gemstone in the middle of his forehead. Much like the Statue of God, he also has a very creepy and sadistic smile. After Jinwoo punches him in the nose, his real face underneath is revealed to be whitish-blue in color.

The Architect is an extremely psychotic and egotistical individual who takes great pride in his work and has a very disdainful attitude towards humanity, as displayed when he starts screaming in both rage and disbelief when he realizes that Jinwoo was winning against him. He is also fiercely loyal to the Monarchs, seeing them in a god-like light, and loses his temper when he realizes that Ashborn had sold him out and changed sides to the Rulers.

Angelic Abomination: A large stone statue of a six winged angel, and one of the reasons why Jin-Woo goes through everything he faces.
Deal with the Devil: Made a deal with the Shadow Monarch: to find and nurture a vessel for his power in exchange for immortality. He got his wish in the form of his statue body, which does not age and is quite durable.
Didn't See That Coming: This whole time he has been working under the assumption that Ashborn intended for Jin-Woo to become his vessel. He is thus very shocked to learn that Jin-Woo retained his will upon ascension, and realizes that Ashborn has chosen Jin-Woo as his successor instead.
Hidden in Plain Sight: He is actually present the first time Jin-Woo enters the Double Dungeon: he's the statue holding up the stone tablet containing the temple's commandments. When Jin-Woo returns for the second time and catches on to the deception, the Architect starts laughing as he crushes the tablet with his bare hands.
Mind over Matter: Capable of using Ruler's Authority to move things, even though he served the Monarchs.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Sprouts several arms while fighting Jin-Woo, and later holds several weapons with them.
No Name Given: His real name is not revealed, though it's implied to be "Kandiaru".
One-Man Army: Even as several S-Rank Hunters gang up against him while trying to rescue Jin-Woo, they give him minimal trouble.
Slasher Smile: Just like his most notable creation, he too sports a very creepy and sadistic looking smile.
Undying Loyalty: Saw the Monarchs as Gods, and was subsequently furious upon realizing Ashborne had switched to the side of the Rulers.

Rulers (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rulers_2.jpg

Fragments of Brilliant Light and the Messengers of God

An ancient race of angelic humanoids who serve the Absolute Being and the arch-enemies of the Monarchs.

Angelic Abomination: They may look beautiful but they're still immensely dangerous entities.
Arch-Enemy: The Monarchs were born of darkness to destroy the world, while the Rulers were born of light and opted to protect the world, so they serve as this to one another.
Benevolent Boss: Zig-zagged. While they are not above using humans as pawns and brainwashing their enemies into eating each other, they would help those who had helped them. In the new timeline, one of the Ruler's emissaries fulfils Il-Hwan's request of having his memories erased.
Defector from Decadence: All but one of them betrayed and killed the Absolute Being once they realized the eternal war between them and the Monarchs was all for entertainment.
Good Is Not Soft: They want to protect humanity from total extinction at the hands of the Monarchs, but to do so, they have to open Gates and let captive minions of the Monarchs loose upon the world in order to suffuse the Earth and humanity with mana. Does this cause thousands upon thousands of casualties? Certainly. Is it still better than what would happen if the Monarchs descended upon a completely unprepared world, even with the Rulers to oppose them? Undoubtedly.
Kill the God: The Rulers killed the Absolute Being after they rebelled.
Mind over Matter: They possess potent telekinetic abilities, which all of the National-level Hunters inherited as their vessels. The current Shadow Monarch inherits it in the form of the skill "Ruler's Authority".
Reasonable Authority Figure: Their goal in the fight for Earth is humanity's survival, and to that end they're willing to try anything, but they haven't stopped keeping their minds open for better ideas. After Sung Il-Hwan proves unwilling to kill his son to stop the advent of the Shadow Monarch, the Rulers change their minds and tell him to protect Jin-Woo, choosing to bet on the Shadow Monarch despite the obvious risks.
Walking Spoiler: You can't talk about them without considering the role they play in the entire plot.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yes, they're responsible for monsters invading Earth via the gates, and thus have the blood of millions on their hands. Unfortunately, the alternative is total extinction; devoid of magic, humanity never survived any previous iteration of the Rulers' and Monarchs' war no matter who won. The Rulers kept resetting time to find a way for humanity to survive, and the best they came up with was the plan with the gates, which would increase the amount of magical energy on Earth and possibly create a few Hunters strong enough to ride out the end.

Monarchs

In General

The Monarchs of the Monsters

A group of kings who were created as part of an entertainment for the Absolute Being and an ancient race of monsters who seek to wipe out the human race.

Arch-Enemy: The Monarchs were born of darkness to destroy the world, while the Rulers were born of light and opted to protect the world, so they serve as this to one another.
Badass Army: All of them do, it's their very title.
Big Bad Ensemble: The primary antagonists of the series.
Forthe Evulz: As they are made of darkness, all Monarchs are evil simply because they can and they wanted to.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: As the kings of their respective armies, they are naturally the strongest of their kind.
Viewer Name Confusion: Also called "Sovereigns" in certain translations.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss the Monarchs without revealing too much about the reason behind the existence of the Hunters.

Monarch of Frost

Frost Monarch | King of Snow Folk | Hockwan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frost1.jpg

An Ice Person: It's in his epithet.
Amazing Technicolor Population: As a Monarch of Snowfolk, he has blue skin.
Arch-Enemy: Of all the Monarchs, he is the one Jin-Woo considers to be his most personal enemy for having killed Go Gun-Hee, and (on a much milder note) for reminding him of Baruka, the ice elf boss he failed to raise as a shadow.
Big Bad: Of the second-to-last arc. He is the one who tries to motivate the other Monarchs to kill Sung Jin-Woo before he can fully become the Shadow Monarch, and assumes a leadership role among the ones that accept the call.
Blue Means Cold: Has ice-based powers and is a blue-skinned elf.
Breath Weapon: He is able to exhale a torrent of frost that is capable of freezing his enemies solid, even Jin-Woo's shadows.
Defiant to the End: Was not willing to back down nor chooses to upon facing Jin-Woo at full strength, even when Beast Monarch and Queresha had died
Dual Wielding: Uses a trident and a scythe to fight against Jin-Woo.
Elemental Hair Colors: Has blue hair and wields ice powers.
Harmless Freezing: Subverted. Being stuck inside his ice prisons is very much fatal, and he exploits this fact to turn Jin-Woo's minions into a liability instead of a boon, as they continuously drain Jin-Woo's mana while trying to regenerate themselves without actually being able to do anything.
Hero Killer: He killed Chairman Go Gun-Hee, and also landed the final blow on Jin-Woo himself, though that one didn't stick as well.
Magic Knight: He tends to fight at a distance, using barrages of ice projectiles and his frost Breath Weapon to hold foes at bay, but he is perfectly capable of holding his own in a hand-to-hand battle with ice scythes and tridents.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Upon unleashing his full power, his hair grew incredibly long and the same goes for his ears.
Telescoping Staff: He can manipulate the length of his trident handle thanks to his ice powers, allowing him to pull off some wicked maneuvers.

Monarch of Beastly Fangs

Beast Monarch | King of Beasts | Greatest Hunter in the Chaos World

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beast1_2.jpg

Affably Evil: Somewhat to a degree, as he was willing to accept Suho as his new heir and acknowledge his loss at Jin-Woo's hand.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Jin-Woo tracked him down, he put on an act of pledging his army and his own allegiance to Jin-Woo's cause. Thankfully, Jin-Woo saw through it.
Animorphism: When pushed, he will gradually transform from his human form into that of a hulking white humanoid wolf. The more transformed he is, the more powerful he becomes.
Animal Motif: Wolf. Has a pack mentality considering he worked with Baran to bring down Ashborn and agreed to take on Jin-Woo with Frost Monarch and Insect Monarch. Also did the same when taking on Christopher Reed.
BFS: Uses a massive cleaver once he starts to get serious.
Boisterous Bruiser: Definitely takes joy out of humiliating and terrifying Thomas and the other humans simply because he can.
Bright Is Not Good: The Beast Monarch is far from a paragon of virtue even though his fur is stark white.
Dirty Coward: In the past, he bailed out on Baran and left the Demon King to fend for himself against Ashborn and did it for the second time when Jin-Woo fully ascended to a Monarch.
Even Evilhas Loved Ones: Care for the last descendant of his, Gray, a member of his tribe when he was still mortal.
Establishing Character Moment: He introduces himself to humanity by biting off the head of a Hunter he bumped into.
Healing Factor: When Jin-Woo cuts off his left hand, all the Beast Monarch has to do is reattach it to the stump before it's as good as new.
I Am a Humanitarian: He has absolutely no qualms over eating human flesh.
Large Ham: Was very much overly dramatic in revealing himself to the humans.
Mind over Matter: It's not his skill of choice, as he prefers melee, but he was able to telekinetically fling dozens of cars and other large objects at Andre.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Beast Monarch is a spiritual being who looks like a massive werewolf.
White Wolves Are Special: He's the leader of an army of wild and ferocious animal-esque monsters and transforms into a white-furred werewolf.

Monarch of the Beginning

Legia | King of Giants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/legia1.jpg

The Big Guy: Was formerly one for the Monarchs considering he was known as the King of Giants.
Badass in Distress: As a Monarch, Legia is one of the most powerful beings in existence. Jin-Woo encounters him completely chained up and helpless to even move.
Defiant to the End: Once it becomes clear that he's about to die and that he can't save himself, Legia spitefully tells Jin-Woo how he hopes that everything he holds dear is burned to ash in the coming war between the Rulers and the Monarchs.
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Laughed like a madman when he believed a fellow Monarch has discovered.
False Reassurance: Overlapping with Exact Words. When under the effects of his magical truth ability, Legia assures Jin-Woo that he will fight on his side if he releases him, which is completely true. He conveniently does NOT tell Jin-Woo that he is not on HUMANITY'S side, and Legia fully intends to exterminate the humans. Jin-Woo's naturally suspicious nature causes him to realize this before he completely frees Legia.
Piñata Enemy: Legia is extremely powerful like the other Monarchs, but Jin-Woo encounters him while he is chained up and essentially defenseless, catches on to his tricks and kills him. As a result, he gains so much XP that the system actually has to take some time to process just how many levels he has gained.
Shipped in Shackles: The Rulers put Legia in the dungeon completely subdued in magical chains that he cannot escape without Jin-Woo's assistance.
Villains Never Lie: When trying to negotiate with Jin-Woo, he activates an ability that prevents either of them from lying.

Monarch of Plagues

Querehsha | Queen of Insects

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plagues1.jpg

Adaptational Attractiveness: In the Light Novel, she is described as a grotesque abomination but in the webcomic, she is a buxom woman wearing green armor (although she is still covered partially by horrific vermin).
Chainmail Bikini: Downplayed as she wore green armor which exposed a fair share of her cleavage.
Creepy Centipedes: She is covered in countless centipedes and can shapeshift her arms into enormous centipedes as well.
Floating Limbs: She is able to fashion giant floating hands out of sickly green energy to crush people with.
It's Personal: She has it out for Jin-Woo in part because he has reanimated some of her children (Beru and the other ants). When Beru refuses to obey her and keeps attacking her, she blows a fuse.
Magic Knight: She doesn't often get up close and personal, preferring to fight from a distance with her hordes of undead, magical hand constructs and venom blasts. However, when Jin-Woo really pisses her off, she shapeshifts into a monstrosity with giant centipedes in place of arms to tear him apart herself. It doesn't help her.
Parasite Zombie: She has a horde of undead puppeteered by her bugs to do the fighting for her.
Pest Controller: It's in her name. The entirety of her lower body is absolutely covered in creepy crawlies.
Poisonous Person: One of her edges in combat is the ability to spew incredibly lethal poison, but Sung Jin-Woo completely counters that by virtue of being immune to all poisons.
The Worf Effect: She is the only Monarch Jin-Woo manages to take out before his Disney Death. Probably in part because he hardcounters about half her skillset.

Monarch of Transfiguration

Yogumunt | King of Demonic Spectres | Greatest Sorcerer in the Chaos World

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yogumunt1.jpg

Evil Old Folks: One of the members of a group known for destroying for the sake of destruction and is the only one who looks like an elderly man.
Worf Effect: Was defeated off-screen when Jin-Woo travelled back through time.
Thinking Up Portals: Appears to be his speciality.

Monarch of the Iron Body

King of Monstrous Humanoids

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tarnak1.jpg

^{Click here to see Tarnak's Spiritual Body Manifestation appearance}

Curb-Stomp Battle: Was on the receiving end of one by a joint collaboration of Bellion, Beru and Thomas Andre.
Green and Mean: Has green eyes and flaming green hair and aura when he transformed into his true form.
Not So Stoic: Loses his temper when he sees that the Shadow Army is using human tactics, and denounces Jin-Woo as a Monarch for it as he goes into his One-Winged Angel form.
Oh, Crap!: Has one when he realizes Tusk is blocking him from communicating with Antares.
The Stoic: Is always seen calm and collected at all times.
Who Dares?: "How dare a mere soldier stand in the way of a Monarch!!!"

Monarch of Destruction

Antares | King of Dragons | The Dragon Emperor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antares1.jpg

Destroy everything! For that is the sole mission of our existence!

^{Click here to see Antares' armored up}

^{Click here to see Antares' Dragon form}

Always Someone Better: No matter how many tricks Jin-Woo pulls out, the Dragon Emperor always has his number in combat. He can't Zerg Rush him with shadows, because Antares's Mighty Roar cripples them to the point of uselessness. He can't overwhelm him in a one-on-one, because Antares is simply that much more powerful than him. Even when he finally manages to land what seems to be a finishing blow that cleaves Antares in half, it barely even bothers the Ruler of Destruction. Jin-Woo only wins because the sheer power behind their clash shatters the fabric of reality, allowing the forces of the Rulers to swarm Antares and finish him off.
Big Bad: The primary leader of the Monarch invasion, and one of the two most powerful Monarchs. Not to mention, he was also behind the betrayal against Ashborn, the original Shadow Monarch.
Blood Knight: As the incarnation of destruction, he lives to battle and destroy, and says that he doesn't mind dying as long as he can cause untold devastation in the process. Unusually for this trope, though, he will still lie and deceive if it facilitates his victory.
Breath Weapon: As befitting a dragon, he boasts a fiery breath potent enough to incinerate an entire army of top hunters in a single blow without even trying. It is said that his breath alone could destroy a world.
Bring It: After Jin-Woo takes what seems an inordinate amount of time to show up, Antares calls out to him from across the planet, taunts him over the tens of millions of people he's already killed and asks him how much longer he's going to hide for.
Evil Is Burning Hot: He specializes in fire breath and, while in his dragon form, his body burns like magma.
Final Boss: The last enemy Jin-Woo has to face to put an end to the invasion.
Mighty Roar: He can use The Dragon's Fearsome Roar skill to paralyze everything and everyone in the vicinity, friend or foe, with crippling terror. Jin-Woo resists it, but his shadows, not so much.
Nigh-Invulnerability: His thick scales make him nearly invulnerable to all attacks. Even his eye doesn't get so much as a scratch when Jin-Woo tries to carve it.
Obviously Evil: Just in case you didn't get the memo that this guy is bad news, this is what he has to say immediately after wiping out hundreds of thousands in a single breath:
I can hear the pulsing hearts of these living creatures... and their screams... the sound of their demise... is like music to my ears.
Orcus on His Throne: Justified. He is so immensely powerful that it was impossible for him to possess a human vessel the same way the other Monarchs did. Due to this, he could not proactively attack Sung Jin-Woo the same way the Monarchs of Frost, Fangs and Plague did.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Dragon Emperor, who commands an army of these beasts. Considering a single powerful dragon was the greatest threat humanity had ever faced, a legion of them is definitely bad news.
Person of Mass Destruction: He lives up to his title of Monarch of Destruction. A single breath from him can turn hundreds of thousands to ash and wipe out a city. Jin-Woo made it a point to fight him in an empty area that had been heavily suffused with mana in order to minimize the collateral damage caused by their clash. Even with said mana reinforcement, Antares's breath still absolutely tears through everything.
Reverse Arm-Fold: Is typically seen in this pose, rarely deigning to use his hands. Justified; when he does use one of his hands, the resulting swipe levels several city blocks.
Scaled Up: Surprising no one, he can transform into a giant black dragon, which is presumably his true form.
Villain Respect: He allows Sung Jin-Woo to lead him away to a disadvantageous duel that he could have easily avoided, purely out of respect for his power and his guts.
We Can Rule Together: Offers to spare Jin-Woo's family, his country and the rest of the planet if he accepts to join him against the Rulers. When Jin-Woo sees through his lie immediately by looking into his eyes, Antares drops the act on the spot.

Monarch of the White Flames

Baran | King of Demons

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baran1.jpg

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Was known as the Monarch of the White Flames, and had fitting hair colour and appearance.
Bullying a Dragon: Having fought against the Rulers for a substantially long period of time, Baran should be well aware of Ashborn's power; he still dragged his army into battle against the King of the Dead. For his stupidity, Baran caused not only his own death, but the extinction of the race he governed.
BFS: Wields a longsword that overlaps with Cool Sword that shoots off lightning.
Defiant to the End: For all his flaws Baran didn't give Ashborn an explanation for his treachery and took delight in provoking him.
Dragon Rider: Rides a wyvern named Kaisellin into battle.
Face Deathwith Dignity: After Ashborn defeated him, Baran made no effort to defend himself.
Posthumous Character: Killed by the original Shadow Monarch after his betrayal. The one fought by Jin-Woo in the Demon Castle is a copy created by the Architect.
Playing with Fire:Presumably based on his name but was found wielding lightning powers. Baran that Sung Jin-Woo faced was in fact a copy made using the originals' body.

Shadow Monarch (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Ashborn | King of the Dead | The Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light | Ruler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ashborn1.jpg

I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain. I am death, I am eternal rest, and I am also terror. I am you.

^{Click here to see Ashborn as a Ruler}

Originally one of the eight Rulers, Ashborn stood up against his brothers after they rebelled against the Absolute Being, with the combined armies of the remaining Rulers defeating and killing Ashborn in turn. Awakening a new power within the abyss of death, Ashborn resurrected himself and raised an army from the souls of the dead to fight against his brothers, only to arrive too late as the Absolute Being had already been killed. He then went on to join the Monarchs in their eternal war against the Rulers, becoming the Shadow Monarch: the undisputed master of death.

Even after the Monarchs betrayed Ashborn themselves, he remained unwilling to forgive the Rulers for their own betrayal and escaped to the cracks between dimensions with the rest of the Monarchs to rebuild their strength and to bide his time so that he could get his revenge. When the Monarchs began to descend upon the Earth via human vessels, Ashborn found that no human could contain his power, so he hired the services of the Architect to find a suitable host. The Architect found a candidate in the form of Sung Jin-Woo, and Ashborn began to observe him in order to determine if he was worthy.

Black Knight: Dressed in pitch black armor with purplish flames.
Commonality Connection: When asked by Jin-Woo why he escaped with the Monarchs instead of standing with the Rulers, Ashborn replies that he no longer belonged with them. Jin-Woo then uses that same reasoning to justify why he can't remain in the dream world he created. Ashborn, while in the guise of Go Gun-Hee, offers a serene smile in response.
Dark Is Not Evil: Contrary to his name and appearance, the Shadow Monarch is actually quite affable in person. The reason he turned against the Rulers was because they betrayed and killed their creator, deeming such an act unforgivable in spite of how justified it was. Ultimately, he refuses to return with the Rulers because he feels that he no longer belongs with them, and allows Jin-Woo to inherit his power so that he can choose his own side.
Desecrating the Dead: After killing Baran and a majority of his army, Ashborn used their corpses along with those of the Beast Monarch's soldiers to act as training dummies for his successor.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: When Jin-Woo meets him, the Shadow Monarch constantly changes his appearance to resemble people Jin-Woo has met (including what Jin-Woo looked like before he became a player), only occasionally using his true form.
God of the Dead: Becomes this after his fall. All mortals (and dying immortals) inevitably arrive at his domain allowing him to become the strongest Monarch out of the Nine.
I Am the Noun: Introduces himself to Jin-Woo with this trope:
Shadow Monarch: I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain. I am death, I am eternal rest, and I am also terror. I am you.
I've Come Too Far: When the Rulers begged for Ashborn's forgiveness and asked that he rejoin them to end the war, he became outraged and demanded that they kill him instead.
Mr. Exposition: When he finally meets Jin-Woo face to face, Ashborn takes the time to explain the entire context of the war between the Rulers and the Monarchs along with his own story.
Necromancer: His power is the power to raise the dead and grant then new bodies.
No Place for Me There: The main reason Ashborn refused to rejoin the Rulers even after the Monarchs betrayed him was because he felt that he no longer belonged with his brothers.
Satan: Inverted, surprisingly. He was betrayed and cast into the abyss by his fellow Rulers for being too loyal to a creator that was increasingly considered cruel and corrupt.
Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Absolutely refused to forgive his brothers for killing their master, the Absolute Being.
Ruler: He was our Master, as well.
(Ashborn snaps and grabs the Ruler's face)
Ashborn: THAT IS PRECISELY WHY YOUR CRIMES ARE EVEN MORE HEINOUS!
Undying Loyalty: Ashborn's flaw, as he continued to serve the Absolute Being faithfully even after learning that the war between the Rulers and the Monarchs only served to entertain him; when his fellow Rulers killed the Absolute Being, Ashborn rebelled against them, which only got him killed. Then he was resurrected as the King of the Dead and joined the Monarchs as the Shadow Monarch in order to continue fighting the Rulers. Even after the Beast Monarch and Baran betrayed him, Ashborn still chose to return to the Dragon King's side, feeling that he no longer belonged with the Rulers.
You Are Too Late: By the time Ashborn resurrected and gathered a new army, the rest of the Rulers had already killed the Absolute Being.

Characters / Solo Leveling

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Main Characters

Sung Jin-Woo

Voiced by: Taito Ban (Japanese), Aleks Le (English)

Sung Jin-Woo's Shadows

Igrit

Iron

Tank

Tusk

Kaisel

Beru

Jima

Greed

Kamish

Bellion

Sung Jin-Woo's Family

Sung Jin-Ah

Voiced by: Haruna Mikawa (Japanese), Rebecca Wang (English)

Park Kyung-Hye

Sung Il-Hwan

Sung Suho

Hunters

South Korea

Go Gun-Hee

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)

Woo Jin-Chul

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese), SungWon Cho (English)

Kang Taeshik

Choi Jong-In

Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)

Cha Hae-In

Voiced by: Reina Ueda (Japanese), Michelle Rojas (English)

Son Kihoon

Baek Yoon-Ho

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)

Kim Cheol

Park Heejin

Ahn Sangmin

Ma Dong-Wook

Lim Tae-Gyu

Lee Minsung

Park Jong-Soo

Yoo Jin-Ho

Voiced by: Genta Nakamura (Japanese), Justin Briner (English)

Yoo Soohyun

Lee Joohee

Kim Sangshik

Song Chi-Yul

Hwang Dong-Suk

Han Song-Yi

USA

Christopher Reid

Hwang Dong-Su

Thomas Andre

Laura

Japan

Matsumoto Shigeo

Ryuji Goto

China

Other Hunters

The Invaders

Magic Beasts

Poisoned-Toothed Giant Desert Centipedes

Steel-Fanged Raikans

Razor-Clawed Briga

Black-Shadow Razan

Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka

Stone Golem

Giant Arachnid Buryura

Cerberus

Goblins

Werewolves

Hollow Knights

Hollow Magicians

Hollow Assasins

Hollow Archers

Ice Elves

Ice Bears

Yetis