History Literature / SoloLeveling

Ten years have passed since gates appeared in the human world, which are connected to another world. At the same time, some people awakened superhuman abilities. The awakened beings who can enter the gates, and hunt the monsters that are lurking inside, before they can break out into the human world, are called "hunters". One of these hunters is Sung Jin-woo, a 24-year-old E-rank hunter, who is mockingly called the "World's Weakest Hunter". Being barely stronger than the average human, Jin-woo struggled in the lowliest of dungeons to get by and provide for his family.

One day, however, things go awry for Jin-woo and his party when a low-level dungeon turns out to be far more dangerous than initially assumed. Alone, wounded and surrounded, Jin-woo faces his certain doom, until [[SuddenGameInterface a voice suddenly appears]] that offers to make Jin-woo a "player". Having nothing to lose, Jin-woo accepts and loses consciousness. After waking up in the hospital, he notices a quest log that only he can see, which uses [[RPGMechanicsVerse RPG-like terms]]. Soon after, he learns that unlike any other hunter, he can gain {{character level}}s and improve rapidly by hunting monsters and training every day. This is the story of Jin-woo changing from the weakest to [[TookALevelInBadass the strongest hunter in the world]].

** The class advancement room is another special dungeon that locks Jin-woo inside it. [[spoiler: However, he spends so long in it that he ends up getting sent to the penalty zone for failing to complete the daily quest.]]

* ChekhovsGun: After becoming a Player, Jin-woo learns that he must do a certain quest every day, or else he'll be sent to another dimension where he has to survive for four hours before returning. [[spoiler:During his job quest, he ignores a warning over the daily quest, thinking he'll be able to do it later, but he gets stuck in a fight and is almost killed - only for the penalty quest to trigger just before the finishing blow would've been dealt. [[TookALevelInBadass Because of all the levels he has gained]] since the last time he got penalized, Jin-woo has a much easier time surviving the penalty zone; and because he can still gain levels in the penalty zone ''and'' has access to the item store, Jin-woo is able to restore his fatigue, recover from his previous injuries by gaining even more levels, and acquire a new weapon to better help him survive the gauntlet upon returning to the job quest.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: Jin-woo accidentally ends up discovering an "exploit" in the game that saves his life. In the Job Quest dungeon, healing and store usage is prohibited, making the whole area a grueling test of endurance, and leaving the dungeon by using a Hearthstone makes it (presumably) {{permanently missable|Content}}. However, just as he's being completely obliterated by the final gauntlet, [[spoiler:Jin-woo is suddenly transported to the Penalty area as he had failed to do his daily quest for that day. In that area, healing and shop use are '''not''' restricted, and Jin-woo is able to recover. Since he left the Job Quest dungeon without using a Hearthstone, the dungeon is '''not''' lost. Furthermore, the four hours he spends in the Penalty area are '''added''' to his score for the gauntlet, allowing him to absolutely ace the quest.]]

Has a 2018-2021 {{webcomic|s}} by Jang Sung-lak and published by [=KakaoPage=] that lasted for 200 chapters. In 2019, the novel was officially picked up by Qidian under the title "Only I Level Up". In 2020, the webcomic was picked up as well.

Has a 2018-2021 {{webcomic|s}} by Jang Sung-lak and published by [=KakaoPage=]. In 2019, the novel was officially picked up by Qidian under the title "Only I Level Up". In 2020, the webcomic was picked up as well.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Kim Sang-shik is given more background story about his family, and his struggle to apologize to Jin-woo, whom he left behind to save his own skin. He is still alive when Jin-woo finds him after Kang Tae-shik mortally wounded him, and he is given enough time to at least beg Jin-woo for forgiveness before dying. In the webcomic, Jin-woo is clearly shaken by Kim Sang-shik's death, while in the novel he merely coldly acknowledges his death.

** Sung Jin-Woo gains an extradimensional inventory and shop where he can store items without limit and purchase items not available to hunter society with his own special currency allowing him to carry anything he needs while gaining increadible items no other hunter has access to.

** After clearing his first instant dungeon, he defeats a D-rank boss who broke out of a dungeon by throwing his broken sword at it.

** The anime has a few original scenes itself compared to the novel and webcomic, primarily in the form of AdaptationalEarlyAppearance, like seeing Yoo Jin-ho go through the Hunter rank evaluation or Sung Jin-ah at school.

* ChekhovsGun: After becoming a Player, Jin-woo learns that he must do a certain quest every day, or else he'll be sent to another dimension where he has to survive for four hours before returning. [[spoiler:During his job quest, he ignores a warning over the daily quest, thinking he'll be able to do it later, but he gets stuck in a fight and is almost killed - only for the penalty quest to trigger
only to find himself stuck in a fight - only for the penalty quest to trigger just before he gets killed, giving him the time he needs to recover from his previous injuries.]]

* ChekhovsGun: After becoming a Player, Jin-woo learns that he must do a certain quest every day, or else he'll be sent to another dimension where he has to survive for four hours before returning - but no time passes in real life while he is there. [[spoiler:During this job quest, he ignores a warning thinking he'll be able to do the quest later, only to find himself stuck in a fight - only for the penalty quest to trigger just before he gets killed, giving him the time he needs to recover from his previous injuries.]]

** Association President Go Gun-hee's Number Two is A-rank Woo Jin-cheol. Notably, Jin-cheol is on the upper end of A-ranks. He would love to make Jin-woo his Number Two after [[spoiler:Jin-woo is remeasured as an S-rank, but Jin-woo politely refuses.]]

* ScriptBreaking: Jin-woo ends up going "off-script", when [[spoiler:he asks the ice elf, Baruka, about the origins of the monsters and the voice that commands them to kill humans. When Baruka is about to respond, he "glitches" and continues the conversation as if he didn't hear Jin-woo moments earlier.]]

* ShootTheMageFirst: When Hwang Dong-seok's raid force attacks Jin-woo, he first aims for Jo Gyu-hwang, who is a {{squishy|wizard}} but powerful C-rank mage.

** Later on, [[spoiler: the newly-born ant king suffers a similar fate when he easily one-shot the number one S-Rank in Japan, only to end up fighting and ''losing'' to an unstoppable Jin-woo, who doesn't have much trouble with the one-on-one encounter. The ant king tries to make a run for it and gets cut down for his effort, before becoming Jin-woo's greatest shadow warrior, Beru.]]

[[https://www.oneesports.gg/gaming/solo-leveling-game-release-date-details/ On February 2, 2022]], Solo Leveling is receiving its video game version and would be an action RPG title for PC and Mobile. [[https://animemotion.net/solo-leveling-ragnarok-manga-announced-plot-release-date/ On April 10,2023]], Solo Leveling received a spin-off doubling as a sequel called Solo Leveling Ragnarok following Sung Su-Ho.

** The anime's first scene, set three years before the series, has [[PlayingWithFire Choi Jong-In]], [[BeastMan Baek Yoon-ho]] and [[TheWhiteMage Min Byung-Gu]] fighting in Jeju Island.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: The nature of Jin-woo's increasing power are often noted to be associated with evil, such as assumed to be a false-ranker that have a stigma of being criminals. When Jin-woo gains the title [[spoiler:"Necromancer" and raises the dead into his shadow army, it freaks people out even more that he fights alongside monsters]]. However, Jin-woo's good nature lead him to continue fighting to protect his friends and family, ultimately using his otherwise scary powers for good.

* BrutalHonesty: At one point, Hunter Association Chairman Go Gun-hee is brought forth to a government panel to explain [[spoiler:adjusting the minimum hunter rule to account for summons like Jin-woo's shadow army, accusing Gun-hee of preferential treatment towards Jin-woo who would benefit the most from this rule. Gun-hee replies that it is ''absolutely'' preferential treatment for the sake of having Jin-woo stay and protect Korea against the torrent of gates being opened.]]

** The anime's first scene, set three years before the series, has [[PlayingWithFire Choi Jong-In]] and [[BeastMan Baek Yoon-ho]] fighting in Jeju Island.

** The fight with the high orc sorcerer is less onesided in the Web Comic and while Jin-Woo is still far stronger than the sorcerer, his summons have a more difficult time handling his minions and the tide is only turned once Jin-Woo starts raising the high orcs he killed to fight against their own.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Vulcan, the 50th floor boss in the Demon Castle Dungeon is very large and fat, yet can easily FlashStep.