Solo Leveling is based on a rank system very close to that of video games, practical for evaluating the power of its characters: who are the Korean S ranks in the webtoon?
From the beginning of its story, Solo Leveling presents the classes and ranks which allow us to understand the power of its characters: the hero is initially the weakest hunter in humanity, possessing only a small E, while the most powerful are S rank.
If A-rank hunters are considered real brutes in the manhwa and anime, it is common knowledge that the strength of the S is equivalent to that of “deities” . Obviously, these heroes capable of taking charge of B or A rank portals on their own are rarer. Very rare, even, and we quickly discovered that South Korea, Jinwoo’s country, only has a handful.
So, who are these characters, so powerful that they can even overcome the laws without fear of reprisals?
Warning: this article talks about characters from the webtoon and may therefore spoil some elements still missing from the anime.
Ma Dongwook
Ma Dongwook is an S-rank hunter, master of the Glorious guild. His good-natured attitude hides a raw strength worthy of the Tank class, and he does not hesitate to provoke the toughest opponents.
To help him, he has a very special ability: the ability to make himself giant. He then becomes a true colossus with disproportionate physical strength. However, he doesn’t just use his fists to fight. He uses a spear in his raids, a weapon which may seem strange for a tank but which remains formidable in his hands.
Eunseok
Little information is conveyed about Eunseok, and for good reason: this S-rank hunter died before Jinwoo’s story began. Its tragic end occurred during a level S dungeon break, which took place on the island of Jeju: the dramatic incident released giant ants onto the small piece of land, which quickly became uninhabitable. And despite numerous raids, the hunters will continue to suffer losses without succeeding in liberating the territory.
Eunseok is described as being a comrade of Baek Yoonho and Min Byeonggu. It was his death that traumatized Byeonggu, to the point of making him retire. More generally, its disappearance will also have an effect on popular opinion of Korea: raids on Jeju Island are then abandoned for several years.
Min Byeonggu
Min Byeonggu is a Healer-class S-rank hunter. In terms of combat, its power is equivalent to that of an A rank, but its strength lies in its support spells. In addition to healing his team members, he can offer impressive buff spells (power and defense boosts).
However, the young man preferred to retire. A choice which finds its origin in the trauma linked to the various expeditions on the island of Jeju, a territory hit by a breakdown of a rank S dungeon. Despite everything, his courage and his patriotism will take over when a final raid is organized in partnership with Japan. His presence will also be essential for the survival of many other S-rank hunters during this raid.
Lim Taegyu
Lim Taegyu is one of the S-rank hunters that we discover with the fourth raid on Jeju Island. He is the master of the Reaper guild, and ranks in the category of archers, or rangers: his specialty is ranged combat, relying on formidable archery skills.
If he is confident in his strengths, he is also aware of his weaknesses: he knows he is less powerful than certain other S-rank hunters. Like the other guild masters, he also knows how to manage his image and that of his group: he thus plays a wise move by recruiting Lee Minsung, a celebrity turned hunter, while retaining him above all for his image rather than his rather mediocre combat skills.
Baek Yoonho
Baek Yoonho is the leader of the White Tiger guild, whose name does not come out of nowhere: the hunter is capable of transforming into a large humanoid white tiger when it is necessary to pull out all the stops. Generally, the hunter is content to changing his appearance only partially: in combat, he often appears with white hair. In addition to this transformation, he is able to analyze the strength of his opponents at a glance. He is also the first to understand that Jinwoo improves with each fight.
Very close to the members of his guild, he cannot bear the idea of suffering losses and imposes extensive training for elite members. When one of his teams finds himself trapped in a red portal, he remains in front of the entrance until the end, unable to go about his business knowing that his subordinates are in danger.
Choi Jong’s
Choi Jongin is also a guild master, like most S-ranks in South Korea. As leader of the Hunters, he is among the most influential people in the country. Because it is organized, its different teams are extremely efficient in the dungeons. And because he is a clever strategist, he is often considered devious. Be careful though: Jongin is not a bad person, despite his tendency to calculate all the moves of his rivals or to tickle Baek Yoonho.
Its power is very real. Magician class, he controls immense flames that he sometimes has to hold back. Its strength has also given it a nice nickname, that of South Korea’s ultimate weapon. Its magic can be modulated to take on different aspects: spears of fire, a dragon used mainly to impress the opponent, or even a net, generally used to trap its targets but which can also be used to protect an entrance or exit from dungeon.
Go Gunhee
Go Gunhee is probably one of the strongest S-Ranks in Korea. In any case, he is among the hunters who impress Jinwoo the most during their first meeting. Except there’s a catch: Go Gunhee is actually no longer a hunter.
The man has in fact hung up his weapons as he has gotten older. Although he remains overpowered, he is aware that his strength is declining at the same time as his body. But his experience of portals and the humans who travel through them is not thrown in the trash: the former hunter’s retirement is only a facade, since he has become president of the hunters’ organization, a government entity responsible for ensuring that the awakened do not leave the right path and that no guild creates a monopoly.
Cha Hae-in
Cha Hae-in is the only S-rank female hunter in South Korea. In addition to this first detail, the young woman quickly stands out for much more notable reasons: her energy still exceeds that of Go Gunhee according to Jinwoo, and she is terrifyingly effective in combat. Added to this are terribly sharp senses, even to the point of making her suffer, especially when it comes to smell. For her, the simple smell of the hunters around her is real olfactory torture.
Nicknamed “the dancer” for her sequences of fluid and destructive movements, she nevertheless remains in the shadow of Choi Jongin. She is in fact only the second in the Hunters’ guild, and while many imagine that she suffers from this lack of recognition, Hae-in actually doesn’t care about her place in the hierarchy: when Jinwoo creates his own, she goes out of her way to join him, even if it means losing another place in the rankings, finding herself as a simple employee.
Sung Ilhwan
Sung Ilhwan is Sung Jinwoo’s father, and we quickly understand that cats don’t make dogs, because the man is incredibly powerful. Originally a firefighter, Ilhwan already had the goal of saving lives. His assessment only helped him speed up the pace: after the interventions for accidents and fires, Ilhwan went to look at the portals, to prevent the monsters inhabiting them from spilling into the human world.
Unfortunately, Jinwoo’s father disappears into a portal one day. Declared dead, he leaves his family behind, and the rest of the events will only push his loved ones deeper into problems: his wife falls ill and falls into an eternal sleep, and Jinwoo finds himself alone to provide for the needs of family. Bad luck, when his powers awaken, he only achieves rank E.
In the end, Ilhwan reappears after Jinwoo’s second awakening, and we witness an unleashing of power when Dongsoo threatens his son. The bellicose S rank is literally demolished by the daron, whom the Americans struggle to recognize as a human.
Sung Jinwoo
Sung Jinwoo is one of those lucky ones who is entitled to a second awakening… at least, in theory: first of rank E, the young man comes close to death in the double-dungeon, but manages to check all the boxes necessary to complete a secret quest. This is where the strange system becomes his new “power”: the system uses him for a confidential objective, and Jinwoo uses him to increase his own power.
In reality, Jinwoo is a unique being: he is no longer really a hunter, but a “player” . Intelligent dungeon creatures react differently to him than to other humans, and hunters with more heightened senses will also sense the change. The young man’s strength seems to have no limit: with each confrontation, it increases thanks to his increases in levels.
S Rank Exceptions: Hwang Dongsoo and Nation Ranks
In the manhwa, South Korea is initially presented as rather “poor” in S-rank fighters. Compared to Japan, which has almost twice as many, the country of the calm morning is even modest.
We must also count on the United States which can afford to go and do its “deal” with others by promising certain advantages: this is how Hwang Dongsoo changed his nationality to adopt that of the country of Uncle Sam.
Not to mention that in addition to the S rank hunters, we subsequently discovered that there is yet another rank which tends to appear over time: that of the Nation rank. The coronation is only accessible to the best hunters, those who have managed to overcome an S-rank dungeon at least once… We’ll let you guess who will win the famous ticket in Solo Leveling!
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