Solo Leveling doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of storytelling. From the beginning, it drives viewers into a world where Hunters receive a fixed strength with no hope of ever getting stronger. The main character, Jinwoo, is initially awakened as an E-rank Hunter and is called the weakest of them all, with a power level similar to that of a civilian.

Then, while on the brink of death, Jinwoo finds that he is capable of leveling up after becoming the "Player." This is something that no one has done before, except through a second awakening. However, these second awakenings follow the same rules of receiving a fixed power level, meaning that Jinwoo experiences something entirely different. On his journey to becoming a stronger Hunter, he encounters situations he cannot escape and is forced to take certain paths due to a system that gives him tasks and penalties for failure to comply.

10 The Double Dungeon Incident

The Series Kicks Off with A Dark and Deadly Turn

The very first episode of Solo Leveling ends with Jinwoo’s guild entering a double dungeon after putting it to a vote. Half the team voted to go in while the other half voted to leave, leaving Jinwoo as the deciding vote. Thinking about his family and the potential financial gain, he decided the guild should enter the dungeon.

However, events took a sharp turn and what should have been instead a rare S-rank dungeon and locked the Hunters inside. Unaware of the dangers, a guild member tries to leave, only to be cut down by the giant knights guarding the exit. At this moment, the Hunters are faced with the fact that they are trapped and in over their heads, and Jinwoo is forced to quickly come to with his own mortality and realizes that they are all standing on the brink of death.

9 Jinwoo Was Essentially Forced to Sacrifice Himself

At The End of The Trials Jinwoo Receives an Ultimatum

After getting caught in an S-rank dungeon, it’s Jinwoo’s smarts that save his guildmates. He figures out that they must bow to the statue then praise him through the use of the statues playing musical instruments. In the end, six Hunters are left and at their limit. When the door opens during the third trial, two of his allies take the opportunity to run. With four armed statues ready to advance, Jinwoo, Joohee, Song Chiyul, and Kim Sangshik were left to fend for themselves. However, the pressure became too much for Sangshik, who ran away so he could live to see his family again.

Song Chiyul was prepared to stay behind so Joohee and Jinwoo could live, but Joohee’s legs gave out at the last moment, and with Jinwoo’s injuries, he was ultimately left behind. As Joohee and Chiyul escape, Jinwoo experiences a torturous death, angered that he won’t see his family again. But before he dies, he receives an ultimatum: become a player, or have his heart stop immediately. This scene laid bare the weakness in human resolve, proving that when push comes to shove, there are some who would choose themselves over anyone else.

8 The Guild That Kills Their Temps for Hire

And Society Is Aware of The Suspiciously High Fatality Rates

Following the double dungeon incident, Jinwoo begins to learn about the system he becomes tied to and starts to gain more power. Once he does, he begins to take on jobs again, ing a guild comprised of a mix of C-rank and D-rank , along with a new Hunter, Yoo Jinho. While exploring a C-rank dungeon, Jinwoo starts to get a bad feeling about the Hunters he is working for. In the end, he finds that he was right and that the guild was planning to let them die.

Worse yet, it doesn’t seem to be all that uncommon. While three girls, who are part of major guilds, are meeting up, they talk about how they wouldn’t want to freelance. The reason behind that is the fact that there is a suspicious number of casualties. However, as it is not a large societal scandal, it suggests that while there may be heavy suspicions, there is no proof surrounding it, and therefore nothing can be done.

7 Jinwoo Realizing He Has to Kill to Survive

He Isn’t Given an Option and Covers It Up Afterward

Jinwoo’s first C-rank dungeon takes an even darker turn after he defeats the boss and is confronted by Hwang Dongsuk and his party. Everyone assumes it was Yoo Jinho who slayed the beast and attempted to turn him on Jinwoo, openly itting that they initially wanted the two of them dead. With this ission and physical assault on Jinwoo, the system picks up on the fact that he is being hunted and prompts Jinwoo to kill the Hunters who want him dead.

At first, Jinwoo internally panics and questions the situation going on around him, constantly wondering why. Soon enough, he goes numb to it, realizing that he has no other choice than to play into the systems’ hands and complete his new mission. Dongsuk begs for life, but his pleas fall on deaf ears as Jinwoo repeats the man’s words right back at him: “What happens in a dungeon stays in a dungeon. Your words, not mine.”

6 Joohee’s Phone Call with Her Mother

The Gaslighting at The End Was Too Real

Joohee’s phone call with her mother may not be one of the darkest moments in Solo Leveling, but it still stands out as a deeply personal and unsetting moment. While this scene was not in the original manhwa, the anime includes a call in which Joohee’s mother suggests she quit and go home. In response, Joohee loses her patience and lashes out at her mother, telling her to stop attempting to control her life.

Before Joohee hangs up the phone, viewers can hear Joohee’s mother playing innocent, asking why Joohee was getting upset for supposedly no reason. The gaslighting from Joohee’s mother shows a dynamic between someone who is tearing another down while playing innocent. This quick moment is painful to watch as Joohee confronts her traumas and fears without true from the ones who should be offering to it her.

5 A Father Begs Kang Taeshik to Bring Criminals to Justice

His Daughter Was Driven to Suicide After Being Assaulted

One of the most heart-wrenching moments in Solo Leveling comes from when a grieving father pleads with Kang Taeshik, a B-rank Hunter, to bring his daughter’s assailants to justice in exchange for a large sum of money. His daughter had been assaulted by three criminals and it drove her to the point of suicide. When her father finds out the criminals are receiving reduced sentences through raid participation, he criticizes the justice system.

It serves as a stark reminder that dangers are not only found inside dungeons but also out in the world as well. The father, due to criminals' horrid actions, lost not only his daughter but also had to send his wife to the hospital due to the shock she experienced after cruelly losing her child. In the end, Taeshik, an assassin Hunter, agrees to kill the criminals for the father.

4 Surviving of The Double Dungeon Are Murdered

Taeshik Took His Time with Them for His Sordid Entertainment

Taeshik planned out the criminal’s execution, prepared with a story about how goblins swarmed them and that there was nothing Taeshik could do for their life. Instead, as he is killing the criminals, Kang Jeongho and Kim Sangshik, two surviving of the double dungeon incident, stumble on them. In another tunnel, Jinwoo and his group hear the screams, but are too late to save anyone.

Jinwoo notices Kim and Kang’s injuries and comes to the realization that Taeshik has toyed with them rather than offering them a swift death. As a B-rank Hunter with the Stealth skill, he was more than capable. It is then that Taeshik reveals the morbid truth, that he finds killing people more entertaining than killing monsters. Similar to the guild who was willing to kill their teammates, Taeshik embodies the darkest aspects of human society.

3 Jinwoo Being Similar to a Ruthless Assassin

Taeshik Calls Jinwoo Out for Being Just Like Him

Taeshik and Jinwoo’s battle lays out many revelations for the remainder of the party. Taeshik comes to the conclusion that Jinwoo experiences a second reawakening as Song Chiyul and Joohee realize that Jinwoo has had to make many tough decisions in a short amount of time. Soon after Taeshik and Jinwoo’s battle, Taeshik peers through Jinwoo and claims to recognize him as a fellow killer, a man similar to himself.

Jinwoo activates his newly acquired Murderous Intent skill and uses it against Taeshik, piercing him through the heart and killing him. Before he dies, Taeshik gives Jinwoo an ominous warning, telling him that the darkness will follow him. While Taeshik did not last long in the story, he left an impression on Jinwoo and his words only seem to have foreshadowed what was to come.

2 Jinwoo Loses the Teleportation Stone When He’s at His Limit

His Life Is Saved Due to Pure Luck

Jinwoo receives a key to a Job Change Quest where he defeats Igris and is then forced to fight another onslaught of enemies. Jinwoo runs on fumes as he is forced to fight his way through a never-ending number of enemies. While he is pushed to his limit, he begins to see visions of his past self, reminding him of how useless he once was in battle. Jinwoo may have come far, but his past still haunts him, serving as a constant reminder of why he wishes to get stronger and recounting his fear of not being good enough.

Completely burned out, Jinwoo is at the mercy of the army surrounding him. As a knight prepares to deliver the final blow, Jinwoo is saved by the Penalty Zone for not completing his Daily Quest. This allows Jinwoo several hours to strategize and heal from his fatigue and injuries, only narrowly saving his life.

1 Jinwoo Becoming a Necromancer Has Eerie Foreshadowing

Fans Are Given a Glimpse into Necromancy Potential

When Jinwoo ultimately finishes the Job Change Quest, he is given the option to become a Necromancer. At first, he considers refusing, but when the system prompts him to confirm his decision due to Necromancy being a hidden class. When he accepts, he is instantly leveled up to Shadow Monarch and is able to summon the shadows of the fallen knights, including Igris. As the Shadows Monarch, Igris and the knights bow to Jinwoo, giving him more power than he’s ever had before.

With this new power and class, Jinwoo is capable of defeating enemies without himself getting involved. Igris alone has the power of a high-ranking Hunter and with command over him, along with other fallen knights, Jinwoo becomes terrifyingly powerful. In Solo Leveling, there are times when it is kill or be killed, and Jinwoo has already shown that he will always fight for his survival, even at the cost of his opponents’ lives.