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manawari · 2 days

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Also available in AO3.

Contains spoilers from Cha Hae-in's backstory!

Grass rustled throughout the field, hushed whispers spread by the wind, and the tender atmosphere beneath the sky, shrouded in dark blue and sprinkled with thousands of stars. It felt as if strings had gone untangled in her chest, allowing her to breathe in the serenity of her surroundings, her fingers being able to caress the tips of the grass she sat upon. Her eyes fixated on the stars from afar. . . And for once, they seemed closer than they were when she was standing behind the glass windows of her home.

It's so beautiful. Her heart pounded warmly.

The man next to her was close, almost as if their legs could make contact if one of them made a move. Yet, he was close enough for her to sense that he bore similar sentiments. It was her first time to see him look so at ease— distant from the cold, intimidating hunter people had deemed him to be; now, he was a mere human who wanted to get away from the harsh reality and lay his guard down.

“I've always wanted to share a moment like this with someone,” said Sung Jin-woo, his voice soft enough to intertwine with the quiet air. “What about you, Ms. Cha?” His eyes met hers.

Cha Hae-in hummed. She glanced briefly across the broad field in the middle of the forest, then she answered. “It's my first time to be in a place like this. It felt weird and new. This place made me realize how much I have been missing out on life.”

Jin-woo chuckled. “At least you achieved one now. I've always known you are busy with gates, and not to mention, you reminded me of an excited kid when you were looking around at the rides.”

“That obvious?” Hae-in snorted. “Well, you know what being an S-Rank is. The fate of everyone's lives is in your hands, you must put yourself above others and protect them with everything you can, otherwise the guilt afterwards is heavier than the gate itself.”

“Wow, that sounded deep,” said Jin-woo. “And come to think of it, I assume that people had put a lot of pressure on you until you learned to live with that mindset. A miner told me you often skip breaks to check on everyone and make sure the monster is not near.”

“It is true. However, there is more to that reason.”

“What is it?”

Her words fell short. Hae-in pressed her lips into a thin line, hesitating for a moment, debating on whether or not she would open a door to someone else to let them know of a fragment of her past she had chosen to hide. Sure enough, Jin-woo managed to earn her trust and there was something about the hunter that made her drawn to him, feeling no ounce of fear or shame towards him.

She wished to learn more about him as much as he would to her.

But the last time she felt that way to someone had led her to witnessing their life slip away in front of her eyes.

So-yeon. . . An ache squeezed in her chest.

Optimistic, kind, and supportive. A heart as big as her bravery. Yoo So-yeon had never left Hae-in's mind, her lively smile always lingered somewhere within her thoughts, and how she stood up for her when other hunters were judging her for her newfound abilities.

“I was happy that I was able to protect you, Hae-in.”

“. . . Ms. Cha?”

Hae-in lifted her gaze and met Jin-woo, whose eyes were fixed on her in concern. Her bottom lip quivered as she opened her mouth. “I— I. . . ”

“Is everything okay?” Jin-woo asked, his eyebrows furrowed. “I hope I didn't say something wrong.”

“N— no, you didn't! It was just that. . . ” She swallowed. “I remembered someone. Another reason why I had that ‘habit’ like you pointed out.”

“Hm? Mind if I know who that person is? Only if you'd like too, though. I understand that you might choose not to reveal it.” Jin-woo nodded his head.

How can he be this understanding? Hae-in’s heart tightened, a lump forming in the center of her throat. Although, a part of her wanted to say it. Tell her story to Jin-woo as she had never shared it to anyone in her life.

“I. . . I had a friend. Once. And she was this amazing person, one-of-a-kind, and she helped me a lot when I was new to being a hunter.” Hae-in began. Her heartbeat quickened as she prepared the rest of the words she was yet to tell. “While everyone was looking down on me because of my sense of smell, Yoo So-yeon was there to call them out and had stood by my side.”

Jin-woo let out a smile. “She seemed like such a nice person.”

“Indeed,” Hae-in nodded in concur. The edges of her lips curved into a smile as well. “She took away every anxiety I had when I was in the dungeons. Needless to say, she was someone whom I liked to consider as a friend, which I never had ever since I awakened.” Unbeknownst to her, her eyes slowly began to cloud due to the forming tears, faint memories flickering in every corner of her head. “I— if it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd be where I am right now. If only, she was here and—”

Jin-woo squeezed her hand with his, urging her to look back into his eyes, a strong contrast to her tearful ones. Hae-in took a deep breath and continued;

“I saw her die in front of me.” That was when her voice cracked. The tragic memory flashed before her eyes, like how the Undead had sunk its claws through Yoo So-yeon’s chest. “I. . . I thought everything would be over. But I was wrong. I was careless and not fast enough. Someone had taken the jump for me and it was my friend.”

“So. . . You'll win, right? It. . . Had to be you. . . Hae-in.”

“Please protect everyone. It's okay. . . If you're not perfect.”

“I couldn't protect her—” Hae-in sobbed. “I didn't— she deserved to live!”

A pair of arms pulled her into an embrace. Jin-woo's warm chest was pressed against her as his arms wrapped firmly around her protectively, holding the huntress from breaking down further. Hae-in instinctively raised her hands to grasp on his shoulders as she buried her face against the fabric of his coat.

The image of Yoo So-yeon's bleeding body, waiting for her soul to leave the ground as she took her final breaths. Hae-in held her and tried to shake her in an attempt to keep the healer alive. She begged for So-yeon to keep holding on as she told her that there was more she wanted to hear from her.

She remembered how she finished the ruthless monster with the blood of So-yeon staining an area in her cheek. As vengeance.

“I'm so sorry to hear that, Hae-in” Jin-woo murmured. “But please, don't blame yourself for her death.”

“It's just so heavy, Jin-woo. . . ” Hae-in sniffled. “Since then, I don't want someone else to face the same fate as So-yeon. Not when it has to be someone who's close to me.”

“I understand. Every day, I fear that I'd let my family be in danger just like what happened to my little sister.” He said. “I know you are trying your hardest, Hae-in, and I appreciate that.”

“So-yeon wasn't just my friend, she was a person who saw me for who I am, not as an S-Rank hunter.” Hae-in mumbled. “She reminded me that I am a human too.”

“Then remember her that way. Remember her whenever you feel like you are pushing yourself too hard. And I hope you also see me as someone who sees you more than just an S-Rank.” Gently, he pulled away from the hug, yet kept his arms intact around her. He smiled, his finger hovering over the corner of her eye to wipe away the tears. “You're more than just a fighter, Hae-in. I see you as my friend and someone whom I could trust. You have a big heart and I admire you for that.”

His earlier words in the amusement park echoed in her mind, causing another sob to break out of her mouth. Hae-in never thought she'd hear those words again. . . Perhaps she was wrong, she did still have someone— Sung Jin-woo, the strange guy whom she found in a dungeon, but he turned out to be much more than she expected.

“Th— thank you, Jin-woo. Thank you!” Hae-in cried, then she lurched forward to hug him tightly that she wished to not let go.

“Thank you as well, Hae-in,” the sensation of Jin-woo's smile never left his tone. “For all the help you have given me, I intend to return it to you in a way you deserve one day.”

Hae-in finally smiled. She buried her face on the crook of his neck, a newfound hope forming within her. Maybe it was time for her to let go of the pain, replacing it with a seed of something new, an opportunity to create new memories with the people who cared about her.

How could I ever tell you. . . Until my last breath, I want you by my side? A fleeting wonder lingered in her thoughts. As much as she was afraid that she might lose Jin-woo too, Hae-in chose to cherish him in her life at that very moment.

She was happy. And she knew that was what Yoo So-yeon wanted.

#finally written something! and it's angst!#oh the pain and tears—#solo leveling #cha hae in #sung jin woo #jinhae

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i-bring-crack · 11 months

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One thing I find rly interesting abt Jinwoo is how he does this thing where he basically makes major decisions for the people in his life w/o ever really asking them? I’m mostly referring to his resetting the world, which obviously is a net positive, but it felt like it really took away the agency of some of the people in his life? Like his mom was just beginning to heal from the grief of losing her husband, as well as the other survivors of the double dungeon beginning to move forward with their lives, but that ultimately is taken away from them. Obviously it’s a guarantee that they would never have to experience that pain again, but idk.. it almost feels like Jinwoo puts everything on him to the point where he just. Refuses to let people have a say (or I’m over analyzing this lol)

(Girl if you over analyzing then I'm doing a whole thesis—)

You know, this really fits hella well with the Multiverse conversations (and trauma conversations) that I was looking up at YouTube right now. And those conversations also let me get a better understanding of what were the true effects of turning back time ten years later (as well as the effects that Jin Woo has recieved when he became one with Ashborn).

Stories for the viewer are supposed to be concrete. We got invested with Solo Leveling because it told us a story surrounded by urban fantasy that felt new but also still had a lot of mystery to uncover itself in. And it wasn't just easily brand new like a year or two but rather 10 years, a full whole decade were politics, the economy, people, social class structure, technology, war and even medicine changed globally. The effect was on everyone and the cause for it was tremendous. Sure it didn't seem to change a lot on the outside, but everywhere around Jin woo, the gates and hunting was a huge influence on him in order to survive. And the influence on SL ragnarok is far wider (if spoilers let me talk, almost countries were destroyed, hunters rebelled against their governments, even entire biomes were created and changed due to dungeon breaks, in SL too there were many times when the occurence of gates meant that the land would become cheaper or the leadership of a country depended on the control of the strongest hunters or medicine changes as it was possible for people to regrow limbs and maybe even summon life itself, or souls. Thing is, everyone had their whole worldview changed by this.)

As an author you could still make those changes and it would be fine because it was you own world, your own creation, and also because it was still withing your power to change it. But the moment it's presented to the audience, the story is supposed to keep its actions and causes relevant until the end. Not all of them of course, but not to the point were nothing mattered except for the protagonist. That's the reason why the climax is so important for every story, it's the reason why everything was build up until the end. And then when Solo Leveling reaches that climax, it drops back down again, no, it backpedals even further to the point where the world we got used to and we were supposed to love as much as Jin woo; the characters, the struggles, the people, the victories, were all gone.

But, alongside Jin-Woo's growth, that's the reason why we still kept reading in the first place. So when Jin Woo took it all away, it broke the story as a whole, it didn't preserve the elements that we knew about and that at one point influenced Jin-Woo. Then he had become so OP he literally bent the laws of his own world in order to make himself the only person capable of saving it, and thus no longer having the influence of that past world on him. He could be whatever he wanted, do as he wished. The world didn't matter anymore, the effects of the universe were not concrete but rather, flexible to his own will.

(Gary stu Gary stu Gary stu—)

"But people died and suffered! Without the dungeons and monsters then everyone would have lived an ordinary life!"

And what clicks me off is not the Rewind part for the greater good, its Sung Jin Woo keeping all of that a secret because it was "good".

I agree on the surface that it was a logical decision for him to reverse people's lives to the way it was before and let people have another chance on life. People sure seemed to be happy. Or so it appears on the surface.

It's why even with the existence of magic, people still kept their senses and didn't create an entire apocalypse the moment S ranks appeared. It's why the whole world wasn't just pure chaos and instead of degrading, it advanced with magic and evolved their lives to a new future. The line tend to contradict itself when there are hunters that still use their power to their advantage in getting away with everything, but at the same time we see that people and awakened ones still do whatever it takes to bring peace into this world by founding Assosiations, alliances, (and other new things in SL Ragnarok).

Legit it seems the author forgot that his own characters had a reason to become hunters. The man that died in the double dungeon, sliced in half, Park Gi Sool, wanted to fight in order to pay more bills since he was having another child. Kim Sangshik was also a family man that took on the job to protect his family and give them a good life. And I'm sure there wasn't just one "Jin Woo" in the world, sure he was the weakest but he certainly wasn't the only one with a motive to go hunting in order to protect others/earn money to survive.

There was this one line in the novel and probably the manwha too, were someone said that the people who were awakened were made to be hunters, that the hunters should be left alone because, well they are still morally good people who want to protect this world. And it showed in some places like, Jin Woo's morals, as well as the lack of retired hunters, because they still wished to protect.

So at the same time, the choice of not telling people about this new threat, about magic and about their powers, about giving them a chance to experiment magic for themselves without the external threaths of gates and monsters coming to kill them... it's the most illogical thing to do because. Well everyone is going to die either way!

I don't mean this in "Oh might as well die killing beasts and protecting people than dying of old age"

I mean this in "The literal moment Jin Woo had decided to stay on earth, he was dooming mankind to a whole new and far more powerful level of threat that we see both at the epilogue of SL and Solo Leveling Ragnarok." And instead of letting others take the action to protect, to also raise their status, to advance their technology with magic in ways other worlds didn't even do. He choose to take it up on himself to keep those things a secret for as much time as needed. It's as you say op, he did put everything on his shoulders when he didn't need to! He didn't! Jin woo put some back down! We are social species for a (Escusi my lenguage) fuking reason!!

And what would happen if he wasn't there? Solo Leveling Ragnarok.

But also, without the son, if Suho hadn't awaken his powers at the right time, or if Beru couldn't get there in time or if they didn't have the child in the first place. Then the entire world is just consumed silly by the beasts and the new villains of this world! All because Jin Woo didn't even say anything!

Woo Jin Chul and Cha Hae In could be blamed too, but like, to what extent? The one that had all the authority was Jin Woo, and if he didn't want the secret to spread then not even the Rulers could do anything about it. WJC and CHI had either the option of shutting up or facing Jin Woo's anger. So of course they would keep this a secret! It was obvious the moment Jin-Woo let them find out the power for themselves instead of opening up to them. (Or in the case of Hae In, let them find out after she had already been in a relationship with him. Which. Of all things to not say until way late into the relationship geez. That power imbalance is just cracked, and probably why many, including I, wanted to headcanon Jin Woo giving her some of her powers back so that she could at least find somewhat of a ground to stand on—)

... Opening up is also a harsh problem that this series ignores like the plague. And it's also very well fitted with the Trauma ™ that Jin Woo got in the first chapters of the story, halt, it was even before all of that.

Back to the first chapters, Jin Woo never talked to anyone about anything he was suffering through. He was on the constant brink of death time and time again, yet Ju-Hee pushed him to open up as to why he was doing this, and he never answered.

When the story advances, he is fully scared from the Double Dungeon which instigates even more of that fear of opening up to others. He doesn't tell his sister about the new power to level up, he doesn't tell Ju-Hee about him dying and being revived to life. He doesn't tell Jin Ho about the fact that he had to kill the Lizards or else his heart would stop. He doesn't talk to Baek Yoon Ho about the system when the man already knows (well, BYH also kept his mouth shut, which at that point felt pretty useless of him to find out if he wasn't going to do anything with it).

He didn't bring his past of hunting with his own mother, the reason why he was doing this. He also never told them about the return of his father and his eventual death. He told about the new threats of the monarchs at the very end, but forgot to mention that there would be dragons and monsters capable of wiping out entire civilizations, which is why they should listen to him and escape.

You know, it's funny but there was one time when Jin-Woo did open up about his troubles. And that was with his father, who in turn kept lying to him that everything would be fine despite his job being one of the most dangerous out there. At this point he wasn't just firefighter, he was a hunter.

Jin woo was around 14 to 15 years old when he was having a picnic with his father. Sung Ill Hwang wanted to spent more time with his son since Jin Woo was getting worried he wouldn't come back. Unfortunately for Jin Woo, the picnic was cut short when his father heard a dungeon had appeared in the amusement park and went to go take care of it.

The only one that didn't make it was Sung Ill Hwang.

So Jin Woo went back home alone, told his mother and sister about it. And Kyung-Hye in turn said that one day he will come back, instead of accepting his death like all others.

Then his mother went into a coma, leaving him as the sole protector of Jin Ah and herself.

This is all from the dossiers of the game btw, the author gave them the approval to release those stories, so I'm taking them as canon in this too because we don't get to see the ten years fully explored, and we probably won't see that ever, in even in Ragnarok.

I won't put the fault on anyone for Jin Woo's eternal struggle of never opening up, it's nice to see that everyone did the best they could to take care of him and love him. And the closure also just developed gradually to eat him whole before the series ever started. So it wasn't anyone's entire fault, they just lived through unfortunate circumstances. But nonetheless the fear of closure is still valid for Jin Woo.

And, I did lie, there is one other moment where he finally talks about his past to someone. Cha Hae In. Back at their date he also revealed the part were Jin Woo had lost his father back at the amusement park. Maybe because he opened up to Haein is why he didnt want to let go of her post rewind. She was the only one to have literally listened, not because others didn't but because she was the first to raise himself to a point where he wouldnt fear the outcome of —omg— talking his feelings out.

It's why I think this was the definitive point where Jin Woo just decided to close himself up to everyone. Seeing that his father wasn't going to keep his promise, then seeing that his mother was in an eternal coma. He had to basically "man up" at 14 or 15 something and loose all interest of having a stable life, a passion in his future, or any sort of interest, and instead do all it took to keep his last family safe. In the dossiers it was also explained how he took up a lot side jobs, as many as he could, just to pay the bills.

Of course this would have dawned on him, of course he would think he had to do everything from the very start. Of course he would have decided to shut up and do everything his own way because he didn't trust anyone to take the rest of the problems by themselves!

He didn't trust the S ranks, the hunters, the awakened ones, the freaking Rulers themselves because the world had been destroyed over and over again!

He didn't even trust himself when he had gained all the power of the Brightest Fragment, which is why he turned back time again and just started choosing what was best for them without anyone being there to tell him otherwise.

He really though that the only solution was for him to carry it all on his shoulders (AND DOES SL RAGNAROK SAY NO MF WE ARE IN THIS TOGUETHER AND I LOVE THEM FOR THIS. Not just Suho but legit spoilers: Jin ho, Hae In, Woo Jin Chul, The national hunters, everyone who remebers just wants to help Jin Woo and are ready to fight even outer gods in order to keep him safe I AM IN TEARS—)

I felt absolutely delighted, unhinged, almost crying when the side stories came out and gave Jin-Chul its memories back without Jin-Woo's interference. For once Jin-Woo didn't have something to do with the agency of another, and it was refreshing bro. I wished Jin-Chul had done a lot more, I wished Hae In had also done a lot more for Jin-Woo, fight alongside him or at least let him open up. Alas that would have been too much to ask to Sung "I want everyone to be normal except me bc idc about me" Jin Woo

I was bombastic when Jin Woo did reveal everything he knew about the end of the world to Jin Chul because it meant that he trusted him, (it meant that he was an important character hahaha) and when he came back with the memories of the past, it meant that at least something from the past WAS important and no matter how much he distanced himself from it, he couldn't so he had to face him. He had to face Jin-Chul again and it ended up being something good (in SLR) because he managed to at least have someone to talk about what happened during those 27 years.

For God's sake.

This is legit the best analogy for toxic masculinity of "man up", or just supresing feelings in general and the detrimental causes of a person. Sure Irl its not as bad, but to weight upon entire problems that could be helped through talking not only suffocates a person to do everything for the sake of others and ignore themselves. It also drives up the point that their suffering is the best option, that they should bleed out everything instead of everyone having little cuts on themselves that will heal with time.

It's why it sounded so logical to Jin woo to just revert back. Bc really, who tf cared about him and his problems? Who stood up to be on the same league of power as him so that Jin Woo could trust them with not being alone. In Jin Woo's eyes, no one was strong enough to carry all of that for him.

But they could have still carried at least some of it, they could have had time to carry all of that with him.

Yet he didn't trust that, he saw his father die from the power of the Rulers, he saw himself being at fault because now he was Ashborn, and Ashborn also did nothing to stop the deaths of all of them.

Once Ashborn fused itself with Jin Woo, he also became a Fragment, whose whole reason was to protect, no matter how hard the problems were. Ashborn fully took those matters seriously, as we see when he died despite all the other Rulers telling him the true face of his God.

And it's what's happening to Jin woo, he will die and sacrifice everything for the sake of keeping a safe world. It doesn't matter if he takes away people's agency to choose their own path. He is just doing "what's best for them".

#Oh god #Is this why i lile the fics where Jin woo is forced to open up about the system and all the trauma???#YES #JIN WOO GET SOME HEALING #IF YOUR AUTHOR CAN BREAK UNIVERSES SO CAN I SO LETS OPEN UP THAT WORD DOCUMENT AND FORCE TO HAVE AN HONEST TO GOD CONVERSATION ABOUT YOUR #FEELINGS #solo leveling manwha #solo leveling spoilers #sung jin woo #woo jin chul #cha hae in #character study #more like character examination tesis #in conclusion: this mf better stop someone stop him please #solo leveling

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