The protagonist of Solo Leveling, Sung Jinwoo has always been the biggest highlight of this brilliant series by Chugong. Sung Jinwoo’s journey began in the Double Dungeon, where he faced a brutal battle and then went on to acquire the powers of the System, marking the beginning of his life as a proper Hunter. Ever since then, Sung Jinwoo's strength has grown considerably, and by the end, he even reaches the level of a godly being with unparalleled strength.
In the main universe of Solo Leveling, Jinwoo's strength and status as a godlike being are maintained to this day. But Solo Leveling: Arise just unveiled a new alternative universe to us. In this universe, Jinwoo never acquires the power of the System. Instead, he is implied to have died, while Lee Joohee takes over and shows her true potential instead.
Solo Leveling's story had a truly iconic beginning where, after being thrust into the Double Dungeon, Jinwoo and the other Hunters face an almost inevitable death. However, through Jinwoo’s wit and indomitable will, some of them manage to survive. After these events, Sung Jinwoo awakens to the power of the System, which allows him to level up and tap into the powers of the Shadow Monarch. This reality for Jinwoo is true for the main timeline, but it isn't constant across all the universes of Solo Leveling.
On August 7, 2026, a new Lee Joohee alt was revealed for the game Solo Leveling: Arise, showing a different timeline to us. Her full release on August 27, 2026, gave us a look at Jinwoo in an alternate universe. Lee Joohee, the Pilgrim of the Labyrinth, was finally added to the game, and akin to many other major Hunters that were added, she received her own Hunter Origin Story in the form of a one-shot manhwa explaining her rise to power.
Lee Joohee, the Pilgrim of the Labyrinth, is not the same Lee Joohee that we see in the original Solo Leveling story. Instead, it has been stated that this Lee Joohee is from an alternative universe. In that universe, something tragic happened to Jinwoo. In Lee Joohee's new Hunter Origin Story, it is implied that this universe’s Jinwoo has died. After sensing the danger from the Double Dungeon, Jinwoo pushes Lee Joohee out, sparing her from the events that scarred her in the original universe. Furthermore, unlike in the original universe, Jinwoo never steps out of the Double Dungeon.
“They were good people. They welcomed me despite how meek and timid I was. They were the reason I could still smile, even in the dungeons I feared so much. But in a flash… I lost them all.” — Lee Joohee After Losing Jinwoo in New Hunter Origin Story
Instead, the gate disappears, and Jinwoo and all the other Hunters stuck in the Double Dungeon simply vanish with it. This is quite a shocking turn of events, as Jinwoo is the main character of the series and someone we would always expect to stick around until the end.
The Double Dungeon is where it all started for our iconic protagonist, Sung Jinwoo. After facing the God Statue, he is finally deemed worthy of becoming the vessel of Ashborn. Thus, he is bestowed with the power of the System. By leveling up with the System, Jinwoo goes from the weakest E-Rank Hunter to one of the most powerful beings in the whole Solo Leveling universe, able to fight the strongest Monarchs and stand up to any threat in his path.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/solo-leveling-arise-sung-jinwoo-death/
