Solo Leveling (Volume 8) – One-Man Guild!
Jinwoo was stuck in a Red Gate alone, although it soon felt like the magic beasts were stuck in a red gate with him! After failing to get any information from the boss, Jinwoo realised that the cursed key had been activated when he reached level 100.
Solo Leveling (Volume 8) – One-Man Guild!
What happened?
Defeating the Red Gate had been simple enough for Jinwoo and his shadow army, however, the boss had been unable to shed any light on the situation. Regardless, Jinwoo was getting somewhere. The key from the cursed box had revealed some of its information when he reached level one hundred – it would open a gate to the Cartenon Temple – the place where it all began. He was determined to go back there and show them just how much he had grown, but there was something else he needed to do first and Jinho was waiting for him.
Jinwoo had set up his own guild, with Jinho as one of its founding members. However, they needed a third person before they could be considered an official guild. The other issue was what they were going to call themselves. Luckily, Jinwoo had something that he had set his heart on – Soloplay Guild. Jinho was not the least bit impressed but wasn’t sure how to bring that up with Jinwoo. Then, a knock at the door broke the tension. To both their surprise, it was Haein Cha and she wanted to join their guild. Jinwoo was suspicious of her intentions and decided that he would test her by making her fight one of his strongest shadows. It also gave him a chance to see if he could use Shadow Exchange to move more than just himself.
It worked, transferring Jinwoo and Haein to the training facility at the Hunter’s Association. Jinwoo started by summoning Igris and instructing him to fight Haein. The fight drew the attention of President Go who sensed the action from his office. He checked in to see who it was and then asked for all cameras to be turned off, assuming Jinwoo and Haein would be doing more than just fighting… Anyhow, Haein managed to hold off Igris’ attacks and even knocked him back. That was when she demanded that Jinwoo send out his actual strongest.
He warned her that she might get hurt, knowing that the sight of Beru might be more traumatic than anything, but she was instant. Jinwoo summoned Beru and told him to defeat her without hurting her. Haein used her sword skills to great effect, but still couldn’t land a hit on Beru. Then, she used her light magic which triggered Beru’s survival instincts. Jinwoo jumped in and saved Haein before Beru could hurt her. She lost but was still determined to join Jinwoo’s guild. She didn’t need a signing bonus and was prepared to buy out her existing contract. There was no way Jinwoo could lose, but he still couldn’t figure her out. He jokingly asked if she liked him. Shocked at his boldness, she said yes.
Jinwoo refused to let Haein join his guild, and probably for that reason alone. He had yet to come to terms with the change in his appearance so it was hard for him to think that someone so beautiful could think that way about him. Anyhow, he didn’t have much time to dwell on it as a new job came their way. Another guild was about to tackle a top-level A-Ranked Gate and wanted to team up with Jinwoo’s Ahjin Guild (the name suggested by Jinah). They didn’t have any S-Ranked Hunters so it made sense to get someone stronger. It could be good for both of their guilds. Jinwoo agreed and arrived at the location of the Gate using Shadow Exchange. Meanwhile, something much closer to home was just about to begin.
A Gate that had been hidden within Jinah’s school was about to be broken. A pack of orcs burst out and began to massacre every human they could find. Once the initial party had cleared the area, the boss came out and tracked a strong magical power to Jinah’s location. The high-orc shadows that had been assigned to watch over Jinah burst out of her shadow and defended her, but would it be enough? Jinwoo was busy helping the other guild with their gate and had used Shadow Exchange too recently to use it again. He summoned Beru and twenty shadow soldiers, leaving them to defeat the Gate while he rode Kaisel to Jinah’s location. Would he get there in time? Would Beru defeat the A-Ranked Gate within Jinwoo? Yes, and yes. Afterwards, Jinwoo spoke to President Go about using his Shadow Warriors to count towards his Guild’s entry requirements for gates. Go agreed, but he wanted Manager Woo to inspect his first raid – it was a massacre!
What did you think?
I was quite surprised when Jinwoo turned down Haein Cha when she wanted to join his guild. However, it also made a lot of sense. If she left her current guild and joined his, there would be some animosity between the guilds, which would be a pain for him. Also, it’s quite clear that he doesn’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way. If he can clear the dungeon, mine the jewels, and collect the bodies without anyone getting hurt then that makes way more sense. Plus, he would get all the leveling up in every Gate they defeat. Jinwoo’s one-man guild was a machine.
There were some ominous moments too. We saw a glimpse of the other group that seems to be planning the downfall of the human world, or at least somehow involved in it, and they are being hunted by Jinwoo’s father. They are also heading towards something near Korea. We also saw a giant gate opening in Japan so that is going to be bad news for someone. And finally, the boss of the Gate that Beru defeated while Jinwoo was saving Jinah seemed to be waiting for Jinwoo, but not as you might expect. It felt like they were ready to bow down to Jinwoo and follow him as they were all undead and he was the Shadow Monarch. And finally, I think we’re going to go back to the Cartenon Temple in the next volume and that’s bound to reveal a lot! However, I may have to wait a little while for that one given the waiting list at my library. I’m currently number fourteen and they have six copies!
Volume highlights
Series Information
| English Title | Solo Leveling |
| Japanese Title | Ore dake Level Up na Ken |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Manwha
| Series | Solo Leveling | ||
| Author | Chugong | ||
| Artist | Dubu | ||
| Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters | Webtoon Chapters |
| 1 | The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind | 1-3 | 1-12 |
| 2 | The Lizards | 3-5 | 13-26 |
| 3 | Job-Change Quest | 6-8 | 27-44 |
| 4 | Unless You’re An S-Rank! | 9-10 | 45-63 |
| 5 | May I Kill All of These Magic Beasts? | 11-13 | 64-81 |
| 6 | I’d Lost My Cool Too! | 14-17 | 82-97 |
| 7 | Everything Will Be Fine! | 18-21 | 98-110 |
| 8 | One-Man Guild! | 22-24 | 111-122 |
| 9 | It Was War! | 25-27 | 123-134 |
| 10 | The Deal is Off! | 28-30 | 135-146 |
Anime
Season One
[…] Solo Leveling (Volume 8) – One-Man Guild! […]
I’m gonna be brutally honest…Ahjin Guild arc is my least favourite arc to read (and reread) through the end. Not because the fight scenes are bad. They’re actually really good sequences. Just that I didn’t like the mood whiplash of the love confession scene happening in a serious setup. The romance subplot, even in the webnovel, feels like it was written for the sake of it. Sure Jinwoo needs a romantic partner to anchor his humanity more, but I would prefer an intrinsic way of setting both of them together.
Cha Hae-in had a lot of potential to become an actual interesting strong female character. Sadly, I feel her wanting to join the guild nearly ventures into “abandoning responsibilities as a leader” territory kind of narrative upon her. It would’ve been believable if she’s written as an actual character who expresses her dismay and that she doesn’t always agree with every single of Choi’s decision for the guild. It’s a bit disappointing to see her being written as an NPC-like character.
It’s a good thing the rest of the scenes lessen the mood whiplash I was feeling. But at least I’m learning a lesson or two in how not to write a romance subplot in an action-oriented series that’ll give you mixed feelings. Hopefully it’ll make sense in my series’ 5th story arc soon.
I completely agree. I don’t necessarily have an issue with her looking to find an easier life by working for a smaller guild, and after seeing how strong Jinwoo is it makes sense that she thinks she would be safer there, but I agree, it would have been nice to have some sort of foreshadowing where she revealed that she wasn’t happy where she was. I think the way it was sprung on us was too sudden and unexpected. Twists and shocks should make sense after the fact, but this didn’t.