‘Solo Leveling’ season 2’s story changes, explained

Any film or TV adaptation will reach a point where it has to deviate from the source material a bit. Solo Leveling is no different—even though A-1 Pictures’ anime adapts a manhwa, which is technically the adaptation of a web novel. Still, the second season of Solo Leveling made one big adaptation choice, which attracted attention from fans of the manhwa.

The change happens within the first two episodes of season 2 and concerns Kim Chul, the muscly and armor-clad A-Rank Hunter who the White Tiger Guild selects for a training exercise. The change has attracted attention because it could significantly affect Jinwoo’s character development.

Or maybe the change is being a bit exaggerated.

Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of Solo Leveling season 2.

Kim Chul’s fate in the Solo Leveling anime and manhwa

In the opening moments of Solo Leveling season 2, Kim Chul leads a group—including Jinwoo, using his connections to basically “sit in”—towards a seemingly inconspicuous gate. However, once they’re all through, the gate transforms into a Red Gate, which raises the gate’s level and means no one can go through on either side until the gate’s boss is defeated.

Kim Chul makes the call to divide the party in half. He places himself in charge of one group with all the A- and B-Rank Hunters and shoves all the weaker Hunters under Jinwoo. Unfortunately for Kim Chul, the boss is a highly intelligent and ruthless group of ice elves who wipe the snowy floor with his party. Kim Chul leaves his party to die and retreats, eventually finding Jinwoo’s contingent, infuriated they’re still alive. Jinwoo easily drives him off.

So far, there are no major differences between the manhwa and the anime. The big adaptation decision comes during Jinwoo’s fight with the ice elves. In the anime, the king of the elves—an incredibly tough boss above even Jinwoo’s level—is attacking Jinwoo just as Kim Chul shows back up and charges in to kill Jinwoo, too. Knowing that he needs to up his game to beat the king, Jinwoo kicks up a snowy mist to shroud his actions, kills the charging Kim Chul, and raises him as a member of his shadow army.

While Jinwoo still killed yet another human being, the anime’s version of events can be interpreted as an act of self-defense. “Can be” is a key phrase here—as someone who had not read the manhwa beforehand, it still hit me as a calculated decision by Jinwoo to murder someone and turn them into his pawn. But it was a slightly justified decision. The ability to argue it was self-defense is important because Jinwoo continues to evolve from a “baby-faced boy” to an “unrepentant killer.”

However, the manhwa’s version has Jinwoo kick a sword over to the barely-conscious Kim Chul, which many consider Jinwoo “provoking” or “orchestrating” Kim Chul’s attack. While this is true, I’d argue that anime Jinwoo more-or-less had the same idea. Plus, manhwa Kim Chul still screams, “I’m gonna kill you!” as he charges at Jinwoo. The only extra thing Jinwoo does in the manhwa is give him a weapon. Jinwoo could still argue self-defense.

It’s the difference between orchestrating an opportunity versus seizing one. As someone who watched the anime first and then went to the manhwa, I honestly feel the two versions are similar. Perhaps manhwa Jinwoo is more calculating, but the most important part remains true in both versions: Jinwoo killed a man and turned him into a useful tool.