Solo Leveling Hwang Dongsoo

Hwang Dongsoo (황동수) was a Korean-American S-Rank Hunter and the younger brother of Hwang Dongsuk.

Appearance

Hwang was a large and muscular man with black hair in a buzz cut. When agitated or using his powers, his eyes glowed bright red. During his trip to Korea, he wore a red t-shirt and gray jeans with a gold chain around his neck. While he was torturing Jinho, he wore black pants, a red undershirt, and a grayish-blue jacket with a flaming skull imprinted on the back.

Personality

Hwang was a selfish and murderous meathead with little respect for human life. He was consumed by overconfidence, as displayed by how he genuinely believed that he stood a chance against opponents who were obviously far stronger than him, such as Sung Il-Hwan and Sung Jinwoo, and never even considered the possibility of losing against either of them. Hwang was also a bully who enjoyed abusing his power and targeting those who were weaker than him, an attitude that he shared with his brother.

Despite his despicable personality, Hwang respected power above anything else, as displayed when he nervously backed off after Thomas Andre intimidated him into keeping his mouth shut with a show of force. He could also be cunning if he wanted to and deliberately abducted Jinho despite having been warned not to, as he knew that Thomas would step in on his behalf and let him evade the consequences of his crimes if Jinwoo tried to kill him.

History

At some point prior to the start of the main storyline, Hwang was offered an upgrade by Norma Selner and moved to America without a second thought, eventually joining the Scavenger Guild under Thomas Andre. This move caused the Koreans to consider him a traitor and his reputation plummeted back home in Korea as a result, with even his brother resenting him for his choice to abandon his homeland for money and power.

Dungeon & Lizards Arc

Several years after his defection to America, Hwang's brother was suddenly murdered in a raid gone wrong. Correctly deducing that either Jinwoo or Jinho, the two survivors of the raid, were responsible for his brother's death, Hwang then flew all the way to Korea to hunt them down and kill them.

Red Gate Arc

Upon arriving in Korea, Hwang was greeted by Woo Jinchul, who had been sent to pick him up and take him wherever he wished.^[1] Although he was surprised to see Woo, Hwang made it clear to him that he intended on avenging his brother's death and warned him against any attempts to stop him. Using his phone, Dongsoo then tracked down Jinwoo's location through his hunter's license and upon discovering that the latter was currently at a gate, he instructed Woo to drive there immediately.

Unfortunately for Hwang, by the time he caught up with Jinwoo, the gate that he turned out to be at was a red gate that had been bought out earlier by the White Tiger Guild. Believing that Jinwoo was as good as dead and that he had come all the way to Korea for nothing, Hwang nearly got into a fight with Baek Yoonho after deducing that Ahn Sangmin, one of his employees, knew something about Jinwoo and was trying to hide the details from him. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to get what he wanted without causing a scene, Hwang ultimately decided to give it up and returned to America the following day.^[2]

Jeju Island Arc

When word got out that the Korean government was launching a fourth raid on Jeju Island, Hwang sent a request to the Korean Hunters Association to allow him to join the Jeju Island Raid Party so that he could get his revenge on Jinwoo for killing his brother. Unfortunately for Hwang, the Association knew what he was really up to and subsequently denied his request, forcing him to remain behind in the States.^[3]

International Guild Conference Arc

When it was announced by the Bureau that Jinwoo would be representing Korea at the upcoming International Guild Conference, Thomas summoned Hwang to his office and warned him not to mess with Jinwoo. Although Hwang seemingly agreed to his request, in reality, he had already hatched a plan over the past month to get his revenge for his brother's death by targeting Jinho instead. As a result, while Jinwoo was away at the Bureau, Hwang kidnapped Jinho from his hotel and brought him to an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.^[4] However, thanks to his shadow soldiers, Jinwoo found Hwang rather easily and used Shadow Exchange to teleport to his location.^[5]

Despite being clearly outmatched, Hwang refused to back down and attempted to attack Jinwoo after the latter attacked him first and refused to answer his questions. Unfortunately, this amounted to nothing, as Jinwoo easily swatted his punches aside and brutally pummeled him in the ensuing skirmish. However, before Jinwoo could kill Hwang, Thomas arrived at the factory and ordered the former to let him go. However, Jinwoo refused and simply flung Hwang into the distance to deal with later.^[6]

After Jinwoo defeated Thomas, he killed Hwang and extracted his shadow, which he named Greed, to add to his army.^[7]

Epilogue

After the Rulers used the Cup of Reincarnation one last time on Jinwoo's request, this created a new timeline where humanity never learned of the existence of magic beasts. As a result, in this timeline, Hwang never became a hunter and was never killed by Jinwoo like he was in the original timeline.^[8]

Ragnarok

Several decades later in the revised timeline, Hwang would regain his powers and become a hunter once again. However, not long after this event, Hwang would become a servant of the Itarim, which eventually forced Il-Hwan to kill him for a second time and Jinwoo's son Suho to turn him into a shadow soldier once again.

Abilities

As one of the few S-Ranks whose powers were upgraded by Norma Selner, Hwang was one of the strongest hunters in his guild and much more powerful than most of his S-Rank counterparts back home in Korea.

• Enhanced Strength: Hwang possessed great physical strength, as displayed by how he was able to effortlessly break a steel pole just by slamming Jinho up against it.

Trivia

• In the Japanese version of the anime, Hwang Dongsoo's name is changed to Masato Ukyo (右京将人).