Summary
- Sung Jin-Woo’s ability to speak monster tongue is a unique skill that gives him an advantage in battles.
- Jin-Woo discovers his fluency in the monster language in Season 2, Episode 2, surprising both allies and enemies.
- Fans have different theories about Jin-Woo’s ability to speak monster tongue, including possible connections to his father or the System.
In Solo Leveling, Sung Jin-Woo is a one-of-a-kind hunter who possesses tremendous strength and abilities that transcend human understanding. One of his abilities that intrigued a lot of characters, including the denizens themselves, is his surprising fluency in monster tongue. It’s almost as if Jin-Woo were a local of the chaos world, as he can easily understand them. So, how does this become possible for Jin-Woo?
In the early events of Solo Leveling, no one could communicate with the monsters, let alone speak their language. Not everyone is aware that monsters possess enough intelligence to converse among themselves. It’s likely because humans see magical beasts only as intruders they need to eliminate to protect the world. They never tried to talk with the magical beasts—until Jin-Woo became a player in the system.
Related
Solo Leveling: How Many Humans Did Jin-Woo Kill?
Sung Jin-Woo doesn’t just take on monsters and dungeon bosses. How many humans has he taken down?
The First Time Jin-Woo Talked to a Monster
Jin-Woo’s Encounter with Baruka
In Solo Leveling season 2, episode 2, “I Suppose You Aren’t Aware,” Sung Jin-Woo finally discovers he can understand and speak a monster’s language. He encounters Baruka, the leader of the ice elves and the boss of the red gate, who calls him and the rest of the hunters “trash.” Naturally, Jin-Woo takes offense, confronting Baruka and unconsciously using their language. While the conversation with Baruka seems normal to Jin-Woo, the rest of the hunters are unable to understand a single word at all.
“Due to your powerful energy, hiding is pointless.”—Sung Jin-Woo to Baruka
Park Hee-Jin asks whether Jin-Woo can speak the monster language, much to the latter’s surprise. At that point, Jin-Woo comes up with a possible reason for his sudden fluency in the monster tongue. He instantly thought about the system and its features, which possibly allowed him to converse with Baruka. It was just a guess, but given the many miracles that the system has created for him, it seems like the best possible reason.
Because Jin-Woo is fluent in monster tongue, he can learn about the voices inside the heads of the magical beasts that force them to kill humans. But interestingly, Baruka can’t hear the mysterious voice when he faces Jin-Woo, leading him to think that Jin-Woo is not human at all and is possibly one of them.
This section contains spoilers from the Solo Leveling manhwa.
How Can Jin-Woo Understand Monsters?
Theories Explored
Before the Solo Leveling manhwa ended, many fans had a lot of theories in mind about Jin-Woo’s ability to understand monsters. Some believed that Jin-Woo was half-human and half-monster since he was the only one who could speak the monster tongue fluently. They thought that Jin-Woo’s father, Sung Il-Hwan, was likely a monster who came to Earth and fell in love with Park Kyung-Hye, which could probably explain why Baruka told Jin-Woo that he was not one of the humans.
Meanwhile, some fans think that Jin-Woo’s fluency was likely a passive skill granted by the system. Perhaps Jin-Woo had forgotten about this skill since he was so focused on allocating his stats while gaining levels one after another. Many also theorized that Jin-Woo’s shadow extraction skill had something to do with this. They believed that Jin-Woo naturally learned the language after raising shadows that possessed knowledge of the monster language.
“Huh? How is conversation possible?”—Sung Jin-Woo
Others believe that it had something to do with Jin-Woo’s association with the Shadow Monarch. Since the system was preparing Jin-Woo’s body for the Shadow Monarch’s descent, it was inevitable for him to learn monster language. After all, the Shadow Monarch can understand monsters, allowing him to talk with his shadows and give commands to them.
Jin-Woo Thinks It’s Because of the System
On the flip side, Jin-Woo had already made some assumptions in his head. He related his fluency to the system and possibly one of its features. It’s as if the system had an automatic translation feature that allows Jin-Woo to converse with monsters, much like how RPG gamers level up and come to a point where they can understand different kinds of languages.
The funny thing is that Sung Jin-Woo still needs a translator to communicate with humans of foreign nationalities. Since the system was designed by the architect to primarily help the Shadow Monarch find a worthy vessel, there’s a huge chance that it doesn’t include automatic translations of foreign human languages. And because of this, fans joke about the system’s patch not including an update to its translation features.
“Is this also an effect of the system?”—Sung Jin-Woo
All in all, Sung Jin-Woo’s fluency in monster language is one of his most essential skills, though it’s not exactly the most crucial part of his outrageous powers. Not only is Jin-Woo able to understand his enemies, but he can also converse with his allies. It gives him a lot of advantages in battles, further cementing him as the ultimate or the strongest hunter in Solo Leveling.
- Release Date
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January 7, 2024
- Directors
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Shunsuke Nakashige
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Taito Ban
Shun Mizushino (voice)
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Genta Nakamura
Kenta Morobishi (voice)
