Solo Leveling: Why did the system force Sung Jin-Woo to kill his fellow Hunters? Explained

Episode 5 of the Solo Leveling anime saw Sung Jin-Woo join a raid party for a C-Rank Dungeon raid. In a shocking turn of events, the leader of the party, Hwang Dong-Suk, and the rest of the members ended up betraying Jin-Woo and a D-Rank Hunter, Yoo Jin-Ho, as they left them to die in the Boss Chamber.

That said, Solo Leveling episode 6 saw Jin-Woo completely turn the tide. He defeated the Boss of the Dungeon all by himself and ended up killing Jin-Ho and his party members who betrayed him. While some may deem killing his fellow Hunters a bit too excessive, the System actually ordered Jin-Woo to carry out the task.

---

Solo Leveling: Explaining the reason behind the System forcing Sung Jin-Woo to kill Hwang Dong-Suk and his fellow Hunters

Sung Jin-Woo as seen in Solo Leveling episode 6 (Image via A-1 Pictures)

Solo Leveling episode 5 ended on a cliffhanger, with Sung Jin-Woo declaring that he would defeat the Dungeon Boss all by himself. He was left inside the Boss Chamber along with Yoo Jin-Ho, a D-Rank Hunter who tried to protect Jin-Woo from danger since he believed the latter was a mere E-Rank Hunter with no special abilities.

Episode 6 of the Solo Leveling anime started off with the fight between Jin-Woo and the Dungeon Boss, who proved to be one of the former's toughest opponents till now. However, Jin-Woo defeated the Boss, after which he even got some magic crystals from his opponent's corpse.

Suddenly, Hwang Dwang-Suk and his comrades showed up, who were visibly surprised to find Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho still alive. Seeing that the Boss was dead, they assumed that Jin-Ho was the one who killed it. As such, they offered to let him join their group on the condition that he had to kill Jin-Woo.

Sung Jin-Woo fighting the Dungeon Boss in Solo Leveling episode 6 (image via A-1 Pictures)

However, Jin-Ho decided to side with Jin-Woo since the latter saved his life a few moments ago and raised his sword against his raid party members. Dwang-Suk did not want to drag it out and ordered his teammates to kill the two Hunters who opposed them.

All of a sudden, Jin-Woo got a notification from the System. He was shocked to see that the System had suddenly issued an Emergency Quest, which declared that there were people around him who intended to murder him.

As such, it gave Jin-Woo the task of slaying them first to ensure his safety. The System also issued a warning stating that if the Emergency Quest was not completed, the penalty would cause Jin-Woo's heart to stop.

Sung Jin-Woo takes down Hwang Dong-Suk (Image via A-1 Pictures)

Immediately after that, one of the magic users of the raid party used his attack to send Jin-Woo flying. As the other members assumed that Jin-Woo had died from the attack, the latter lay in a pile of rubble, thinking back to all those times when he kept entering one Dungeon after the other despite all the injuries he suffered.

He realized that a Dungeon was not his safe space; instead, it was a battlefield that focused on the survival of the fittest more than anything else.

After coming to terms with the fact that he had no choice but to obey the System, Jin-Woo became dead-set on achieving his objective - he had to take advantage of the second chance that the System gave him and live, only this time he would have to murder people in cold blood in order to do so.

Sung Jin-Woo kills all of his raid party members in Solo Leveling episode 6 (Image via A-1 Pictures)

He also realized that the System demanded a stronger version of him, which would require him to abandon all of his past beliefs and morals that had kept him morally upright.

Despite being his first time facing off against his fellow Hunters, Jin-Woo showed no mercy to any raid party members. He proceeded to kill all of them in cold blood, saving Dong-Suk for the last. As the latter tried to beg for his life, Jin-Woo paid no heed to his cries for help and decapitated him.

Regardless of the crime he had just committed, Jin-Woo was not worried. In fact, he displayed a calm and composed demeanor, partly due to a saying previously stated - what happens inside a Dungeon stays inside a Dungeon.

---

Final thoughts

Following his actions in Solo Leveling episode 6, Sung Jin-Woo has now headed down a dark path from where there is no coming back. Although initially hesitant, he soon realized that he would need to kill his enemies if he wanted to avoid death himself.

While it can be said that the System did force Jin-Woo to commit murder, at that point in time, he certainly did not have many options left at his disposal.