The following contains spoilers for the Solo Leveling manhwa.
Sung Jinwoo is far from a traditionally heroic character in the Solo Leveling manhwa. He’s often akin to a dark antihero who saves the day due to its alignment with his own personal values, but who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and even commit morally questionable acts to those he deems deplorable or antithetical to his personal brand of justice. The anime has made an attempt to humanize Jinwoo a bit more, making him feel more sympathetic amid his questionable deeds and regrettable actions. Along those same lines, one character who veers more toward the evil side of the spectrum emerges as an unlikely hero during one of Solo Leveling’s most memorable arcs in place of Jinwoo himself.
The Jeju Island Raid is a great story arc due to its intriguing and shocking political plot twists. Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode 8, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out”, finally indicated the start of negotiations regarding the Jeju Raid, as Japan and Korea join forces to defeat a common enemy. While the villains of the raid are always the mutant ants of the S-Rank Gate on Jeju, another major villain is revealed half-way through that paints the conflict in a new, more sinister light. By the end of it, the ants don’t seem so bad anymore, and by some degree of measure, one of them even becomes a hero.
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The Ant King Never Really Has Evil Intentions
Beru’s Motivations Were Always Simple, Even as a Magic Beast
When the mission gets underway on Jeju Island, the goal is for the S-Rank Korean raid party to defeat the Ant Queen to prevent her from giving birth to more ants. The intent is that the Japanese and Korean Hunters can eventually kill the remaining ants over time, and killing the Queen will prevent anymore from spawning. At first, the mission goes fairly smoothly. Japan’s role in the mission to draw the majority of the ants away from where the Queen rests leaves a clear path for the Korean Hunters to kill the boss. The plan is actually a success, but they never accounted for Queen’s ultimate creation: the Ant King.
Since Japan drew most of the ants away by purposely increasing their mana levels, the Ant King was first drawn to them along with the rest of the ants. The first time the Ant King is seen, he slays a full group of the Draw Sword Guild’s S Rank Hunters with extreme ease. Even in doing this, the Ant King has one goal in mind: to protect his Queen. When the Korean raid party finally reaches the Queen and eventually kills her, the Ant King immediately leaves the island where the Japanese Hunters are located and rushes to the ant’s den. The Ant King was born for the sole purpose of protecting his Queen with overwhelming strength, and he lives out the purpose throughout the Jeju Island Raid arc.
I… was born stronger than anyone. I stand above everything and devour everything. I level up continuously. I am the King.
– The Ant King (Beru)
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After the Queen is killed, however, the King no longer can serve the purpose of protecting his Queen – so he does the only other thing he knows. He asserts his dominance as the strongest by trying to seek out the most powerful of the humans. For the Ant King, being king means having the most power. When he seeks out the strongest humans he can sense – whether that be Goto Ryuji or Sung Jinwoo, the King always asks them “are you the King of the humans?” In doing this, the Ant King is merely seeking out beings equivalent to his strength, which is a major part of why he was created to begin with.
Interestingly, prior to the Jeju Island Raid, the Ant Queen is given an almost humanizing moment of development. Isolated on the island, her ants have begun to suffer from starvation. With nothing to eat, her children had to resort to eating each other for survival. In order to lead her Queendom to a sustainable future, the Queen gave birth to the Ant King. Her hope was that this singular leader would be a mighty enough soldier to lead her subjects to survival. In acting in opposition to the well-being of humanity, the Ant King is set up as a villain. But as a species of creature that simply seeks to survive and evolve as any animal does, the Ant King is by no means sadistic or evil in nature.
The Ant King Takes Down the True Villain of Jeju Island
Goto Ryuji is First Introduced in Solo Leveling Anime Episode 20, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out”
Even before the Jeju Island Raid takes place, the Ants of the island are set up as the main villains of the arc. First, the ants are Magic Beasts, immediately situating them as antagonists. Additionally, the entire build-up of the arc repeatedly refers to the rapid rate of the ants’ mutation as the driving factor behind the necessity of this raid. In the anime specifically, repeated flashbacks to the third Jeju Island Raid are used to raise the stakes of this upcoming conflict, showing the trauma the Hunters faced at the hands of the ants. It does a great job of misdirecting the viewer from the true villain of the arc, the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
While the enemies of the South Korean S Rank Hunters are always the mutant Ants, the secret villains of the Jeju Raid are actually Japan’s strongest S Rank Hunter, Goto Ryuji, and the leader of the Japanese Hunter’s Association, Matsumoto Shigeo. The Queen of the ants at Jeju is even slain fairly early on in the conflict, effectively completing the mission. However, that’s only a ruse. Goto Ryuji’s true hidden mission is to allow the remaining ants to converge on the Korean S Rank Hunters while they’re in the ants’ den, leading to some or all of their deaths and deaths significantly weakening the political power of South Korea as a result. Given this plan, the ants are only minor antagonists in hindsight, as they only serve as the mindless minions of an intelligent guiding force which sought to use them for nefarious means.
Beru is arisen as a General Rank Soldier in Jinwoo’s army, and can communicate using human speech freely.
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Luckily, the South Korean Hunters have an inadvertent ally. Upon the death of the Queen, the Ant King returns to the den with every intention of killing the Korean Hunters there. While he does succeed in mortally wounding Cha Haein and killing Min Byunggun, his attention is soon drawn away by a greater threat nearby – that of Goto Ryuji. Sensing Goto’s aura, the Ant King abandons the remaining Hunters and targets Ryuji instead, killing him with unbelievable speed. The Ant King slays the entirety of the Japanese Hunters, rendering their mission a failure, actually putting Japan in a worse political position than Korea by the conclusion of the Raid.
Because the Ant King is the one who technically defeats the major hidden antagonist of the Jeju Raid, he’s actually the true hero. Even before Jinwoo arrives in the scene, the major antagonist of the Raid has already been dealt with. While it’s arguable the leader of the Japanese Hunter’s Association, Matsumoto Shigeo, is the true mastermind of the operation, the fact Japan’s strongest Hunter is killed leaves him with far less political power than by default. While inadvertent, the Ant King ends up the one who foils the evil plans of the Japanese Hunter’s Association to gain more influence than South Korea. Even if all of Korea’s S Ranks had been killed by the Ant King, Japan would have no one left to stop him from destroying their own country as well.
The Ant King Becomes One of Solo Leveling’s Most Beloved Heroes After Jeju
Beru is One of Jinwoo’s Best and Strongest Shadow Soldiers
The Ant King may emerge as a hero of sorts, but he’s a tragic one at best. In the end, the Ant King meets his demise at the hand of Jinwoo, and deservedly so. While the Ant King did some good in defeating the villain behind the scenes, he never did so intentionally. The Ant King only sought to defeat the strongest foes possible, and devour them to gain their knowledge and powers. Even though the Ant King had a degree of intelligence, he was misguided by his belief in raw power, as it led to his downfall. However, it was in death that the Ant King’s true story of heroism began.
After being defeated and killed in battle by Jinwoo, the Ant King is risen as a Shadow Soldier by the name of Beru. Given that the Ant King was easily Jinwoo’s toughest opponent yet in life, it makes sense that he would also be Jinwoo’s strongest Shadow Soldier throughout the vast majority of Solo Leveling from that point on. Not only is Beru immensely powerful, he’s also one of Jinwoo’s most loyal and trusted servants. And that’s saying a lot considering every single member of Jinwoo’s army is forcibly bound to act in absolute loyalty to its master. For Beru, though, it extends even beyond that.
Within my body now… there is overwhelming joy. I will follow my master alone… for eternity. My King…
– Beru
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Beru’s history as the loyal Ant King, guardian of the Queen, likely contributes to how loyal a servant of Jinwoo he becomes. Loyalty is in Beru’s very nature, long before he becomes a member of the Shadow Army. On top of that, Beru recognized Jinwoo as the King of the Humans even before being risen as his soldier. Unlike a soldier like Iron, who was forced into his role, it’s likely Beru would’ve already embraced Jinwoo as his superior had Jinwoo not killed him first. It’s not just his loyalty which makes Beru so valuable as a Soldier, though. As the Ant King, Beru was highly intelligent and even capable of human speech even before death. Jinwoo trusts Beru’s power so strongly, he even sends him into Raids as the leader without Jinwoo being present, as seen during the Ahjin Guild Arc.
Beru later goes on to become a Marshal of Sung Jinwoo’s Shadow Army, making him second in command only under Bellion, the Grand Marshal who originally served under the first Shadow Monarch. While Sung Jinwoo is the main character and hero of Solo Leveling, he won’t be the hero that most manhwa readers tune into the Jeju Island Raid to see. Instead, the real star of the arc will be Beru, who gets his introduction as the Ant King. Beru is easily one of the most popular heroes in Solo Leveling, and even in life before becoming a Shadow Soldier, he was already a hero during the Jeju Island Raid.
Solo Leveling Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
