Episode 4: I Gotta Get Stronger

“	With my current self... I'm going to kill you! Die!	”
—Sung Jinwoo

Overview

Gallery

I Gotta Get Stronger
Season	Season 1
Episode	4
Air Date	January 27th, 2024 (Japanese) February 10th, 2024 (English)
Adapted From	Chapter 14 - Chapter 17 WB Chapter 13 - Chapter 16 NV
Arc	Instant Dungeon Arc
Credits
Studio	A-1 Pictures
Writer	Shingo Irie
Director	Tōru Hamazaki
Music
Opening Theme	SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] : TOMORROW X TOGETHER - LEveL
Ending Theme	krage - request
Episode Guide
Previous	Episode 3
Next	Episode 5

I Gotta Get Stronger is the 4th episode of the Solo Leveling anime series.

Synopsis

Having entered the instance dungeon located inside the subway, Jinwoo levels up time and time again by fighting waves of magic beasts. As he gradually makes his way forward, he finds a long stairway leading deeper underground.

Key Points

• Jinwoo continuing his battles in the instance dungeon.
• Jinwoo slowly learning how the system works as he begins to level up. His stats increase and his wounds are healed with each new level.
• Jinwoo versus Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka. This is Jinwoo's very first solo boss fight.
• A dungeon break, which is what happens when a dungeon isn’t cleared in time. This means the magic beasts can leave the dungeon and enter our world.

Summary

In despair of facing the wolf magic beast that appeared abruptly after having just defeated a bunch of goblins with his dagger now broken, Jinwoo discovers that he has gained impressive agility that allowed him to dodge the steel-fanged wolf. He takes the courage to fight back, but to more of his surprise, he is now capable of sending a powerful blow to the magic beast, sending it flying against the wall. However, Jinwoo knows that he will not be able to take down the animal barehand. He tries to flee as the beast chases him and thinks for a weapon to use. He discovers that he has access to his inventory provided by the System, allowing him to take out the sword that he got at the Double Dungeon that was left by Kim Sangshik to kill the wolf. Two more steel-fanged wolves appears. Jinwoo tries to swing the sword at one of them, but is stopped by the beast's jaw. He inputs more force into his weapon, dispatching the wolf. The second wolf, hesitating to attack, flees.

Now alone again, Jinwoo checks for his stats and acquires items instead of magic gems, which he uses to sell to obtain currency in the program. Now thinking how to defeat the boss of this dungeon, Jinwoo spots countless of more Steel-Fanged Raikans that emerged out of the dark. Determined by courage, Jinwoo rushes to dispatch more of the wolves and coming out victorious, slaughtering all of the beasts. He checks his inventory and grabs one of the items he just acquired, a teleportation stone before walking down into the hallway of the dungeon.

Outside, Lee Joohee picks up a call from the Hunters Association notifying her that the gate had a dungeon break. She feels guilty about rejecting their request and agrees to participate as she listens to the person on the phone saying that they are lacking healers.

Back in the Instance Dungeon, Jinwoo realizes he has grown stronger, now understanding that the colors of the magic beasts' titles reflect their strength relative to his own. WHITE for low, ORANGE for similar level, and RED for higher level than him. Despite his doubts about facing the dungeon's boss, he bravely descends the stairs he encounters. Initially greeted by silence in an expansive sewer, he soon detects water waves rushing towards him, signaling an imminent threat before being slammed against the wall. Recovering, he faces the dungeon boss, the snake magical beast known as Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka.

Taking a brief moment to examine the appearance of the enemy, he tries to strike a blow with his blade with no result of damage. Jinwoo is sent into a body of water water nearby by the snake's tail, where he barely dodges its head. Emerging to the surface, he barely dodges a train that is thrown onto him. Standing up to proceed with the battle, a flashback appears of Jinwoo's conversation with Song Chi-Yul telling him that he has been nicknamed as the weakest hunter and encourages him to work harder to prove the wrong.

Kasaka relentlessly dominates the battle, propelling Jinwoo through a wall with its formidable strength. Despite multiple attempts to penetrate the snake's scales with his broken sword, Jinwoo ultimately abandons the weapon, opting instead to leverage the enhanced strength from his heightened stats. With his own blood streaming down his face, he grapples with the neck of the snake. He intensifies his grip, seizing the snake's scale armor as the creature thrashes wildly. Through sheer force, Jinwoo eventually manages to exert enough pressure to kill the beast. He acquires the Kasaka's Venom Fang, a dagger made from the boss's fangs. The snake's corpse along with the dungeon disappears, reverting the Instant Dungeon back into the Hapjeong Subway Station.

As he takes the stair to exit the dungeon, he is spotted by a soldier who scolds him for being here before realizing that he is a hunter and guide him out of the site. As he follows the soldier, he asks him if magic beasts have got out after a dungeon break. The man replies that most of them were killed with a giant one left, which is something that Jinwoo could feel and detect its location as a result of his enhanced senses granted by the System.

The massive blue Stone Golem is being fought by a group of hastily assembled E and D rank hunters, struggling to even breach its defenses. Behind a military barricade, civilians, including Jinwoo, watch the scene unfold and take pictures. The onlookers appear almost to taunt the hunters, displaying a mix of annoyance and disdain towards the unfolding dungeon break.

The hunters celebrate the defeat of the golem.

Jinwoo quickly realizes the hunters are outmatched by the beast and notices Joohee among them, struggling with her healing magic due to the trauma from the Double Dungeon. Recognizing the boss as merely D-Rank, lower than the C-Rank Fanged Kasaka he recently defeated, Jinwoo decides to intervene. He readies to throw the broken sword from Kim Sangshik that he wielded against the previous boss. As the hunters teeter on the brink of defeat, Jinwoo's sword pierces the golem eye and defenses, turning the tide and enabling the hunters to vanquish the monster.

The Tanker among the hunters is puzzled by the sudden breach in the golem's defenses, given that their previous attacks had been futile. Spotting a broken sword amidst the debris, he inquires of a nearby soldier about who launched the sword that struck the golem. The soldier responds that it was the work of an unidentified hunter from the back, who has since disappeared. Astonished by the immense power behind the act, the Tanker is left speechless, wondering if it was a highly ranked hunter. Meanwhile, Jinwoo, having already departed from the scene, muses that the golem might have been weakened before his sword throw.

Joohee catches a glimpse of him in an alley and wonders if he was the one responsible.

Appearance

In order of appearance by category:

Humans

• Sung Jinwoo
• Park Kyung-Hye (Flashback)
• Sung Jinah (Flashback)
• Lee Joohee
• Song Chi-Yul (Flashback)
• Ra Hyeyoung (Flashback)
• Kang Jeongho (Flashback)
• Kim Sangshik (Flashback)
• Hastily-Assembled Hunter Team

Magic Beasts

• Steel-Fanged Lycans
• Statue of God (Flashback)
• Razor-Clawed Briga (Debut)
• Black-Shadow Razan (Debut)
• "King of the Swamp" Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka (Debut)
• Stone Golem (Debut)

Locations

• Hapjeong Subway Station Instance Dungeon.

Items

• Kim Sangshik's Sword (Broken/Thrown)
• Lycan Fang (x34)- "A lycan's large, sharp fang. It can be sold in the shop."
• Title: Wolf Assassin
• Worn Daggers (x2)
• Traveler's cloak
• Teleportation Stone
• Kasaka's Venom Fang
• Kasaka's Venom Gland

Anime & Manhwa Differences

• General Differences
• Added in Anime
• Cut from Anime

• Jinwoo brought a dagger to the Instance Dungeon, while in the Manhwa he was initially unarmed.
• The titles of the Lycans are RED when first met, while in the Manhwa, they are WHITE.
• Title: Wolf Slayer changed to Title: Wolf Assassin.
• Flashback of Song Chi-Yul consoling Jinwoo for being known as the "The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind", while in the Manhwa, he lets Jinwoo know that other hunters are calling him that behind his back and Jinwoo learns of it for the first time.
• Lee Joohee's focus on her healing spell breaks during the Stone Golem battle. In the Manhwa she remains concentrated on the spell.
• After the Stone Golem battle, Lee Joohee sees Jinwoo walking away. This marks their first interaction since the Double Dungeon in the Manhwa, but not in the anime.

Flashback of Jinwoo's reawakening, his family, and the double dungeon as he is about to fight the pack of Lycan.

Teasers of the unnamed gate and a scene where Lee Joohee is summoned for the dungeon break.

Jinwoo's face and forehead are smeared with blood during the fight with Kasaka.

Flashback of Jinwoo being too poor to purchase weapons, and his original dagger breaking.

In the Manhwa, doctors worry about Jinwoo's prolonged absence from the Hunter Hospital, while in the anime, he's already checked out.

Trivia

• Director Shunsuke Nakashige disclosed that Taito Ban, the Japanese voice actor for Sung Jinwoo, coughed up blood while recording lines for the fight scene with Kasaka. This incident was also confirmed by Jinwoo's English voice actor, Aleks Le, in an IGN interview.