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 a cruel smile and 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, 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 the 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 home country 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

Unfortunately for Hwang, by the time he finally caught up to Jinwoo, the latter was stuck inside a Red Gate that had been bought out by the White Tiger Guild. Believing that Jinwoo was as good as dead and that he had came all the way to Korea for nothing, Hwang nearly got into a fight with Baek after deducing that one of his employees knew something about Jinwoo and refused to spill. 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 very next day.

### 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.

### 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. However, thanks to his shadow soldiers, Jinwoo found Hwang rather easily and used **Shadow Exchange** to teleport to his location.

Despite being clearly outmatched, Hwang refused to back down and attempted to attack Jinwoo when 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. Before Jinwoo could kill Hwang, the latter was seemingly saved by Thomas, who arrived at the factory shortly afterwards and ordered Jinwoo to let him go. However, Jinwoo refused and simply flung Hwang into the distance to deal with later.

After Jinwoo defeated Thomas, he killed Hwang and extracted his shadow, which he named **Greed**, to add to his army.

### 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 thus was never killed by Jinwoo in battle.

## 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 was obviously much more powerful than most of his S-Rank counterparts back home in Korea.

* **Enhanced Strength:** Hwang was able to effortlessly break a steel pole just by slamming Jinho up against it.
* **Enhanced Durability:** Hwang was able to get back up and continue fighting back even after Jinwoo brutally overpowered him.

## References

1. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 83
2. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 143
3. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 144
4. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 145
5. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 147
6. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 179