Review
Given that Sung Jinwoo is the protagonist of Solo Leveling, it’s no surprise that he’s highly favored when it comes to the author and fans of the incredibly successful anime. But the next contender that Solo Leveling’s creator deems his next favorite character is none other than the B-Class assassin, Kang Taeshik.
Solo Leveling is cast with a wide range of characters that play a part in the narrative, either as a close associate of our main lead, Jinwoo, or a prominent Hunter that helps expand the world lore just a little bit more through their background missions or specialty in combat. Taeshik falls into one of these latter characters, where he doesn’t become a close associate of Jinwoo, but he does expand the viewer’s knowledge of Hunter types by introducing the Assassin Class.
Kang Taeshik is Solo Leveling Creator's Next Favorite Character After Jinwoo
“He Was Enjoyable to Write” Chugong Opens Up About Taeshik’s Role
Obviously, Jinwoo remains Chugong’s favorite character in Solo Leveling, but if he were to place him in a “rank zero” arrangement, where no one could come close to even toppling his importance, then the next person he had the most enjoyment writing was Kang Taeshik. We meet the assassin quite early in the anime as he joins Woo Jinchul in his assessment of Jinwoo in the hospital after he was recovered from the double dungeon. Although he didn’t play too large of a role, it wasn’t the last time the audience would see him.
Taeshik returns later in Episode #9, “You’ve Been Hiding Your Skills”, playing a larger role as an overseer for the convicts that are hired for a mission Jinwoo and his old companions volunteer for. Over the course of the dungeon, it’s revealed that Taeshik was bribed to eliminate the rogue Hunters, but his blades extend to more than just the jailbirds, also turning to members of Jinwoo’s party. The Assassin slowly unleashes a twisted side where his position of power allows him to slay whoever he wants, finding no issue with targeting innocents.
Taeshik’s sudden personality change comes as a complete shock, whereas he began as a cool and level-headed lackey merely running out the errands of his job to a thrillseeker, hunting down the pesky convicts, and playing around with Jinwoo. At first, he could easily trick viewers into thinking that he took the father up on his bribe out of the goodness of his heart, but that’s quickly disproved after attacking the other party members. He makes for an interesting character, who was surprisingly easy to write, according to Chugong.
«He was enjoyable to write, and his story had a satisfying conclusion. Rather, I felt it was a shame that his screen time was too short. It would have been nice if he could have appeared in more episodes. When the manhwa artist drew Kang Taeshik so much cooler than I had imagined, I secretly rejoiced and sang.»
As much as it came as a surprise to viewers, Chugong has an easy time making such a wildcard character, elaborating that while he was unpredictable, he also had rather simple and clear motives that made it a breeze to write him into the story. The only part where he felt he missed out was how little time Solo Leveling actually gave Taeshik, since these two parts in the story were his only time in the spotlight.
Could Fans See More of Kang Taeshik in Later Installments?
Chugong Expresses Interest in Revisting His Favorite Character in a Sequel
In addition to talking about Taeshik’s role in the story and how his personality unraveled over the episode, Chugong also goes to state that he wishes he could explore more of his background in future iterations of Solo Leveling. While he’s gone on to cover a couple of other characters in side stories, such as the Hwang brothers, the creator never got the chance to come back around to the topic of Kang Taeshik, his background, and how his circumstances may have led him to a harsh, more dangerous path fans see him on during the events of the manhwa and anime.
The Hwang brothers were easy to explore, given the unfortunate fate of the elder brother at the hands of Jinwoo, thus able to elaborate on Hwang Dongsoo’s later revenge. Taeshik may be difficult to return to, but Chugong has expressed his interest in delving further into his story, perhaps in a sequel. Given that the Assassin’s arrival not only birthed the theory of what type of Hunter Jinwoo could be, but what type of people exist in the world of Solo Leveling, it’d be interesting to find out what motives, if any, did he have to act the way he did in episode #9.
Source: Chugong Interview Translated
