Did Jinwoo actually have a choice during the job change arc?

A constant theme that boils below the surface of Solo department is the question of how much agency or choice Jinwoo has in its decisions. The original promise of the system in Solo department Is a way for Jinwoo to enjoy tremendous freedom over other hunters. Unlike the rest of humanity, Jinwoo can even out its abilities and become stronger. This opportunity is presented to Jinwoo in the form of video game status Windows, where he is allowed to assign skill points, performs assignments and chooses his equipment and eventually his class under Job Change Arc.

But when we find out more about the origin and purpose of the system, it questions Jinwoo's agency as the main character. Perhaps this point is best underlined by Jinwoos Job Change Quest and how he ends with a job that may have been inevitable from the beginning.

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Job change arc

When Jinwoo enters the Dungeon instance for Job Change Quest, he is greeted by a variety of classes among the enemies. He gets to experience the durability of armored knights, the magical usefulness of Mages and murderers using stealth. Along with testing its combat ability, this diversity of enemies also allows Jinwoo to see the ability in its potential new class in action.

“Since there are different types of monsters, I have to use different statistics for each of them. Strength for knights, murderers, agility for archer and vitality for magicians” -Sung Jinwoo in Chapter 38 in Manhwa.

After defeating the Knight commander Igris in Boss Room, Jinwoo's real evaluation begins. A system window promises that how long he survives against seemingly endless enemies will determine which job options he will have to choose from.

“The longer you last, the more points you can collect that will place you in a higher job.” -The system window in Chapter 41.

Jinwoo is struggling a lot to survive for more than a few minutes, but is fortunately rescued by the penalty zone because he forgot to do his daily assignments earlier. After being allowed to heal and equip his articles properly, he returns to Job Change Quest with the extra bonus time he spent safely away from the one added to his point. Although he expects the system to give him class selection based on his statistics or behavior, he is immediately awarded the Necromancer class, which surprises him. He is given an alternative to refuse the job, which he originally does. But as we learn later, his job choices may have played no role, and he would have ended with the same abilities anyway.

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A false choice

Would he always have ended up as a shadow monarch?

After rejecting its Necromancer class, the system tries to tempt Jinwoo to rethink by saying that it is a “hidden” class and the class itself will be upgraded to Shadow Monarch because of his performance. But when we learn later, the power of the system comes from a unit called Shadow Monarch, which means that Jinwoo's forces could only have ended up as one thing in the end. Although he was advertised as a hidden class, Jinwoo's transformation into a shadow monarch was probably his only alternative as he continued to level up.

It seems that the prerequisite behind Job Change Quest was nothing more than to put the bandage to motivate Jinwoo to get into the dungeon and become stronger in the first place. In fact, the system, despite threatening Jinwoo sometimes, actually seems to be more interested in protecting him and seeing him growing as strongly as possible. Although the story does not stop going this way, it is interesting to think about what would happen if Jinwoo completely rejected shade power plants. Would the system cut him because he did not follow the plan? Or would Jinwoo's strong in any way have changed the basic aspects of his powers to let him do something different? Maybe Jinwoo would have inherited the forces in other classes that the system suggested he would do, but the ultimate force in the shadow monarch would remain locked until he was ready for it. It is possible that the system, if it was put on the fact that Jinwoo was the ship, can threaten him with death if he did not choose the Necromancer class.

Although Jinwoo breaks out of the normal rules for hunters to create his own way, the way the system works that much of his path has already been chosen for him. This idea permeates the story of Solo departmentraises interesting questions about Jinwoo's agency and the extent of free will in the world.

Solo department Can be streamed on crunchyroll and Amazon.

Solo department

Release date

January 7, 2024

Board members

Shunsuke Nakashige

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  Taito ban

  Shun mizushino (voice)

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  Gäva Nakamura

  Kenta Morobishi (Voice)