SP1 - A Hunter Rises

Source: Crunchyroll
Translator:
Editor:
Timer:
QC:
(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
SIGN    Solo Leveling: Chapter 1
[00:21] ---
    I find that it's a piece that
    evokes emotions in everyone.
[00:26] ---
    It can be said that it's the
    most successful Korean webtoon.
[00:32] ---
    It's the kind of story everyone dreams of.
[00:36] ---
    "We have to do it as a webtoon at all costs."
[00:44] ---
    It's a great work worth rereading
    when you're bored.
[00:49] ---
    This is why Solo Leveling is very cool.
[00:54] ---
    It's no exaggeration
    to say that Solo Leveling
[00:59] ---
    pioneered the international webtoon market.
[01:02] ---
    My coworkers instantly told me,
    like, "You have to get into this."
[01:09] ---
    When the animation arrives,
[01:12] ---
    it will truly be the
    completion of this universe.
[01:39] ---
    Solo Leveling is a story about resilience,
    perseverance, and fighting for good,
[01:47] ---
    and I think that are the three themes
    that we get to see a lot of the time
[01:51] ---
    through the main character Jinwoo.
[02:02] ---
    Sung Jinwoo started off as
    a young and weak character,
[02:06] ---
    but his personality changed with time,
    which I felt was unique.
[02:13] ---
    On Kakao Page it said that
    Solo Leveling is a masterpiece
[02:17] ---
    and all my friends around my age
    were reading it.
[02:20] ---
    My name is Kim Young-Jo,
    and I live in Seoul.
[02:39] ---
    D&C Media was founded in 2002.
[02:42] ---
    We produce web novels, webtoons,
    manhwas, and merchandise
[02:47] ---
    and distribute them in Korea and overseas.
[02:54] ---
    Hello, I am Choi Wong-Young,
    CEO of D&C Media.
[03:05] ---
    What's most important for us is
    good novels and webtoon authors.
[03:12] ---
    Our skilled team's task
    is to find those webtoon authors.
[03:20] ---
    Aspiring authors can send publishers
    their manuscript via mail or directly.
[03:32] ---
    Those manuscripts will be given to the editors,
    which we nowadays call PDs.
[03:40] ---
    A team of those producers will review
    the manuscripts and rate their potential.
[03:49] ---
    Afterwards the team decides
    whether or not they will reach out to an author.
[04:01] ---
    Usually, authors use their works
    to express their thoughts.
[04:16] ---
    They feel lost when having to directly interact
    with their readers, so they tend to avoid it.
[04:26] ---
    For example, when they are public officials.
[04:32] ---
    Those tend to hide themselves and
    prefer communicating via their work.
[04:41] ---
    They don't like the spotlight.
[04:46] ---
    I think, with Solo Leveling,
    we were lucky in many ways.
[04:54] ---
    Our first contact with the author Chugong
    was on an online platform—
[04:58] ---
    that's where we read Solo Leveling
    for the first time.
[05:04] ---
    Back then, there were not
    many comparable works,
[05:08] ---
    so we were confident
    that it would be well received,
[05:13] ---
    but we didn't except so much hype.
[05:19] ---
    This epic journey started with D&C Media.
[05:36] ---
    What's most interesting to the people
    seems to be the story.
[05:41] ---
    An interesting story needs to be captivating.
[05:47] ---
    Of course, the author wanted
    the novel to be successful.
[05:54] ---
    The story takes place in Seoul
    with a Korean background,
[06:00] ---
    and I think the author
    wrote himself as Sung Jinwoo.
[06:06] ---
    A good writer speaks through his work
    and connects with his readers.
[06:15] ---
    Sung Jinwoo has a rough start and
    doesn't really find his place in life.
[06:26] ---
    But seeing how he is then given opportunities
    and starts to grow as a person...
[06:32] ---
    "I want that too," "I want to get better too"—
    that's what I thought.
[06:43] ---
    In Solo Leveling, an ordinary young adult
    experiences amazing things
[06:49] ---
    and saves the world.
[06:51] ---
    The kind of story everyone dreams of.
[07:10] ---
    The story rose in popularity,
    so we asked ourselves,
[07:15] ---
    how we could express it visually.
[07:20] ---
    I read the story in my office and thought,
    "We have to do it as a webtoon at all costs."
[07:31] ---
    If a novel is adapted into a webtoon,
    you need an artist.
[07:38] ---
    Who could be a suitable candidate?
[07:49] ---
    Back then the webtoon industry
    was rather small,
[07:53] ---
    so we had to go abroad for promotion.
[07:59] ---
    That's where we met Redice.
[08:05] ---
    The owner of Redice
    was at the Beijing Book Fair
[08:12] ---
    and met a representative of D&C by chance.
[08:16] ---
    Neither knew which studio
    the other belonged to,
[08:20] ---
    so they mistook each other as Japanese
    and spoke Japanese first,
[08:26] ---
    until they found out that they were both
    Korean, one from D&C, one from Redice.
[08:31] ---
    Both wanted to cooperate.
    We told them about a great web novel we had,
[08:37] ---
    and Redice wanted to
    work with us on that project.
[08:42] ---
    That's how Solo Leveling
     turned into a webtoon.
[08:51] ---
    I am the CEO of Redice Studio,
    Jang Jung-Sook.
[08:55] ---
    Redice Studio is leading the webtoon
    production in Korea and globally.
[09:07] ---
    Making a webtoon requires certain steps.
[09:12] ---
    First, a pencil sketch gets digitized,
[09:16] ---
    followed by line art, color,
    background, and final corrections.
[09:27] ---
    The most impressive thing about Solo Leveling
    is the great artwork made by Jang-Sung Rak.
[09:40] ---
    On Twitter, many people expected at least
    ten people were working on the webtoon.
[09:48] ---
    But it was our first project, and Jang-Sung
    Rak's artistry was simply unmatched.
[09:55] ---
    Alongside a highly skilled colorist
    and a great storyboard writer,
[10:02] ---
    they finished the main story
    as a team of three.
[10:07] ---
    A year ago I was living with
    Jang-Sung Rak, learned a lot,
[10:12] ---
    and worked on a spinoff with him.
[10:16] ---
    I am the cartoonist Seung-Jin Kim.
[10:18] ---
    Since it was our first graphic work,
[10:22] ---
    we collected many references
    to ensure a certain quality standard.
[10:35] ---
    Usually, we upload one episode per week,
[10:40] ---
    but we need to have 20
    prepared before launch.
[10:43] ---
    For 20 episodes,
    we need around five to six months.
[10:48] ---
    During this time, the producer
    and artist work closely together,
[10:52] ---
    discuss feedback, and correct the draft
[10:57] ---
    until the final version is set.
[11:00] ---
    I researched a lot, wanting to make
    the illustrations look more natural
[11:07] ---
    through directing and coloring
[11:11] ---
    Until then, from staging
    and drawing to coloring,
[11:21] ---
    I had never seen a draft
    of such high quality.
[11:24] ---
    I was sitting in our publishing house,
    asking myself how they did it.
[11:53] ---
    In Korea, most people have
    their mobile phones with them at all times.
[12:02] ---
    They can be quickly and easily used,
    which makes reading webtoons simple.
[12:14] ---
    I think that's the biggest advantage
    Korean webtoons have in the global market.
[12:50] ---
    It's no exaggeration
    to say that Solo Leveling
[12:55] ---
    pioneered the international webtoon market.
[13:34] ---
    The setting itself is interesting
    because we see the juxtaposition
[13:38] ---
    of the earthly world that we know of
    and we're very familiar with
[13:41] ---
    which is also, we see countries like Korea,
    Japan, and the U.S. featured in this story,
[13:46] ---
    which is familiar to us, and then we
    also get to enter these blue gates
[13:51] ---
    to then enter a dungeon in a fantasy setting.
[13:54] ---
    To me, Hapjeong Station in the story's
    introduction was the most impressive.
[14:00] ---
    For us Koreans, it's a popular meeting place
    if you want to hang out.
[14:07] ---
    Turning this station into a dungeon
    makes it easier for the reader
[14:15] ---
    to dive into the story
    and be captivated by it.
[14:20] ---
    So, you see the fantasy world and the
    earthly world that we are all familiar with,
[14:25] ---
    and that fantasy setting allows us
    to escape from reality.
[14:43] ---
    Entering society as a young adult,
    I felt like I knew nothing—
[14:49] ---
    like I couldn't do anything
    and lacked experience.
[14:52] ---
    My situation was similar to Sung Jinwoo's.
[15:03] ---
    It's a great work worth rereading
    when you're bored.
[15:11] ---
    Webtoons and novels are part of the "snack
    culture," merely seen as means to kill time.
[15:18] ---
    But if you can relate to the characters,
    it's more than that.
[15:24] ---
    Then you want to possess it
    in some kind of physical form.
[15:32] ---
    Readers who read the work online
    became attached to the story.
[15:41] ---
    They wanted a physical copy
    they could own and collect.
[15:50] ---
    Instead of only having it on their phone,
    they wanted a real book.
[15:58] ---
    To fulfill those needs,
    we published a paperback version.
[16:07] ---
    Even the most exciting stories
    can be quickly forgotten.
[16:13] ---
    But if I'm able to put even just one volume
    on my shelf, it will stay in the back of my mind.
[16:40] ---
    I remember ordering the first
    two volumes immediately,
[16:44] ---
    and I felt sadness, unfortunately, at the end
[16:46] ---
    because I realized I read through the first
    two volumes back-to-back in one night,
[16:50] ---
    and then I would have
    to wait for more volumes,
[16:52] ---
    because I'm a person who likes to read
    the physical volumes, rather than digitally,
[16:55] ---
    and so I'd have to wait two to three more
    months to get another volume to read it.
[17:08] ---
    After Solo Leveling was published
    and rose in popularity,
[17:17] ---
    the word "solo" itself became
    somewhat of a phenomenon.
[17:25] ---
    Solo Leveling made a huge impact
    and gained many fans,
[17:32] ---
    so more and more works
    with "solo" in their title appeared.
[17:39] ---
    Having Solo Leveling create
    sort of a subculture of manhwa and novels
[17:50] ---
    and receive so much love
    and attention from its readers
[17:57] ---
    makes me kind of proud,
    even if I am merely a reader myself.
[18:15] ---
    The transition from novel
    to webtoon is one thing,
[18:17] ---
    but up to animation is something
    I could hardly have imagined.
[18:21] ---
    As a fan and reader,
    I look forward to the animation.
[18:30] ---
    I didn't make the story big,
    but I contributed a lot
[18:37] ---
    to the creation of the animation.
    That makes me proud.
[18:44] ---
    The web novel turned into a webtoon
    and now even into an anime.
[18:50] ---
    When the animation arrives,
[18:54] ---
    it will truly be the completion
    of this universe.
[18:59] ---
    Solo Leveling is definitely on a journey
    to level up in its own franchise.
[19:03] ---
    So, we got to see this start off as a
    light novel, actually published in Korea,
[19:08] ---
    and then eventually Redice making
    that story into an actual manhwa,
[19:14] ---
    now being illustrated into picture form,
[19:16] ---
    and now we get to have the anime
    adaptation, so now it's...
[19:19] ---
    Really, I guess in a way,
    it's at its third level.
[19:22] ---