Okay. The thing is. The thing that Gets me about Solo Leveling
(disclaimer: I have only read the manhwa and it is entirely possible that my torments are due to an adaptation not doing justice to the source material)
is how determined it is to be an uncomplicated power fantasy despite being absolutely fucking riddled with ominous foreshadowing. It's basically a cosmic horror story where both the protagonist and the narrative itself flatly refuse to think too hard about anything that's going on. You know that post which I'm too lazy to hunt down about a Bertie Wooster-esque character coming out of a Call of Cthulhu campaign with a higher level of sanity than he started with due to being oblivious to The Horrors? That's the Solo Leveling experience.
"Hm, I just killed eight people with about as much emotion as you'd feel when swatting that many flies. Should I be worried about the psychological effect the System is having on me?"
Apparently not, because it's never brought up again.
"Also, I was railroaded into doing that by the System, which clearly only has my best interests at heart insofar as I'm useful for carrying out its agenda, which it has not bothered to share with me. And speaking of hearts, fun fact! It apparently has the power to stop mine at will!"
This is never brought up again.
"Huh, the monsters are all mind-controlled into acting this way. Also, the 'King' of the demon tower was a shade that was being controlled by someone else. The 'God' from the double dungeon that started this whole mess? Mindless automaton that was being controlled by someone else, who was himself someone else's puppet. It sure seems like nearly every apparently all-powerful being I encounter has very little agency in their own life!"
This goes nowhere, largely because Jinwoo seems only vaguely aware of the pattern.
"Heyyyyy, Jinwoo buddy, it's me, Min Byung-gu. You know, the guy whose spirit you enslaved with your necromancy powers? Anyway, huge fan of the way my best friend and a bunch of other people didn't die, so no hard feelings. But also, you get that that's a really fucked up thing to do to someone, right? Like a really, really, really fucked up thing to do to someone? I'm so concerned about this that I went to great effort to reach out from beyond the grave to tell you to please for the love of god think about what you're doing."
And in another better story, this would be a callback to the whole "gee whiz, these godlike powers seem to be having a devastating psychological effect on me!" thing. But since this is Solo Leveling, it is - say it with me, kids! -
never
brought up
agaaaaaaaaain!
This story fucking torments me, and I have no idea if the author was doing it on purpose
In the novel they elaborate more on Jinwoo's psyche and probably couldn't fit in the manhwa.
See, thing is, the human mind can't handle the power of a god. Or at least, the emotional and psychological burden of it. Jinwoo mentioned multiple times how he seems to have his emotions dampen more and more by the system. He noted that it's concerning but ultimately better considering the amount of shit he's facing.
The human should not be able to handle the responsibility of facing both sides of an interdimentional war while still trying to keep humanity from perishing in the crossfire and i think it's fascinating that his cool, calm, aurafarming personality has explicit explanations as to why he became like that despite starting out as a cutie patootie.
Ohh~! Definitely!!! The person who fooled the ENTIRE KINGDOM as a kid and made them think he was "useless" can NEVER lie again! That's unimaginable!!!
• You're ordinary despite having survived Choi Han's beating who can easily break walls.
• You're ordinary despite surviving the Henituse war which "probably" killed everyone else.
• You're ordinary despite being one of the last survivors of the two-decade-long war.
• You're ordinary despite joining the last battle which had the strongest individuals.
• You're ordinary despite being near where Choi Han and White Star were fighting— which has to be the front line.
• You're ordinary despite GoD choosing you for the transmigration.
• You're ordinary despite managing to do KRS's work properly which no one else can do.
• You're ordinary despite being a THAMES!!!
Oh, and like someone once mentioned: why didn't ARM bother to kill you later?!
They had all that free time hunting down Ron and Beacrox after destroying the Molan household, right? So what possibly could have stopped them from offing you while you were actively fighting in the war? Hmm?
Oh wait— your flaming red hair, sooooo eye-catching, sooo similar to their dear lord's— surely impossible to miss! Surely.
So how in the world did you survive so long, hmm, dear Roksoo?
Could it be… they tried?
And couldn't do a single thing to you?
And why would that be?
Hmm.
Please, kindly inform us, my dear ordinary soldier who survived on pure luck for TWENTY YEARS! We're dying to know.
It's an ever-shifting ranking but atm I'd rank my testar bias as so:
1. Park Moondae
2. Keun Sejin
3. Ryu Chungwoo, Kim Raebin, Cha Eugene, Seon Ahyeon & Bae Sejin (in no particular order)
Totally unbiased ranking. Definitely not ranked based on how well I think I could write them.
Bonus - Keundal.
He picked up Moondae's mannerisms so well during the bodyswap arc. I wouldn't be surprised if postcanon he gets recruited as a model or sth as Ryu Gunwoo. He clearly has some showbiz skills! And his role model is literally Park Moondae.
Eventually he gets to appear on TV with testar and Park Moondae is sooo Proud of him (he shows it internally mostly, as usual. But his smile is lit up to his eyes on TV, and he does pat Keundal's head a bit more than usual later, as they're sharing drinks when Keundal stays over in the dorms that night) ♡
Saw a headcanon on twt where the testar boys try to apply lipstick on their own.
I wanted to add my own take to it!
*EDIT - I found official art of PMD with lipstick 🥹 check reblogs!
Seon Ahyeon - Picked up the skill after he felt he was too old to have his makeup applied by his mother every time for his ballet recitals. When he's done applying, a staff member requests an aegyo pose, which he does with pink ears and a sweet smile ♡
Bae Sejin - Also picked up the skill when he looked for acting gigs. Applies it flawlessly, and when commented on by staff he shares some tips on how to apply makeup for the limelight. He gives Chungwoo a few pointers when he notices the leader's hesitance.
Ryu Chungwoo - He's seen fellow female archery members reapply theirs after practice. He's asked about it once, so he vaguely remembers how to apply it. He does watch how Bae Sejin does it and follows slowly. There's a tiny barely-there smudge in the corner and it's cute.
Keun Sejin - He has a little sister(?) who he's helped apply makeup for, so this is easy peasy lemon squeezy for the guy. He perfectly applies a lovely shade of red complimenting his skin tone and winks while makes kissy faces at the camera that makes the studio audience laugh.
Cha Eugene - He's let various women experiement with makeup on him including family and friends, so he knows how to apply the lipstick with ease. He makes it a mess during the recording anyway. He experiments with ALL (and I mean ALL) the colors and the studio makeup artists behind the scenes are gripping their makeup boxes tightly. The costume team's eyes faintly turn bloodshot as his hands brushes against and touches basically every surface possible, including his members' clothings as he excitedly bounces around from member to member.
Park Moondae - "..." There's a short montage of how they got this point with Moondae's lips being an.. Absolute mess. The studio realises perhaps applying lipstick is also an artform the puppy isn't very skilled at. Moondae stares at the camera in Tibetan Fox mode, and there's the faint outline of a clown photo edited in behind him. The testar members are gazing at him with various levels of pity and humor. Though he looks a step away from stranggling Keun Sejin who's almost falling to the floor belly laughing.
Kim Raebin - Probably has a sister? But even without one, our fashionista had taught himself how to apply makeup to compliment his daily OOTDs, and instead shows off some shades to the camera that he knows looks good on him. He earnestly gives advice on how to apply lipstick for different lip shapes, and how to achieve certain trendy effects.
Kim Raebin (Rabbit's Saloon Extra) - When he couldn't stand it any longer he sits down Eugene and Moondae and carefully wipes their lips before he personally and properly applies the lipstick for them. He thoughtfully chooses the best colour and type according to their features. Both boys sit obediently and Bae Sejin scoots a little closer to watch how Kim Raebin does it.
Debut or Die can totally work as omegaverse if you tweak some variables of omegaverse
a) vast majority of people are born as betas
b) alphas aren’t born—they manifest as a hormonal state when someone (usually a young, healthy beta) is in a scenario where alphas are needed (geneticists and historians hotly debate the specific societal markers and how people’s hormones react to them)
c) this means no one is born an alpha AND there’s now an actual distinction between dominant and recessive alphas (bc let’s face it, dominant and recessive are really mostly for drama purposes and not medical ones). Dominant alphas are medically identified as ‘people who manifest as alphas and have at least 40% chance to remain alphas for at least 20 years.’ Yes, it varies by region and culture. Yes, it’s often ambiguous. Yes, rich people pay to have that Dominant Alpha™ stamp on their medical record so they seem more young and able
d) yeah. I’m making them chickens
e) on average, males are more likely to manifest as alphas than females. The male to female alpha ratio depends on a number of factors, such as culture, gender politics, nutritional needs, and natural environmental factors. A lot of people manifest as alphas in active duty and revert back to a beta the moment they’re discharged. It is proven that the male to female alpha ratio is a societal product, not genetic
f) people can be alphas multiple times in their lives, usually when their pack dynamic changes and/or they’re out under a lot of stress. The first time they become an alpha is when they ‘manifest’ (colloquial term). This is the most jarring transition, and a lot of people call off work to handle it (not in Korea, they just grit their teeth and bear it). After the first manifestation, the line between alpha and beta becomes less difficult to cross. People can switch between alpha and beta in the same day with little to no side effects. Some people don't even notice the difference. There is even debate in some part of the world that labels like alpha or beta are unnecessarily restrictive and should be abolished to prevent certain social issues, such as an alpha claiming to be in a ‘rut’ (fictional creation, alphas can get disoriented by their sense of smell but they don’t lose their sense of judgement) to avoid criminal charges
g) common manifestation symptoms: migraine, insomnia, lack of appetite, mood swings, oversensitivity to smell and light, vomiting. Usually lasts from 3 days to 2 weeks
h) the vast majority of alphas have a sharper sense of smell than their beta counterparts, but this too depends on the individual
i) refer to point a). notice how i say 'vast majority.' yeah. that means omegas are born, not made
j) dominant and recessive are also terms for omegas, but they're different from what they mean for alphas (popular media loves conflating the two, which means that omegas have been massively misrepresented in pre-modern times when fact checking isn't a thing). a dominant omega is someone who presents as omega during puberty and has a set heat schedule. A recessive omega is someone who presents as omega only under stress, similar to alphas. The distinction between the two isn't always clear, but society (including omegas themselves) use these terms bc each have certain associations with them. like alphas, some omegas don't really exhibit any omega traits unless they're under stress
k) this means that an omega male can impregnate any female, including an alpha female. getting pregnant isn't a dominant or submissive act guys it just is
l) there's a popular myth that and omega's scent has Powers™. some of this is rooted in actual, provable biochemistry, most of it is social conflation. This phenomenon is global, but what Powers™ an omega or their scent have depends on culture. In a lot of ancient societies, omegas were often seen as positive omens. Historians believe that due to how rare they are (one in ten thousand) a society would need to have developed to a certain technology level and have a robust enough civilization for them to survive until adulthood and recognized. Meaning that without a level of prosperity, there would be no omegas, so omegas are conflated with prosperity
m) in pre-modern times, omegas have slightly better marriage prospects than peers of the same socio-economic conditions. A lot of them were offered to kings, princes, wealthy merchants, etc.
o) as for why omegas have to be born and alphas have to be made, the reasoning is as follows: first, the genes for alpha manifestation is present in every single person, even omegas. Some geneticists have theorized that presenting as an omega was a rare mutation of manifesting as an alpha, but historical genetic data disproves this theory bc the patterns don't align
p) everyone has scents and can scent each other. Scents can change during puberty, under stress, and when transitioning to a secondary gender. Some people have scents that never change. Some people's scents change every season
q) how people smell the scents are different depending on individual, so asking one another how they smell ("hyung I don't smell bad to you, right?" "oppa, do you like how I smell?") is considered a semi-intimate moment when the other person can affirm or refute your relationship
r) okay!!!!! onto actual a/b/o characteristics!!!!! FINALLY (so sorry to anyone who's just here for debut or die LMAO. woe sudden omegaverse theorycrafting upon ye)
Common conceptions of Alpha characteristics:
youth
increased strength, stamina, and agility
virility and fertility
sharper sense of smell
dominance
Common conceptions of Omega characteristics:
youth
virility and fertility
beauty
sharper sense of smell
peacekeeper (in olden times omegas are often depicted as womanizers/maneaters)
According to statistics, around 50% of registered alphas are between the ages of 18-35. There are a lot of unregistered alphas, mostly because registering as an alpha is optional and no longer yields any legal protection. In certain places, it's not technically lawfully required to get a hormone test, but culturally mandatory. The entertainment industry is one of them. This isn't just to promote themselves as alphas, but is seen as a way of monitoring one's health. Gender obsession peaked (in Korea) in the 2000s and a bunch of laws and social reforms happened in the 2010s. The preference for alphas is still there, but plenty of betas are successful leaders in their own field. People like PMD consider secondary gender as a facet of one's identity, but only as an accessory as someone's personality.
Statistics do suggest that being an alpha can help with muscle gain, but seeing as how most alphas are young and in their physical prime, this point is hotly debated. So far most studies support this (as comparable betas have less muscle gain) but these studies are not accepted in the West due to being politically sensitive and unreliable (they've had studies that contradict each other, and a lot of them are found to be biased). In Korea this is accepted as truth, since the correlation is strong enough. In the previous generation of Idols (when T-Holic was in their heydays), people can say 'hey! I'm still in my alpha years!' as a way to say that they're still in their prime, but this is now considered insensitive and would cause controversy.
Studies also support that omegas can calm people down. However, most of the effect is produced by societal construct and not biochemicals. When people smell omegas without knowing it was from an omega, they show around 5-10% inclination to listen over the scent of other genders. When they know it's an omega, that number rises to over 60%.
Myth: Alphas are always leaders and have a high chance of success. Alphas are always healthy. Alphas have deep, masculine musk. Alphas are deeply territorial to one another.
Truth: Alphas tend have a heightened sense of pack, meaning that for them, the difference between pack and not-pack is more stark. They tend to be more proactive in meeting the pack's needs. On average, alphas are more sensitive to scents than when they were betas, but this depends on the individual. Most alphas become leaders through peer expectation, not because they're suited. Some people's scent does change when they manifest, but not many are 'deep, masculine musks.' Alphas in the same pack can be very friendly to one another and maintain close, meaningful relationships while they're both alphas.
Note: Lee Sejin got pushed out of his original debut group because of canon reasons AND because the new kid was an alpha. Sejin, who was the only other alpha at the time, was considered a potential point of conflict and got the boot
Myth: Betas are weaker and slower than Alphas. Every beta should aspire to manifest. Betas are often undesirable in their field.
Truth: Betas are, on average, less prone to mood swings and changes in environment, and society perceives them as team players (doesn't mean they are) compared to alphas, which means that while alphas are desirable in physically competitive fields, betas are preferred just about everywhere else. Plenty of betas are happy to live their entire lives not knowing the pains of manifesting.
Myth: Omegas are weak, effeminate, and have sweet scents. They hate conflict and love to nurture. They are beautiful and attracted especially to alphas. When they're in heat they're desperate for an alpha to save them.
Truth: Park Moondae, resident omega, would not hesitate to punch your teeth out. Also, other than scents and social dynamics, everything else works the same as in the real world (get your head out of the gutter!!!). Park Moondae happens to be soft on the kids and can cook and hates conflict, but that isn't necessarily true for all omegas. Heats are non-sexual and its evolutionary purpose has yet to be deciphered by related experts. During heats, omegas run a high fever and their scent is strengthened by up to five times. Most of them do not want to fuck when that happens.
TeSTAR gender makeup:
Cha Eugene: Recessive Alpha
Kim Raebin: Beta
Lee Sejin: Recessive Alpha
Seon Ahyeon: Dominant Alpha
Park Moondae: Recessive Omega
Bae Sejin: Beta
VTIC gender makeup:
Cheongryeo: Recessive Alpha
Judan: Recessive Alpha
Anyone who's between the ages of 18-35 and have manifested before are categorized as recessive alphas, but the percentage of time spent actually being an alpha is variable.
Chungwoo was an alpha throughout his entire athletic career, but in both Idol.Inc and in TeSTAR he spends the majority of time as a beta with a good sense of smell. Some people derogatorily coins this as 'honorary alpha' but those are just antis.
Lee Sejin spends more time as an alpha than Chungwoo, which, coupled with his personality, is why he thinks he's the one keeping the team together the most (until he get mega embarrassed about it in ch. 333). Moondae's secondary gender isn't revealed until his records were dug up near the end of Idol.Inc, which means that Lee Sejin had a brief moment of 'did I behave inappropriately?' followed quickly by 'no, Moondae needs me rn, we're bros, fuck that.' His sense of smell is average, but his sense of people is good.
Cha Eugene is an alpha the whole time. This changes nothing from canon. His sense of smell is average for an alpha.
Kim Raebin technically manifested around 14-ish, but he never bothered to register it and everyone agreed that registering as an alpha when he hasn't switched since would only bring unneeded controversy. His sense of smell is slightly below average, but in no ways impaired. He just doesn't pay enough attention to it to notice that things are wrong until it becomes glaringly obvious.
Bae Sejin is just Bae Sejin. Antis call him Beta Sejin.
Seon Ahyeon got tested at birth as a dominant alpha (with up to 80% accuracy) (his parents paid for the extra gene assessment). He has an unusual sense of smell and he was raised on that organic imported food, which is why he doesn't do well with ultra-processed foods. When his status abnormality is active, this disrupts him. Otherwise, his sense of smell is average for an alpha. The unusualness comes from the fact that what he's smelling is often different from what everyone else is smelling.
Park Moondae is a recessive omega. He finds this out at the same time he finds out about Park Moondae's background and told the producers at the beginning of the show, and being a packless omega contributes to the image that helps him win 1st place.
NOVEL SPOILERS:
STier Cha Eugene spends the whole time being a beta due to the oppressive group environment. It was a horrible pack where there was only one alpha whose authority wasn't to be questioned.
STier Ryu Chungoo is an alpha. 'Nuff said.
Some people are really good at picking up their own scents, some are not. TeSTAR, from best to worst: Chungwoo, Eugene, Bae Sejin, Lee Sejin, Ahyeon, Moondae, Raebin.
At picking up other people's scents: Eugene, Lee Sejin, Ahyeon, Chungwoo, Bae Sejin, Moondae, Raebin.
TeSTAR scents (lmao the perfumes they gave out were just perfumes that enhance their own scents) (perfume companies go hard in this au):
Cheongryeo's scent is very weak, so he fabricates it with perfumes. It changes depending on the timeline. Sometimes he picks something floral. Sometimes it's an alcohol.
Notable gender dynamics:
Moondae keeps on expecting to go into heat. He admits to himself at the end of Idol.Inc that maaaaybe perhaps he had just the teeniest misconception about omegas.
The first time he's alone in a dorm and Lee Sejin happens to come by with food, he's in heat. He doesn't notice but Sejin was internally feeling a mountain of hormones like "haha! Sejin you weirdo! it's not even guaranteed that you're doing to debut together! stop thinking he's a pack member!"
Raebin didn't realize Moondae was an omega until Choi Wongil had that talk with him in the staircase and one of the members was like 'oh that guy who had an inferiority complex bc you an omega' and he's like ???? huh????? hyung you're an omega??? He's not dumb I swear.
Lee Sejin has an extra layer of contempt for Cheongryeo. He suspects it might be bc Cheongryeo is switching back to beta and hoping that some scent therapy would help. Or that Cheongryeo just wanted to take the piss on a rival omega.
Lee Sejin is also like... Moondae you're not suddenly fearful of alphas right? Hahaha. No sweat if you do bro I totes get it.
Lee Sejin was raised in a somewhat conservative environment + his personality = he notices gender dynamics the most.
Post car crash, Lee Sejin in particular was trying to rationalize this as 'we lost our pack omega, that's what's freaking me out.' Moondae gives him one of his blankets to cope after.
Eugene got extra flak for yelling at beta staff as an alpha.
Ahyeon and Eugene can smell a slight difference between Daemoon and Moondae.
Pre-abduction PMD is always weirded out when people scent him. 'But we're just coworkers? Just because our fans think we're a pack doesn't mean we're actually a pack?' --PMD, while doing his darnest to keep the pack together.
Post-abduction PMD offered to let Lee Sejin scent him to calm down and it was all downhill from there.
Bae Sejin gets to sit out on gender drama, which suits him fine. He, Raebin, and Moondae form a new line, which is "betas who suck at being in a pack" line. (Moondae's lack of interest in scents and packs is from his time as Gunwoo, where he didn't manifest due to malnutrition and lack of pack. He didn't have a good sense of smell either, so he often ignored Moondae's superior olfactory senses)
PMD acknowledged his pack for the very first time when they were in the survival show for Wishz bc he was constantly thinking "THESE ARENT MY WEIRDOS!!!!! WHERE ARE MY WEIRDOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" wait.
PMD: I mean, it's not like I have a pack to spend my money on. So let me buy this gift on behalf of all of us
His pack, sideeyeing him intensely:
PMD: I'm not staying at people's houses, that would be weird
Everyone else, dying to show their family their new pack member:
Chungwoo, right after asking Moondae to use his body as a shield:
(this may not be the most appropriate thing to ask an omega packmate -_-;;;)
Rereading debut or die to refresh myself to catch up with the new translated chapters and??? I'm sorry WHAT the lyrics of his audition song hitting real different coming back after learning about Moondae's whole thing with the system and og moondae?????
AND THEN fucking To a New World as well????????
Be my guide??? Come FIND ME?!?!? IM GONNA GO INSANE
Cale and Alberu part their hair in opposite sides, as I just noticed while rereading the manhwa (I know I am dumb, thank you very much)
But I just can't help but imagine Cale rearranging his hairstyle to troll Alberu, making the said crown prince feel unnerved because he knows something is different about him but he ain't sure what.
And this is exactly the kind of stupid little thing that would get under Alberu's skin. Because he doesn't know WHAT and WHY he is noticing whatever he is.
Even worse is when he keeps staring at Cale to figure wtf IS wrong, but anyone he asks is just silent, with an amused look on their faces. Because by now they've realised what's happening. And it's funny. VERY funny.
Especially because Alberu is genuinely invested (read: suffering).
And when he finally does figure it out, Alberu's eyes twitch, and he almost throws Cale out of his office too.
Oh, and yes, the next day, Alberu will come with HIS hair parted on the opposite side. Just to retaliate.
Thinking about proxy fan Kim Iwol being forced to attend fan events and other spark fans see this tall awkward man hanging around and are like aww he's clearly shy about being an idol fan, we should help him!! so now he has like this gaggle of teenage girls just walking around with him and giving him merch to make him feel more comfortable
