Latest news with #Jinwoo
Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Faith leaders urge unity as President Lee Jae-myung takes office
A coalition of leaders representing seven major religions in South Korea called on President Lee Jae-myung to work on healing the deeply divided nation as he took office Wednesday following a snap election. In a statement, the Korean Council of Religious Leaders — including the heads of Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant organizations — said Lee faced the daunting but pressing task of bringing the country together, replacing Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April after declaring martial law. 'We hope to see a president who understands the need for unity and who can listen to different voices to lead this country out of a crisis,' the statement said, referring to mounting concerns the new leader has to grapple with, starting with reviving a sputtering economy. The Ven. Jinwoo, the president of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, Korea's largest Buddhist sect, reminded Lee of prioritizing 'people's livelihood.' 'An approach with that in mind should be able to restore people's trust in the government,' Jinwoo said. Bishop Mathias Lee Yong-hoon, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, stressed the resolution of hostilities still running deep in the country. The Korean people have realized how crucial it is for the government to exercise its power within the limits of the law, Lee said, describing the ill-fated martial rule in December as a traumatic experience that saw the country shaken to its very core. 'The country needs a president who will see his way toward justice and peace,' Lee noted, adding the commander-in-chief should seek an inter-Korean thaw amid strained ties. The National Council of Churches in Korea, one of the four largest Protestant alliances in the country, also backed a bigger push for a more peaceful Korean Peninsula. The Rev. Kim Jong-seng, the NCCK general secretary, asked Lee for further outreach to the underprivileged, focusing on people with disabilities and migrants. 'We hope to see every voice heard by the president, no matter where they come from.' The Rev. Kim Jong-hyuk, president of the United Christian Churches of Korea, another Protestant alliance, asked Lee to do his best to communicate better with the public when implementing measures that impact their lives. 'We expect bigger efforts by the president to seek understanding from the people,' Kim said, in a clear reference to the previous government's seeming unwillingness to engage with the public at every turn. Na Sang-ho, head of Won Buddhism, urged Lee to help cultivate a climate of tolerance. 'A country built on hope and harmony is ushered in by a leader embracing differences,' Na said.
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Solo Leveling crowned Anime of the Year – Here's everything you need to know
Solo Leveling, the blockbuster anime adaptation of Chugong's beloved webtoon, has officially been named Anime of the Year by Crunchyroll . Produced by A-1 Pictures and packed with adrenaline-fueled animation and a gripping underdog story, Solo Leveling has not only lived up to the hype—it's shattered expectations. A Webtoon Turned Global Phenomenon Solo Leveling premiered in January 2024, with Season 1 airing through March, followed by a second season in early 2025. The anime was simulcast worldwide on Crunchyroll, reaching over 15 million international subscribers. Its popularity skyrocketed: by March 2025, Solo Leveling had accumulated over 614,300 user reviews on Crunchyroll—surpassing One Piece, which took 12 years to reach 600,500 reviews. This meteoric rise is a testament to its mass appeal. With stunning visuals from A-1 Pictures, a soaring soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano, and a thrilling story about a powerless hunter gaining god-like strength, the anime quickly became a fan favorite. It's also a major milestone for Korean webtoon IPs, proving they can lead mainstream anime success stories. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo Plot Recap: From Weakest Hunter to Unstoppable Force As described on Crunchyroll: 'They say whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that's not the case for the world's weakest hunter Sung Jinwoo. After being brutally slaughtered by monsters in a high-ranking dungeon, Jinwoo came back with the System, a program only he could see, that's leveling him up in every way. Now, he's inspired to discover the secrets behind his powers and the dungeon that spawned them.' Each season contains 13 episodes and follows Jinwoo's transformation from zero to hero, fighting terrifying beasts and uncovering dark secrets hidden within the world of hunters. Live Events What's Next: How Many Seasons Will Solo Leveling Have? With two powerful seasons already out, fans are eagerly awaiting Season 3. The buzz is so intense that daily leaks are surfacing—even without an official release date. Initially, Solo Leveling was expected to span six seasons to cover the entire storyline. However, recent reports suggest the anime may follow the model of Haikyuu!! and Demon Slayer, with around five seasons and a final movie to wrap up the saga. While this hasn't been confirmed, a cinematic conclusion could give fans the epic ending they deserve. Solo Leveling Season 3 Sneak Peek: What to Expect In Season 3, we'll see Sung Jinwoo recognized on an international level. New hunters and global guilds enter the story, and Jinwoo rejects an offer from the most powerful guild to form his own—the Ahjin Guild. With bigger battles, higher stakes, and world-building on a whole new scale, Solo Leveling's third season is poised to deliver an unforgettable experience.
Time of India
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Solo Leveling: What Is the Eternal Sleep Disease? The mysterious illness that changed Jinwoo's life
Though the anime Solo Leveling transports viewers into a mystical world teeming with monsters, Hunters, and epic showdowns, it conceals a tragic secret within its thrilling narrative. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now One of the show's most tragic threads is the introduction of a mysterious affliction, called Eternal Sleep Disease , that sends patients into a coma-like stupor. Here's all you need to know about it, and why it's so vital to the story. What is eternal sleep disease in Solo Leveling? In Solo Leveling, Eternal Sleep Disease is a serious epidemic that causes its victims to fall into a deep sleep for years, stuck in what looks like an eternal coma. It is deeply felt by those who are sensitive to mana—the magical energies unleashed into the world after the Thirteenth Ziggurat Gate opened more than ten years before the game starts. These gates gave birth to Hunters, elite, magically enhanced humans who slay dangerous magical beasts, keeping them out of civilized society. Not everyone can afford to live close to this clean energy, let alone do so safely. For individuals like Jinwoo 's mom, Park Kyung Hye , just coming into contact with mana was enough to induce a deep sleep that lasted almost four years. How is eternal sleep linked to mana and hunters? Though the Eternal Sleep Disease is seen as primarily a consequence of exposure to mana. Those unable to withstand this fantastic power slowly start to fade to black. First, they can lose consciousness for brief intervals. With each episode, those episodes lengthen until eventually the individual descends into a lasting, coma-like condition—what the anime refers to as the 'Great Sleep.' Since hunters, who are natural mana emitters, produce an environment that is toxic to their loved ones, hunters are unwittingly killing those they care about merely by interacting with them. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Victims of the disease require extensive medical treatment, including life-support machines run on essence stones—rare energy sources dug from dungeons. Unfortunately, each one of these machines are incredibly expensive, costing millions of dollars. This is why so many families aren't able to afford treatment. Why the eternal sleep disease matters to Jinwoo's story What sets Solo Leveling apart is that its main character is driven by more than just power. One of the motivations for him joining the Hunters – even though he is the weakest one initially – was to pay for his mother's care. Her ongoing struggle against Eternal Sleep Disease introduces high-stakes emotional conflict to the action-heavy series, illustrating the heavy toll of thriving in a vibrant, magical world fraught with peril. In episode 3 of the anime, Jinwoo makes a trip to his mother's hospital room shortly before entering a deadly new mysterious dungeon. This emotional scene lets audiences feel the full weight of how Alzheimer's disease has permeated every aspect of his life, lending a sense of urgency to his yearning to become stronger. Who has suffered from the disease in Solo Leveling? Up until now, only two major characters in the series have been diagnosed with ESD: Park Kyung Hye – Jinwoo's mother, who spent years in a miracle coma before being saved by her son. Yoo Myunghan – The father of Jinwoo's best friend, Yoo Jinho, who too succumbed to the disease after a long exposure to mana. Both of them were subsequently rescued by Jinwoo with a rare magical artifact, but their recovery was a miraculous turn of fortune. How was the disease cured? The role of the holy water of life While the disease has no known scientific cure in the real world or the world of Solo Leveling, Jinwoo eventually finds a magical one. Following the completion of 100 floors of the Demon Castle dungeon, he is rewarded with a valuable recipe for the Holy Water of Life , a potion with the power to cure any disease. After Jinwoo uses the first bottle to save his mother, in her hospital room, he then saves Yoo Myunghan, as well. Unfortunately, the potion can only be brewed six times, and all of its ingredients are so rare that this cure would be in practically no one else's reach. Why the disease as clever piece of worldbuilding The Eternal Sleep Disease isn't merely an unfortunate subplot—it's an intelligent portrayal from the creators of hidden costs of magic in our world. It beautifully serves as a reminder that the enchanting realm of Solo Leveling, though thrilling, poses tangible risks to even mundane citizens. It illustrates how new powers can alter social forces and social hierarchies. While some like Tara become more powerful as they awaken, others are abandoned—or even injured simply by being around them. This all raises profound moral questions about equity, sacrifice, and the true nature of strength. A heartbreaking mystery with real impact Eternal Sleep Disease is one of the most emotional and thought-provoking parts of Solo Leveling. It makes the magical world feel more real—and gives fans a powerful reason to root for Jinwoo as he risks everything to find a cure for his mother. As the anime continues, expect this storyline to play an even bigger role in his transformation from weak Hunter to the strongest of all.
Metro
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Why I tried to beat Oblivion Remastered without ever using fast travel
A reader enjoys a return trip to the world of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and explains why ignoring one of its key features made it even more fun. I sit here with a sense of accomplishment, pride, and somewhat of a headache. I have earned all 50 of Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered's base game achievements/trophies (not Shivering Isles… yet). I know, this is not much of an achievement in itself. The original Oblivion game came out just under two decades ago, on the Xbox 360, setting the world up for its younger protégé Skyrim to take over some six years later. Completing the main story quests, the four job guilds (fighter, mage, thief, and assassin) and the gladiatorial arena is pretty straightforward in the region of Tamriel known as Cyrodill. If anything, Oblivion is little more than a long checklist of fetch quests, battles, some mild stalking, and a not insignificant amount of murder. The expansive world with hundreds of dungeons, caves, and various points of interest has never looked better with the recent (not much of a) surprise release, but you'd be forgiven if you never actually see any of it. I chose, in this shiny new version, to roleplay as a Necromancer/Assassin Hunter (yes… I was Jinwoo from Solo Leveling, don't judge me). I could summon monsters from the planes of hell itself to fight for me, pull powerful daggers out of the air, and blink out of existence to swiftly dispatch my foes with stealth attacks. Speed, agility, and intelligence were key to my success, so I figured I'd make the most of one aspect I'd really ignored back in 2006: travel. The remaster retains one of the original version's overpowered methods of travel. Simply click on a point of the map that you have previously visited, or one of the major town/city hubs, and you are whisked away to you chosen destination in the time of a mere loading screen. If the target is within a stone's throw of a selectable point on the map you don't even have to walk for more than a couple of minutes to reach your destination. You travel the world by just warping door to door like some sort of Grim Reaper delivery service employee (Uber Reaps? Just Reap? DeReaperoo? OK, I'll stop). That is why I decided not to use fast travel via the world map, ever. I can spoil the story here by saying categorically it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. The game has zero, and I mean not a jot of, forethought to pathing and logical world exploration. At the start… oh at the start! Sure! Everyone has something to say, a cave to investigate, a missing family member to inevitably bring back a remnant of. By the time you've met everyone and monopolised the entire adventuring trade for yourself, you start to notice patterns in quests that, with the luxury of fast travel, are little more than an extra couple of loading screens and a quick chat. Without fast travel it's an hour long round trip for something that could've been an e-scroll Modyrn Oreyn! Eh hem… excuse me. Don't get me wrong, I got the absolute most out of my playthrough. The joy I got replaying old quests again, seeing old friends… and enemies. Rediscovering things I'd forgotten, like running along and finding an invisible sheep in the road before the 'Oh this is a quest not a bug!' penny dropped, was a wonderful dopamine drip directly into my rose-tinted veins. I hit the credits with: 125 in-game days passed 140 quests completed Level 100 in all major skills (without really trying) 336 places visited 1,500 potions made 59 Oblivion gates shut 121 nirnroot found The game unfortunately doesn't track distance travelled, nor does it specify the units of distance on the compass. To work it out roughly I had to reconcile this with the fact that the world map seems to be scaled down compared to maps and accounts in books of how large certain areas should be. So it's complicated to try to work out how far anything actually is relative to the next. The official lore says Tamriel (as in the entire continent) is roughly 80% the size of Australia. This could explain why everything is trying to kill me constantly but it doesn't help with my calculations. The little waypoint markers have a real-time counter of how far your goal is. This is measured with a 'footprints' symbol, which could be as simple as literal 'feet' or even just 'steps'. For the sake of staying somewhat true to the world I've gone with yards. If nothing else, it does feel more appropriate for somewhere with the 'Imperial' City at its centre. (Note: After some quick googling the majority of Elder Scrolls lore does indeed seem to reference inches/feet/yards/miles/leagues as the default, but the scale of the world size is vague at best.) Using the bridge between Imperial City and the settlement of Weye as my marker, my maxed out speed and athletics stats took me 100 'units' in just under nine seconds. If I translate that to yards it would put me close to Olympic athlete pace (around 23 miles per hour); not quite Usain Bolt, however I can keep that pace up indefinitely . At this point I effectively gave up trying to go any deeper into my potential travel time. Between speaking, sneaking, and spelunking I wouldn't even venture a guess as to how much of my time was spent standing around or moving at a snail's pace. That doesn't even begin to mention the pace increase as I levelled up my stats. (Oh… my headache is back again.) I did give myself one caveat. One beautifully, cruel moment of respite. I had Frostcrag Spire as my homebase. Settled way up north, at the top of Gnoll Mountain, was my little beacon of safety. Visible from miles away, I could see it towering above the world. Inside, my vault filled with millions of gold worth of loot, my flame atronach standing to attention inside the entrance and, most importantly, my mage guild warp points. Every time I was nearly over-encumbered with magical tat I began the trek up that mountain path. Over and over. Dodging bears, bandits and yet more bears I tipped my swag bag out into various chests and then I could make that wonderful choice: 'Which city's Mage Guild should I portal over to?' It was a rare treat to simply be able to skip the next 4,000+ yard sprint back to Leyawiin for the 18th time. One thing I can confidently say is that, by the end, a little part of me died every time I stepped out of a city and saw '3,721' units next to my next quest marker. The game has a horrible habit, during its faction quests, of the following: Meet your local contract vendor in City A. Meet the client in City B (3,000 yards away). Complete the quest in a nearby cave (if you are lucky). Return to the client. Return to City A (another 3,000 yards). Get told there's a new contract vendor with work for me in City C. Travel 2,000 yards to City C. Meet the client in City A ( I just came from there ) Complete quest… in City B?! for the client (that's another 3,000 yards). Return to City A (sure, OK pal). Return to the vendor in City C. Realise I'm over-encumbered, so travel to Frostcrag Spire. Teleport to City C (thank goodness my thumb is actually starting to hurt from holding forward). Get promoted! 'You should talk to the first vendor again in City A for more work' (…you're joking). Return to step 1. For a perfectly sane player, with the use of fast travel, this is a 15 minute burst of action-packed questing. For me, it was nearly two hours of swimming, sprinting, jumping back and forth… and back… and forth. This wasn't an isolated incident either, it happened again and again. I travelled hundreds of unnecessary miles (yes, I know almost all of the miles I travelled were unnecessary) for what could have just been a message left for me at the guild hall I'd just been to. It was rewarding, frustrating and easily the best way to experience Oblivion again after all these years. Catching details I'd missed way back when, meeting people I'd never met before, becoming an overpowered monster in my own right. I'd recommend that absolutely no one plays without ever using fast travel. It's really not worth it. More Trending Do it. You'll love it. By reader Jay Parry The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: GTA 6 and price rises are going to destroy gaming forever – Reader's Feature MORE: How Game Pass led me to abandon my PS5 – Reader's Feature MORE: 5 memorable gaming moments that no one ever talks about – Reader's Feature
Time of India
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Solo Leveling creator shuts down major fan theory about Jinwoo's shadow army
Solo Leveling creator shuts down major fan theory about Jinwoo's shadow armyCredit- IMDb Greed's rank bamboozled us all Shadow power is restricted at first, shadowy power is limited at the start. Igris is a far more powerful character than Devirs Chugong put this misconception to bed by stating: Where to watch Solo Leveling solo leveling Final thoughts Solo Leveling has already proven to be one of the new anime hits of 2024, with its thrilling, adventure-laden narrative and enigmatic personalities grabbing fans' attention right from the start. The action-packed series tracks the world's most lowly hunter, Sung Jinwoo, as he rises to the top after being given powerful new abilities in a brutal world teeming with horrific monsters and treasure-filled dungeons. Fans have been gobbling up his larger-than-life odyssey. A recent statement from the creator just turned our perception of one of the show's most controversial aspects, Jinwoo's shadow army, totally on its of the largest fan theories centered on the character Greed, the shadow embodiment of Korean-American stalker Hwan Dongsoo. Audiences were understandably thrown when Greed – of all characters – was granted the lofty General rank, equal to Beru, the Ant King. This just didn't make sense to me, as Dongsoo is terribly underwhelming to the point he's embarrassed by Jinwoo and his father, leaving him with obnoxiously little screen now we actually know what's going on. In a post originally hosted on Korean platform DCInside (translated and discussed on Reddit by Neo GAF user N0T0RI0US), Chugong discussed his 'to fix or fill their pothole' Dongsoo was just incredibly, incredibly powerful. He was an S-Rank hunter that even overshadowed Cha Hae-in. He received a big power-up from Madam… It's just that the only people he fought are Jinwoo and his dad, both of whom stand in another league completely.'So when fans saw him go down fast, that was only due to the fact that he was matched against absurdly buffed enemies. Greed's rank wasn't an error—Dongsoo truly was deserving of the were under the impression that shadow soldiers were more powerful the more powerful Jinwoo became. According to Chugong, that's not entirely accurate. Instead, the System that bestowed Jinwoo his powers actually places restrictions on new shadows when they're first born. Each of these limits gradually rises as Jinwoo gets closer to awakening his true self as the Shadow how Greed and Beru appeared to be evenly matched at first, even if Beru became way stronger afterwards. Beru's power was already near the Marshal rank by the time Greed was summoned, and Jinwoo's power level at that point let Greed keep a lot of his original a fan favorite exception to this has been shadow soldier Igris, one of the very first shadows Jinwoo summons. He was always the most loyal and powerful, but most people slept on him because he showed up so early in the narrative.'If Igris had come down in his true form, all the National Level hunters across the globe working together wouldn't have been able to hope to defeat him—much less every S-Rank in the world combined.>>>That means Igris is not only strong. He's one of the strongest characters in the entire Solo Leveling universe, right out of the Leveling is officially available to stream in the US and UK exclusively on Crunchyroll, with both subbed and dubbed versions released. Episodes are available for purchase on digital platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV, and new insights from Chugong effectively put an end to numerous fan theories regarding the series and further clarify the reasoning behind the power scaling in Solo Leveling . As Season 2 just began streaming, there are plenty more exciting developments on the way, including Jinwoo becoming the true Shadow Monarch.
