Title: Solo Leveling Vol. 14: Side Stories I
Author: Disciples (Redice Studio), Chugong (Original Story)
Publisher: Ize Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Publication Date: December 30, 2025
The Story
First… a slight retraction from my previous review, where I called Volume 13 the penultimate volume. When I looked up to see how many volumes Solo Leveling had, it appeared to have 14 volumes; however, I failed to notice that 14 was the number of volumes for the web novel… not the comic. The comic has 15 volumes, so this volume is the penultimate one, and it is subtitled Side Stories I, even though it is more of an epilogue than a side story.
Here, we begin with Detective Jinchul Woo, who is known to us as the current President of the Hunter Association from the deleted timeline. He’s investigating mysterious cases where criminals are turning themselves in after being threatened by some sort of shadow monster. This leads him to come into contact with Jinwoo. Jinchul doesn’t know who he is; however, Jinwoo lightly makes contact with his thumb while exchanging a drawing, and suddenly, Jinchul learns everything about the deleted timeline; however, he’s not about to go around telling everyone that Jinwoo is the Shadow Monarch, so the secret is safe.
Next up, we get Jinwoo gaining interest in joining the school track team. He barges in on one of their practices and wants to join despite having zero experience (as if he needs it.) He claims that he wants to join because there is someone he wants to meet during the competitions. Of course, he knows that Haein Cha was a track star before becoming a Hunter, so he wants to reunite with someone he holds deep admiration and love for!
Meanwhile, in the United States, someone calls 9-1-1 and tells them an extraordinary claim… the sky is cracking! Jinwoo is approached by the Rulers, who tell them that in the deleted timeline, a race known as the Titans invaded their world, but now that things have changed, they sense Jinwoo’s power and set their sights on Earth instead. It’s up to Jinwoo to zip to America and handle things. Of course, Jinwoo can handle battling Titans and training for track and field at the same time!
A few other things happen, such as Jinwoo reuniting with Jinho (who instinctively calls him Boss, but can’t understand why), he meets someone who went on to become one of his shadows from the deleted timeline, and other small reunion-like events. The volume wraps up with Jinwoo caving from an offer he received and becomes a policeman… but not before he receives a very ominous dream… a dream that offers a glimpse at an alternate version of a certain event… an event that started everything!
Characters
Typically, characters don’t receive much development at the end of a series, but this series is quite the exception.
Jinwoo received a lot of development, but it’s mainly in the form of a guessing game as to the decisions he’s making in this new timeline. He’s being extra cautious to hide his identity, and even when some people can see his shadows, he worries about his true identity getting out; however, when it comes to people like Jinchul and (presumably Haein), he’s more lax about letting the cat out of the bag. His selectiveness contradicts his willingness to remain guarded, but I wonder if he’s being that way because he has deep trust in those he’s showing the truth to. Even with that, though, I know he trusts Jinho, but he hasn’t clued him in at all.
Then, there is Jinwoo joining the police force. He was against it at first, and even cracked a joke about how police officers don’t get paid very well; however, he ends up doing it anyway. He even receives a nickname: The Phantom. Of course, nobody knows that he’s using his shadow soldiers to help him solve crimes, but it’s the reason why he’s choosing to solve crimes that’s unknown; however, all of this was foreshadowed from the beginning of the volume, where it was painfully obvious that he was the one forcing criminals to turn themselves in. Jinwoo is as enigmatic as ever, but I guess we’ll find out next time the reasons behind everything.
Final Thoughts
This was fun… seeing Jinwoo navigating the world he created, but as I said, it’s weird to see him be selective about who he reveals the truth to. One thing is clear: the monarchs will return in the future, and Jinwoo confirmed that he’s going to fight them again. Unless it’s super rushed, I doubt that we will get to see any of that in the next volume, especially since it is subtitled Side Stories II. I do know the synopsis of the sequel series, Ragnarok, so I can draw a bit of a conclusion here that we will see Haein Cha and Jinwoo celebrate the arrival of their child into the world. I mean, call that a spoiler, but I call it an educated guess, seeing how Ragnarok is publishing and it focuses on Jinwoo’s son. Given Jinwoo’s love for Haein, it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out where Suho Sung came from!
Then again, maybe Ragnarok opens with that, and we don’t see that in the next volume. I haven’t read anything outside of the English releases, so all I can do is sit back and theorize what we will see in the final volume. I do believe we will also see more of Jinwoo as The Phantom Detective, though. We might even get to see more of his father play a role in Jinwoo’s life, as that was touched upon in this volume, too. I also would like to see more of Jinho and if Jinwoo will let him in on the secret, too. Then again, I don’t know if Jinho has the mental capacity to handle such a revelation. He is kind of on the…um… wanting side when it comes to smarts.
In any event, dedicating two entire volumes to an epilogue may seem excessive, but given what we saw here, I think it’s playing out rather well! Can’t wait to see how it all wraps up… for real this time!
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This item was provided for review by Ize Press
