When Did The First Solo Leveling Scan Get Published Online?

I dug through old timestamps and community threads a while back, and the cleanest, verifiable milestone is the official webtoon launch on March 4, 2018. From my perspective, that’s when the story became available in its manhwa form and when scanlation activity kicked into high gear.

Within days after March 4, 2018, various unofficial scans and fan translations started popping up online — uploaded by multiple groups across different sites. Because several people tend to upload around the same time, there isn’t a single universally agreed-upon "first" scanlation post, but the earliest circulation clearly began in March 2018, immediately following the Korean release. Later on, licensed English releases made official translations accessible, which I appreciated because it meant supporting the creators while still being able to re-read favorite arcs in better quality. It’s wild to think how quickly something can spread; that rush of new chapters back then hooked me hard.

If you trace 'Solo Leveling's' rise from a cult web novel to an international phenomenon, the timeline that matters here is the webtoon launch in early March 2018. I followed the series back when it first blew up, and the manhwa adaptation by DUBU (Redice Studio) started publishing officially on March 4, 2018. That official release is the anchor point — unofficial scans and fan translations tend to appear within days or weeks of a new chapter whenever a hot title drops, and 'Solo Leveling' was no exception.

I saw the earliest unofficial scans circulate very quickly after that March 4 release — folks on forums, imageboards, and scan sites uploaded chapters almost as soon as they could be ripped from the Korean release. Pinpointing a single "first" scan upload is tricky because multiple groups and individuals often post around the same time; some uploads were rough raw scans, others were partial translations, and a few community volunteers polished and shared cleaned versions. For many international readers back then, that scramble was how they first encountered Jinwoo's climb, even if the translation quality varied.

Beyond the scanning scene, the bigger shift came when official English releases arrived through licensed platforms later on. That made high-quality translations and clearer art access legal and reliable, and also encouraged readers to support the creators. I still get nostalgic thinking about those frantic weeks in March 2018 — the hype, the debates over translation choices, and watching the fandom explode as every chapter seemed to up the stakes. It felt like being part of something that was just starting to roar, and honestly, the impatience and the shared excitement were half the fun.