Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

Takuya was now inside the Trailmon, which moved steadily along the rails of the Digital World. At some point, however, curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to see what traveling between the two worlds actually looked like, so he moved toward one of the windows and looked outside. At first, the Trailmon simply continued along the rails, but then, right before his eyes, space itself seemed to fracture like glass. The Trailmon passed straight through the cracks, and Takuya found himself inside the vortex once again.

The journey through the vortex lasted for a couple of minutes. Then, Takuya entered another strange space where he could see lights floating all around him. A moment later, that space fractured as well, and he entered an area that looked like an unfinished video game, almost like the old digital aesthetics of TRON. It looked like a truly digital world—somehow even more digital than the Digital World itself, if that made any sense.

Then, after passing through that strange place, space fractured one final time, and Takuya finally entered Seoul. The strange thing was that he came out at the exact same station where he had boarded the Trailmon, but when he stepped down, he wasn’t standing beside a Trailmon anymore. Somehow, the train had changed. How exactly that had happened, Takuya had no idea.

Takuya looked back at the train, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Digimagic?" he muttered. He hadn’t changed trains, but somehow his train was no longer a Trailmon. Was it even the same train anymore? He had no idea, and honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to think too hard about it.

Instead, Takuya focused on the view before him. Civilization. Real civilization. The city stretched out around him, and he would have been lying if he said he hadn’t missed it. The busy people simply ignored him as they went about their lives, but Takuya didn’t care. He had been in the Digital World for eight months. He quickly checked the D-Scan and confirmed that only a single month had passed in the Human World.

Suddenly, the D-Scan lit up, immediately putting Takuya on edge. "Give me a break, dude," he exclaimed, but in the next instant, he relaxed when he saw what it was doing.

Scanning for dimensional anomalies...

Scan finished...

Digital anomalies detected: 0

Other sources detected...

Classifying...

Establishing search area...

Accommodating...

Non-digital anomalies — Korea: 234

Takuya stared at the display. The digital anomalies being at zero was reassuring, but the next number immediately caught his attention. Two hundred and thirty-four non-digital anomalies? The Gates. There were that many active Gates in Korea alone? And if that was only Korea, then how many were there across the entire world? Obviously, every country wouldn’t have the same number, especially considering the differences in size and population, but even so, the sheer number was staggering.

Takuya then checked the message section of the D-Scan, and there was a lot of them. A whole lot. There were 2,456 messages in total, from his uncle, his friends, and practically everyone in the Guild.

"This is going to be one hell of an explanation," Takuya muttered. The truth was that he didn’t have a clear excuse. He couldn’t exactly say that he had entered a second Gate, because that wasn’t what had happened, and he had absolutely nothing to justify his absence. He hadn’t awakened again, nor had anything else happened that could reasonably explain why he had disappeared for a month. "Whatever. I’m not going to give it too much thought. I’ll just have to improvise," he muttered.

At that moment, the first thing he needed to do was simple: go home and talk to his uncle. Then again, considering the hour, his uncle was probably at the hospital. So that came first. With a Flash Jump, Takuya disappeared from the station and moved toward the hospital where his uncle should have been working. Only after talking to him and apologizing for disappearing again would he call his friends, and only later the Guild. Family and friends came first.

After only a couple of minutes, he arrived at the hospital and immediately went to the reception desk. He asked for his uncle, and the people there already knew him. He had visited several times before, after all. Although, lately, Takuya wasn’t sure he could believe in coincidences anymore. Jinwoo was also in this same hospital, after all.

The receptionist knew that Takuya had disappeared, so she immediately greeted him and hugged him. She had always been pretty kind to him, but Takuya knew better. Ever since they had arrived here, she had been particularly "close and nice" to his uncle. Takuya simply returned the hug before she guided him toward the area where his uncle should have been working. He worked in the burn unit and specialized in skin grafts and reconstructive procedures. Ironically, considering the power Takuya himself wielded was fire.

When he entered the room where his uncle was working, he found him examining pictures of a woman’s face and tracing lines across the image. Takuya entered quietly and then spoke from behind him. "As busy as always," he said with a genuine smile on his face. The instant his uncle turned around and saw him, his eyes widened. He immediately ran toward Takuya and pulled him into a hug.

"Where have you been this time?" his uncle exclaimed. "This time it was a whole month! You’re going to give me a heart attack. I thought I’d lost you... again. Even your Guild had been looking for you. There was no clue about where you were," his uncle said, gripping Takuya tightly.

"I missed you, kid. If you disappear again, I don’t know what I’ll do," his uncle continued, his voice softer now. "You’re the only family I have left." Of course, Takuya hugged him back just as tightly.

"Don’t worry, I won’t disappear again. But, about being the only family member... I don’t know about that. The receptionist ha—wait ah-hae? or somthing, wasn’t it? She looks pretty eager to become another member," Takuya teased, referring to the receptionist and trying to lighten the mood.

"Don’t ruin the moment, kid," his uncle replied as he rubbed Takuya’s head. "I’ll come home earlier. We have to celebrate your return. Invite your friends." He was clearly in an extremely good mood now. There was still some worry in his eyes, but most of it had been replaced by relief. Takuya was finally back.

They chatted for a while before Takuya was about to call Jinah. He hesitated for a moment. She was probably going to feel relieved, but he also had the distinct feeling that he was going to get scolded. He tapped his foot against the floor for a moment before sighing and calling her. He had considered calling Jinwoo first, but his instincts told him that Jinah should come first.

They were currently in class, so as far as Takuya knew, she probably wouldn’t answer. She always kept her phone muted during class, after all. So when she immediately picked up, Takuya was genuinely surprised.

"Takuyaaaa! Where have you been?!" she exclaimed immediately.

"Hi, Jinah. Nice to hear you, too. I’ve been in a dungeon. Actually, it wasn’t really my choice. It’s difficult to explain over the phone," Takuya replied. He couldn’t help smiling. He had missed her. Well, he had missed all of them, not just her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her tone becoming noticeably less frantic.

"Yeah, everything went well. Actually, since quite a while has passed, would you like to come to my house? My uncle wants to throw a party. It’s kind of like a movie night with food, but you get the idea," Takuya explained.

"Me? Are you sure you don’t want to spend some time with your uncle first?" she asked again.

"Well, actually, I’d rather be with everyone," Takuya answered immediately.

"Jinwoo? Did you call him?"

"Not yet. I’m about to. See you at six. Is that okay?" Takuya asked. After Jinah confirmed, they talked for a little while longer before finally ending the call. Takuya then called Jinwoo.

He answered almost immediately. "YOU’RE ALIVE! Where have you been?! We even looked for you, but there was no sign of a Gate!"

It was practically an emotional yell through the phone.

"Hahaha, yeah, I’m okay. I was indeed in a dungeon. It was a large one, and it took me a while to find the boss, but in the end, I did," Takuya replied. He was going to go with the idea that it had been a Red Gate, albeit a weaker one—if something like that even existed.

As Takuya talked to Jinwoo, he described the dungeon without mentioning Digimon. Instead, he explained the creatures he had encountered in vague terms, describing things like an eight-headed snake and other strange monsters. While talking to Jinwoo, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, gradually making his way toward the Hunters Guild building.

When he finally arrived in front of the building, Takuya took a breath and entered. The moment he approached the reception desk, the people there looked at him with wide eyes. The receptionist immediately called the number of the highest office—the Guild Master’s office. By the time Takuya reached the reception desk, the Guild Master had already come down from the upper floor. The moment he reached the first floor, he immediately moved toward Takuya and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Those were the first words out of his mouth, which surprised Takuya. Guild Master Choi looked genuinely worried, and even a little less composed than usual.

"I’m so glad you’re okay," the Guild Master exclaimed after carefully looking Takuya over.

"Sorry. I got trapped in a Gate," Takuya explained.

"I know that. We launched an investigation after we couldn’t contact you for two days. Follow me. Chae is in my office. I went out without telling her anything, so she probably stayed there. She was quite worried about you," the Guild Master explained as he guided Takuya upstairs.

By the time they reached the office and entered, Cha Hae-In immediately greeted him with a hug. "We were so worried about you," she exclaimed.

Takuya hugged her back. They really had been worried about him. After all, hugging people wasn’t exactly something everyone in this culture did casually, and both of them had become quite prone to physical affection around him.

"I’ll explain what happened," Takuya said.

"Please do. The cameras only showed you entering a train, and you never exited it. No matter where we looked, there was no sign of you. You were also accompanied by a child in a costume who disappeared along with you," the Guild Master explained.

That last part made Takuya slightly worried. He couldn’t exactly explain Pumpkinmon’s existence, but he couldn’t deny that the little Digimon had been with him either. Fortunately, there was another way to approach the situation.

"Oh, right. He didn’t appear? I mean, he said he was lost, but here’s the weird thing: when I entered the train, I was alone. Just like that. The people who also entered the train weren’t there anymore. In the end, I reached another place that turned out to be a dungeon, that’s all I know" Takuya explained.