Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

Once he got home, Takuya immediately noticed that his uncle wasn’t there.

Of course he wasn’t.

He was still at work.

With the apartment completely quiet, Takuya took his newly purchased phone out of the box and began setting it up. From the very beginning, the screen flickered every now and then, just like the old one had.

Even so, he finished installing everything, transferred what little data he could, and activated his new number.

A new phone.

A new number.

...A new life?

He wasn’t sure he could really say that.

Once everything was ready, he sat down on the couch and focused on the strange flickering. Every so often the screen glitched for a fraction of a second, but nothing else happened.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him.

He started tapping the screen whenever it flickered, hoping for some kind of reaction.

Nothing.

With nothing else to do, he turned on the TV.

A Hunter was being interviewed.

Cha Hae-In.

Japan’s female S-Rank Hunter.

"She really is beautiful," Takuya muttered with a faint grin. "No wonder you stayed there, Jinwoo."

The comment was little more than a joke to himself. He barely paid attention to the interview, his eyes returning to the phone in his hands.

He didn’t feel any different.

No strange energy.

No connection.

Nothing that suggested he had become anything more than an ordinary human.

Then...

The television screen flickered as well.

Takuya slowly raised his head.

A few seconds later, the lights overhead began to flicker too.

The entire apartment dimmed and brightened at irregular intervals, making the place look like something straight out of a horror movie.

Oddly enough...

He wasn’t scared.

If anything, he felt hopeful.

Maybe...

Maybe this was finally something that belonged to him.

"...The last time I thought I had hope..."

His smile stiffened.

"...It didn’t end very well."

For the first time since arriving in this world, genuine fear crept back into his chest.

Then—

Everything went black.

The TV.

The lights.

His phone.

Every electronic device in the apartment shut off simultaneously.

The silence lasted only a second.

The screens suddenly turned back on.

This time, however...

Something emerged from them.

A small portal formed in front of the television, its edges made of shifting lines of glowing code that continuously rearranged themselves.

"...Shit."

That was the only thought that crossed Takuya’s mind.

He stared at the portal without moving.

"...Think."

He slowly backed away from it.

To his surprise, the portal vanished from the television and instantly appeared on the smaller monitor across the room.

He took another step.

Again, it disappeared and reappeared beside him.

"...It’s following me."

Takuya let out a long sigh.

Running clearly wasn’t an option.

If it wanted him...

Then avoiding it wouldn’t accomplish anything.

Taking a deep breath, he cautiously stepped forward.

The instant his hand touched the portal, countless lines of light spread across his vision.

His surroundings blurred.

The floor beneath him disappeared.

And in the blink of an eye...

The living room was gone.

He found himself standing in the middle of a forest.

"Oh, shit..."

His heart nearly stopped.

"A dungeon?"

He would have been lying if he said he wasn’t terrified.

His hands were already shaking.

Then...

A heavy sound echoed from his left.

Thump.

Thump.

Without thinking, he threw himself behind the nearest tree, pressing his back tightly against the trunk.

The footsteps grew louder.

A massive creature slowly walked past his hiding place.

At first glance, it resembled a Tyrannosaurus.

Its body was covered in bright red scales, with black stripes running along its back and dark green plates extending from its spine. Unlike a real dinosaur, however, its forearms were much larger, ending in three enormous claws.

Takuya stared at it in complete disbelief.

"...A Tyrannomon."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

Because that...

That wasn’t a dinosaur.

It was a Digimon.

To say he was cooked would have been an understatement.

"I’m not in Solo Leveling..." Takuya muttered as he watched the Tyrannomon disappear into the forest. "...I’m in a fucking crossover."

That was so much worse.

The problem was that these were Digimon.

If it had been Pokémon, he could have accepted it a little more easily. Sure, some Pokémon were terrifying, but Digimon?

Digimon were on an entirely different level.

An Ultimate-level Digimon could already give several Monarchs a serious fight, and some higher-level Digimon possessed abilities that bordered on the absurd. There were beings capable of rewriting reality itself, manipulating time and space, or destroying entire worlds.

Hell...

Even characters from Dragon Ball like zeno or the antispiral from gurren lagan weren’t guaranteed to beat some of the strongest Digimon.

Their power scaling was simply ridiculous.

One thought briefly crossed his mind.

...Did I cause this somehow?

He immediately dismissed it.

No.

That was just arrogance.

At best, he was nothing more than a side effect of whatever was happening.

Unfortunately, that realization only led to another.

The Shadow Monarch...

Wasn’t enough.

His powers were incredible by the standards of Solo Leveling.

But compared to the Digital World?

They suddenly didn’t seem nearly as overwhelming.

Sure, Sung Jinwoo might be able to compete with some Ultimate-level Digimon...

But against something like Jupitermon Wrath Mode?

What a joke.

At that point, even the Shadow Monarch would look like a child.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, he heard it.

Click.

Click.

The unmistakable sound instantly put him on alert.

He didn’t even need to see it.

He recognized it immediately.

"Kuwagamon..."

The first major enemy from the original Digimon Adventure.

The Tyrannomon suddenly raised its head, locking onto something in the sky.

Its jaws glowed bright orange before releasing a stream of fire upward.

The attack missed.

A second later, a massive red insect descended from above, slashing down with its enormous claws.

The Tyrannomon crossed its own claws to block the attack.

The impact echoed throughout the forest.

The two Champion-level Digimon immediately began wrestling, tearing through trees as they fought for dominance.

Takuya didn’t need to be told twice.

The moment their attention shifted away from him, he turned around and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

Champion-level or not...

Either one could kill him without the slightest effort.

"Ahhh... I should’ve waited for a normal Awakening!" he cried between breaths. "What the fuck am I doing in the Digital World?! That wasn’t supposed to be a dungeon!"

He was dangerously close to tears.

Running for his life tended to have that effect.

Still...

There was something that didn’t make sense.

There had to be a reason he was here.

If the Digital World had somehow connected itself to him...

Then maybe...

Just maybe...

He was supposed to be a Tamer.

Or one of the Chosen Children.

Those were the first possibilities that came to mind.

Except...

There was no Koromon waiting for him.

No Agumon.

No Angewomon.

No Lilithmon

Nothing.

Just two giant monsters that could kill him the moment they noticed he existed.

As he continued running, he realized he was still holding his new phone.

He quickly ducked behind a large boulder before pulling it out.

"Please work..."

The screen lit up immediately.

It had signal.

Of course it had signal.

He was literally inside the Digital World.

What caught his attention, however, was something else.

The signal indicator read...

7G.

Then, a second later...

9G.

"...Now that’s good reception."

Back in the Solo Leveling world, they were barely using 5G.

"The map."

He quickly opened the navigation app.

To his surprise...

It worked perfectly.

The display showed a vast forest along with his current location.

As he zoomed out, another marker appeared in the distance.

Spirit Cave.

"...Spirit..."

The word felt incredibly familiar.

Then...

Everything clicked into place.

His name.

Takuya.

The Spirit Cave.

He slowly raised his head.

"...No way."

He wasn’t just some random person.

He wasn’t even an original character.

He was...

Takuya Kanbara.

The protagonist of Digimon Frontier.

Not Solo Leveling.

"...Spirit Evolution..."

His heart started beating faster.

It was only a guess.

A desperate hope.

But if he was right...

Then maybe—

Just maybe—

He had a chance of surviving this insane, mixed-up world.

He moved as quickly as he could while doing his best to stay hidden.

Right now, he was probably the weakest thing in the entire forest.

He couldn’t afford to be seen.

Even a Rookie Digimon could probably kill him, and if he happened to run into a bored Perfect-level Digimon—or even an aggressive Adult—he’d be beyond cooked.

Following the map, he carefully made his way toward the marked location.

Seven hundred meters.

It wasn’t far, but every step felt painfully slow.

After several tense minutes, he finally saw it.

A cave.

That was both good and bad.

The good news was that it matched the marker on the map.

The bad news...

There could easily be a Digimon living inside.

"...There’s no other choice."

Takuya swallowed nervously.

"I don’t even know if I can go back. There isn’t a portal anywhere."

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

"why me?"

The cave stretched surprisingly deep underground. He stayed close to the wall, carefully placing each step. Walking through the center would only make him an easier target if something attacked.

Eventually, he reached the point marked on the map.

Then he saw it.

"...Of course."

A Digimon.

Sleeping peacefully in the middle of the cave.

It was a giant purple mole with a massive drill protruding from its snout.

"Drimogemon..."

Behind it...

There was a small tunnel.

Exactly where the map marker ended.

Unfortunately, reaching it meant passing right beside the sleeping Digimon.

There was no alternative.

He had to do it now.

If Drimogemon woke up, the opportunity would be gone.

Takuya slowly slipped off his shoes.

Bare feet would make less noise.

Holding his breath, he carefully inched forward, his back pressed firmly against the cave wall as he moved one tiny step at a time.

Closer...

Closer...

Almost there.

Then...

Drimogemon’s eyes opened.

The Digimon looked directly at him.

The two stared at each other in complete silence.

"...Good afternoon, sir."

The words left Takuya’s mouth before his brain had any chance to stop them.

Drimogemon immediately roared.

The enormous Digimon charged like an enraged bull.

"SHIT!"

Takuya threw himself toward the tunnel.

The massive drill shot over his head, missing him by mere centimeters before slamming into the cave wall.

Fortunately, the tunnel was too narrow for a Digimon of Drimogemon’s size.

Without wasting a second, Takuya crawled inside.

Behind him, he heard the furious grinding of the drill as Drimogemon desperately tried to dig its way through.

Then—

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

A metallic sound echoed repeatedly through the tunnel.

Something...

Something was preventing Drimogemon from breaking through.

Only after putting some distance between them did Takuya finally allow himself to breathe again.

He kept crawling until the narrow tunnel gradually widened into a small circular chamber.

In the center of the room stood a simple stone altar.

He cautiously approached it.

Then he blinked.

"...Seriously?"

Connected to the altar...

Was a charger.

An actual phone charger.

He stared at it for several long seconds.

"...Yeah."

"That sounds about right for Digimon."

Too mentally exhausted to question anything anymore, Takuya simply took out his phone and plugged it in.

The battery icon appeared.

It was charging.

He had risked his life.

Almost been drilled to death.

Crossed into what looked like a sacred chamber.

...And his reward was apparently a place to charge his phone.

With a long, defeated sigh, he rested both hands on the altar.

Then...

The phone flickered.

A bright light spread across its screen.

"...Huh?"

The device suddenly began changing shape.

Panels shifted.

Pieces unfolded and reassembled themselves like a miniature Transformer.

Metal folded over itself with mechanical precision until, a few moments later, the transformation was complete.

Resting on the altar...

Was a gray Digivice.

The exact same model from Digimon Frontier.

"...Finally."

"Something useful."

He immediately picked it up.

The moment his fingers wrapped around it...

Something went horribly wrong.

The Digivice suddenly became soft.

It began melting in his hand like molten metal.

"What the—?!"

An intense burning pain shot through his arm.

Instinctively, Takuya tried to throw it away.

He couldn’t.

Instead, the liquid metal clung tightly to his skin.

Every part of his body that touched it became stuck as well.

"No—!"

The molten Digivice rapidly spread across his hand before sinking beneath his skin.

It felt as though burning metal was forcing its way directly into his body.

The pain was unbearable.

He collapsed onto the floor, desperately trying to tear it off, but there was nothing left to grab.

It simply kept sinking deeper.

He was on the verge of blacking out.

Then...

The pain abruptly stopped.

Silence filled the chamber.

A second later, a translucent screen flickered into existence before his eyes, floating in the air.