Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

Chapter 61: Carefree

After that day, the rumors were confirmed almost immediately. Since Takuya was already a Hunter affiliated with the Hunters Guild, there was no real reason to delay the announcement. The news was released quickly, accompanied by the now-famous image of Vritramon descending in front of Choi Jong-In and the Director of the Hunters Association, with Cha Hae-In calmly jumping down from Takuya’s shoulder.

The first reports only referred to him as the possible tenth S-Rank Hunter in Korea, but once the official announcement was released, along with the confirmation that Takuya had recently obtained Korean citizenship while still retaining his Japanese nationality, the story became even bigger. Korea had gained its tenth S-Rank, and that S-Rank had originally been Japanese. Naturally, the internet exploded with arguments, speculation, and endless discussions.

There were debates about the possible international consequences, arguments between Korean and Japanese users, and even several nicknames for Takuya. One of the most popular was The Great Dragon of Korea, an obviously provocative title considering both his new nationality and the massive red dragon form that had been revealed to the public. It was ridiculous, but Takuya had to admit that the name fit Vritramon pretty damn well.

The bigger problem, however, was the reaction from the other Guilds.

Originally, the Hunters Guild had possessed two S-Rank Hunters. Now it had three.

That immediately made them the strongest force in Korea by a considerable margin, far above the other top Guilds. Contrary to what anyone might have expected, however, this was also becoming a headache for Guild Master Choi Jong-In. He had to deal with several discussions and complaints from the other Guild Masters, some of whom even proposed that the distribution of S-Rank Hunters should somehow be kept "balanced" between the major Guilds.

To Choi, the entire idea was almost funny.

As if anyone could actually control where an S-Rank Hunter decided to work.

Still, Choi eventually agreed to some compromises. It wasn’t like another S-Rank was going to suddenly appear anytime soon, right? And even if one did, the agreement only prevented the Hunters Guild from being the first organization to aggressively recruit them. If the Hunter personally approached Choi, he obviously wasn’t going to refuse. He also agreed not to immediately contact newly promoted A-Ranks, allowing the other Guilds the first opportunity to speak with them before the Hunters Guild made its own offer later.

From Choi Jong-In’s perspective, it was still a complete victory. Even if another S-Rank appeared and joined another Guild, the Hunters Guild would still remain one S-Rank ahead of everyone else. Their position was already established, and it wasn’t like any of his current S-Ranks were planning to leave.

So he simply accepted the agreement.

Meanwhile, Takuya was dealing with problems of his own.

Outside his house, there were reporters. A lot of reporters. So many that both sides of the street were crowded with journalists, cameras, curious civilians, and people hoping to get even a glimpse of Korea’s newest S-Rank Hunter.

"Sorry."

Takuya received a light smack on the back of the head from his uncle. It obviously wasn’t meant to hurt him, more like a playful punishment.

"Who told you to show off that much? Now I can barely get to work," Ikki complained with a sigh.

"Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll give you a ride. I want to go to school anyway," Takuya replied. Before his uncle could even properly understand what he meant, Ikki suddenly found himself flying above the city in the direction of the hospital.

Everything happened absurdly fast. By the time Ikki’s brain finally caught up with the situation, he was standing on the hospital rooftop watching a giant red dragon fly away while waving one claw at him.

"Bye!" Ikki stared after him for several seconds.

Then he sighed. And entered the hospital through the roof.

Takuya continued flying above the city. Unlike the previous time, people who recognized him now immediately pulled out their phones to take pictures and record videos. There were still plenty of people who didn’t recognize him at first glance, but considering how quickly he flew overhead, most didn’t even have enough time to panic before he was already gone.

When he approached the school, Takuya climbed higher and higher until he was far above the building. Then he simply canceled the transformation.

His human body appeared in midair. And began falling toward the roof.

Takuya wasn’t particularly worried. In his human form, he was already a B+ Rank Hunter, so terminal velocity wasn’t exactly something that could seriously threaten him anymore. Still, while falling, he decided to test something.

He extended one foot downward.

A burst of flame erupted beneath it.

The recoil immediately slowed his fall, allowing him to descend gently toward the rooftop.

"Oh, neat. I should’ve tried this earlier."

He had done similar things as Agnimon, but never in his human form. Before, there hadn’t been able to experiment with abilities like that while he was still weaker.

"Now that I think about it... if I had kept training in Flamon form, this is probably around the level I could’ve eventually reached with that Evolution," Takuya muttered.

At this point, he was completely certain.

Unlocking a form wasn’t enough. He needed to train in each Evolution, become accustomed to it, and absorb Data if he wanted to increase its strength.

With that thought out of the way, Takuya casually entered the school building.

It was still ridiculously early, almost half an hour before classes began. He looked around and deliberately avoided most of his classmates—and practically everyone else in the school. The last thing he wanted was another crowd forming around him, so avoiding people was probably the best option.

Fortunately, that was incredibly easy for him now.

When he finally reached the classroom, he found exactly who he had been looking for.

"I knew you’d be here," Takuya said with a smile. Then the girl in question looked back at Takuya.

"Oh? Mister S-Rank still comes to school?!" Jinah replied with a grin as she walked toward him. Then she stopped and looked him up and down. "Hey... you’re taller," she said, pointing her finger up and down at him.

"Yeah, I think it’s a side effect of ranking up. And no, I’m not actually here for class. I came for something else," Takuya replied as he grabbed a chair and sat beside Jinah’s desk.

"But you’re literally at school," Jinah pointed out as she sat down across from him.

"Yeah, but not for long. I came here to ask you something." Takuya leaned forward with a grin. "Let’s skip school."

Jinah blinked.

"I want to do something fun that doesn’t involve a Gate and definitely doesn’t involve school. Come on. Let’s skip. I already have somewhere in mind. I think you could like that place," Takuya exclaimed again as he tried to motivate Jinah to go with him.

Jinah stared at him for a second, maybe a little more, before chuckling. "Hahaha. My brother is going to get mad at both of us, but okay, it sounds fun. Let’s go."

She immediately stood up and grabbed her things. The two began walking through the hallways, but instead of heading toward the entrance, Takuya started going upward.

"Why are we going this way?" Jinah asked, confused.

"We can’t use the main entrance. There are too many reporters and people outside, and I really don’t want to deal with them. So we’re taking another way out. Trust me, it’ll be fun."

Once they reached the upper floor and stepped onto the rooftop, Takuya looked back toward Jinah.

"Don’t get scared."

Then he raised one hand. "DIGISpirit."

Data immediately surrounded him. A moment later, Takuya was gone. In his place stood the five-meter-tall Vritramon.

Jinah instinctively took a step backward.

Takuya chuckled upon seeing this. "I told you not to get scared. Now hop on my back. We’re going to fly."

"Fly?! What if I fall?!" Jinah exclaimed.

"Don’t worry, I won’t let you. Now hop up."

Takuya lowered his body.

Jinah hesitated for a moment before slowly climbing onto him and settling onto his back.

"Your armor is warm," she noticed, moving her hand over the armor. Indeed, it wasn’t hot, just warm.

"Of course. Fire is literally my power. Even when I control it, some heat still leaks out. Now hold onto the armor. I’ll go slowly, so you don’t have to worry about anything."

At that point, Jinah practically wrapped herself around Takuya’s back like a koala. Vritramon spread his wings.

Then he took off.

Takuya quickly climbed into the sky with Jinah holding tightly onto him. At first, she pressed herself against his back as much as possible, clearly nervous about the height. However, as the minutes passed and she realized how stable the flight actually was, she slowly relaxed.

Eventually, she sat properly on his back, kneeling comfortably while looking down at the city beneath them. They flew above Seoul together.

"Nice view, isn’t it?" Takuya asked.

By that point, Jinah’s eyes were practically sparkling as she looked around.

"More than nice! This is awesome!" she yelled.

Then another thought occurred to her. "Now that I think about it... where are we going?"

"Surprise," Takuya replied.

He continued flying away from Seoul and toward Incheon. He maintained a constant speed, fast enough to travel quickly but smooth enough that Jinah didn’t have to deal with sudden acceleration or freezing winds.

"We’re going pretty fast," Jinah commented. "When you said we were skipping school, I thought you meant we’d go eat something. Not leave the city."

"Well, what can I say? If I can fly, why wouldn’t I use it?" Takuya responded as he continued forward.

Incheon eventually came into view beneath them.

He passed over the city and headed toward the area near Incheon Airport. There was a massive resort and casino complex nearby, Inspire or something like that. Takuya had seen pictures of it online and decided it looked interesting enough.

He descended onto the rooftop without any invitation whatsoever.

And somehow, nobody noticed them.

"Ta-da!" Takuya exclaimed as Jinah climbed down. She looked around with wide eyes.

"I can’t believe we flew to another city in less than twenty minutes. Way less, actually. That’s insane." Then she looked at him. "But why are we here?"

"I saw this place online and thought it looked nice. Besides, we’re close to the beach and there’s a lot of stuff to do around here," Takuya explained as he returned to his human form.

"Just because of that?" Jinah laughed. "Okay, let’s go. I have to admit, this is already the best time I’ve ever skipped class, and we literally just arrived."

Then the two of them "infiltrated" the hotel.

They descended from the upper floors and walked straight toward the resort area as though they belonged there. It was still early in the morning, so the breakfast buffet was open. Takuya had more than enough money to pay for everything if necessary, but he hadn’t actually booked anything.

That was part of the fun. They moved through the place while pretending they were perfectly legitimate guests. When they finally reached the buffet, they stopped.

There was food everywhere. A ridiculous amount of food.

Fruit, meat, eggs, bread, pastries, desserts, drinks—practically anything they could think of was available somewhere on the tables.

Takuya and Jinah looked at each other. Then they smiled.

Both immediately grabbed plates, loaded them with food, and moved toward an empty table.

After breakfast, they explored more of the resort and casino complex. Eventually, they bought swimsuits and spent a good amount of time relaxing at the hotel pool.

Later that afternoon, they left and explored Incheon itself. They went to the beach, visited a museum, wandered around the areas close to the airport, and checked practically every shop that caught their attention.

By the end of the day, both of them were carrying bags.

A lot of bags.

"How are we supposed to carry all of this back?" Jinah asked while looking at the pile around them. "Also, you really didn’t have to buy things for me, you know. The food and the whole day were already more than enough."

"Well, I spend most of my time inside dungeons, soooo... it’s nice to actually spend some of the money I make," Takuya replied with a smile. "Besides, look at this and tell me you didn’t need it."

He pulled a teddy bear out of one of the bags.

Jinah immediately snatched it from his hands.

Takuya laughed. "Hahaha. See?" Then he looked at the rest of the bags. "Now let me take care of this."

One by one, everything disappeared into his inventory.

Jinah stared at the empty space for a moment. Then at Takuya. "...That’s cheating," said the girl.

"Absolutely," Takuya replied with a smile.

After that, the two of them flew back toward Seoul.