The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11. The Association Director (3)
The next morning, Eun Seo-jin completed his discharge procedures and left the hospital.
“You mustn’t enter any Dungeons before receiving the Association’s permission.”
“Understood.”
The outside world for the first time in three years. Sunlight stung his eyes. A cool spring breeze brushed his cheek. The noise of pedestrians echoed in his ears.
Everything felt foreign, yet everything felt vivid.
Eun Seo-jin pulled out his phone and called Song Ji-hu. The dial tone rang twice before the call connected.
“This is Eun Seo-jin.”
— Yeah.
Despite the early hour, he didn’t sound drowsy at all. He must have been awake since dawn.
“Where are you right now?”
— Home. Why?
“I’d like to visit you.”
— …All right.
Song Ji-hu recited an address. Eun Seo-jin noted it in his phone’s memo app, his brow furrowing.
Seoul Outskirts.
An unfamiliar neighborhood. A region bordering on a slum, dense with studio apartments.
‘Why would someone with that level of ability live in a place like that?’
His confusion deepened.
The power to cure Mental Contamination. A talent talented enough that every Guild would offer billions in recruitment offers. Why was such a person living in a decrepit studio apartment complex?
Was he indifferent to money? Or did he not have the time to care about such things?
‘His goal must be that desperate.’
Eun Seo-jin hailed a taxi.
“Take me here, please.”
When he showed the driver the address, the driver’s expression turned strange.
“Excuse me? There? That place is a bit…”
“Just drive. At least get us near there.”
The driver said nothing more, cowed by the cold intensity in Eun Seo-jin’s gaze.
The taxi pulled away, and Seoul’s scenery blurred past the window. Once they left the downtown area, the buildings grew increasingly shabby. High-rise towers gave way to rundown storefronts and aging residential neighborhoods.
Eun Seo-jin stared out the window, lost in thought.
‘This person doesn’t desire fame or wealth.’
That much was certain. The emotions he’d felt in that Mindscape—there wasn’t a single gram of greed or vanity in them.
A being running toward a single goal alone.
‘I’ll understand when I become worthy.’
And he was prepared to do everything in his power to earn that worthiness.
“You’ll have to get out here! That alley won’t fit a car!”
The taxi stopped.
Eun Seo-jin looked out the window. The entrance to the shabby studio apartment complex. Peeling paint on the outer walls, rusted stairs, faded curtains hanging in the windows.
It was worlds apart from the apartment where he’d lived.
Eun Seo-jin stepped out of the taxi and entered the building.
He climbed the stairs to the third floor and stood before the door at the end of the hallway.
He pressed the doorbell, but there was no response. When he knocked on the door, it finally opened.
Song Ji-hu stood in the doorway. His expression was as composed as last night, but faint dark circles shadowed the skin beneath his eyes. It appeared he’d been doing something all night.
“Come in.”
Song Ji-hu stepped aside.
The moment Eun Seo-jin stepped into the room.
His footsteps stopped.
One bed. One small desk. That was all. Even the light filtering through the window was dim. The walls were stained with mold marks, and the air was damp and musty.
The ability to cure Mental Contamination. The power to dive into an S-rank Hunter’s Mindscape and end nightmares.
That such a person would live in a place like this. Eun Seo-jin’s face hardened.
“…What is this?”
His voice was low and cold. Song Ji-hu shrugged.
“It’s a room. Why? Is something wrong?”
“Why do you live here with that kind of ability?”
“It’s just a place to sleep. Besides, I spend more time outside anyway.”
At that answer, Eun Seo-jin’s eyes became sharper still.
“I absolutely cannot accept this.”
Eun Seo-jin shook his head and pulled out his phone.
“I will handle it. The matter of your living situation—”
Song Ji-hu looked at Eun Seo-jin. A moment of silence passed between them.
“Fine. It’ll sort itself out anyway. Today, in fact.”
“Today? What do you mean?”
Eun Seo-jin tilted his head at Song Ji-hu’s words.
“The Chairman’s meeting.”
“Ah. What are you planning to discuss with him?”
Was the Chairman going to offer him a place to live?
“Guild establishment, for starters.”
Eun Seo-jin’s eyes widened.
“A guild? Already?”
“It’s basic. There’s nothing I can do alone. Besides, I’m a C-rank Hunter anyway.”
Song Ji-hu gazed out the window. Beyond the narrow frame, the sky hung overcast and dim.
“There’s too much to do. To handle it all, I need a foundation to move freely.”
“And that’s the guild.”
“That’s right.”
Song Ji-hu turned his head to look at Eun Seo-jin.
“And to establish that guild right now, I need an S-rank Hunter.”
Eun Seo-jin grasped the meaning at once.
“You’re speaking of me.”
“Is there another S-rank?”
Song Ji-hu laughed softly.
“Because you exist, it’s possible.”
Eun Seo-jin nodded slowly.
“Understood. If that’s what you need.”
Song Ji-hu checked his phone and rose from his seat.
“The car’s here. Let’s go.”
Following Song Ji-hu down the stairs, Eun Seo-jin’s thoughts churned.
‘He calculated everything from the start.’
Rescuing him, drawing the Association’s attention—and perhaps everything that comes after was part of the equation too.
If so, his role was clear: to be this man’s sword.
“Let’s board.”
Descending to the ground floor, Yun Young-soo stood waiting with the car door open.
The luxury sedan looked conspicuously out of place in this shabby one-room district, drawing stares from passersby.
As Song Ji-hu and Eun Seo-jin climbed in, the door closed smoothly and the vehicle pulled away with practiced ease.
Song Ji-hu watched the landscape blur past the window, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
‘One step at a time.’
He’d secured Eun Seo-jin, the finest blade, and captured the Association’s attention. Now he’d leverage that to get exactly what he wanted.
For now, South Korea lacked the international standing to fully protect him.
‘Which is precisely why it becomes the perfect stage.’
In a word, he was a tasteless morsel—claiming him for one nation meant taking on too many complications.
Precisely because South Korea maintained a pragmatic balance of power, it became the most ideal gray zone.
The current Chairman was, in many ways, remarkably transparent—which only made things easier.
***
A forty-story tower rising from the heart of Gangnam served as the beating heart of South Korea’s Hunter administration.
It also bore witness to where the nation’s power structure had shifted in the wake of the Great Cataclysm.
The sedan glided into the underground parking garage; an elevator awaited as they emerged.
Ten minutes remained before the appointed three o’clock. Eun Seo-jin stole a glance at Song Ji-hu beside him.
Despite meeting the Chairman in moments, he showed no tension—only the casual ease of someone entering his own home.
‘I truly cannot read him.’
Ding—
The doors slid open with a cheerful chime.
First came a long corridor lined with meeting rooms and offices on either side; at the corridor’s far end, the Chairman’s executive office.
Yet the secretary’s footsteps led not toward that office but to a small conference room nearby.
“This way, please.”
As the secretary opened the door, discomfort crossed her face.
“My apologies, but the Chairman is running behind. His previous meeting hasn’t concluded.”
The secretary bowed with formal courtesy.
“Is that so? How long do you think?”
“I’m not certain. Though it shouldn’t take terribly long.”
Song Ji-hu nodded, pulled out a conference chair, and dropped into it, leaning back as far as it would go.
“Wake me when he’s done.”
“I’m sorry…?”
The secretary looked taken aback as Song Ji-hu leaned the chair back like he was in his own living room and shut his eyes, but it was already too late.
The secretary glanced toward Eun Seo-jin in confusion, but he merely shrugged.
***
Three-fifteen in the afternoon.
An Association staff member gently roused Song Ji-hu from sleep.
“The meeting has concluded. The Chairman is waiting for you.”
“Mm… fifteen minutes.”
Song Ji-hu stretched with a long yawn as he rose from his seat and made his way toward the conference room.
“This way, please.”
Song Ji-hu and Eun Seo-jin stepped into the open Chairman’s office.
Despite the considerable space, it felt cramped—cluttered with documents, books, and an entire wall lined with screens.
Song Ji-hu stood and lightly clasped the hand offered to him by the man rising from his desk.
‘Park Jung-ho.’
Former A-rank Hunter turned Chairman of the Korean Hunter Association. A man in his early sixties who maintained an upright posture and sharp, penetrating gaze.
“Have a seat.”
Park Jung-ho gestured toward the sofa. Once Song Ji-hu and Eun Seo-jin were settled, he took his place across from them.
Sunlight filtered faintly through the floor-to-ceiling window behind Park Jung-ho, where blinds had been partially drawn.
“Song Ji-hu.”
Park Jung-ho’s gaze swept over him.
“Yes.”
“C-rank Mental-type Hunter. Possessor of the Mental Barrier skill.”
“That’s correct.”
“And.”
Park Jung-ho leaned forward.
“The one who restored a terminal-stage Mental Contamination patient.”
The air in the office grew heavy.
“So, how comfortable are Association chairs for napping?”
“Not ideal for a quick doze, I’d say.”
“Quite right. They’re not.”
Park Jung-ho let out a soft chuckle.
“So how did you manage it? The Mental Contamination cure.”
This was Park Jung-ho’s method of dealing with people.
He wielded his position to set and release the atmosphere at will, keeping others off-balance until they gave him the answers he wanted.
But given the gravity of the matter, Park Jung-ho’s approach was somewhat hasty.
“You’re asking me to divulge trade secrets, sir.”
Song Ji-hu replied calmly. Everyone in the world knew by now—Hunters never fully disclosed matters related to their skills.
“Well… there are ways around that. Just know it like this.”
“What? Ha… this is something.”
Park Jung-ho laughed as though he’d been bested. And by a C-rank at that—a young man barely past his mid-twenties.
“The question of how is irrelevant to this matter.”
Song Ji-hu tapped Eun Seo-jin’s shoulder.
“Only the result matters. Is there any evidence more concrete than this?”
“That’s true enough.”
Park Jung-ho’s gaze shifted to Eun Seo-jin. The man appeared so perfectly normal that it was hard to believe he’d come to the brink of a rampage.
“…Hunter Eun Seo-jin.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“How do you feel?”
Eun Seo-jin paused to consider before answering.
“…Clear. My mind is clear.”
“Clear?”
“My thoughts are clear. Surely you know, Chairman, what begins to happen the moment Mental Contamination sets in.”
Park Jung-ho reclined against the backrest and exhaled deeply.
Hallucinations, auditory illusions, distortions, compulsions, nightmares.
All of it emerged from the earliest stages.
From that point on, it was nothing but an endless battle with oneself. More than one Hunter had failed to endure it, let their symptoms worsen, and died in the process.
“But… what the entire world couldn’t solve in twenty years has found a solution. And it appears… here in Korea, of all places.”
He studied Song Ji-hu’s face, which still held that calm, measured look.
“A true revolution, you might say.”
Park Jung-ho exhaled, a sigh laden with complicated emotion.
Sometimes a power one cannot wield is worse than never possessing it at all. Like the man standing before him, or Korea’s situation now.
But what if there were no other choice?
“What do you want?”
“Please approve the establishment of a Guild.”
Song Ji-hu answered directly.
“…A Guild?”
“Yes.”
“A Guild establishment, hm. So you’re bringing that up, after all.”
Park Jung-ho’s eyebrows rose.
“The S-rank Hunter Eun Seo-jin will be joining us.”
Song Ji-hu shrugged lightly.
“Is that true? If word got out that you’d recovered, every Guild in the world would come running—and yet you’d still insist on forming your own?”
“Yes.”
Park Jung-ho tapped the armrest of his chair rhythmically, his gaze shifting between the two men.
“If you establish your own Guild, it won’t shield you from the predators circling the world. Yet you’d proceed anyway, acting on your own authority?”
Park Jung-ho leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Song Ji-hu.
“Wouldn’t it be better to become a state-affiliated Hunter under our protection instead? That way, we’d be able to safeguard you properly. We have the capacity to handle it.”
Though retired, the A-rank Hunter still carried the heavy, tangible pressure peculiar to his rank, yet Song Ji-hu merely gazed at him with indifference.
“I must decline.”
“…Fine.”
Park Jung-ho withdrew his momentum, but his eyes remained fixed on Song Ji-hu’s gaze, unable to look away.
No panic, no strain, no arrogance. Eyes so harshly drained of everything that they seemed almost parched.
“I have conditions, then.”
Park Jung-ho raised his fingers, counting them off.
“First, the treatment priority list will be announced according to Association guidelines. Second, you will appoint a Guild executive officer designated by the Association. Third, you will not act in opposition to the Association and will actively cooperate in times of national emergency.”
Park Jung-ho’s eyes gleamed with avarice as he pushed forward a pre-prepared document.
‘That’s more like Park Jung-ho.’
Song Ji-hu met Park Jung-ho’s gaze and broke into a grin.
The Seventh Return: A Collector of Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Production Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: Aces Media Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director
: Aces Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by Aces Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the Company and the author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260709064

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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