The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 22

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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 22. USAA (3)
“Then I’ll draw up the contract.”
Once the framework of negotiations was established, Yun Young-su rose from his seat.
Having already grasped the flow of conversation, the skeleton of the contract draft came together quickly.
It wasn’t for nothing that Song Ji-hu held Yun Young-su’s administrative abilities in such high regard.
Treatment subject, treatment schedule, scope of compensation, rotation placement conditions, triggers and limitations of the covenant.
“…Impressive.”
The USAA attendant reviewed the contents, but finding no gaps, merely nodded with a note of admiration.
Yet Rick Wesley paid no attention to the contract itself, his gaze fixed relentlessly on Song Ji-hu’s eyes alone.
And when the contract draft was finally completed.
“Now… would you be willing to meet Ollie?”
Song Ji-hu looked at Rick Wesley. The image of his former self—watching dying colleagues shed tears of blood—overlaid itself before him.
“Let’s go.”
“It’s refreshing to see such decisiveness.”
At those words, Rick Wesley smiled brightly and nodded toward the other staff members.
“Will you travel together with us?”
Rick Wesley was as he had always been.
“We’ll make our own way. There are preparations to be made along the journey.”
“I’d hoped to chat on the way… but I suppose that will have to wait for another time.”
At Rick Wesley’s words, Park Jung-ho broke into a cold sweat and desperately met Song Ji-hu’s gaze.
Whatever Rick Wesley had in mind to say separately was almost certainly just an invitation to come to America.
“Director, regarding access to Hunter Song Ji-hu….”
“Chairman, aren’t America and Korea allied nations bound by blood? You don’t trust America?”
“No, it’s not that….”
“There’s no need to worry. After all, it’s merely human affection toward a hunter with an ability found in only one person across the entire world.”
At Rick Wesley’s words, Park Jung-ho could offer no response, only wiping away his cold sweat.
“Then I’ll provide you with the destination.”
Yun Young-su received the address from USAA and met Song Ji-hu’s eyes.
***
Seoul Outskirts.
The accommodations USAA had arranged in Korea were not a typical hotel.
They had rented an entire section of a large pension complex nestled in the foothills of a mountain.
Security personnel belonging to USAA were stationed with rigid vigilance from the main gate onward, and the perimeter of the pension was equipped with mana-detection devices and suppression barriers that thoroughly isolated the area.
“The rampage countermeasures seem quite thorough.”
“If a rampage were to occur and cause an incident, all blame would fall squarely on USAA.”
As Song Ji-hu stepped out of the car, he drew in the air and swept his gaze across the landscape of the pension complex.
Between the quiet, serene fragrance of the forest, a faint taint like rotting meat mingled with the clean scent.
“This way.”
Rick Wesley led the way directly. Past the main building, underground stairs connected to the rear annex.
“Wait here, please. The basement is… a bit dangerous for ordinary people to enter. Hunter Eun Seo-jin, would you be alright?”
“Yes, I’ll come along.”
At the USAA staff member’s objection, Yun Young-su looked at Song Ji-hu.
“That’s best. There’s nothing good about prolonged exposure to Mental Pollution.”
“I’ll wait here.”
Once Yun Young-su took a seat beside the stairs leading down, Rick Wesley opened the door.
“Let’s go.”
With each step down the staircase, breathing alone was enough to make one’s face contort, and the Compass in his pocket vibrated strongly.
“The contamination is severe.”
Eun Seo-jin, sensing the alien and unpleasant aura that scraped at the skin, frowned deeply and looked at Song Ji-hu.
“Yeah. This healing won’t be easy….”
At the end of the underground passage stood a heavy door, reinforced with tempered glass and sealed multiple times with Mana Shielding Plates.
‘Typical USAA. Setting all this up overnight.’
The two hunters stationed in front of the door stood as Rick Wesley descended and disengaged the security system.
Creeeeak—
The moment the thick door swung open, what poured forth was a madness that clawed at the flesh itself.
Eun Seo-jin’s brow furrowed sharply, and the hunters outside unconsciously took a step back from the door.
“My… it’s gotten worse in just one night.”
Rick Wesley sighed as he looked at the Mental Pollution readings displayed on the panel beside the door.
Song Ji-hu stepped into the isolation chamber without hesitation.
Bound to a specialized chair were the limbs of a man.
Five Mana Suppression Restraints—at both wrists, both ankles, and around the neck—glowed a searing crimson.
The skin exposed between gaps in the loose protective suit was bruised purple, crisscrossed with dark veins like a spider’s web.
An S-rank main hunter for USAA, America’s strongest combat-class hunter.
Yet the man standing before Song Ji-hu bore little resemblance to that accolade now.
His blonde hair hung matted and wild, swaying with each tremor, and beyond it his eyes rolled unfocused in all directions, their whites shot through with burst capillaries.
His lips moved ceaselessly, murmuring words that made no sense.
Whirrrrr—!
The Compass vibrated in his pocket like something screaming.
[Subject detected]
[Mental Pollution level: 96.4% (terminal stage)]
[Mental Dive Danger Rating: S+]
The Compass continued vomiting data.
“…Nothing in this world comes easy.”
Eun Seo-jin had responded to Song Ji-hu’s Thought Projection and consented willingly to the Mental Dive. But Ollie Barkley left no choice but forced entry.
Song Ji-hu turned his head slightly toward Eun Seo-jin.
“When I go in, protect me. No matter what happens.”
Eun Seo-jin’s expression hardened—not with fear or dread, but with grim resolve.
“You have my word.”
“I’m trusting you because I know you will.”
Eun Seo-jin moved to the door and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw at any moment.
Song Ji-hu nodded slightly, then turned to Rick Wesley.
“It probably won’t be healed in a single treatment.”
Rick Wesley’s rigid expression slowly softened at those words confirming it was at least possible, and he released a long breath.
“As long as we know the numbers will decrease, that’s all that matters.”
Then they could do it twice, three times—as many treatments as needed.
“Huh…”
Rather than answer, Song Ji-hu drew the Compass and approached Ollie Barkley.
One step, then another.
With each step Song Ji-hu took closer, Ollie Barkley’s mumbling grew louder. The restraints rattled. His body contorted grotesquely, shaking the bindings.
“Gnnnngh…!”
An animal’s cry echoed through the isolation chamber. Song Ji-hu’s hand reached toward Ollie Barkley’s shoulder.
And just before his fingertips made contact.
“Krraaaagh—!”
Ollie Barkley erupted in light.
The restraints shrieked.
Crimson sparks flew from the Mana Suppression device, the specialized chair lurched off the floor, and the entire isolation chamber vibrated with a roiling bloodlust.
“Ugh… Everyone, emergency standby!”
At Rick Wesley’s shout, the entire pension sprang into motion.
“Stop!”
Rick Wesley, uncertain what was happening, reached out fearing Song Ji-hu might be gravely hurt—but Eun Seo-jin drew his blade like lightning and blocked the doorway.
The moment the USAA hunters drew their weapons, Song Ji-hu’s hand was already pressed against Ollie Barkley’s forehead.
Whirrrrr—!
The Compass vibrated with ferocity incomparable to before, flooding the space with light.
As Ollie Barkley’s screams shook the isolation chamber’s glass, Song Ji-hu intoned coldly.
‘Mental Dive.’
The world inverted.
***
Gravity vanished, color twisted, and sound from all directions was crushed into silence.
Song Ji-hu’s consciousness plummeted endlessly through absolute darkness.
Thud—
Sensation crashed back as his feet struck solid ground with a heavy impact. The first thing to assail him was a breath-stealing heat.
Parched air that burned the lungs. The acrid reek of ash stinging his nostrils.
The choking stench of burning concrete mingled with the smell of melting metal and something unidentifiable and sickly-sweet, all twisted together.
Song Ji-hu opened his eyes slowly.
“……”
His lips moved but no sound came. What spread before him was ruin.
Collapsed buildings stood skeletal and twisted, their bare frames reaching skyward at grotesque angles.
The road was split and warped as if an earthquake had passed through it, and overturned vehicles lay scattered like scrap metal.
Creak—creak—
A fire truck hung precariously from a utility pole, creaking and groaning as it dangled.
Damn it all….
He looked up at the sky.
Embers and ash mixed together, falling like snow.
Dark red particles and orange sparks spiraled downward in an endless cascade. The sky itself was burning.
Shadow-figures in human form dotted the city. But they were not alive.
All of them writhed in flames, their mouths open in silent screams toward the empty air.
“American then…?”
Fragments of English signage scattered on the ground, a torn American flag, the charred remains of a fire truck marked FIRE DEPT.
Song Ji-hu clenched his jaw. He knew this landscape. He had seen it repeatedly at the end of his previous six lives.
The only trace left behind by the Abyss Lord’s passage. A burning city and all things scattered as ash.
The memory of that final battlefield overlapped with perfect clarity.
The day the Nakdong River Defense Line collapsed, watching the Abyss Lord devour his comrades’ souls in a single gulp. Lim Jae-hyeok spitting blood, screaming at him to run.
‘Stay calm.’
Song Ji-hu forced his breathing to steady.
‘This is Ollie Barkley’s Mental Landscape.’
The moment he let his trauma take hold, there was no telling what might happen.
‘It’s different from Eun Seo-jin’s….’
Eun Seo-jin’s Mental Landscape had been a courthouse — a closed, bounded space.
There had been rules, structure. But here, an entire city constituted a Mental Dungeon. The scale was utterly different.
The Compass in his pocket was trembling violently.
That was when the landscape around him began to warp grotesquely.
Debris from collapsed buildings rose into the air.
Shattered concrete blocks floated back into place, broken rebar found its original position and fused together, fractured asphalt sealed itself whole.
The flames consuming the vehicles vanished, crumpled bodies straightened. Broken glass returned to its frame.
The ash falling from the sky ceased.
The blood-red sky gradually cleared, and a warm orange hue began to wash over the city.
It was beautiful.
The laughter of children echoed, cars moved along the streets. Someone calling a name. The ordinary noise of daily life filled his ears.
From a city of death mere moments before, new life was blooming.
But Song Ji-hu understood.
This was not a beautiful sight — it was the beginning of a Loop, just like Eun Seo-jin’s.
Aaaaaaaa—!
From the city’s center, waves of fear and dread crashed toward him. An overwhelming surge of emotion, powerful enough to be felt without even activating Mental Detection.
And at the city’s heart, a towering column of light erupted upward.
Rummmble—!
Where the light had passed, only devastation remained.
The shockwave that came with the light spread in concentric circles, and the buildings that had just been restored collapsed once more.
The shadow-figures on the streets were engulfed in flames again, and the sounds of daily life transformed into screams.
The city became ash once more. From the sky, embers and ash began to fall anew.
“Relentless….”
Endless cycles of rebuilding and destruction. Hope and despair. Revival and ruin.
Song Ji-hu silently observed the cruel Loop that was devouring Ollie Barkley’s very self.
A Returner of Seven Cycles Collects Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Production Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: ACES Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: 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 no part of its content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and any 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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