The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 26

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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 26. Ryu Jin (1)
“The fact that this garbage heap of a workshop is even occupying the tail end of Hunter Street defies all common sense, if you ask me.”
In the moldy-smelling basement workshop, Ryu Jin bit down on his lip as the uninvited guests sneered at his workplace.
Three men in black combat gear—dressed to prove they were Hunters—lounged about as if they owned the place.
The Black Heaven Guild.
True to its name, it was the sewage of Hunter society: an organization that gathered Hunters of any rank, street thugs of the lowest order, to swell its numbers. It was notorious for its willingness to use any means necessary.
“I rather like this spot.”
The large man who appeared to be their leader swept his gloved hand roughly across Ryu Jin’s workbench.
Items on the table clattered to the floor in a cascade, and the blueprints pinned to the wall fell at a flick of his finger.
Crack—
The other men echoed his sentiment by dragging the tips of their weapons across the blueprints, scattering them.
Ryu Jin’s jaw muscles tightened, trembling.
They looked like mere sketches, but each sheet represented the culmination of Ryu Jin’s devoted labor.
“This underground space would be perfect as a storage warehouse for us.”
“There are plenty of spaces like this scattered all around the area!”
The man circled the workshop and nodded, as if he’d already claimed it as his own.
“An obscure blacksmith squatting in a prime location like this—the world’s gone mad, hasn’t it? Look, do the right thing and clear out. Then we’ll even see that you get moving expenses.”
Prime location. Ryu Jin swallowed the bitter laugh rising in his throat. This cramped basement corner—where ventilation barely worked, where water pooled in summer and fingers froze in winter—was a prime location?
The audacity was breathtaking. But Ryu Jin had neither the strength nor the means to object.
“Or, if you really don’t want to leave, there’s another option. If you want to keep running your shop in this prime spot, you’ll need to show good faith every month, won’t you? Call it protection money. Or a tribute.”
“Tribute? That’s dangerous talk. I mean protection fees.”
“Right, right. Protection fees.”
The second man flicked a precision gauge sitting on the workbench, cackling.
The metallic clink scraped against Ryu Jin’s nerves.
“Or you could make us a sword as a gesture of good faith.”
The third man, standing at the back, fixed his gaze on a workbench behind Ryu Jin.
A bundle wrapped carefully in expensive cloth lay buried beneath hastily scattered papers.
It was the finished piece—everything Ryu Jin had poured into it—meant to be delivered to Song Ji-hu.
The moment their eyes shifted toward it, cold sweat dripped down Ryu Jin’s spine.
‘That one. That one I cannot let them touch.’
The leader took a step closer, forcing a smile that wasn’t there before.
“Or you accept our offer. You know what we want.”
The man’s mouth curled upward.
“Join our guild. I promise you the best treatment as our exclusive blacksmith. Why are you being so stubborn? Who’s going to hire someone with no rank?”
Ryu Jin’s fists clenched. He could never agree.
Aside from the fact that he knew all too well the Black Heaven Guild’s reputation—
These men, above all else, were the ones who’d driven him to this cliff’s edge in the first place.
They’d spread baseless rumors to clients, destroying trust; they’d blocked commissions; they’d pressured material suppliers until he couldn’t even obtain a single ingot of iron.
‘I don’t know why they’re so fixated on a rankless blacksmith like me…’
But he had the distinct feeling that if he surrendered here and entered that guild, something would break that could never be repaired.
Ryu Jin looked down at the crumpled blueprint that had fallen at his feet. It resembled the state of his own life.
He’d awakened years ago and spent every moment swinging his hammer, yet he’d never met anyone who recognized his worth.
He’d awakened, but he lacked the rank everyone else possessed.
In a society where rank was everything, a rankless blacksmith was synonymous with “nothing at all.”
Still, unable to give up, he’d taken on debt to secure this workshop.
In the corner of the corner of Hunter Street, a place no one visited—he’d believed that if he didn’t stop hammering, someday someone would recognize him.
But reality was cruel.
No customers came; only notices of overdue payments slipped through his door each morning, accumulating in stacks.
The only person who extended a hand from that abyss of despair was Song Ji-hu.
He’d readily offered an advance of 1.5 billion—a sum Ryu Jin had never imagined seeing in his lifetime. He’d said he believed in him.
And when Ryu Jin had tried to discard a dagger as a failed piece, Song Ji-hu had paid 100 million for it without hesitation.
“It’s worth that much to me.”
Those words had given Ryu Jin breath to live.
“Hey, what’s this sword?”
Ryu Jin’s head snapped up from his thoughts. The third man was reaching toward the cloth-wrapped object.
His body moved before his mind could catch up.
Thud!
Ryu Jin shoved the man away from the sword, but the man threw him to the floor instead.
“That’s… a commission. Don’t touch it.”
His voice trembled mercilessly.
“Huff…! A commissioned piece?”
The leader let out a scoff of disbelief.
“Who’d commission anything from you? Ha!”
Crack!
Before his words had finished, a vicious palm struck Ryu Jin across the cheek.
Even as he staggered, Ryu Jin’s arms cradled the weapon wrapped in black cloth, refusing to release it.
He curled into himself, clutching it to his chest as if his life depended on it.
“I would die before giving this up.”
His lip split open, blood trickling down his chin in a bitter taste.
Though blood from his forehead blurred his vision into crimson, Ryu Jin’s eyes remained unbroken.
During the creation of this weapon, Ryu Jin had experienced something extraordinary.
Soul resonance forging.
A technique that resonates with the user’s spirit, manifesting a weapon suited to their nature.
The materials imbued with Song Ji-hu’s power carried his will deeply impressed within them.
An intent unfathomable and fathomless—cold as an abyss.
For the first time in his life, Ryu Jin felt pride in crafting someone else’s weapon.
The certainty that he was engaged in the most worthwhile work in the world—that was something he could not surrender.
“Tch, this bastard won’t even…”
The tighter Ryu Jin held the weapon, the keener the curiosity of the Black Heaven guild members became, and the brighter greed kindled in their eyes.
If someone was willing to risk their life to protect something, it could always be sold.
“Take it.”
With that curt command, two men seized Ryu Jin’s arms roughly.
“No… no!”
Ryu Jin clenched his teeth and resisted, but he could not match a hunter’s strength.
His fingers were forced open one by one, the black cloth slipped away, and the sword’s outline began to emerge into view.
‘It can’t happen. Not this.’
His vision darkened, strength draining from his fingers, and just as the sword was about to slip into their hands—
Crackle.
The stale air that had filled the workshop froze solid in an instant.
A cold so extreme that breathing alone felt like knives cutting through the lungs.
White breath rose from the guild members’ mouths. A cup of water sitting on the work table crackled and froze instantaneously.
“What… what is this…?”
Everyone in the basement turned instinctively toward the entrance.
There stood Song Ji-hu, gripping a sword’s hilt in one hand.
Silver hair rippled beneath the flickering fluorescent light, and the cold radiating from the blade’s edge pooled like mist around the Black Heaven guild members.
“Song… Ji-hu? Why are you in a place like this…?”
The men’s faces drained of color, turning pale as paper.
“Remove your filthy hands from my weapon.”
Song Ji-hu walked in slowly and knelt on one knee beside Ryu Jin, who lay trembling on the ground.
“Are you all right?”
Ryu Jin held out the weapon, his hands stained with blood.
“…Yes. The weapon is safe.”
At the sight of him prioritizing the weapon over himself, Song Ji-hu let out a soft laugh and shook his head.
“I’m asking if you’re all right, not the object.”
Ryu Jin’s eyes widened visibly.
“Here—a handkerchief.”
Song Ji-hu took the handkerchief from Yoon Young-soo and wiped away the blood flowing from Ryu Jin’s forehead, then grasped his calloused hand gently and helped him to his feet.
“Th… thank you.”
Once Ryu Jin had risen, Song Ji-hu slowly turned around.
In Song Ji-hu’s gaze as he regarded the Black Heaven guild members, there was no trace of anger.
Not revulsion at seeing something filthy, not rage—only absolute indifference.
The blade of Song Ji-hu’s sword and that indifference combined to create an eerie atmosphere.
“Which guild did you say you belonged to?”
Song Ji-hu’s attention shifted toward Yoon Young-soo, who stood beside him.
“The Black Heaven Guild. It’s registered as a B-rank guild and has been notorious in recent years for intimidating civilians and causing gate-related incidents.”
Song Ji-hu nodded, as though he had only just remembered something trivial and insignificant.
“Ah, Black Heaven.”
The guild members’ expressions twisted at the humiliation, but with Song Ji-hu’s blade at their backs, they could not move so easily.
‘Parasites.’
Song Ji-hu’s eyes turned cold and barren.
Blacksky. I know.
No—I can’t not know.
It’s one of Abyss’s numerous branch organizations, a global guild with reach extending into the underworld itself.
And Abyss was a collective of collaborators who had betrayed humanity, clung to the Abyssal Lords, committed every conceivable atrocity, and drained the lifeblood of their own kind.
‘Blacksky targeting Ryu Jin means…’
It meant Abyss was targeting Ryu Jin. The odds were ninety-nine percent that Ryu Jin’s personality in the previous life had been shaped by Abyss’s machinations.
“I, I mean… it’s not like that, there’s been a misunderstanding…!”
The Blacksky leader’s jaw quivered as he struggled to push out an excuse.
“Director Yoon. What does the Association manual say in cases like this?”
Song Ji-hu cut off the man’s words with a sharp question.
“If reported to the Association, they’d face penalties in gate assignments and Association activities. Guild members could be placed under investigative custody.”
The men’s faces turned ashen.
Each penalty amounted to a death sentence for a guild.
“We’re s-sorry! We’ll never come near this place again!”
All three men slammed their heads against the floor as if they’d rehearsed it, then crawled toward the workshop exit like animals fleeing for their lives.
“Ryu Jin the blacksmith is on exclusive contract with Zero Point.”
Song Ji-hu’s low voice struck the men’s backs like a blade.
“Just so you know.”
Song Ji-hu looked toward Eun Seo-jin, who nodded and sheathed his sword.
The clear metallic ring faded, and the chill that had gripped the workshop began to lift.
The Blacksky members climbed the stairs in pallid silence and disappeared. It was only then that Ryu Jin realized he’d been holding his breath.
His long exhalation met the lingering cold and formed white mist.
“Going forward, you might want to value your life more dearly. Weapons can be remade, but you only have one life, don’t you?”
At Song Ji-hu’s words, Ryu Jin’s eyes widened and he bobbed his head.
“Thank you for saving me.”
Ryu Jin looked down at the blade cradled in his arms. His own face reflected in the metal surface where it showed through the black cloth.
Split lip, torn forehead, swollen eyelids. A pathetic sight.
But the weapon was unharmed. That was all that mattered.
The Seventh Regression Collector Gathers Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Publication Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: ACESMEDIA Inc.
Editor
: ACESMEDIA Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work has been published by ACESMEDIA Inc. in accordance with 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 publisher and author.
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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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