The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 34

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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 34. The Incheon Gate (7)
The Nap-chim pierced the Gardener’s head.
More precisely, the head made of shadow.
Even formless entities had a point where energy condensed, and Song Ji-hu had targeted that spot with perfect accuracy.
Song Ji-hu’s energy flowed along the Nap-chim’s blade and into the Gardener’s interior.
Shriek—!
The shadow, stripped of control, crawled across walls and ceiling in a frenzy, shattering stone structures in every direction.
“Scatter! Maintain defensive formation! It’s coming down!”
“Four bosses? What kind of insane dungeon is this?”
Song Ji-hu slashed again, severing the trailing edge of the Gardener’s shadow as it scurried along the wall like a cockroach.
‘My energy is definitely opposed to it. And the Nap-chim—this thing is incredible. It’s amplifying the damage we inflict on them.’
Song Ji-hu’s energy itself was fundamentally incompatible with entities connected to the Abyss Lord.
Just as with the Shepherd before, watching creatures he’d thought would take no damage now crying out in pain sent a grin spreading across his face.
No—perhaps for the first time since his return, he wore a smile bright enough to light his entire face. Both the Shepherd and the Gardener had walked straight into his hands.
With the Gardener’s convulsions, the movements of all three bosses froze for an instant.
“Now! Attack!”
Song Ji-hu shouted.
Eun Seo-jin’s twin blades crossed, piercing through the paralyzed shadow’s body.
Crack—!
The creature’s form shattered with cold spreading through it, beginning to crumble into fragments.
“It works! Pour it on! Everything you’ve got!”
The ranged dealers unleashed a barrage of concentrated fire at the spider’s crystal body.
The crystal, its regeneration halted, shattered beyond its limits, and the core within lay defenseless and exposed.
Burst—!
The core engulfed in flame from their all-out assault, exploding and severing the spider’s joints one by one.
The knight in spined armor attempted to raise the arm holding the Beheading Saber, but that arm was already rolling across the floor.
Rumble—!
All three bosses, unable to mount any proper counterattack, began to creak and buckle like broken dolls.
While the other hunters were bringing down the bosses, Song Ji-hu pursued the fleeing Gardener’s tail with relentless determination.
Shriek—!
The Nap-chim cut through empty air again, severing another portion of the shadow’s edge, and the creature screamed once more.
The Gardener resisted and struggled desperately to escape, but each time it did, Song Ji-hu harassed it with stubborn, unyielding persistence.
Without a true body, only parasitic on the dungeon’s core, completely annihilating the creature was nearly impossible.
‘I know.’
Song Ji-hu gritted his teeth.
Still, if he could inflict meaningful damage on it as he had with the Shepherd, that would be enough.
If he could slow down their plans and buy time.
The Gardener’s shadow slipped like a serpent into the red Dungeon Core embedded in the central altar.
“Not a chance!”
Song Ji-hu launched himself from the ground onto the altar, gripping the Nap-chim in both hands and drove it down toward the crystal with brutal force.
Crash—!
Spider-web cracks spread across the crystal before it shattered completely.
But in that moment.
The Gardener had already moved its body to a different core.
Whimper—
Yet on the Nap-chim’s tip was unmistakably a shadowy mass that belonged to the Gardener.
The faint scream that lingered in empty space faded completely through the cracks in reality.
Song Ji-hu flicked the Nap-chim clean, clicking his tongue softly to himself.
‘Should have landed a more decisive killing blow. Pity.’
Failing to finish it off was frustrating.
Still, even this much damage held significance.
In his previous life, he’d rarely managed to inflict direct harm on the Lord’s Apostles during this period.
But this time, before the Abyss Lord had even awakened, he’d landed successive solid hits on two Administrators.
‘They won’t be able to act so recklessly for a while now.’
***
Rumble—
As the Gardener fled, the bosses lost their strength and began to collapse.
“It’s falling! Get clear!”
Rumble—!
As the bosses fell one by one, the cavern trembled and began to show signs of collapse.
“It’s… over, right?”
“Damn it! Don’t jinx us!”
Their bickering was short-lived.
[Dungeon Clear]
[Return Portal Generated]
The silence shattered, and a roar burst from the hunters’ throats.
“We won—!”
“We’re alive! We actually cleared an A-rank Mutation!”
“This is insane… absolutely insane…!”
“None of us died! How is that even possible?!”
Zero casualties. An A-rank Mutation Dungeon, cleared.
“There aren’t many who’ve cleared an A-rank Dungeon without losing anyone.”
“It’s a miracle. And honestly, not having to worry about Mental Contamination made things so much easier.”
The hunters embraced each other, collapsed to the ground, laughed, wept.
As the tension drained away, many found their legs giving out beneath them.
Song Ji-hu leaned against the altar where the core had been, breathing hard and ragged.
“I’m dying…”
He’d maintained two Mental Connections while issuing commands, navigated the Labyrinth, and taken down the Boss—all of it.
The moment combat ended, the weight lifted all at once, and his entire body trembled violently.
Blood dripped from his nose, trailing down his chin, while his vision swam and cleared in dizzy waves.
Yet his knees never touched the ground.
“Are you all right, sir?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Eun Seo-jin stepped beside him and braced his wavering back firmly with her hand.
***
“The spoils!”
A glimmer began gathering atop the collapsed altar.
Dozens of Mana Stones, refined to a purity one step above what an ordinary A-rank Dungeon would yield.
Plus the cores from three Bosses, one each.
The Sonic Wave Core from the Whisper-Weaver, the Corroded Crown from the Fallen King, the Mist Crystal from the Memory-Devourer—all special materials. Every last one.
“The Whisper-Weaver, the Fallen King, the Memory-Devourer. Those Boss names are absolutely terrifying.”
“Right? What kind of Dungeon is this? Four Bosses spawning from a single Mutation—that’s never happened before, has it?”
“Never. At most, maybe two as a gimmick?”
And an artifact besides. But they didn’t have time to examine it now.
“We’ll split the rewards outside,” Song Ji-hu said, pushing himself upright.
He raised his voice.
“We have wounded comrades in the Labyrinth. Getting out is the priority.”
No one disagreed. Nods of assent rippled through the group.
Hands moved quickly to gather the injured left behind in the passages and Lim Jae-hyuk, still unconscious.
The Mutation symptoms that had been consuming Lim Jae-hyuk’s skin had completely subsided.
As they walked toward the portal leading back to the Labyrinth’s entrance, Eun Seo-jin drew close to Song Ji-hu’s side, matching his pace.
“That thing hiding in the shadows earlier… what exactly was it?”
She kept her voice low, below the hearing of the other hunters.
“Who knows…”
Song Ji-hu didn’t break stride, a faint smile crossing his lips.
“…probably a mid-boss designed to test us before the Final Boss.”
Eun Seo-jin’s footsteps faltered slightly, just a beat out of time.
‘Final Boss. Mid-boss.’
The ease with which those terms had left Song Ji-hu’s mouth meant he understood this world’s structure far deeper than anyone else here.
And at the same time, his words shook the foundation of everything Eun Seo-jin had believed until now.
Dungeons, Monsters, Mental Contamination—
None of it was a simple natural disaster. Someone behind the scenes was designing and controlling all of it.
“Are there… many like that out there?”
Tremor ran through Eun Seo-jin’s voice. Song Ji-hu gazed ahead steadily and nodded.
“More than you’d think.”
After a brief silence, he continued.
“Just know that much for now. The day you understand will come.”
Countless questions swirled in Eun Seo-jin’s eyes. Why do you know this? What is the truth of this world?
Yet she answered with only a nod. This man had saved her.
And someday, even if she didn’t ask, he would tell her.
Trust was knowing when to ask and when to wait.
Distinguishing between the two with clarity.
And once you had chosen to believe, believing completely.
***
Moments after Song Ji-hu entered the Gate.
Park Jung-ho, left behind in the Temporary Command Post, could not tear his gaze from the blood-red portal.
The monitors streamed real-time updates—Gate color shifts, Mana density readings—but it was all ultimately meaningless data.
There was nothing to know from outside until the Gate was Cleared.
“Damn it….”
A rough curse leaked through his parched lips. Cold sweat soaked the back of his shirt.
The Hunter Association’s official manual was explicit.
In the event of a Mutation Gate, confirm only the Dungeon type from the safe zone and withdraw immediately. Scout Team operations ended there.
Ordering the Scout Team to advance deeper once the Labyrinth type was confirmed—that was a clear manual violation, and Park Jung-ho’s alone to bear.
‘At the time… I judged it was the best call.’
Park Jung-ho rubbed his damp palms on his trousers, justifying himself.
If they could map the Labyrinth’s interior pattern quickly, he could deploy the main force sooner. A calculated gamble to cut Clear time and shore up his political standing.
That miscalculation was strangling him now.
If three Scout Team members were found dead. If that fact leaked to the media.
‘It cannot happen.’
Losing his position as Association Chairman would be just the beginning.
Political attacks amid a firestorm of public opinion, and in the worst case, facing prosecution.
‘Song Ji-hu….’
But what terrified him more was Song Ji-hu himself. If something went wrong inside the Mutation Gate he himself had sent him into.
The fallout would transcend Park Jung-ho’s personal ruin and become a diplomatic catastrophe that would shake the entire South Korean government.
“How is Guild Master Rick Wesley doing?”
Park Jung-ho asked his aide in a hoarse voice.
“He remains seated on a folding chair at the Gate entrance. He hasn’t risen once since Hunter Song entered.”
Park Jung-ho cast a glance through the tent seam at Rick Wesley sitting before the Gate.
Five hours passed. Then twelve.
The sun set once, then rose again.
The military forces beyond the control line rotated twice.
The crowds in the civilian evacuation zone thinned gradually but never dispersed entirely.
Cameras from reporters stayed trained on the Gate around the clock, and news channels looped the same footage endlessly.
Then, after a full twenty-four hours and five more had crawled past.
“…Chairman!”
His secretary’s urgent voice startled Park Jung-ho from a fitful doze.
“What is it…?!”
Park Jung-ho rushed out of the tent—the Gate was trembling.
“What… what is this! Analyze the pattern immediately!”
“Analyzing the vibration pattern now…!”
Park Jung-ho’s heart lurched.
‘Please let it be a Clear. Please, please.’
Every eye fixed on the Gate held its breath. The analyst pressed his face to the monitor, eyes fixed on the numbers.
And then.
“…It’s a Clear pattern…!”
His voice shook.
“Clear pattern—confirmed Clear pattern! The Gate is opening!”
The command post erupted.
“Yes—!”
“It’s cleared…!”
The blood-red dimmed as blue light began to bleed through. The normal Clear pattern of a Gate.
Park Jung-ho clenched both fists and let out a roar.
His undershirt was drenched beneath his suit jacket, but he no longer cared.
“How long did it take?!”
Park Jung-ho shouted. His aide checked his watch.
“From entry… twenty-nine hours and seventeen minutes.”
A faint tremor continued across Park Jung-ho’s face.
A Labyrinth-type Mutation A-rank Dungeon. Cleared in just over a day and five hours.
“…That’s impossible.”
Even the analyst’s expression had turned incredulous.
“The entrance has opened! Hunters are beginning to emerge!”
All eyes turned toward the Gate.
A Seventh-Time Returner Collects Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Date of Publication
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: Acesmedia Co., Ltd.
Editor
: Acesmedia Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by Acesmedia Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or duplication 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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