The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 39

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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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Chapter 39. Im Jae-hyeok (3)
Im Jae-hyeok was an A-rank Tank. By the Korean Hunter Association’s official ranking alone, he sat in the upper echelon of A-rank hunters.
In pure value, any guild recruiting him would offer a signing bonus of at least ten billion won as a baseline—a veteran among veterans worthy of double the average A-rank salary.
Yet this Im Jae-hyeok had just offered to join at the standard rate of an ordinary guild member.
Yoon Young-soo swallowed dryly beside him. Even if they’d extended an invitation first, this was like a white flag of surrender—any guild master with half a mind would bow and scrape in gratitude.
And then Song Ji-hu refused him outright. Without hesitation.
“…I’m sorry?”
Im Jae-hyeok’s expression hardened as he repeated the question, and Yoon Young-soo’s eyes went wide.
But Song Ji-hu continued calmly.
“I can’t accept those terms.”
“…What?”
“Your value as a hunter is far greater than that.”
A sound of disbelief escaped between Im Jae-hyeok’s parted lips.
“I’ll offer you sufficient compensation. But there’s one condition for joining.”
“A condition…?”
“If I ask you to go somewhere dangerous, I need you to trust me and follow. That’s all.”
Silence settled over the hospital room again.
“Trust you and follow, even if it’s dangerous….”
It was certainly not a standard guild contract. Most guilds made hunter safety their foundation.
Outside of emergencies, hunters had the legal right to refuse reckless raids with no chance of success.
Yet Song Ji-hu imposed only one condition: follow when he asked, no questions. Im Jae-hyeok understood perfectly what that meant.
“You’re welcome to refuse. The path isn’t an ordinary one, after all.”
This man’s guild was anything but normal. A guild marching toward some enormous goal.
What that goal was, Im Jae-hyeok couldn’t say—nor could he fathom what dangers might lie in wait.
‘Can I really trust my life to a guild like this?’
Im Jae-hyeok studied Song Ji-hu for a long moment.
There was no deception in those eyes, no bluster, no exaggeration, no hesitation.
Only one thing dwelled there: absolute certainty about the path ahead.
‘Strange. It doesn’t feel foreign at all….’
Gazing into those eyes, he felt an inexplicable sense of trust bloom from nowhere.
“Heh….”
And Im Jae-hyeok had never doubted his instincts in his life.
“In all my days, I’ve never seen a guild master raise the asking price when the hunter’s willing to lower it.”
Im Jae-hyeok let out a dry laugh and thrust out his enormous palm.
“I’m Im Jae-hyeok.”
“I’m Song Ji-hu.”
“Just call me hyung. No need for formality.”
Song Ji-hu grasped that rough, warm hand firmly.
“If you say so.”
For the first time in this life, something warm flickered through Song Ji-hu’s eyes—a glimpse so brief it was almost imperceptible.
“Ha-ha! Perfect! To think I get a brother like this!”
Im Jae-hyeok, oblivious to that flicker, laughed heartily.
“Manager Yoon.”
“Yes?”
Yoon Young-soo immediately pulled out his tablet and began revising the contract draft.
“Compensation at double the association standard, signing bonus of—”
“Never mind. Just the association standard.”
When Im Jae-hyeok insisted on less pay despite the offer of more, it was Yoon Young-soo who looked taken aback.
“It’s not as if I’m hurting for money. Joining a guild everyone else wants to get into is profit enough.”
Yoon Young-soo handed the tablet to Im Jae-hyeok.
“Please review it and sign.”
“But… how many members does the guild have?”
“Guild Master Song Ji-hu, S-rank hunter Eun Seo-jin, blacksmith Ryu Jin, myself, and you. That’s all of us.”
Im Jae-hyeok took the tablet but didn’t even glance at the contents—he simply scrawled his name across the signature line in large, bold strokes.
“A small, elite unit, then….”
Yoon Young-soo’s hand froze.
“But… you didn’t read it.”
“No need to read it.”
Im Jae-hyeok handed back the tablet with a shrug.
“The man saved my life. I figure he’ll treat me right. Wouldn’t you?”
Yoon Young-soo stared blankly at Im Jae-hyeok for a moment. Honestly, the man seemed entirely out of his mind.
“First, you need to get yourself together.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about me.”
Im Jae-hyeok snorted and patted his chest with a heavy hand.
“My bones are pretty tough.”
“Things will probably get busy soon.”
“Busy? I’ll welcome it with open arms. I’ve been paid, so I’d better earn it.”
Song Ji-hu rose from his seat.
Eun Seo-jin naturally moved to stand behind him, and Yoon Young-soo followed, organizing his Tablet.
Just before leaving the hospital room, Song Ji-hu paused and turned back.
Im Jae-hyeok sat on the bed wearing an amiable smile, waving his rough hands back and forth.
***
The outdoor parking lot in front of the hospital, as the sunset deepened.
Song Ji-hu sat low in the rear seat, with Eun Seo-jin beside him.
Through the car window, the bustling evening cityscape rushed past in reverse.
A student walking with earbuds in, a middle-aged woman carrying plastic bags, office workers standing before a crosswalk, Hunters armed and laughing with delight.
“Guild Master.”
Eun Seo-jin spoke quietly.
“Mm.”
“May I ask you something?”
Song Ji-hu turned his head slightly to look at Eun Seo-jin. After hesitating for a moment, she opened her mouth.
“Recruiting Hunter Im Jae-hyeok was certainly a good choice. He seems loyal, and he’s A-rank, so there’s nothing to doubt.”
“But?”
“If you’d wanted to, you could have gathered other S-rank Hunters alongside him.”
Eun Seo-jin’s voice was calm as she asked the question.
“Your reputation is already spreading across the world. Most S-rank Hunters currently suffering from Mental Contamination would probably want to join your guild.”
It was a fair question. And Song Ji-hu had already marked several candidates in mind. By rank alone, there were many cards stronger than Im Jae-hyeok.
Yet Song Ji-hu had deliberately chosen an A-rank tank. His gaze turned back to the ordinary street beyond the window.
Ordinary people. Ordinary lives.
The landscape he sought to protect.
“Rank matters, and ability matters too.”
Eun Seo-jin listened quietly to Song Ji-hu’s words.
“But there’s something more important than that.”
His eyes, reflected in the car window, met his own gaze for a moment.
“Trust. It’s the absolute first priority.”
He’d been betrayed so many times.
In his former lives, there were instances when the same person would betray him repeatedly, but there were just as many times when someone he never suspected would turn against him.
“You can reattach limbs when they’re severed, and even bleeding and writhing, you can pull your weight. But trust—once it breaks, it can never be restored in a lifetime.”
That wasn’t all. There were places like the Abyss, after all.
He needed certainty about who served the Abyss, who had been compromised by them.
“I’d rather not hire someone based on specs alone and end up with a knife in my back.”
Walls always crumbled from hairline fractures first.
The corners of Eun Seo-jin’s eyes hardened slightly.
There was something strange in Song Ji-hu’s manner of speech at times—a scent of time that clung to him like that of an ancient sage who’d lived for centuries.
“And Im Jae-hyeok… he’s definitely someone I can trust.”
Eun Seo-jin watched Song Ji-hu for a moment.
‘Does he have some kind of organization to assess people?’
But she didn’t ask further. Not until Song Ji-hu told her himself someday.
“Then… the personnel you’ve brought into the guild so far—they all meet that standard?”
“That’s right.”
Song Ji-hu glanced at Yoon Young-soo, who kept casting sidelong glances at him while driving.
“Whether their rank is S, A, or even C—what matters most is whether that person will stab me in the back when they’re standing behind me.”
Song Ji-hu looked out the window again.
“Ability is the secondary concern.”
Song Ji-hu’s words were right.
A chess board must be arranged not by the flashiness of its pieces, but by the alignment of their direction.
It was the same for her.
She, who had once been on the verge of disposal, howling like a beast in a containment cell—wasn’t he regarding her not as an S-rank, but simply as Eun Seo-jin?
Song Ji-hu’s guild was not one that gathered by rank, but one that gathered by trust.
“…I understand.”
Eun Seo-jin also turned her gaze beyond the car window, lost in thought.
“The Yakumo Guild will arrive tomorrow at 2 p.m., I’m told. The official talks at Association Headquarters are scheduled for 4 p.m.”
At Yoon Young-soo’s report, Song Ji-hu let out a soft laugh.
“And USAA?”
“We’ve set up a meeting for 1 p.m. Including treatment.”
Yoon Young-soo had by now learned to match Song Ji-hu’s stride to some degree.
“Good. Proceed with that schedule.”
***
The main building of the pension complex where USAA was staying.
News was playing on a 100-inch television mounted on one wall of the living room.
[Breaking News – Japanese Yakumo Guild Arrives in Korea. Guild Master Mibe Toshihiro Enters Incheon Airport.]
The image of Yakumo’s Guild Master Mibe Toshihiro appeared on screen.
“The Yakumo people must be burning inside quite badly. Especially since the Yakumo Guild has an unusually high concentration of Hunters suffering from Mental Contamination. Guild Master Mibe will have a lot on his mind.”
Song Ji-hu nodded at Rick Wesley’s words, but his gaze was fixed not on Mibe Toshihiro but on the figure behind him—a man whose presence was deliberately muted, almost like a secretary.
Matsumoto Leo.
“That would be true. Though it’s not like we can openly criticize anything, especially not while we’re here with USAA.”
Song Ji-hu reclined deep into the sofa’s backrest and brought the teacup to his lips for a light sip.
Rick Wesley did the same with his tea. The postures of the two men were nearly mirror images of each other.
“And… what Hunter in this world isn’t desperate when their lifeline is burning down?”
At Song Ji-hu’s words, Rick Wesley smiled knowingly.
And yet here Song Ji-hu was—speaking such words at the very moment the Yakumo Guild arrived in Korea.
Normally, Association Headquarters would be the place to receive the Yakumo Guild. That would be the most diplomatically sound picture.
Perhaps it was what Chairman Park Jeong-ho of the Association desperately wanted, and what the Yakumo naturally assumed was the proper order of things.
But right now, Song Ji-hu was sitting in USAA’s reception room, leisurely savoring the aroma of coffee.
The implication of this single situation was clear.
‘My meeting with Yakumo will proceed entirely on my schedule and by my rules.’
And currently, Song Ji-hu’s closest ally was USAA, and behind Song Ji-hu stood USAA.
‘…He knows how to leverage his cards far better than one would imagine. And he’s shrewd at politics, too.’
Rick Wesley took another sip of tea, admiring silently.
He already knew what had been discussed in the meeting with Anthony Rice, the Awakened Strategist’s Strategic Advisor.
It was Rick Wesley himself who had reported to the White House describing what kind of person Song Ji-hu was, insisting he must be recruited if possible, and if recruitment proved difficult, emphasizing he should be treated as a strategic asset and kept close.
“We’ve also arranged a place for him to recover after treatment.”
“Thank you. I’ll need proper rest.”
“You saw firsthand during the first treatment how much risk is involved.”
Rick Wesley continued with a knowing smile.
“And for USAA, losing an irreplaceable partner would be a fatal loss.”
Rick Wesley’s eyes were those of an observer, watching with fascination how efficiently and skillfully Song Ji-hu wielded the cards he held.
The Seventh Regression User Collects Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Publication 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, Republic of Korea
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACES Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract,
and no part of its contents may 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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