The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 40

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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 40. Ollie Barclay, Second Round (1)
While Song Jihoo and Rick Wesley were deep in conversation, Yun Youngsu’s phone vibrated incessantly.
Buzz—buzz—
Yun Youngsu glanced at the caller ID on his wrist for a moment, then turned his attention back to Song Jihoo.
The Hunter Association again.
Park Jeongho’s line, or the Association’s protocol department, or the diplomatic division—it didn’t matter which. They all wanted the same thing.
The Yakumo Guild had announced their visit in advance and set foot on Korean soil to meet Song Jihoo, yet the very person they were so desperately searching for was nowhere to be seen.
On top of that, there was no proper guild office, and the assigned apartment was genuinely empty, so Park Jeongho must be pacing around his desk by now, metaphorically bleeding dry.
‘Played USAA and now the Yakumo Guild for fools.’
And of all places, they were in a location where USAA operated—neither the Yakumo Guild nor the Hunter Association could enter here.
‘Perfect diplomatic dead zone.’
Yun Youngsu ignored his phone as it vibrated again and followed Song Jihoo, who had risen from his seat.
“Shall we go?”
Rick Wesley across from him silently drained his glass and stood to follow Song Jihoo.
Eun Seojin naturally positioned herself behind Song Jihoo, with Yun Youngsu falling into step beside her.
“You were getting calls the whole time—you’re sure it’s alright not to answer?”
On the way to where Ollie Barclay was, Eun Seojin asked the question. Yun Youngsu tilted his phone screen toward her slightly.
“I see. No need to answer, then.”
“The Guild Master’s orders come first.”
Yun Youngsu’s expression was infinitely bright. When else in his lifetime would he get to ignore a call from the Association President? It was only possible because he had Song Jihoo backing him up.
“It’s this way. Once he regained some clarity of mind, we changed his location.”
“As long as there’s no risk of him going berserk, any location works fine.”
Not the Annex Building’s basement as before, but the first floor special room.
The scenery was completely different from when they’d first arrived.
Dazzling natural light, a medical bed, and precision monitoring equipment covering his entire body.
“Hmm?”
A man on the bed, who had been fiddling with his phone, grinned widely at the sight of Song Jihoo.
Ollie Barclay, clawed his way up from hell a year ago.
“Bro.”
Ollie extended a fist with a needle still stuck through it.
“So you’re Song Jihoo?”
Song Jihoo lightly bumped fists in return.
“I am.”
Ollie’s hand still trembled faintly, but it was no longer the tremor of a condemned man like when they’d first met.
“Thanks for hearing you’re gonna free me from this hell.”
It was closer to the tremor of a recovering patient, a person clinging to life.
“The Contamination Level has… gone up.”
[Mental Contamination Level: 65.4]
“Was there anything unusual between the first treatment and now?”
Rick Wesley beside him shook his head with a grim expression.
“We’re puzzled too. He hasn’t entered a dungeon, hasn’t used any skills, hasn’t encountered any monsters.”
Just lying in the recovery room, his Contamination Level was rising steadily each day, and Song Jihoo’s eyes grew darker at those words.
‘The Shepherd’s getting impatient.’
Information about what the Gardener suffered at Song Jihoo’s hands had already reached that bastard’s ears, and his plan to harvest the souls of S-Rankers and resurrect the Abyss Lord was unraveling in real time—of course he’d be desperate.
‘He’ll crawl back in through his own power again.’
Song Jihoo’s hand drifted to the Compass Sword at his waist.
Actually, this was better.
If that bastard was waiting inside, then this time he’d simply cut his neck clean off and be done with it.
“How about the voice you hear in your head?”
“Bearable.”
The muscles in Ollie’s jaw twitched.
“At least I’m certain now that it’s a lie.”
Song Jihoo nodded slowly. It wouldn’t be easy.
He’d been weakened by the circumstances so far, and the Shepherd was directly targeting him.
“That’s a good sign.”
During the last dive, Ollie’s sense of self had regressed to that of a ten-year-old boy.
Unable to distinguish friend from foe, he’d perceived Song Jihoo as a direct threat and forced his own ejection.
But now Ollie recognized the Shepherd as an external enemy. His mind had recovered enough to tell self from enemy.
“So what do I need to do?”
“It’s simple.”
Song Jihoo spoke quietly.
“A mind that can distinguish ally from enemy. And the strength to endure. Finally, all you need to do is trust me.”
“No problem with that.”
Ollie Barclay shrugged lightly, and Song Jihoo added a final thought.
“There’s one more thing.”
“…?”
“We cannot save everyone.”
Ollie’s expression hardened, and Rick Wesley, standing beside him, closed his eyes as though something in those words had struck him.
“…Understood.”
Ollie wore a bitter smile. He knew what Song Jihoo meant. He had always known that this truth would have to be accepted, sooner or later.
“Then….”
Still seated in his chair, Song Jihoo placed his hand on Ollie’s shoulder. Behind them, Eun Seojin drew her sword and assumed a defensive stance.
“Go carefully.”
“Come back and we’ll talk.”
Rick Wesley and the medical team took their positions in chairs beside the monitor.
As Song Jihoo slowly closed his eyes, the Compass in his breast pocket vibrated once.
‘Mental Dive.’
***
The world inverted, and his feet touched ground.
‘…This is different from before.’
Unlike the previous incursions, the city remained intact.
The buildings stood unbroken, the roads unsplit. No ash fell from the sky.
Instead, at the city’s heart, a colossal spiral of black fog churned where the forest of towers should have been, swallowing all in its path.
The enormous tornado of darkness rotated endlessly, and something moved within it, though from outside it remained obscured.
And before it stood a figure condensed from blood-red shadow.
Unlike the first encounter, when it had worn his father’s face as a mask, The Shepherd stood unguised.
“Come crawling back again, have you.”
The Shepherd faced Song Jihoo in its true form. From within the formless darkness, only those blood-red eyes gleamed with terrible clarity.
“This time I’ll tear your limbs from your body.”
A strange, grating resonance shrieked across the air.
“Strong words.”
Song Jihoo’s lips twisted into a slant.
“So which of us is getting torn apart?”
Shring!
Song Jihoo stepped forward as he spoke. The Compass Sword was drawn from his waist. Silver liquid pulsed along the blade.
“That sword….”
The Shepherd’s eyes flickered for an instant. Last time the creature had wielded only a short blade, but now it appeared with a weapon that looked unmistakably lethal.
“I cannot let you walk away alive.”
“That’s my line.”
Song Jihoo aimed his blade at the bridge of The Shepherd’s nose.
“Oh, and one more thing—give my regards to The Gardener. Tell that worm what happened here.”
The fog that enshrouded The Shepherd exploded outward in a violent surge.
“Silence! You filthy insect!”
At the mention of The Gardener, deliberately thrown to wound, The Shepherd’s composure shattered—and Song Jihoo found himself laughing.
The Gardener, defeated and driven to flight by a mere human, was a humiliation in itself; worse still, because of it the resurrection of the Abyss Lord would be delayed. To them, that was shame beyond measure.
“Silence!”
The Shepherd raised both arms.
Boom-boom-boom-crash!
The entire city shrieked.
The asphalt surged up like a tidal wave, and the sky burned red as a furnace.
Then a massive building was wrenched from its foundations and hurled bodily toward Song Jihoo.
Whishhhhh!
Dozens of tons of concrete tore through the air, but instead of dodging, Song Jihoo raised the Compass Sword.
The muscles of his arm tensed taut. The silver liquid on the blade erupted violently, and the sword’s edge traced a perfect arc.
Crunch!
The building split cleanly in two, like tofu severed by a blade.
Sanguine mana rippled across the building’s cross-section as the halves passed on either side of Song Jihoo and struck the ground.
Crash!
As Song Jihoo touched down through the cloud of dust, The Shepherd’s shadow recoiled, driven backward.
“You sliced… the environment itself…?”
Song Jihoo rotated his wrist lightly, shaking away the lingering traces of the Shepherd’s mana that clung to his blade.
“My sword cuts quite well.”
This was the moment when the essence of Ryu Jin’s Soul Resonance Forging manifested. A weapon resonating with Song Jihoo’s very soul.
The Compass Sword had absorbed the totality of Song Jihoo’s mental strength, and within the mental world, he wielded what amounted to a weapon forged entirely by his own will.
This would be a battle of an entirely different dimension than the first encounter.
Grind—
The Shepherd gnashed his teeth.
“Then let’s begin.”
Crack!
Song Jihoo kicked off the ground and burst forward. In a single bound, he had closed half the distance between himself and the Shepherd.
The startled Shepherd thrashed both arms wildly.
The earth shot upward vertically, erecting a massive barrier, while fireballs cascaded down from the sky like a torrential downpour.
“Useless.”
Screech—!
The Compass Sword’s edge sliced through the wall before him in a perfect cross.
Simultaneously, he unfurled his Mental Barrier like an umbrella to shield himself from the rain of fire descending overhead.
Boom!
The flames struck the silver barrier and scattered in a harmless spray.
Even as this unfolded, Song Jihoo’s feet never ceased their advance.
“This… this monster! How is something like you even here at a time like this?! Die, die damn you!”
This time, three buildings. No—five, seven skyscrapers tore free from their foundations and rose into the air at once.
Hundreds of tons of structures rained down like missiles, following the trajectory of Song Jihoo’s movement and unleashing a bombardment.
He did not slow his relentless pace but accelerated further, his blade carving through the air.
Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.
Minimal motion.
Each time a building was bisected, the sound of rupture shook the mental world.
The enormous debris, torn in half as it came, poured down like rain—yet none of it reached Song Jihoo, all falling harmlessly to the ground beneath him.
“Hah…”
Song Jihoo exhaled deeply.
Indeed, after his time in the Labyrinth, his level had risen somewhat, and combat felt easier now than before.
As Song Jihoo approached without a single scratch, the Shepherd’s expression twisted.
“This won’t do.”
Yet Song Jihoo kept neutralizing everything and drawing closer, as though he were reading the Shepherd’s every pattern.
‘Six times… I crippled you three times, lost you twice, and failed to touch you once.’
To the Shepherd’s murmur, Song Jihoo ground his teeth and muttered beneath his breath.
‘And the seventh time—I’ve reached you here. This time, I’ll make sure you die.’
The Shepherd raised his hand and gestured toward the swirling black mist.
“This won’t do.”
Rumble—!
The mist’s rotation accelerated. From within it, something like a scream began to seep out.
‘Is he trying to attack Ollie directly?’
Red fractures spread across the surface of the mist like cracks. Each time these fissures widened, the sound of Ollie’s memories being torn away leaked through.
While mounting an offensive defense, the Shepherd had begun simultaneously targeting Ollie Barclay’s trauma.
His strategy was to shatter Ollie’s mind before Song Jihoo could press further, thereby collapsing the Mental Dive.
Song Jihoo’s footsteps hesitated.
Should he pursue the Shepherd? Or should he go to Ollie’s aid?
The pained cries leaking from within the mist grew sharper, clearer. Meanwhile, the Shepherd’s true form stood within reach.
If he missed this distance, the creature would retreat back into the mist once more.
The moment of choice had arrived.
The Seventh Return Regressor Collects Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Publication Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: ASICS Media Inc.
Editor
: ASICS Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work has been published by ACESIS Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and author.
This e-book is a work protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or duplication may result in legal liability.
UCI
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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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