The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 43

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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 43. The Yakumo Guild (1)
The next day. Association Headquarters, Main Conference Room.
The conference room, furnished with a spacious oval table, had been bustling since morning.
The table was set with refreshments, microphones, name plates, and the lighting had been arranged with meticulous care.
The Yakumo Guild’s representatives arrived first. The five Japanese delegates who had come as representatives sat in a line on one side, making no effort to conceal their displeasure.
“When are they coming, anyway? It’s nearly two o’clock, the agreed time.”
“They’re on their way, apparently….”
The secretary could only wipe cold sweat from his brow and stare at his phone in response to Park Jung-ho’s rebuke.
And then, at precisely two o’clock.
The moment the second hand pointed exactly at twelve, the conference room door opened and Song Ji-hu walked in.
As always, Eun Seo-jin stood beside him, with Yoon Young-soo following one step behind.
Song Ji-hu entered the conference room and cast a glance across the Yakumo Guild’s side. Guild Master Mibe Toshihiro sat at the very center.
His eyes behind the glasses appeared serene, but his firmly compressed lips and fingers tapping rhythmically on the table betrayed the complexity of his mood.
Attendants flanking both sides—ones whose names he had no particular need to know—were also seated.
‘Matsumoto Leo.’
And one step behind Mibe Toshihiro. In a separate ceremonial attendant’s seat, Matsumoto Leo sat quietly.
Judging by position alone, it was a seat befitting a low-ranking official of the guild.
A man in his early thirties, dressed in a neat business suit, with carefully groomed hair and a composed smile—to any observer, merely an unobtrusive aide accompanying the guild master.
“Then, shall we begin the meeting?”
Song Ji-hu naturally seated himself in the chair directly across from Mibe Toshihiro.
Without even the customary apology for arriving late, the faces of the Yakumo Guild members flushed—yet the master of this gathering was Song Ji-hu.
Park Jung-ho, who had naturally intended to take the head seat, caught sight of Song Ji-hu’s position and startled for a moment before being displaced, as if by invisible force, to the seat of an external mediator.
“Precisely at two o’clock.”
A faint tremor ran across Mibe Toshihiro’s lips.
“Yes. The scheduled meeting time was two o’clock.”
“What does that even—!”
Japan’s representative Yakumo Guild had come to Korea only to waste five days. And now, seated across the negotiating table, was barely thirty years old—a C-rank Hunter.
This was unmistakably an unacceptable diplomatic insult and breach of protocol.
Yet they could not lodge a direct protest with Song Ji-hu.
Before the sole human capable of Mental Contamination Healing, they could not afford wounded pride—lest their own S-rank Hunter’s treatment be pushed to the back of the queue, and Yakumo shoulder all the losses.
Moreover, judging from Park Jung-ho’s seemingly resigned expression, this was clearly not the first or second time such a thing had occurred.
“Hunter Song Ji-hu….”
So Mibe Toshihiro chose the indirect route. An interpreter followed his Japanese words.
“…Our Yakumo Guild has waited five days since coming to Korea.”
His tone was gentle. As if teaching a child his wrongdoing.
“We fully understand that Hunter Song Ji-hu’s schedule is extremely busy. You are, after all, engaged in the sacred work of Mental Contamination Healing. Truly, from the depths of our hearts. Yakumo holds that aspect in deep respect.”
It was praise—the quintessential opening gambit of Japanese diplomatic speech.
“However….”
Behind Mibe Toshihiro’s glasses, his gaze flashed like a serpent’s.
“The Yakumo Guild is Japan’s representative guild. And the fact that we are visiting Korea was formally communicated in advance by the Japanese government and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Beneath words padded thickly with cushioning—don’t forget who we are—lay an unmistakable pressure.
“Therefore, with respect to the shortage of customary diplomatic courtesy that should rightfully have been extended by the Korean side, Yakumo finds itself in a position of profound regret.”
Each word wrapped softly, as if in cotton, in a manner both gentle and formal. Of course, hidden beneath that padding was a blade of cold steel.
This is a clear breach of protocol, and you have treated us with contempt.
“Should Hunter Song Ji-hu see fit to graciously overlook this matter, Yakumo would be genuinely grateful.”
Yet the conclusion was courteous once more. A high-level game of showing the blade within the words, then concealing it again.
Song Ji-hu listened without comment to the lengthy address.
Then his eyes met Mibe Toshihiro’s.
And as if to show where his gaze was going, it fell upon Matsumoto Leo, who sat in the ceremonial attendant’s seat behind Mibe Toshihiro, his presence deliberately subdued.
Song Ji-hu smiled faintly and spoke.
“If you’re dissatisfied.”
Before the interpreter could even translate, several Japanese delegates who understood Korean felt their shoulders tense. Even Mibe Toshihiro’s pupils flickered almost imperceptibly behind his lenses.
“You’re free to return to Japan.”
Song Ji-hu’s tone was measured. He was neither angry nor raising his voice.
Yet that light, casual remark flattened the entire edifice of political and diplomatic rhetoric that Mibe Toshihiro had so carefully constructed.
“What does that even—!”
Park Jung-ho’s breath caught in his throat, and Yoon Young-soo stared blankly at Song Ji-hu. Only Eun Seo-jin remained unmoved, her hand resting calmly on her sword hilt.
“The interpreter translated correctly, didn’t they? That you’re welcome to leave.”
“Yes? Yes! I… I did translate it exactly as you said.”
Whether you waited five days or not. Whether you represent Japan or not. Whether you felt the protocol was lacking or not.
That’s entirely your concern. If treatment is urgent, then shut up and wait. Otherwise, get out.
“Please say that again.”
The interpreter, a beat late, repeated the words in Japanese.
The action made it perfectly clear who held the leash at this negotiating table. Mibe Toshihiro’s face hardened.
“Hunter Song Ji-hu.”
“We were merely expressing our views with the utmost courtesy!”
“Guild Master Mibe.”
Song Ji-hu cut him off without mercy.
“I know you’ve been waiting five days. And I know you represent Japan.”
Song Ji-hu’s ash-gray eyes fixed on Mibe Toshihiro with unwavering directness.
“In this situation—who is asking whom for a favor?”
The air in the conference room froze. Every face except Zero Point’s flushed crimson, as if about to burst.
“If you truly understood the weight of that request, five days would be nothing—a mere blink of an eye, wouldn’t it? And yet, despite my telling you that USAA’s business takes priority… you say such things?”
Song Ji-hu reclined against his chair, raising one shoulder in a casual shrug.
“Is that your way of asking why I didn’t prioritize the Yakumo Guild over USAA? I’m sure Anthony Rice would be delighted to hear that.”
“That’s not what I meant at all! Why are you bringing up USAA out of nowhere!”
“Not what you meant? I distinctly conveyed that USAA’s treatment takes priority. Didn’t you receive that message? Or perhaps you’re telling me to prioritize Japan’s treatment over my own health?”
Song Ji-hu turned his head, and Park Jung-ho waved his hands frantically in denial.
“We told them! We said we were in meetings with USAA!”
Six lifetimes flickered rapidly through Song Ji-hu’s mind.
‘The most unpredictable and inconsistent of them all. Im Jae-hyuk was a man of loyalty across every life. Park Jung-ho was a politician in every life. The Abyss was an unchanging source of calamity. But Japan…’
Japan’s stance shifted dramatically from one life to the next.
‘Japan…’
In one life, they fought alongside Korea and America against the Abyss Lord to the bitter end.
In another, Japan was the Abyss Lord’s most ardent collaborator.
They sacrificed their own S-rank Hunters one after another as offerings to the Lord, securing promises of a final safe haven, and betrayed humanity.
In yet another life, they resisted most fiercely, only to fall first among all nations.
They were a country with an unstable, erratic trajectory—as if some invisible hand outside a vast chessboard were capriciously moving the pieces back and forth.
And in the previous life, Song Ji-hu had discovered the identity of that invisible hand.
‘Matsumoto Leo.’
The true power behind the Yakumo Guild.
No—the true power pulling the strings of Japan’s entire Hunter world from the shadows.
Mibe Toshihiro, sitting before him as guild master, was merely a figurehead.
‘Isn’t that right, Matsumoto Leo? The real owner needs to step forward. What’s the point in talking to a puppet?’
Song Ji-hu’s gaze shifted once more toward Matsumoto Leo.
Without so much as a blink, his ash-gray eyes locked onto Matsumoto Leo in direct confrontation.
“What…!”
Mibe Toshihiro’s mouth fell open mid-protest and froze there.
“Where exactly are you looking…!”
Realizing that Song Ji-hu’s gaze was directed not at him but past him, he turned his head stiffly.
When Mibe Toshihiro saw where Song Ji-hu’s eyes had landed, his pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck them.
‘How…?!’
This man knows. He knows who the real master of this guild is. They had walked into the tiger’s den without even realizing their hand was exposed.
Cold sweat dripped onto Mibe Toshihiro’s knees.
The composed smile of the assistant faded from Matsumoto Leo’s face, replaced by a quiet, penetrating gaze fixed on Song Ji-hu.
Their eyes met across empty space, and the atmosphere in the conference room shifted into something decidedly precarious.
The scenario Japan had envisioned shattered completely. Mibe Toshihiro rose from his seat in desperation.
“Wait… Let’s recess this meeting for now.”
“A recess won’t be necessary. When the Yakumo Guild is ready for real negotiations, we’ll open the table again.”
Song Ji-hu rose from his seat without hesitation.
The implication was clear: the real master needed to step forward.
‘Insane…’
Park Jung-ho’s jaw hung open. The meeting that had begun with him trembling in fear of repercussions had collapsed in less than an hour.
And it was the Japanese guild master himself who first conceded, begging for a recess.
“Hunter Song Ji-hu!”
Park Jung-ho scrambled to his feet and grabbed Song Ji-hu’s arm.
“Yes?”
“Even so, wait! Just wait a moment—let’s discuss this further!”
Song Ji-hu glanced back at Park Jung-ho once, but didn’t slow his stride.
“No, Hunter Song Ji-hu! Wait! Just wait!”
Park Jung-ho came rushing after Song Ji-hu, breath heaving.
When Song Ji-hu stopped and turned his head, he saw Park Jung-ho’s face twisted as anguished as the figure in Munch’s “The Scream.”
“Please… I’m begging you, couldn’t we squeeze out just a bit more…?! No, seriously, I’m asking you! It’s Japan! Japan! We’ve left them hanging for five days, and if this falls apart now, how am I supposed to handle the diplomatic fallout later, aaagh…!”
Song Ji-hu gave a slight shrug.
“Once the Yakumo Guild is ready to negotiate, they’ll be the ones reaching out first to reopen talks at the table.”
“…Yes…?”
“I’ll arrange another meeting myself. There’s nothing for you to worry about, sir.”
Song Ji-hu left those words hanging and turned away, walking into the distance.
“No… this can’t be…”
Park Jung-ho sank to the floor right there, cradling his face in both hands.
He was in the middle of the hallway.
Association staff watched from afar, but no one dared approach. The Association Chairman’s anguish was something no one could touch.
“This bastard is really trying to drive me to my grave… aaaagh…”
The Association Chairman’s anguished groan echoed through the corridor.
The Seventh Regression: Collecting Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Production Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: Aces Media Inc.
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 Inc. under contract with the copyright holder.
No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the express permission of 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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