The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 46

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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 46. The Key of an Aged Knight Commander (1)
It was a reprieve long overdue. After Yakumo’s departure, and after USAA herself had boarded a flight to America.
Song Jihoo found himself facing a day with no schedule whatsoever.
Oli Barkley, Ryu Jin, the Incheon Gate, Lim Jae-hyeok, Yakumo’s Guild—he hadn’t truly rested since the regression, not with all of them.
“Sigh….”
Sunk deep into the living room sofa, Song Jihoo stared blankly at the ceiling before reaching for the revolver he’d left on the table.
“I still can’t figure out what it is….”
The revolver was a keepsake from the leader of his first party in his first life—Last Sunset—a gift bought with his very soul and life. It was the symbol of his regression.
And it was a weight Song Jihoo would carry for the rest of his days. Normally he would have kept it tucked away like a talisman, but—
Whirr—
The cylinder began to spin with a familiar metallic sound. A single bullet nestled in the otherwise empty chamber came into view.
One gleamed with a glacial, bone-deep blue light. The other shimmered with a transparent, boundless azure.
Two differently colored blue lights intertwined within the single bullet, spiraling together with a blood-dark aura.
“When did a bullet appear? There’s never been one loaded before.”
Song Jihoo’s ash-gray eyes narrowed. The two colors were unmistakable—impossible not to recognize.
They were the colors he’d seen within Eun Seo-jin’s and Oli Barkley’s inner worlds. And besides, only those two hunters had ever fully healed from mental corruption.
“Could it be…?”
A thought flickered across his mind. Song Jihoo turned the barrel toward an empty wall and curled his finger around the trigger.
Throughout six lives, this trigger had never moved except at the moment of regression.
Even when he’d pulled hard enough to break his finger, it had been sealed shut as if welded. Now he applied steady pressure.
Click—
“……!”
The chamber rotated.
Without thinking, Song Jihoo jerked his finger away from the trigger. The hammer, which had been cocked almost to firing point, slowly returned to rest.
“It moved.”
A realization crystallized with his quiet murmur.
This bullet was entirely different from the one for regression. The regression bullet had only permitted firing at the moment of regression, regardless of his will.
But this bullet was responding to his finger right now, in this moment.
‘It’s a bullet made to be fired. The real question is… where and how do I use it?’
Hum—hum—
At that instant, the old brass compass tucked into his pocket began to vibrate faintly. It was a tremor as delicate as the flutter of a small amber bee’s wings.
“Why are they resonating together?”
Song Jihoo rose from the sofa and withdrew the compass, gripping it in his other hand.
Then he closed his eyes and began to sift through the vast archive of his memories.
Across six lifetimes of accumulated data, there was no record of the revolver’s chamber spontaneously loading itself.
“Come to think of it, the compass itself was an item I obtained at the very end of my last life….”
It was unmistakably an anomaly. The gun, the compass, himself—and he couldn’t dismiss positive variables lightly.
“Hmm… now that I think about it, there was someone who claimed something like this.”
Fragmentary information from his fifth life—those years spent buried in a laboratory after abandoning his hunter career—surfaced in his mind.
“That this world, ruled by the Abyss Lord, wasn’t the first.”
The claim was that multiple worlds had been consumed in sequence. That Earth was merely one farm among countless others harvesting souls, and this time that particular farm had simply been selected.
As the largest piece clicked into place, the scattered fragments of thought began to interlock rapidly.
“The revolver is a medium for regression. A displacement through time itself. So then….”
Song Jihoo’s gaze fixed on the blue bullet in the chamber.
‘If I can traverse time….’
A different kind of displacement than regression. Perhaps toward somewhere. Movement to some destination, even.
To somewhere among the countless worlds that the Lord had consumed. As the hypothesis took shape in his mind—
Shiver—
The compass in his other hand began to tremble more noticeably, tilting toward the revolver. As if drawn by an invisible magnet.
“Ha. This is ridiculous… it’s like the answer key checking itself.”
Then a third faint vibration joined in.
The aged key of the knight commander, silent for so long, began to hum as if demanding to be included.
The revolver, the compass, and the key.
Song Jihoo gazed down at the three seemingly unrelated items as they resonated with one another in an eerie chorus.
The clues that had stood apart now snapped together into a single, crystalline pattern.
The bullet was the trigger that opens a door. The compass was the door’s coordinates. The key was the means to open something.
The corner of Song Jihoo’s mouth twisted upward.
“This life really is nothing but variables, isn’t it?”
And for someone who had lived countless lives, variables were precisely the chance to flip the board.
“Hmm… it feels less like a choice and more like I’m being shoved forward.”
But rather than rushing out at the push, he opened his phone instead.
He scrolled through research records he’d spent a lifetime organizing in his fifth life, then combed through the association’s database for anomalous phenomenon reports related to spatial rifts.
Two hours passed like that.
“As I thought. Nothing.”
The investigation had yielded only one fact: “No one knows”—but that alone was harvest enough.
No one knowing meant, at minimum, that there was no one lying in wait beyond that door with a trap already laid.
‘Unknown territory. Possibility and risk, split exactly even.’
Then the only work left was to lighten the weight on the risk side.
Don’t go in alone. Secure an exit. Anticipate the worst case and prepare for it.
Song Ji-hu, muttering low to himself, rose from the sofa. He tucked the revolver into his jacket, then slipped the compass and key into his pocket.
“He asked me to come. Can’t refuse that.”
Then he picked up the phone on the table and pressed the call button.
– Yes, this is Yoon Young-soo.
The connection went through before the ringtone had even finished once.
“Assemble everyone at the place where we met Matsumoto Leo last time.”
– Yes, understood.
“We might need to enter a gate, so make sure you’re well prepared.”
He had to be ready for contingencies. If his hunch was right, this wasn’t something he could handle alone.
***
Song Ji-hu arrived first at the same place where he’d sat across from Matsumoto Leo just days before, armed far more heavily than usual.
In his jacket, the revolver of spirits. At his waist, the compass honed by Ryu Jin. And a brass compass besides, along with the Commandant’s key.
Not knowing what might unfold, he’d brought far more potions than he typically carried—ones he didn’t usually bother with.
“Don’t rush me. Just wait a little longer….”
From the moment he arrived, the compass and key in his pocket had been emanating a faint, ceaseless resonance. As if urging him to pull the trigger already, pushing at his back.
Soon, Zero Point’s personnel emerged through the darkness and gathered.
“Am I the first to arrive?”
Eun Seo-jin had been first. She entered fully equipped with twin blades and defensive gear, offering Song Ji-hu a brief respectful bow the moment she stepped inside.
“Young-soo is downstairs waiting for the others.”
Lim Jae-hyuk strode in next.
“Oh, everyone gathering together like this—that’s a first.”
Lim Jae-hyuk looked around with an easy, good-natured smile.
“Oh… is this the new guild building we’re having constructed?”
Finally appearing alongside Yoon Young-soo, Ryu Jin gazed cheerfully about the old building, turning in place to take it in.
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not this building, but rather the entire 500-meter radius with the fence—that’s all Zero Point property. The guild building is that one under heavy construction that you passed on the way here.”
“A…a 500-meter radius all belongs to the guild?”
Ryu Jin’s eyes widened in surprise as he gazed out through the window at the distant fence.
“That can’t be right… all of it is guild land?”
“If you’re curious, once the guild master has finished his business, I’ll show you around the building currently undergoing finishing work.”
“Yes! Absolutely! I really want to see it!”
Ryu Jin’s eyes grew wide and he smiled broadly. Though he continued his work in the basement, he couldn’t hide his excitement at the fact that, for the first time, he would have a space of his own.
“Everyone has assembled. Guild Master.”
It was the first moment all of Zero Point’s guild members had gathered in one place. Song Ji-hu stood slightly apart, letting his eyes settle on each of them for a moment.
Only five people—but each one of them was anything but ordinary.
“Wait. A blacksmith? His skills are that good?”
“It’s embarrassing to call myself skilled….”
“If the guild master chose you, then that settles it!”
Lim Jae-hyuk, drawing on his natural gift for rapport, was already building bonds with his guild mates.
Once the situation had settled to some degree, Song Ji-hu opened his mouth.
“Thank you for answering such a sudden summons.”
At his calm, measured tone, all eyes fixed upon him.
“I’ve obtained an item. But I don’t know what kind of situation it might bring about, which is why I’ve called you all. Though I do have some suspicions….”
Song Ji-hu let his words trail off as he met the eyes of each guild member, one by one, watching their gaze brighten with anticipation.
“But if that suspicion is correct… it’s not something I can handle alone.”
Though he hadn’t stated the specifics, the mere words that he couldn’t handle it alone had thickened the atmosphere considerably.
Yet no one stepped back. So this was why he’d told them to come prepared for battle, they each seemed to think—and they simply went about checking their weapons and gear.
“Why are you being so difficult about it?”
Rather, Lim Jae-hyuk let out a short laugh first, shrugging his shoulders.
“Of course we do this together. We’re Zero Point, aren’t we?”
A faint smile crossed Song Ji-hu’s lips.
“I’d appreciate it if the non-combatants would wait outside and provide support.”
Yoon Young-soo nodded at those words. As Eun Seo-jin gave a nod signaling she was ready, Song Ji-hu drew the Soul Revolver from his coat.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
Every eye converged on Song Ji-hu’s hands.
Power flowed into the hands gripping the revolver, and simultaneously the compass and key nestled in his coat began vibrating roughly, unlike before.
Hum—hum—hum—
The moment his finger touched the trigger, understanding came naturally—he knew how to use this bullet.
Where previous regressions had fired at the temple, this time he would fire into empty air.
“Then.”
Song Ji-hu slowly raised the barrel toward the empty space.
“Let’s begin.”
Just before pulling the trigger, a single thought cut through Song Ji-hu’s mind.
Six lives. Throughout that long, exhaustive chronicle of failures, nothing he was about to do existed anywhere in it.
A realm of perfect unknowing.
Yet there was no hesitation in the index finger pulling the trigger.
‘The unknown was nothing but a variable, and variables were nothing but possibilities.’
Perhaps this variable would grant him access to that ending he’d never reached across six lifetimes.
Even if this single shot led to some trap, it didn’t matter. If it was a trap, he would break it.
If it was the unknown, he would simply be the first to step forward and forge a path. That was Song Ji-hu’s way—the way of his seventh life.
Crack—!
A sharp gunshot echoed through the building, and the bullet traced a blue arc as it streaked from the barrel, piercing the empty air itself.
“What in the…”
“I’ve never seen an item like this before.”
The guild members watching Song Ji-hu’s actions began to speak.
Frost-blue and sky-blue—two strands of magical power intertwined into a single line, stretching in a straight trajectory before coming to an abrupt stop at a single point.
Crack—
And the space at that location began to splinter like glass.
“Everyone, back!”
Lim Jae-hyeok raised his shield at the front, prepared for any contingency, while Eun Seo-jin drew her sword.
Crack-crack—crack—!
As if the empty air itself were screaming, fissures spread outward in all directions. The air warped, and light began to bend at impossible angles.
And through the cracks forming in the empty air, wind began to seep through.
A cool, parched breeze utterly at odds with a summer construction site—and riding that wind came the acrid stench of burnt wood, assaulting everyone’s nostrils.
“There’s a smell of… heavily charred wood. Could it be a forest?”
Even as Ryu Jin spoke, furrowing her brow at her own thoughts, the fissures continued to widen.
As if an invisible hand were tearing apart a veil separating another world, rending it in both directions.
And beyond that gap, a landscape entirely new—one never glimpsed before—revealed itself.
The 7th-Loop Returner Collects Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Publication Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: ACE Media Corporation
Editor
: ACE Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACE Media Corporation in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract.
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
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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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