The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 54

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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 54. Rest (3)
While Song Ji-hu was deep in the hunt for Collectors within a Gate on the other side of the world, across the sea in Japan.
In the heart of the Kage guild, Matsumoto Leo was staring at a single sheet of paper with an expression of disbelief.
“We have no excuse!”
Those who witnessed Matsumoto Leo—a man who rarely lost his composure—with his face contorted in such fashion cried out with their heads bowed low.
Matsumoto Leo flipped through the list, letting out a bitter laugh. Not just one or two. His hands trembled with rage as he turned the pages.
“There are this many spies.”
The problem was the number. Despite the name Shadow—Kage—suggesting secrecy, spies had been discovered in clusters throughout the organization’s interior.
The inner sanctum of an organization that prided itself as the world’s premier intelligence guild had been riddled with holes like this. And they hadn’t known a thing about it.
“…This is infuriating.”
Matsumoto dragged his tongue across the rough inside of his mouth.
“How in the world did he find out?”
What made it more ridiculous was that the one who’d informed him was Song Ji-hu.
“Even the affiliations… it was difficult for us to uncover them this way.”
“We find it equally baffling. It hasn’t even been a year since they began placing spies within our organization. Moreover…aside from Abyss, there wasn’t a single traitor selling information, let alone anyone we’d discovered.”
What was even more bizarre was the affiliations of those spies. Corporate entities, military factions, political powers, even departments within Kage itself—their origins were utterly diverse.
Yet tracing that thread upward, unraveling it link by link, revealed only one thing at the top: Abyss Guild.
Matsumoto’s eyes narrowed.
He’d now confirmed once again that neither America nor China nor any intelligence organization in the world had managed to so much as catch Kage’s tail.
Yet a single global guild had become aware of Kage’s existence and planted parasitic spies deep within it?
Information disparity was power disparity. That meant Abyss was operating from depths far, far deeper than the world suspected.
‘Abyss… what in the world are they doing?’
On the surface, they were a multinational global guild. Their work was noble enough—their primary business was aiding Mentally Contaminated Hunters. That was the face of Abyss the world knew.
But it was now certain that they were hiding another face beneath that one.
“Investigate Abyss.”
Matsumoto Leo growled the order.
“Not just the surface—dig down to the roots. Unearth everything you can about their true nature.”
“Yes, sir!”
With this, there was no choice but to admit: Song Ji-hu had been right.
At the same time, the mystery surrounding Song Ji-hu himself deepened further.
From the moment he’d returned from South Korea, he’d activated his information networks. He’d dug and kept digging for weeks, but the result remained a blank slate.
Yet that man’s warning had proven accurate to the point. A junior Hunter from South Korea who’d only recently emerged had caught the tail that even Kage had missed.
‘The ability to lower Contamination Level and intelligence gathering are separate matters. Then where is his information coming from?’
He must possess a personal information network that was more discreet and deeper than Kage’s own. The conclusion he’d reached during the flight to this place now felt less like a conclusion and more like a bare minimum.
“…Form a dedicated team focused on Song Ji-hu.”
Matsumoto Leo spoke in a low voice.
“The existing channels won’t suffice. Dig into his origins, background, sources of funds, everyone he’s contacted—start from scratch. Only, let him not suspect. We must maintain courtesy toward our benefactor.”
Benefactor. Yes, that much was true.
But nothing was more dangerous than a benefactor whose identity remained unknown.
“That aside…how am I supposed to repay this debt?”
Song Ji-hu had taken exactly what he was owed and given exactly what he ought to give. The warning about Abyss had been the most precious of all.
Just then.
Bang!
“Matsumoto!”
The office door burst open violently, and a subordinate rushed in.
“What is this commotion?”
“Ayase Haruka… she’s having another seizure!”
His face had gone ashen, his jaw trembling.
“Damn it… I’m going now.”
Matsumoto Leo’s expression hardened in an instant. He swept the documents from his desk and tore out of the office, racing down the corridor.
Ayase Haruka. The spiritual pillar of Kage guild and its true proprietor. A being so special she could be called the very heart of Japan’s Hunter society itself.
A miko who conveyed the words of the divine. Her prophecies and Sensing Ability had sustained Japan’s balance from behind the scenes these past several years.
“When did the seizure start?”
“As soon as it began, I came running.”
And she was crumbling. To the point where even she could no longer distinguish truth from falsehood in the words she spoke.
Crash!
The room Matsumoto Leo opened was devastated.
The neat miko’s chamber where subtle incense once drifted had been ravaged as if by a storm, reduced to ruin.
Each time she mustered strength, furnishings scattered through the air only to crash to the floor, again and again.
“A…Ayase!”
Among the scattered furnishings, the Kage’s Mikos who served here stood at a loss, merely shuffling their feet.
Any who approached too carelessly in the face of that raging energy would be torn to pieces.
The Sacred Rope Bracelet wound around Ayase Haruka’s wrist flickered with ominous pulses.
“Fire comes from the west! Or was it water? Heh heh… no, I’m lying. He’s laughing, no! He’s crying!”
Ayase Haruka stared into empty space, pouring out disconnected words.
“That person will betray you. No…! He’ll save you. Which is it. Which one is it…!”
Her pale hands, drained of all color, tore at her own hair.
“I see it… I see everything, but it’s all lies. No, it’s all true. Which is his voice and which is a whisper… aaaaaaah!”
Her mind, which had heard only the voice of the divine clearly her whole life, now churned with countless voices. Unable to trust which was truth and which was false, the confusion drove her further toward madness.
“Haruka…!”
Matsumoto Leo’s voice trembled with anguish as he pierced through the waves of power and seized Ayase Haruka.
Into that pure vessel, once devoted to serving the divine, false thoughts and poison now poured and boiled over.
“Matsumoto… Leo… Leo….”
Matsumoto Leo stood before Ayase Haruka at a loss, his grip on her shoulders only tightening.
“Yes, Haruka.”
If she collapsed, not only Kage but Japan’s entire balance would crumble.
Under Haruka’s abilities, Japanese Hunter society had maintained a precarious peace. It was not one or two catastrophes that she alone had prevented.
Now, as her sight dimmed, Japan itself was becoming blind, groping in darkness.
He held everything he desired in his hands, yet he could not protect the one thing he most wanted to protect. That powerlessness burned black through Matsumoto’s core.
Then, lost in her convulsions, Haruka turned her head toward Matsumoto Leo.
In her clouded eyes, a sudden, clear light returned.
“I feel his energy in you… I must… meet him.”
Ayase Haruka’s voice rang out with the clarity it had held when speaking the divine word.
“Only he can… resolve this.”
It was a handful of consciousness drawn together at the last moment before losing her mind.
“His… energy.”
Matsumoto froze where he stood. He instinctively understood whom Ayase Haruka meant by that person.
“Song Ji-hu….”
Matsumoto Leo’s fists trembled as he clenched them hard.
She was asking him to entrust Kage itself—the very foundation of their organization—to a Hunter whose identity they had not even properly grasped.
But caution was one thing, and life was another. Besides, he could verify from beside her well enough.
Ayase Haruka had only one life.
“Damn it… Contact Zero Point.”
Matsumoto Leo’s voice came thin and trembling.
“Schedule it as soon as possible. I’m going to South Korea myself.”
Since Haruka had named him, pride and face were of no concern now.
***
And in South Korea at present.
Zero Point’s new headquarters was swiftly taking on its final form.
It was the result of the Hunter era and the relentless investment of funds.
“The speed at which the building is going up is certainly remarkable,” Yoon Young-su said, his lips curving slightly at Song Ji-hu’s observation.
“To be honest, it’s a shame it’s not a towering skyscraper rising boldly in the heart of the city like a landmark….”
Zero Point’s building was merely two structures of perhaps five stories each.
“But well, it has decent space,” Yoon Young-su continued.
What was peculiar, if anything, was that a vast structure extended behind it—not merely wide, but overwhelmingly spacious, as if several massive soccer fields had been joined together.
When Yoon Young-su first saw the building design, he had questioned the measurements several times, wondering if he’d misread the units.
“But still, even with such a large and spacious training ground… who will come? It might be better to expand the building for the guild master’s recovery instead….”
“This is more practical,” Song Ji-hu replied.
What Song Ji-hu desired was one thing alone: practicality. Unlike any other guild’s fine headquarters, they were coating the entire space with Mana Buffer Barriers to withstand even the full force of S-rank Hunters.
“For now… the training ground in back is still under construction. The guild building will be ready for occupancy within a month….”
Yoon Young-su pointed to the wide single-story structure attached beside the two guild buildings.
“Ryu Jin’s smithy should be finished by the end of this week.”
“We’ve supplied everything necessary?” Song Ji-hu asked.
Yoon Young-su nodded, recalling the equipment that had been installed in the smithy.
State-of-the-art fusion furnaces, premium catalysts and ores, and security systems even more sophisticated than those in the guild building itself.
“Shall we take a look? The appointment time has come around. The others should be arriving soon,” Yoon Young-su suggested.
Inside the half-open smithy, Ryu Jin was humming a little tune as he tidied the space.
“Whew… I wonder how long this will last. I’ve never seen equipment like this before.”
Lost in his own space for the first time, his eyes gleamed with vitality. He opened and closed the safe repeatedly, ceaselessly wiping down the machinery.

“Ahem….”
Yoon Young-su cleared his throat awkwardly, still reluctant to step inside while the scene before him remained so intimate, and entered the workshop.
“Guild Master! You’ve arrived!”
Ryu Jin’s voice trembled with barely concealed excitement.
“Truly! Thank you so much. I’m so glad I joined Zero Point.”
Ryu Jin wiped his hands on his work apron and bowed deeply.
“Honestly… I never imagined I’d get to work with machinery like this.”
For someone who had spent his entire life wandering without a proper workshop, this space was more than just a forge—it was the very dream he had always longed for.
“Just make good pieces, and that’s all that matters.”
Song Ji-hu smiled, remembering the cramped underground workshop from before. After all, Ryu Jin had crafted the Compass even in such a place.
“Wow! Nice workshop, huh? Man, Ryu Jin, you’re living the dream!”
Just as Eun Seo-jin and Im Jae-hyeok stepped into the workshop, Ryu Jin broke into a broad grin.
“Perfect timing! Please, come this way!”
Ryu Jin had arranged chunks of metal neatly across the workbench.
“Now, each of you—channel your power into these.”
Song Ji-hu, having done this before, infused his energy into the metal with practiced ease, but Eun Seo-jin and Im Jae-hyeok, uncertain what this was about, simply followed Ryu Jin’s instructions and began pouring their own essence into the chunks.
This was the first stage of Ryu Jin’s Soul Resonance Forging—taking metal and materials imbued with a person’s energy, then drawing out the final creation from within through the soul itself.
“That’s all for now….”
“Thank you!”
Ryu Jin sorted the infused metals and placed them directly into the safe.
“Wait… that’s all we need to do?”
Im Jae-hyeok looked bewildered, his eyes darting between his own hands and Ryu Jin.
“Normally, when you make weapons, you’ve got a set plan for what it’ll be, right? You hammer it out step by step. But you’re saying just putting in some power and something comes out? That’s… that’s incredible.”
Eun Seo-jin’s expression was equally puzzled, but Song Ji-hu remained unperturbed.
“That’s right. Just trust him and leave it to him. He’ll craft the finest weapon for you.”
Song Ji-hu drew out the Compass.
“I didn’t specify any particular form for this either.”
He was genuinely curious what form Ryu Jin would give to these two’s weapons.
In his past lives, every artifact that passed through Ryu Jin’s hands had been a masterpiece. The world had simply been far too slow to recognize their true worth.
But in this life, with a different beginning, both process and outcome would surely differ.
The Seventh-Regression Collector Gathering Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Production Date
: July 21, 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 no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or copying 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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