The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 7

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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 7. Eun Seojin (3)
“Ugh… aahhh…!”
Eun Seojin’s body convulsed. A wave of emotion spanning over a century — incomparably more brutal than three years of despair — crashed viciously against his soul.
Horror and shock flickered across Eun Seojin’s previously vacant eyes.
‘This man… what on earth is he…?’
His own three years seemed infinitely pathetic now, dwarfed by a torrent of feeling whose source he couldn’t even fathom.
And yet this man remained standing. Still fighting.
“You are… exactly what…?”
“Get up.”
Song Jihoo’s voice was glacial.
“It’s not over yet. You have to fight.”
“I’m… exhausted… I want it to end.”
Bang!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the fragile Mental Barrier under their assault.
Song Jihoo seized Eun Seojin by the collar.
“So you’re going to give up? After risking everything to come here? Your enemy isn’t your teammates — it’s yourself. You’re the one who passed judgment against yourself!”
“…!”
“So get up! And acquit yourself! Say you’re not guilty!”
Song Jihoo shoved him away and gripped his blade anew.
“I’ll buy you time. Find your sword.”
“But…!”
“You can.”
Song Jihoo smiled faintly. The Sword Master he’d only heard rumors of was certainly capable of this.
“You can definitely do this. Because you’re Eun Seojin.”
It was a smile cold but strangely absolute in its faith.
At those words, the faintest glimmer of life returned to Eun Seojin’s dead eyes, and Song Jihoo hurled himself at the Thought Forms to buy him time.
.
.
.
.
.
“Huff… huff….”
It was a grueling ordeal — he’d been a Hunter for less than a month, his body was untrained — but he had to succeed. There was no other choice.
Numbness crept into his fingertips; his entire arm began to tremble.
“Damn it, this is dragging on. Shouldn’t you be getting your head straight soon?”
The short sword weighed almost nothing, yet with each swing it felt like a lump of iron, and his breathing came in jagged gasps.
‘Huff… ten minutes.’
In an endless loop, Song Jihoo would be the first to tire.
But then.
Whoosh!
A bitter cold swept in from behind, engulfing the black masses.
Eun Seojin was on his feet. A Chain clattered to the ground.
“…I’m sorry. For making you fight alone.”
Eun Seojin swung the Chain again. Cold Aura erupted, freezing the Thought Forms solid.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as you made it in time.”
Song Jihoo grinned and dropped to the ground, slapping Eun Seojin’s palm hard.
“Tag out. Your turn to fight solo now.”
“Rest, please.”
Eun Seojin tried to snap the Chain, but it remained unyielding.
“Hmm….”
An Ice Sword began forming slowly in his hand — transparent and razor-sharp, a pair of blades glowing blue.
Bound by the Chain, he swung the swords.
Shhhhh!
The blades carved through the air, Cold Aura detonating, freezing the Thought Forms to crystal.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
The Chain followed, sweeping the ice-locked thoughts to shards that scattered like spray.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
Song Jihoo watched the ice crystals fall like snow from above, smiling softly.
When the last mass finally crumbled to ash.
“Ah… the second Stage, then?”
Song Jihoo brushed himself off and steadied his breathing.
“A second stage?”
“If it’s not the end, then it’s the second Stage.”
As if the gates of hell itself had opened, five shadows tumbled from the crimson rifts splitting the blood-red sky.
Thud—
The first shadow struck the Desolate Wasteland. A tall man wielding an enormous shield. The form of the tank, Kim Dohun.
Then came the second, third, and fourth.
The healer Han Somi. The archer Park Junseo. The mage Lee Hyunwoo.
And finally.
The sub-dealer Choi Yujin.
Their appearance was nothing like what Eun Seojin knew.
Ashen, bloodless skin. Black liquid oozing from hollow eye sockets. A twisted smile frozen at the corners of their mouths.
Monsters.
“Eun Seojin… you killed us….”
At the sound of their voices, Eun Seojin’s body went rigid again.
“I….”
Song Jihoo tapped his shoulder sharply.
“Look at them clearly. That’s not your teammate—it’s a puppet that’s been feeding on your guilt.”
Eun Seojin answered briefly. But the hand gripping his blade was trembling.
“…Can I do this?”
“You can. You’ve already risen. Remember—this is your Mental World.”
Even if the Abyss Lord had left plenty of traps scattered about.
Song Jihoo spoke with finality.
“Now you see this through to the end. Until the Stage is over.”
“Yes… I understand.”
As the five shadows rushed forward, Song Jihoo and Eun Seojin turned back-to-back and swung their blades.
Kim Dohun’s form charged with shield raised. Song Jihoo reflexively dodged to the side, and Eun Seojin seized the opening to slash with his Short Sword.
“Dohun….”
The moment the name spilled unbidden from Eun Seojin’s lips.
“You’re the one who ran first!”
Kim Dohun’s form roared. Simultaneously, arrows came streaking from behind—Park Junseo’s bow.
Whistle—!
Eun Seojin barely twisted his body aside, but the arrow grazed his cheek as it passed. Blood trickled down.
“If not for you, we’d still be alive!”
“Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!”
All five monsters shrieked in unison. Their voices tore through Eun Seojin’s mind.
Eun Seojin’s knees buckled. The hand holding his blade fell limp.
“…I’m sorry….”
An apology spilled from his lips—the same words he’d repeated countless times over three years, worn smooth and hollow.
“I’m sorry… truly… I’m sorry….”
In that moment.
“Snap out of it!”
Song Jihoo’s shout cut through the air, intercepting the attacks of the Thought Forms wearing his comrades’ faces.
“Those aren’t your teammates.”
Eyes of peculiar ashen gray pierced through Eun Seojin. A Mental Barrier wrapped around him.
“Everything those bastards are saying—isn’t that all something you’ve been telling yourself for the past three years?”
Eun Seojin’s eyes widened.
“Think carefully. Who are you sorry to? Who should you actually be apologizing to?”
“…!”
Song Jihoo shoved Eun Seojin back. Then he swung his Short Sword and cut down the approaching form of Kim Dohun.
Screech—!
The monster shrieked and recoiled.
“Get up. And fight.”
Song Jihoo’s voice was cold, yet what lay beneath it was trust—and at the same time, a command.
Eun Seojin rose on trembling legs, firm and steady. He gazed at the Ice Sword gripped in his hand.
‘He’s right… that’s the truth….’
For three years, he had judged himself. He had condemned himself. He had turned a blade upon himself.
And these monsters were the crystallized form of that hatred.
“…I understand.”
Eun Seojin gripped the hilt firmly. The tremor in his fingertips ceased. Cold Aura rose and bloomed from the tip of his blade.
Kim Dohun screamed as the Ice Sword cut through him, and he dissolved. Then the second, the third, the fourth.
Song Jihoo’s eyes flickered with hesitation for moments at a time, but that was unavoidable when they came at him wearing the faces of comrades.
With each swing of the blade, the Thought Forms transformed into ice crystals and scattered.
Han Somi, Park Junseo, Lee Hyunwoo, and even Choi Yujin.
“I… I only wanted to save you.”
To save you.
That was all.
“…Yes.”
A sound like a groan escaped Eun Seojin’s lips.
He rose slowly. With trembling hands, he stared at the scattered debris on the ground.
“If that’s called a sin….”
New Ice Swords began to form around Eun Seojin.
“…Then I…”
He raised the blade.
“…I am not wrong!”
Clang!
The moment Eun Seojin grasped the truth, the ice Chains that had bound his body shattered into pieces.
Whoosh!
Pure cold radiated from his body in a violent burst. The crimson sky turned white, and the entire Desolate Wasteland was blanketed in snow.
Song Jihoo smiled faintly.
“…He did it.”
Song Jihoo sighed and sank to the ground. He was relieved that Eun Seojin had recovered his senses faster than expected.
The Desolate Wasteland fell silent.
The fissure in the sky began to close, and the crimson clouds dispersed. A cold wind blew, but it was no longer the despair-filled Cold Aura that had driven Eun Seojin into a corner.
“Is… is it over?”
Eun Seojin, who had fought hard for the first time in ages, also dropped to his knees and gasped for breath.
“…I’m not sure.”
If it were truly over, they should have left this world by now, but there was no sign of that happening.
“Hah… Combat readiness.”
Over a hundred years of accumulated experience, instinct, and warning signs screamed within him.
“Combat…?”
Before Eun Seojin could even voice his confusion, a black shadow surged up from beneath his feet.
“What the…?!”
Eun Seojin stumbled backward in shock. The murky shadow slowly took on a form. His form.
But it felt different. Completely different—the shadow Eun Seojin was dyed pitch-black in every aspect.
“…What is that?”
Song Jihoo gritted his teeth.
“…A Self-Hatred Manifestation. Another you that you’ve nurtured through three years of despising yourself. And the opponent you must overcome.”
Black Eun Seojin opened his mouth. The same voice as Eun Seojin, but filled only with mockery and contempt.
“You broke the Chain?”
Laughter filled the Desolate Wasteland.
“Don’t make me laugh. You can never escape this guilt. Never.”
An Ice Sword formed in the black Eun Seojin’s hand—longer, sharper, and colder than Eun Seojin’s own.
Eun Seojin stepped in front of Song Jihoo, who was barely managing to stand despite his exhaustion.
“I’ll… handle this.”
He felt it instinctively. This was his fight. Song Jihoo had already opened the path for him. Now it was his turn to carve his own way forward.
“Alone…? Against me?”
The black mass bounced back and forth, mocking Eun Seojin.
“You’ll never defeat me alone. Not in a lifetime. You’ve never accomplished anything alone.”
Alone.
That word cut through Eun Seojin’s chest.
It was true. He had always been with someone. He had grown in the shadow of his master, Baek Mujin. He had fought leaning on the trust of his comrades. And now, he had come this far with the help of that man.
A weak being who could do nothing alone.
That was Eun Seojin.
“But.”
What did that matter?
“At least…”
Eun Seojin tightened his grip on the blade.
“A sword wielded to protect someone can never break.”
That was the conviction Eun Seojin had always held.
“If that’s what it means to protect someone who believes in me, then all the more reason.”
Eun Seojin felt Song Jihoo’s presence behind him.
“You can do this. You’re Eun Seojin, after all.”
The words Song Jihoo had spoken flashed through his mind. They weren’t hollow reassurances. That man believed in him—truly, with his whole heart.
“So what? What does that prove? Does someone else’s faith erase your sins?”
“No.”
Eun Seojin laughed coldly.
“But I won’t be swayed by you anymore.”
The rest—he would carry that burden himself.
Whoooosh—!
A Cold Aura of a different dimension erupted from Eun Seojin, blazing outward in a torrent.
The 7th Regression User Collects Catastrophes
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
Email
: [email protected]
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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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