Chapter 231
After sending Liman off and having lunch, the rescue team headed toward Iron Mountain in the north.
At that moment, Yong Yeohong asked cautiously,
“Team Leader, this isn’t some kind of trap, is it?”
Jang Mokhwa smiled and replied,
“Do they have any reason to attack us? Even if they did, our team’s abilities have improved a lot. Right now, we’re strong enough to destroy even a Wanderer base.”
Hearing the team leader mention the power of their military exoskeletons, Yong Yeohong felt a surge of pride.
After following the map markers for nearly two hours, they finally reached Iron Mountain and discovered the hidden underground ark entrance tucked in a mountainside clearing.
Inside the valley, a small path led into a cave. The entrance to the underground ark lay deep within this cave.
Jang Mokhwa didn’t head straight there. Instead, she climbed to a relatively high vantage point for better observation and began carefully watching the cave entrance.
As each passing second dragged by, the sky gradually darkened.
Yong Yeohong, crouched and growing bored, glanced toward Sung Gunwoo, who was hiding behind a few trees, and casually asked,
“Aren’t you bored?”
“I’m a rock right now. Rocks don’t get bored.”
Sung Gunwoo replied, keeping his eyes fixed on the front.
“…If you were a rock, you wouldn’t be able to talk either.”
Yong Yeohong couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I’m pretending to be a talking rock.”
Sung Gunwoo explained calmly again.
‘I’m such an idiot, really…’
Yong Yeohong scolded himself inwardly. Rather than talking to Sung Gunwoo out of boredom, it would be better to just stay silent and wait.
Just then, two people emerged from the cave. They were dragging a heavy-looking crate.
The two men wore matching uniforms, each carrying a submachine gun on their backs. They were probably guards of the underground ark.
After scanning the area to make sure no one was around, they dragged the crate deeper into the valley.
Not long after, they found a relatively soft patch of ground and pulled out two shovels from the crate.
Jang Mokhwa subtly signaled the team, and they quietly moved to a position not far from the guards.
Then she whispered to Sung Gunwoo in a low voice,
“Go.”
Like a righteous warrior, Sung Gunwoo charged out holding the Berserk assault rifle and shouted at the two underground ark guards digging the ground,
“You’re surrounded!”
Startled, the two guards simultaneously dropped their shovels and tried to flee in different directions to avoid the incoming gunfire.
But the moment they moved, the black muzzle of the Grim Reaper bazooka and a grenade launcher waiting for its command entered their line of sight. Thinking quickly, they stopped, raised their hands behind their heads, and slowly sank to their knees.
Sung Gunwoo, wearing a monkey mask, approached with a smile.
“No need to be scared. We’re just here to be friends.”
The guards looked at each other, then at the assault rifle in Sung Gunwoo’s hands, and quietly lowered their heads again.
Both were typical Red River humans. One had brown hair and blue eyes, the other yellow hair and brown eyes. Both had beards but nothing else stood out. If anything, one had a relatively large nose, and the other had thick eyebrows.
Sung Gunwoo smiled and said,
“See? I didn’t shoot you. We’re talking peacefully. I didn’t even tell you to put down your weapons. So…”
The guards felt a surprising friendliness from the person in the monkey mask. He genuinely seemed to be there to make friends.
“You should’ve said so earlier. You scared me.”
The guard with brown hair and a large nose, seemingly the braver of the two, jumped to his feet.
Sung Gunwoo fully demonstrated his affinity skills.
“What’s your name?”
“Call me Joseph. This is Paul. And you?”
“Jang Woo Byung,” Sung Gunwoo said, using a pseudonym in Ashlandic.
Upon hearing the name, Joseph asked, realizing,
“You’re an Ashlander?”
“All humans are just humans. No need to divide us further,” Sung Gunwoo emphasized.
At that moment, Jang Mokhwa squatted near the crate, carefully opening it to peek inside.
Inside was a corpse.
The man had gray-streaked hair and wore a black suit, his chest stained with blood.
“It’s Butler Karl!”
Jang Mokhwa immediately recognized the body. He was one of DiMarco’s three butlers, responsible for his weapons business.
Just that morning, Karl had been talking with the informer Song Hakyun and testified that he hadn’t sold information about merfolk or mountain yokai. Now, his usually neat hair was disheveled. Only a few hours ago, Karl had been alive; now he was a cold corpse.
“Karl?”
Yong Yeohong repeated in shock. He hadn’t imagined Karl’s body would be inside the crate—he had assumed it was just another servant who had annoyed Mr. DiMarco.
Technically, a butler is still a servant.
“How did Butler Karl die?”
Sung Gunwoo asked the two guards, who he had already befriended. This time, instead of using his affinity skill, he imitated the detective-like reasoning of informer Song Hakyun.
Meanwhile, Jang Mokhwa examined the corpse and confirmed that Karl had died from a gunshot to the chest.
Then Joseph, the guard with the large nose, answered with a slightly grim expression,
“Mr. DiMarco killed him.”
“Why?”
Yong Yeohong asked. He clearly remembered that Karl had been extremely loyal. Despite being a follower of the Guard Sect, Karl never tried to hide while working for DiMarco’s weapons business. That loyalty was obvious.
Paul, the guard with thick eyebrows, exchanged a glance with Joseph, hesitated, then spoke.
“After meeting the Guard Sect’s informer in the morning, Karl kept trying to see Mr. DiMarco. DiMarco, who had been resting, only let him in during the afternoon. We don’t know exactly what they discussed. All we know is that, after a brief argument, DiMarco became enraged and shot Karl dead.”
As Jang Mokhwa stood up, Sung Gunwoo, immersed in his detective act, asked,
“Did you witness the argument?”
Joseph shook his head.
“We only heard the voices getting louder. When we entered to protect Mr. DiMarco, Karl was already dead. The argument part? That’s what DiMarco said.”
‘Could it be that after meeting with the informer, Butler Karl remembered something about the Renato Bishop case and suspected DiMarco of selling information to the mountain yokai? When he tried to ask, he provoked DiMarco and was shot on the spot? But that doesn’t fit with Karl’s loyal image.’
Jang Mokhwa mumbled to herself, then sharply noticed one thing.
“While DiMarco and Karl were talking, was anyone else guarding him?”
The fact that guards had to be outside to protect DiMarco meant there was no one inside.
Joseph replied,
“Right. Unless there’s something important to discuss, DiMarco doesn’t allow anyone in his room. He dislikes having people there.”
Sung Gunwoo clicked his tongue.
“For someone from the Guard Sect, that’s careless.”
Hearing this, Yong Yeohong noticed a contradiction in the testimony: DiMarco, a Guard Sect follower, left all his guards outside during a private meeting. This was extremely reckless.
“Maybe his faith in Eidolorn isn’t that strong,” Baek Saebyeok thought, finding this the most reasonable explanation.
But Paul quickly refuted it.
“No, Mr. DiMarco is extremely devout. He wears his mask all the time. For the past year, he hasn’t taken it off except when sleeping.”
Sung Gunwoo immediately asked,
“How do you know he takes it off when sleeping?”
Paul hesitated briefly.
“Just… I guess.”
Sung Gunwoo pressed further,
“Does he sleep with women, or… men, or anyone else?”
“Yes. Mr. DiMarco has a lot of women,” Joseph answered diligently, even though the topic was odd.
Sung Gunwoo, still in the monkey mask, laughed.
“So, does he take the mask off when he… does that?”
Joseph and Paul exchanged glances, recalling their memories.
After a moment, Paul answered,
“Some female servants who slept with him said sometimes he wears it, sometimes he doesn’t.”
Joseph added, recalling rumors,
“Yeah. Before, he mostly didn’t wear it, but lately he wears it more often.”
“When exactly did that change happen?”
Jang Mokhwa asked.
“We don’t know,” both Joseph and Paul said in unison.
Jang Mokhwa, pondering, shifted the topic.
“Did he wear the mask recently when talking to Bishop Renato?”
“Yes. For the past year, he’s been wearing it every day,” Joseph confirmed confidently.
‘The past year…’
Jang Mokhwa suddenly recalled an incident.
‘Liman’s friend Lars has been missing for almost a year! This case is sinking deeper into a labyrinth…’
While Jang Mokhwa muttered to herself, Sung Gunwoo changed the subject again.
“What about DiMarco and his ancestors?”
“His ancestors?” Joseph and Paul didn’t immediately grasp the question.
Jang Mokhwa glanced upward, exhaled, then explained,
“I mean, how did DiMarco and his ancestors rule the underground ark?”
Joseph and Paul just exchanged glances, saying nothing.
Sung Gunwoo smiled at them.
“No one else is nearby.”
Joseph finally seemed relieved, inhaling deeply before speaking,
“DiMarco and his ancestors have cruel blood. Our parents were part of the underground ark too. My father was a guard, my mother a servant. They told me every year countless servants die and are buried in this valley. Only a few survive by luck.”
“So you and your parents were lucky?” Jang Mokhwa asked.
Joseph shook his head slowly.
“No. DiMarco and his ancestors rarely killed guards’ families. A few years ago, DiMarco executed some guards after losing his son, but normally guards get two or three chances even if they make mistakes.”
“Not totally insane, then. What happened to DiMarco’s son?”
Jang Mokhwa asked neutrally.
Recalling, Joseph said,
“DiMarco and his ancestors were cruel and brutal, but they loved new life. From DiMarco’s grandfather onwards, the underground ark masters always had many mistresses and children, passing the ark to the most outstanding child. They encouraged guards to marry female servants and have children too.”
“Every single one…”
Sung Gunwoo echoed. Joseph nodded.
“That’s certain. At least our parents told us that.”
After a brief pause, he continued,
“Because of the masters’ cruelty, resentment built up. After DiMarco’s father became seriously ill, the servants couldn’t stand it anymore and revolted. Many of DiMarco’s children died in that chaos. Only a few survived.
After quelling the revolt, DiMarco became the ark master. He took many women over time, but only had three children. His favorite was the youngest, who sadly died from illness three years ago. From then on, Mr. DiMarco was like a madman.”
