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Chapter : 26
“This is the anomaly we found related to Viscount Bailey’s disappearance.”
“That’s right, Noah. My father, just before he went missing… had started exchanging letters with someone. They were ordinary letters, just checking in, but each had a spider drawn on it. You know that symbol too.”
Lauren spoke naturally, picking up the conversation.
“Still… for letters sent by a cult, they were far too ordinary. Are you sure you’re not misinterpreting this?”
“At first, I thought the same. I wondered if it was because of gambling debts, so I actually went to the casino once. You see, they said Viscount Bailey had sent a letter telling him to come to the casino.”
“That’s right…”
Noah pointed to the letter Lauren had received from her father with his index finger.
The casino—the place he first met Cedric.
Next, he pointed to a blueprint.
“But… the structure was strange. It took me a long time to get this. I even spent some money on it.”
On the yellowed, aged paper was a drawing of a building plan. Cedric, who had been listening with his arms crossed the whole time, reached out and picked up the blueprint.
“I already know this. There’s another basement under the casino, right? I haven’t been inside, though.”
“A basement? No, I didn’t know that. What I found was… a false wall had been put in. There was a fairly wide space between the real wall and the false one.”
“A false wall?”
Cedric squinted as he examined the numbers on the blueprint, as if he were rethinking the casino’s layout.
Lauren also tried to recall the casino in her mind, but the only memory she had was the chaos of that night.
“When did you check it?”
Cedric’s voice was serious as he asked. Noah counted the days on his fingers.
“…About a week ago.”
“Then the false wall must have been built recently. I don’t remember such a thing at the casino.”
“I thought it was new too. When I asked around, I found out there was a period when the casino wasn’t operating.”
Cedric took out a pen and began making notes in the empty space of the blueprint. The words Noah had spoken appeared one by one on the paper:
False wall, one week, construction.
But Lauren’s question remained.
“Noah, what does the false wall have to do with the cult?”
Noah scratched the back of his head in response.
“Oh, that… I asked the surrounding shops. I wanted to see if anyone had come and gone while the casino was closed, stuff like that.”
He picked up a small note on the table. It seemed to be the result of him going around the shops near the casino, asking various questions. But it was so messy that it was impossible to tell what was drawn.
“Everyone said they saw nothing, but just one person said they saw someone.”
Noah slowly recalled the memory.
The witness was a woman running a small restaurant across from a bar.
“Yes, I saw them. What were they doing hammering so early in the morning? I should have gone home, but I’d had a fight with my husband and didn’t go home out of anger. So I stayed at the shop that night.”
Her voice boomed through the shop. Noah picked up a pen and smiled awkwardly.
“Some strange people. Hammering at dawn?”
“Exactly. It was just before daybreak.”
Just before daybreak—the time when there’s almost no one on the street. Noah adjusted his glasses with a hand.
Was there really a reason to secretly build a false wall? There were more than a few suspicious aspects.
“Did they come for several days?”
“Well… how would I know? After that sleepless night, they went home every day. But the person even apologized. You have to disappear and reappear sometimes for people to get their senses.”
The woman’s chatter went on for a long time. Noah nodded repeatedly to keep pace.
“Anyway, that was the first time I ever got a bouquet. I still don’t understand why someone capable of good things would do that.”
“Really? The first time ever?”
“Yes. Isn’t that cruel?”
“How terrible… Did you only hear the noise?”
Her storytelling was so captivating that he found himself drawn in. Noah finally regained focus and asked the questions he needed.
“I didn’t just hear it… I peeked through the window for a moment. I wondered if something was happening.”
“And?”
“A man carrying a toolbox walked by. His hat was pulled down, so I couldn’t see his face, but his beard reached down to his chin. And his forearms… you know? Young man, from now on, go out and run. If you’re so skinny, you won’t be popular.”
“Ahahaha…”
The story suddenly turned toward Noah. He subconsciously rubbed his forearms. Not too bad, he thought.
“All advice that turns into blood and flesh, advice.”
“Wait a moment, so…”
He interrupted the woman and began drawing lines quickly in his notebook.
A few minutes later, Noah could show the completed sketch to the woman. A large man with a thick beard. Despite his careful drawing, the result was terrible.
“Hmmm, not quite like him… But he looks somewhat like this, right?”
“…Student, you’re not making a living from drawing, are you? If so, you should find another job.”
Her cold response made Noah quietly close his notebook.
What lay on the table now was that very montage—the carpenter who built the false wall in the casino.
Even hearing the whole story, he didn’t quite look like a man with a thick beard. More like a worm in a basket.
“…She has a point.”
Certainly not drawing skills that could earn a living. Noah looked slightly frustrated at Lauren’s remark.
“Look here, the eyes, nose, mouth…”
“So, did you find the carpenter?”
“Yes, things went well. The lady was a big help. There were several big men with beards… But including the toolbox and working at dawn, it wasn’t impossible to find him.”
Cedric naturally continued.
“Right. And the fact that he built the wall so quickly shows he’s skilled. If you didn’t watch carefully, you wouldn’t realize it was a false wall.”
Cedric added the words “skilled carpenter” to the blueprint and gestured to Noah, asking him to continue.
“I asked around, and even that carpenter wasn’t normal. From the moment I saw his face, I knew something was off. His expression was as if he were drunk… like he had just hit the jackpot.”
Lauren suddenly recalled her father before his disappearance—his unusually excited demeanor.
“My father… he was like that too. Acting like everything would work out…”
Lauren murmured quietly. Cedric glanced at her.
“That’s why I asked about the false wall.”
Noah pretended to be a trainee carpenter looking for work. It was common for amateur carpenters to seek out a veteran to learn the trade.
“Your lying skills are impressive.”
Cedric genuinely admired him.
“Fortunately, the carpenter seemed to trust me. So… I heard he’d recently taken on a big project, and I subtly asked how much he earned.”
Noah paused at that point.
“He said he got furious but didn’t take a single penny. If it was his will, he could do anything, and it was only natural. He also added that it would be an honor if he got to work on a chapel.”
It sounded even more cult-like than expected. “His will” and a chapel… Cedric’s handwriting gradually filled the empty space on the blueprint.
“I also heard the word ‘Edmon.’ I didn’t get to see what was behind the false wall, but I think it might be a scripture or something.”
Noah seemed certain Edmon was part of the cult. Cedric fell silent, pondering if there was something suspicious.
“So, my father too…”
“Probably. I don’t think it was a kidnapping. Most likely, it was voluntary. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
Noah traced lines on the table with his finger. At first glance, it looked like he was drawing three overlapping circles, but Cedric and Lauren both understood its meaning.
A two-headed spider.
“You know this. There was a small statue in the carpenter’s workshop. It was dark, so I couldn’t see clearly, but it looked exactly like this.”
