Chapter 201 - Small House-II

When Seoyeon agreed, she came closer to her mother's coffin. Before the lid was opened, her eyes once again look at the coffin that was empty. How is it empty? Seoyeon felt anxiety and unsettledness tied inside her heart. 

Jung Hwa pushed the other lid, this time, the lid was considerably heavier and he suspect it was built in custom so only the top would be heavier. The wind felt cold to Seoyeon's skin and it shivered on the thought of how her father's coffin was empty. Did someone removed her father's body? 

Jung Hwa told her that the coffin left no trace of being used before as if she did not have a father in the first place. The thought made her shivered again and goosebumps appeared across her skin. 

She went closer to the coffin that was newly opened and stood blank as if she had been rooted to the ground. "There is no one again," whispered Seoyeon who stared the condition of the empty coffin in front of her eyes which belonged to her parents. 

She turned her face to Jung Hwa, her hair blown, covering her eyes that was wide, "How...?"

Jung Hwa pushed himself from sitting in his heels, his eyes that stared on the coffin was bleak from emotions, "I can't say for sure. Someone had tweaked your parents who lived in the coffin, possibly removing their body from here; which is what I would like to say but seeing how there is no trace of body being placed inside here before, I can tell you that your parent's body had never been buried here."

He saw Seoyeon's black eyes was filled with question, shock, and disappointment. She was puzzled by what was happening in front of her eyes and felt unnerved by the turn of event.

"But they died," it was what she heard and her voice quivered as she say the fact she had learned for two decades turn out to be wrong. "Why would they bury an empty coffin?"

Jung Hwa furrowed his brows, he did not expect this to happen either. He had decide to see Seoyeon's parents inside the coffin because there was something that tell him to after talking with the fortune teller. Not that he believe the fortune teller but seeing today, it confirmed that the fortune teller had told no lies. 

"Burying an empty coffin with a headstones always associated with taboo, as it was said by doing so it would curse the person named in the headstone to die early. It's a sick thing to do but I doubt anyone is aiming to curse your parents by doing this as they have died," explained Jung Hwa to Seoyeon who was at lost of words. "The wooden surface of the bottom of the coffin is clean, there are no skeleton or bones and two decades isn't enough to turn the bones to ash yet. There is no grave wax that supposed to be here after twenty years and it's still cleanly furnished just like a coffin that was bought a day ago. But outer surface of the coffin is old, the water in the soil also made the corners of it to mold and crack."

"Where are their bodies now then if they are not in the coffin?" she questioned him despite knowing that Jung Hwa doesn't know where they could be either if not in the coffin. "Maybe before they were buried the body was moved?"

"If so, the caretaker would have dug the coffin and cast it aside. There had been problems of cemetery having no space left to bury other coffins. If your parents were moved, they wouldn't keep the empty coffin here," stated Jung Hwa, eliminating the possibilities with logic. "And as for where your parent's body have disappeared, I think this is a question only the person related to the burial and your parents would know this."

Jung Hwa noticed how uncomfortable Seoyeon was to keep watching the empty coffin day he went to close the lid of the coffins.

Many questions filled Seoyeon mind like how and why. She never seen her parents buried but why the empty coffin?

"What do you think happen here?" asked Seoyeon to him, she was too shocked to ask any other question.

"There would be two conclusion I can draw from this. First being someone had built the fake graves to hide your parent's real body in purpose. With them being a witch, that could be possible," Seoyeon nodded at this, agreeing as she could see it happening

"Or your parent's body was stolen. I think the former reason is more sound."

Before the time passed early morning they placed the coffin back to place, burying the empty coffin under the ground and Seoyeon was in silence, still unable to wrap her mind to the situation she was in. 

Burying was easier than digging, thought Seoyeon and she learned today how shovels were heavy as it is to dig a hole. 

Walking back, Jung Hwa settled to take her hands, "Calm down. We don't know for sure if your parents' body is truly missing yet."

"But if they are not there in the coffin, who could we ask?" she paused to then say, "My relatives that only visited me once?" She doubted they would want to know her since they never pick her from orphanage, as if wanting to wash their hands off from her.

"We can ask the person living there first," Jung Hwa pointed his hand to the small hut where he said the caretaker would be. "Maybe he would know something about the people buried here. I saw he was about seventy years old, he could be the same caretaker who was there nineteen years ago when your parents would be buried."

"Now? We break in the graveyard without permission," Seoyeon reminded him to see his lips twist to a smile.

"Can you act? We could use a scenario as an excuse," His eyes curved when he smiled and after hearing his plan, they both left to stop at the house of the caretaker. The place was dilapidated and mostly made up of woods as if it was built long time ago when there was still no electricity in the country.

Jung Hwa knocked on the door. On his fourth knocked, a slow sound of footsteps could be heard from another end of the door. Jung Hwa turned his face to Seoyeon, winking before the door was opened and his eyes look at the person standing against the door. 

"Good night, are the caretaker of the cemetery, sir?" questioned Jung Hwa when the old man arrived at the door.

Seoyeon saw how the man seemed to be having a trouble in walking. His back was bent deep and one of his hand was behind him as if trying to soothe the place he felt painful from waking up abruptly. His hair was discolored in black and white haphazardly with wrinkles over his face. When the old man's eyes met Seoyeon, she smiled for the man to frown. The frown look unfriendly which had her to feel awkward.

"I am the caretaker," replied the old man to the tall man who was tall enough to reach the roof of his humble house. "How did you two get inside the gate? I remembered clearly to have locked up before."

"That? This is exactly the problem we are trying to report, sir," Jung Hwa said with a concerned expression and a frown. "I saw someone entering the cemetery by picking the lock. Me and my friend here, saw the man ran that side before escaping outside when we chased him. Unfortunately, we lost the culprit."

The man stared at Jung Hwa for a couple of minute as if to gouge his appearance before doing the same to Seoyeon. He noticed how their clothes were full of dirts and grims, "What were you doing late at night in front of the cemetery? The next living place is six kilometers from here." A tone is suspicions was in the caretaker's voice and Seoyeon gulped to see Jung Hwa. 

Was this going to work?

"Our car broke down and we were waiting for someone who we knows to help us when we saw the man," explained Jung Hwa. It was almost amazing how he could lie and form his lies without thinking, thought Seoyeon.

"Is that so," the man hummed and Seoyeon can't tell if he believed in Jung Hwa's words or not. "It's cold outside please enter, meanwhile I would be leaving to see the lock," said the man before he left slowly.

"Easy, right?" Jung Hwa winked at her.

"Is that how you usually work?" she asked entering the place she felt less cold than she was outside.

"To pull informations from one's mouth one have to be excellent at lying. It's not entirely our fault," he entered and looked around the house. "He lives alone."

"I don't think it is an easy work to live in the cemetery," Seoyeon replied, unable to stand the silence and she searched for the lights to see there was only candle. After lighting the candlestick, they took seat on wooden chairs which creaked when they sat on.

It was only after some moments did the caretaker came back to the house with his expression in a foul mood.