After waiting for a while, no one answered the door...
Unwilling to give up, Jungkook was just about to push through the door when a voice sounded from behind them.
"Who are you guys looking for?"
Lisa turned around to see a young boy, about 15 or 16 years old. He was tall and had fair skin.
He held a basketball in his hands and was sweating through his shirt. He seemed to have just come back from playing outside.
"Little boy, we are looking for the owner of this house, have you seen him?" Lisa asked politely.
"We are distant relatives of Grandpa Seung," Jungkook added.
"You guys are looking for Grandpa Seung...?" The little boy had a weird expression on his face.
"Isn't he at home? I heard that he came back a few days ago," Jungkook said.
"He's... already dead," the little boy hesitated for a moment before slowly saying.
"What? Dead?" Lisa and Jungkook exclaimed at the same time.
"It happened the night before last. He was supposed to be buried yesterday, but there's a tradition in our town that we can't bury people on the 7th and 8th days of the lunar calendar. So, we're waiting until tomorrow to do it. Grandpa Seung didn't have any relatives, and his only niece is still down south, but I don't think her life is that good either. He doesn't have much money, so the head of the village said to place his body in the town's morgue and cremate and bury him tomorrow."
"I thought he was fine, how did he die all of a sudden?" Lisa couldn't hide her disappointment; she had just found another clue, but again, for some weird reason, the trail disappeared...
The young boy scratched his head and said, "I don't know either. My mom and the others said that Grandpa Seung took his own life. He didn't have any children, and he couldn't go back to his niece's, so he didn't see a reason to live. But I don't think that was the case. Grandpa Seung is a really nice and optimistic person, he even played chess with me the day before he died."
Lisa and Jungkook fell silent...
"Cheng, why are you there? Come home for dinner!" a woman around 30 years old shouted from afar.
"Coming, Mom!" Then, the young boy turned around and said, "I'm going to go now, my mom's calling me for dinner."
"Thank you, little boy." Lisa nodded at him.
"I guess we're too late..." Jungkook said quietly.
"Yeah... it's so weird that he's dead."
"What do you want to do now?" Jungkook asked for Lisa's opinion.
"I want to go see the head of the village."
"I was thinking of the same thing, let's go."
In the end, Jungkook and Lisa failed to enter Uncle Seung's old house, but they did find out where the head of the village lived. Therefore, they headed toward the big, steel-slate house where he lived; his last name was Ko, he had a good reputation and was well respected within the village.
"You guys are...?"
"Oh, we are distant relatives of Uncle Seung, I heard that he came back a while ago, so we wanted to come to see him, but when we got here, someone told us that he died. What happened?" Lisa listened to Jungkook and pretended to be Uncle Seung's relative.
Upon hearing that they were Seung's relatives, the head of the village relaxed and invited them into his home.
"What kind of relatives are you? I've never heard him mention it. I thought he only had a niece?" The head of the village looked at Jungkook and Lisa with a confused expression on his face.
"Oh, here's what happened, Uncle Seung is a distant relative, but we haven't contacted each other in years. My parents are currently looking to reacquaint with him, so they asked me to come to check this place out. I heard that Uncle Seung recently returned from down south, and therefore we came to visit him today."
"Oh, I see... well, you guys are too late, he's gone now."
"I heard, but how did it happen? It's so sudden. How did he die?" Jungkook again asked for Seung's cause of death.
"He drank rat poison. I really think that Seung overreacted. Not having children is miserable, but the government will take good care of him. I already helped him apply for the low-income welfare assistance, and he would be able to receive an allowance every month. There's always a way to solve small problems, but he went down the wrong chute and killed himself instead. We're all really sad about it." The head of the village showed hints of sorrow.
"Why would he drink rat poison though? Has an autopsy been done? Are you sure that it was suicide and not murder?" Lisa, who was in disbelief, asked a few key questions.
The head of the village was confused by her questions. "Murder? That's impossible, it had to be suicide."
"How can you be so sure?" Jungkook asked.
"Because he went into town to buy rat poison. The owner there already admitted to it. He said that his house was rat-infested, so he needed rat poison. Who knew that he would drink it..." Then, the head of the village sighed heavily.
Jungkook and Lisa looked at each other, coming into tacit agreement...
"Has his niece been back since his death?" Jungkook remembered that his niece was Uncle Seung's only relative.
"I told her, but I don't think she's coming back."
"Why not?" Lisa probed.
"To tell you the truth, Seung went to the south a long time ago, and we all thought it was for retirement. However, we heard that his niece and his nephew-in-law got divorced because the latter had an affair, and so his niece, along with two daughters, had no choice but to marry into another family. However, her new family said that they could take care of her children, but not her uncle. They were also really strict and wouldn't even give her money to travel up here, so I don't think she'll be coming. Seung's body is still in the freezer at the health center, and tomorrow morning we're going to get him cremated. He didn't have money, so the villagers all chipped in for his cremation. I really do feel sorry for him."
Now Jungkook and Lisa understood why Uncle Seung suddenly came back to the village.
His niece's first marriage broke down, and she married someone else. There was no room left for him in her new family, and Uncle Seung didn't want to ruin his niece's new marriage, so he came back to the village alone. But still, there wasn't a reason as to why he committed suicide as soon as he got back.
His life back here would've been fine; the country gives single-dwelling seniors enough to live with.
Yet, he committed suicide a week after returning; it didn't really make much sense to Lisa.
"Sir, did he get an autopsy?"
"Yeah, he died from ingesting rat poison."
"Did the police check out the scene? Were there signs of the place being tampered? Didn't anyone leave footsteps or fingerprints anywhere?" Lisa asked again.
"Are you kidding me? It's already been ruled out as suicide, what's the point of asking questions like that? Plus, Seung has gotten along well with the villagers, and no one's out to seek revenge, so why would anyone kill him? They wouldn't be able to get anything in return. I may not be well read and may only be a farmer, but there has to be a motive behind a murder, am I right?" The head of the village was flabbergasted by Lisa's insinuations.
"I'm sorry, I was just wondering. After all, we feel bad that we didn't get to see Uncle Seung."
"Oh, it's okay, I understand. Oh, hey, you guys look like you live in the city, where are you guys from?"
The head of the village asked, but whether it was unintentional or on purpose was unknown...
Jungkook pressed his hand on Lisa's and quickly answered, "We're from Busan, and we have a small business there."
"Oh... Seung isn't lucky enough. If you guys came earlier, maybe he wouldn't have killed himself if he knew he still had relatives around," the head of the village slowly said.
Jungkook quietly pulled out few paper bills from his wallet and handed it to the head of the village, "Please consider this as compensation for the cremation tomorrow. Please use what's left to find a good place to bury Uncle Seung in, I hope that he can rest in peace."
"Um..." The head of the village was obviously shocked by the money.
"Take it, thank you for your hard work. We have other businesses to tend to, so we won't be able to see him off," Jungkook added.
"Okay, okay, don't worry, I'll make sure everything goes smoothly." The head of the village took the money with his trembling hands and promised.
It was almost 10 PM when they left.
The head of the village was really nice and asked his wife to make them some dishes, but Lisa and Jungkook didn't stay for dinner.
After getting on the car, Jungkook asked, "Doll, how much of the village head's words do you believe?"
"About half of it," Lisa answered calmly.
"Why, do you suspect him?" Lisa then asked Jungkook.
"I'm not sure, but he's suspicious."
"Should we leave, just like that? Shouldn't we go check out Uncle Seung's old house again?" Lisa was terrified of going back to that creepy old house, but she still wanted to, in case they could uncover some more clues.
Jungkook , on the other hand, shook his head. "It's too risky, if Uncle Seung was really murdered, then the killer's eyes are probably still on the house. We're from out of town and already caused quite a stir by visiting this village. If we try to go into his house, we might wake a sleeping dog. Plus, if he was really murdered, do you think whoever killed him would leave evidence behind?"
"I just don't want to give up..." Lisa knew that Jungkook had a point, but it was also true that she was not willing to give up yet. She finally came closer to the identity of her biological parents, but the clues disappeared again. It was an awful feeling.
Jungkook had one hand on the steering wheel and placed the other on Lisa's hand. He patted her gently. "I know, Lis, but you have to stay calm. One day, all the mysteries will be solved. As long as I'm alive, I will dig through the earth to help you find your birth parents. I want to help you reunite with them as soon as possible."
"Maybe... they don't want to see me." Lisa wasn't usually so glass half empty, but right now, she was a little depressed.
"That's not it, they will be overwhelmed with joy to know that they have a cute daughter like you," Jungkook consoled her.
"Kook... do you think I'll be able to find them?" Lisa lacked confidence.
"Of course you can. If you want to, you will."
Lisa fell silent, and they quietly left the village roads...
They were going to leave Andong, but a few hundred meters out, while they stopped for gas, Lisa suddenly suggested, "Kook, leave your car here, let's take a cab back."
"Why?" Confused, Jungkook looked at her.
"If someone's watching us, then they'll know that we already left because they saw our car leave. If we take a taxi back, probably no one will notice."
"But why should we go back? There's no point, we lost our lead..."
"There's something else I want to do." Lisa smiled mysteriously.
Jungkook looked at her. "Don't tell me you want to go and give Uncle Seung another autopsy at the morgue."
"No, that's not it, no matter how he died, I'm certain that it wasn't from suicide."
"Why not? What if he really did commit suicide?"
"God isn't lazy enough to create coincidences like this, there must be something behind all this... What I mean is, Uncle Seung didn't die by accident, someone planned the whole thing out."
"Doll... I love it when you're this confident." Jungkook watched as Lisa calmly analyzed the situation, and was relieved and happy to see the intelligent woman in her resurface.
"Let's go."
"Okay."
After storing his car at the gas station, the two of them took a taxi back to Andong.
There was one motel in Andong city, called Happy People Motel.
Not a lot of people stayed there aside from the occasional truck driver that passed through the town. Business wasn't great, but it could maintain itself.
The decorations were really old, and the square footage seemed small.
After they arrived at Happy People Motel, they saw a woman, a little over 40 years old, in slippers. She was watching TV.
"Ma'am, do you have any rooms?" Lisa asked with a smile on her face.
"Yes, how many?"
"One."
"Give me your ID, I need a record of it."
"Um... I'm really sorry, but we're here on business and left in such a hurry that we forgot our IDs, can we still stay for the night?"
Lisa asked, seemingly embarrassed. The truth was, she and Jungkook brought IDs, but they would never take it out here. They didn't plan to leave any evidence behind.
"You don't have IDs? Then, you can't stay here. They're really strict about this stuff these days." The owner immediately waved her hands upon hearing this.
"Come on boss, can you do us a favor? We're really tired and would like to get some sleep, just one night."
"I really can't, they're really strict about this, and I don't want to be found out. They might impose a fine on me." The owner didn't even look at Lisa; she munched on sunflower seeds as she watched TV, not willing to reason with them.
Jungkook didn't say anything, because he knew Lisa could handle the situation.
Just then, Lisa took out five paper bills and placed them on the counter.
"What are you doing?" The owner's gaze and attention immediately turned to the money.
"Please, ma'am, let us stay for the night. We're willing to pay double for the night, how's that?"
On her way in, Lisa saw the prices outside and noticed that the rooms were all the same.
There were 6 rooms in total.
Therefore, the amount she was giving for just one was equivalent to renting out the entire motel.
"Um..." The owner hesitated.
"If you're not willing, then we'll have to try our luck in the next town." Then, Lisa reached out to take the money.
The owner immediately stopped Lisa. "Fine, stay, but if someone comes snooping around, just tell them that you're my relative and not a guest of this motel, got it?"
"Got it, thanks ma'am." Lisa tried to be friendly.
Then, the two of them went to the last room on the second floor. It was no more than 10 square meters in size and had only one bed in it.
There wasn't even an in-suite washroom. The only communal bathroom was at the end of the second-floor corridor. It was small, dingy, and shabby.
But, what else should one expect from a place like this?
"Doll, you were so determined to come back, just to stay at a small hotel for a night?" Jungkook smiled as he looked at Lisa.
They could've stayed at a 4-star hotel with better furnishing for the amount she just paid for this shabby room.
"Chill out, I have my reasons, okay?"
"What reasons? Let's hear them." Jungkook didn't know what Lisa was up to, but he was sure that she already thought of a plan.
"Hotels have always been a place to obtain information from because a lot of people come and go, so information flow is intensive. Therefore, I wanted to see if I could get any information from that owner."
"Sounds good, good luck." It wasn't convenient for Jungkook to do something like this.
They had a room, but he couldn't do much else. If both of them went downstairs, the owner may become suspicious.
"I'll go downstairs and talk to her then."
"Be careful," worried, Jungkook reminded her.
"I know."
Then, Lisa turned around to head downstairs. Just then, the door of the neighboring room opened.
A dark-faced man came out wearing small underwear and nothing else. He was holding a basin in his hands.
He froze upon seeing Lisa...
Lisa didn't pay much attention. She went downstairs and pulled a small stool up to the counter.
"Ma'am, you guys don't have air conditioning. It's pretty hot up there, so I wanted to cool myself downstairs," Lisa said as she picked up a fan on the counter.
Since the motel room was small, and so was its window, it was really stuffy inside.
"We don't have air conditioning here, this isn't a big hotel in the city, plus, for this amount is really cheap. We barely have the money to pay for electricity, let alone air conditioners."
"You do have a point." Lisa smiled as she glanced at what the owner was watching.
It was a popular crime-novel based web series. Apparently, it was a show that required thinking, and the plot was really interesting.
"You like crime shows too?" A bit surprised, Lisa looked at her.
"Yeah, it's good to watch for fun. My daughter introduced it to me and told me that she and her classmates were all watching this. Plus, we got internet last year, so I figured, why not?"
"You're really young, how old is your daughter?" Lisa asked, seemingly unintentional.
"Guess." The owner was in a good mood.
"15?" Lisa asked quietly.
"Haha... she's almost 25."
"Oh really? That's old, but you look so young." Lisa was at a loss for words.
"I'm not young at all, I'm already 45. People here get married early. I got married at 19, and had my daughter at 20."
"No wonder... haha, what a coincidence, your daughter's around my age. I'm almost 25, but my mother's a bit older, she's almost 50." Lisa and the owner chit chatted.
Just then, the dark-skinned man came downstairs and glanced over at the owner...
She got up and headed to him. The two of them talked and even glanced at Lisa here and there.
Lisa knew they were talking about her, so she became more alert.
Finally, the owner said something to the man, and he turned around and stormed upstairs unhappily.
"Is that your husband?"
"Of course not, he's a truck driver who's staying for the night." The owner immediately denied it.
Lisa smiled and didn't ask any further. She changed the subject, "Did you give birth naturally? Did it hurt? Where did you give birth to your daughter?"
Lisa thought, that woman's daughter was around her age, and if she gave birth at the city's health center, then... she might have the chance to ask about what happened.
"Oh, gosh, I went through so much giving birth to my daughter back then. I wasn't at term yet, but after an accidental slip and fall, I went into preterm labor. The health center in our city isn't high-tech, and the doctors there weren't really experienced, so they wouldn't admit me. My husband had to hire a cart to pull me to a hospital in the city. I waited an entire day and night before giving birth. By then I promised myself that I'm never going to have a second child."
"So you only have one daughter?"
"Yup, my little treasure." The owner was proud.
"That's good, fewer children mean less stress. After all, it takes a lot of energy and money to raise kids these days."
"You sound wise. You're from the city, aren't you? Your husband is really handsome." The owner smiled.
"Ha, yeah, I dated him because he was handsome." Lisa smiled back.
"You're lucky, I envy you. You're young, pretty, and have a great husband."
"You've lived here for a while, haven't you?"
"Yup, ever since I got married. It's been more than 20 years."
"Do you know Doctor Kim?"
"Which Doctor Kim?" the owner asked, distracted by her TV show.
"Doctor Kim, the doctor in charge of delivery at the health center back then."
Upon hearing that, the owner's expression changed slightly...
Then, she looked at Lisa, confused, "Why are you interested in her?"
"Oh, here's the thing, my aunt's baby was delivered by Doctor Kim, and now she's looking to apply for a single-child certificate. The bureau needs a stamp from the hospital, and it has to be stamped by the hospital that her child was born in. Back then, they didn't have a birth approval, just a piece of paper. I saw that Doctor Kim was the person who signed it, so I wanted to ask if she could issue my aunt another birth certificate because her copy's expired."
"I see... I don't think that's going to happen then." The owner shook her head
"Why is that, did Doctor Kim retire?" Lisa asked on purpose.
"No, she moved away. Her entire family did."
"Really? They moved away? To where?"
"I'm not sure, but it's one of the three unsolved mysteries in our town. I don't understand, if you want to move, just move, right? Why be so sneaky about it? They left their house, their furniture, all their clothes, and her entire family disappeared, just like that. I don't know what happened, but it sure was weird."
"You're saying that... when Doctor Kim's family left, they didn't even sell their house or furniture, and left all their clothes behind, and disappeared, just like that?"
"Yeah... it's really weird. No one knows where they went, their house is still empty and there are weeds growing everywhere in their yard."
"Oh, I see... what about the other unsolved mysteries in your town? Ha, I'm a curious person and am always looking to hear interesting gossip."
"The other one was that mysterious fire at the health center years ago..."
"Was there something weird about the fire?"
"Of course, it happened in the middle of the night, the health center was just suddenly set on fire. They couldn't even extinguish it no matter what they tried. The fire was weird, and the most curious thing was that everywhere else was fine except for the archives room. All the documents inside were destroyed, and the center had to recreate them. The good thing was, no one died. That fire was really scary, my husband and I witnessed it that night as well."
"You just said that... they couldn't put out the fire no matter what? How's that possible?" Lisa smiled.
"Seriously... you might not even believe it, but they couldn't extinguish the fire with water. It just kept burning and burning, and then, it stopped. The seniors in our village said that there was a monster in that room, some kind of spider demon. They said that it was a fire sent from the Gods to kill evil forces and all those monsters."
"Haha... that's an interesting legend. What about the last mystery?" Lisa probed.
"The last one is..." The owner was just about to tell her when a man walked in from outside.
He was a little over 40 years old, skinny, and wearing a black shirt.
"What are you bullshitting about?"
"You're home," the owner greeted intimately.
Lisa guessed that this man was her husband...
"Ha, this girl's staying at our motel and she's really curious, so I was telling her some stuff about our city."
"What's there to say about our city? Shut your big mouth." The man was unhappy.
"We were just chit-chatting, don't be like that."
"Go to bed, I'll stand on guard for the rest of the evening." Then, the man walked up to the counter impolitely and turned off his wife's computer.
The owner seemed to be scared of her husband; smiling awkwardly, she said to Lisa, "You should go to bed too."
"Bye, ma'am!"
Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to find out what the third mystery was, but she had a feeling that it also had something to do with the health center.
Everything seemed to tie in with that incident all those years ago...
An inextinguishable fire? Haha, how interesting, their trip here was well worth it...
After she returned to her room, Lisa, exhausted, crawled into bed and fell straight into Jungkook's arms.
Just as she opened her mouth, she heard loud noises coming from their neighboring room...
"Oh... ah... yes... yes..."
Then, she heard the sound of bodies rubbing together. It was really obvious that the sound was coming from the next room.
Lisa suddenly remembered that dark-skinned truck driver...
Then, she began imagining all sorts of scenes that might be going on over there...
"Ahem... the soundproofing here... isn't too good, is it?" Embarrassed, Lisa smiled.
Jungkook laughed as he pinched Lisa's cheek and teased, "Should we do it once too?"
A/n:-
Firstly, I am so sorry to not update for so many days. I've been busy due to back-to-back family functions. Will try to update whenever I have free time. Thanks for your patience 💗