My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 29

“And that eventually led to the villagers committing assault.”

A group of them went to the newcomer’s place, raised their voices, and attacked him. Angered by this, the newcomer sued them for assault.

“That’s certainly enough to hold a grudge.”

‘What’s enough to hold a grudge?’

Of course, it’s a dispute between two groups—or rather, one group and one person—so there’s definitely an insurmountable barrier. But is that enough to commit murder?

‘That doesn’t seem likely.’

The victim of the assault is the suspect.

So, the suspect is the one who reported the assault.

But the person who was attacked reported it, and then, unable to contain their anger, committed murder?

‘That doesn’t seem very likely.’

Once a report has been filed, it’s typical to wait for the outcome.

So, something else must have gone wrong.

Park Do-joon could tell that the police were glossing over things, but he seemed to understand the situation.

“Was it mutual assault?”

“Pardon?”

“That incident. You said the villagers went and assaulted the suspect? Was it handled as mutual assault?”

“Well, that’s….”

Watching the police officer being careful with his words, Park Do-joon was certain.

‘They framed it as mutual assault. Typical of local police.’

It’s impossible to know how many villagers went and assaulted the suspect, but realistically, it would be difficult for mutual assault to be established.

It wouldn’t have been just one or two people, and it’s impossible to retaliate to the extent that mutual assault would be established against such a large number of people.

Even a professional fighter can’t do anything if they’re up against five people at once, let alone someone who just moved back to the countryside having the strength to assault a crowd.

‘They probably just framed it somehow.’

It’s not a new problem for local police to collude with local residents.

Even if human trafficking occurs, the local police will catch the victim if they escape. That’s the reality.

This is assault, and a particularly aggravated assault committed by a large group of people. It’s obvious that the punishment will be severe.

‘The police took the residents’ side.’

To prevent that severe punishment, the police framed it as mutual assault between the residents and the suspect, and the suspect was probably unfairly punished.

‘So, they think he held a grudge.’

In the end, the police are the ones who provided the motive for the murder.

‘Please, just do your jobs right, you bastards.’

Park Do-joon is also a police officer, but he really couldn’t trust the police organization.

“Looking at the situation, it’s not a situation where it could be mutual. But if the local police frame it as mutual assault, wouldn’t a grudge arise?”

“Ahem, even so, murder is a bit….”

As expected, the police officer glossed over Park Do-joon’s point.

That means they were aware that it was the wrong thing to do.

“So, you’re thinking that the angry suspect used pesticide to commit murder.”

“……”

“Well, it seems like the police did something wrong, but still, murder is not the answer.”

Han Sung-ki also subtly sided with the police.

Seeing that, Park Do-joon was certain.

‘I don’t remember, but I think I know how this plays out.’

The police and Park Sung-ki are already approaching the case with a preconceived conclusion. So, the answer to this case will be his murder.

‘Moreover, from the police’s perspective, they need to cover up their mistake.’

One person’s unfair treatment? They don’t care about that.

From the police’s perspective, they’re afraid of the criticism for manipulating the case and taking one side. The way to avoid that is simple.

‘The suspect has to become the murderer.’

That way, all social anger will be directed at him.

“Let’s go to the scene first.”

Park Do-joon didn’t say much.

There’s no point in talking here; all he’ll hear are their excuses.

“Let’s go.”

The murder scene was the village hall. It looked like people had gathered and cooked something, and there were overturned dishes and vomit stains everywhere, as if it hadn’t been cleaned up yet.

“So, the murder happened here?”

“Yes.”

The scene of the murder.

“This is spicy fish stew.”

It was spicy fish stew. And everyone who ate it collapsed.

“Has the investigation into other potential sources finished yet?”

“We’re currently investigating the water and such, but the most likely thing is the spicy fish stew.”

They use a water purifier here. Of course, as it’s a village hall, many people come and go. There must have been people who used the water purifier in the morning as well.

Moreover, it’s not easy to put pesticide in the water purifier without being seen.

“The test results haven’t come out yet, but it’s probably the spicy fish stew.”

Park Do-joon glanced at the spicy fish stew. It was a stew made with dried radish greens and various small fish.

“Do they call this cheolryeop [a type of rustic fish stew]?”

“Cheolryeop?”

“Ah, it’s an old term. They say cheolryeop is when you catch fish in a stream and cook them.”

The origin is the character for stream (川) and the character for hunting (獵), which originally was cheonryeop, but it became cheolryeop over time.

“It seems like they caught the fish nearby.”

It wasn’t just one type; they put in everything from minnows to small crucian carp and loach and boiled it.

“So, when the suspect supposedly came, there was no one here?”

“That’s what they said.”

They cooked the spicy fish stew and left it, and everyone went outside.

“Usually, wouldn’t there be one or two people inside?”

Moreover, this is the village hall. If they decided to gather and cook something together, surely one or two people should have been here preparing the food.

“They each went to get side dishes or rice from their homes.”

“I see.”

Looking at the set table, there are side dishes and rice here. They wouldn’t keep that kind of thing at the village hall, so they usually keep it at home and brought their own food.

“What’s the possibility that they died from eating other food?”

“We’re investigating.”

The most suspicious thing is the spicy fish stew, but that doesn’t mean other food isn’t suspicious.

‘Honestly, it’s unlikely, though.’

They’re not idiots; they wouldn’t bring poison themselves, eat it, and die.

‘There’s nothing particularly unusual.’

It’s the scene of a murder, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any obvious evidence left.

‘Evidence doesn’t overflow in every case.’

If he simply came in and put in pesticide, there wouldn’t be any evidence left.

“Let’s meet the suspect first.”

“Isn’t it obvious? Can’t you tell just by looking?”

“You never know; there might be other hidden truths.”

Han Sung-ki didn’t respond to Park Do-joon’s words. Actually, he was reluctant to ignore him as a rookie because he had been burned once before.

“Yeah, we should meet him at least once.”

They can’t avoid meeting him. After all, profiling is a discipline that developed to investigate suspects.

In other words, even if they tell him not to, he has to meet and analyze the suspect to improve his skills.

‘Was this person punished?’

Park Do-joon headed to the police station, recalling uncertain memories. And he was able to meet the suspect in the interrogation room.

“Mr. Kim Woo-chang?”

“Yes.”

Kim Woo-chang’s voice was completely exhausted. And Park Do-joon looked around as he looked at him.

‘I don’t even need to look to know what’s been happening.’

The police must have been constantly coming in, pressuring him to admit his guilt, confess, and asking if he was the one who killed them.

In that situation, people become worn out and exhausted. And they don’t want to cooperate with the police.

‘Don’t they even know about good cop, bad cop [a police interrogation technique]?’

The method of having someone play the bad cop and someone else play the good cop to get the other person’s statement isn’t just something that comes out of movies.

It’s a method that has been empirically effective since before profiling existed.

‘Well, they must think he’s definitely the culprit, so they don’t think they need to do that.’

They’re probably all rushing in, thinking that if they grill the other person and get a statement, their performance will improve because the other person is the culprit.

In fact, with the cause of the murder, the method of murder, and even the video of him entering the village hall, this case seems ‘unquestionable’.

‘I don’t remember, but this probably resulted in a death sentence.’

As many as seven people died.

Moreover, he even claims innocence.

‘It’s almost comical.’

In Korea, if you claim innocence, the prosecutor or judge often applies a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach. If the suspect claims innocence, which is a natural thing to do, the prosecutor demands the maximum sentence, saying, ‘How dare you claim innocence?’ and the judge also sentences the maximum sentence, saying, ‘How dare you not show remorse?’

In fact, there was a rape case where a person who was falsely accused received a 6-year sentence, but later, when the real culprit was caught and admitted his crime and submitted a letter of remorse, the real culprit received a 3-year sentence.

The difference was that the real culprit submitted a letter of remorse, but the victim claimed innocence.

‘Looking at the situation, this person must have been sentenced to death.’

Korea is a country that has effectively abolished the death penalty. So, as a result, this person would have been in prison until at least the moment Park Do-joon died.

‘But from what I see, he doesn’t seem guilty.’

Of course, looking at the situation, he’s the most likely murderer. But his actions are different from the typical behavior patterns of a murderer.

‘Resignation…….’

If he were the real culprit, he would either actively deny the crime or simply admit it.

After all, there’s no future at the point where five people have died.

‘But the behavioral response he’s showing is resignation.’

A blank face that doesn’t react to anyone. He’s not even exercising his right to remain silent. A criminal who exercises the right to remain silent shows a very aggressive demeanor.

That shows a completely different behavioral pattern from resignation.

‘Resignation means that you’re not going to fight back.’

Of course, a guilty criminal should admit their crime.

But if you don’t admit the crime and resign yourself…….

‘In general profiling, that’s not the style of a criminal.’

Then it’s one of two things. Either he’s smarter than I thought, or he’s innocent.

‘But it doesn’t seem like the former.’

There’s no way someone that smart would kill seven people in such an obvious way.

‘The latter is more likely.’

Park Do-joon hesitated for a moment.

And decided to approach him first.

‘Thanks to the stupid police, things have gotten easier.’

The first thing you have to do to get a statement is to build rapport with the other person. Good cop, bad cop is that kind of tactic.

After one person acts like a jerk, the other person looks kind and seems like they’re going to help.

‘Since a lot of police have been acting like jerks, I’ll be the good cop.’

Thinking that, Park Do-joon got up from his seat and approached him, who was handcuffed.

Then, he held his hands tightly and said.

“Are you having a hard time?”

“Pardon?”

“I know you’re innocent.”

“……”

“You must be really frustrated.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, he began to shed tears.

All he had heard for the past few hours was murderer, demon, and threats to confess his crime.

“Sob sob sob!”

“It’s okay. You can cry. I know you’re innocent. Who else would know besides me?”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Kim Woo-chang continued to shed tears, and Park Do-joon hugged him instead of stopping him and comforted him.

After crying for about 30 minutes, Kim Woo-chang opened his mouth with a voice that was completely hoarse.

My Calling is Profiler