My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 66

“Even if it’s Gwacheon, that’s still a pretty wide area to search.”

“We can narrow it down. Let’s rule out the mountainous regions first.”

“Why?”

“Their getaway car is likely a sedan.”

People in positions of power tend to favor sedans over SUVs. SUVs are generally preferred for their practicality. As you’ll find out when you get married and have kids, you end up hauling a ton of baby gear everywhere. That’s why people lean towards bigger cars, and with kids in tow, safety becomes a priority, which often leads them to SUVs.

“But among those in power, you rarely see them driving SUVs instead of sedans.”

A luxury sedan is a status symbol in itself. It’s not that there aren’t expensive SUVs, but they’re usually chosen for their practicality and safety features, not as a status statement.

“And it’ll be a well-maintained sedan at that. You can’t exactly take a car like that off-roading on mountain roads.”

“So, you’re thinking somewhere flat.”

“Exactly, somewhere with decent roads.”

“Hmm… then are we talking about the Yongin or Hwaseong area?”

Any further south would be pushing it.

Besides, once you eliminate the mountains, Yongin and Hwaseong are the most likely candidates.

“And that brings us to the type of confinement.”

“The type of confinement…”

“Right, it won’t be a typical house.”

A regular house is too easy to escape from. You could just break a window. Plus, they usually don’t have many rooms.

“Couldn’t they just lock the victims in a single room?”

“Sure, they could. But think about it. Are regular houses usually isolated?”

Park Do-joon responded to Jo Sang-gyu’s question calmly.

“Huh…? Oh, you’re right!”

Regular houses are rarely isolated.

Most of the time, there are other houses nearby.

“What about a villa?”

“Villas are privately owned. Sure, they’re often secluded from residential areas. But who would lend a villa to criminals like these? And they can’t exactly just squat there and use it without permission.”

It’s also unlikely these guys would have bought a villa with their own money.

“And villas are usually surrounded by forests.”

“True.”

Mostly mountains covered in trees. Korea doesn’t have many plains, so the chances of a villa being built on flat land are slim.

“But there could still be a road leading to it, right?”

“So what does that leave us with?”

“I’m betting on a run-down motel on the outskirts of the city.”

“Outskirts motels?”

“Yeah, a lot of those places have gone out of business and are poorly maintained.”

A significant number of affairs in Korea happen in motels.

Especially motels that aren’t in tourist areas and have nothing around them are almost exclusively used by adulterous couples.

“Separate rooms, low accessibility, and usually a road leading right to it.”

Since they’re designed for people having affairs, there aren’t any residents living nearby.

“Plus, those places are practically designed for confinement.”

If they’re locked in a room on an upper floor, they can’t get down. What choice do they have but to risk death by jumping? And even if they’re lucky, they’ll probably break their legs.

“And they’re not maintained.”

Those abandoned, failed motels are completely neglected. The owners don’t bother managing them; they’re just waiting to cash in on the land value.

Basically, they’re hoping to get a high price for redevelopment later if a building permit is issued, so they don’t tear it down, but they don’t bother maintaining it either.

“But the parking facilities are usually still in decent shape, because, well, it’s a motel.”

To protect the privacy of people who come for illicit encounters, they’re naturally designed to keep vehicles hidden from view.

“Usually, they have a fence around the parking area and a tent-like covering over the entrance.”

That kind of setup makes escape nearly impossible.

Even if you jump out the window, the fence blocks your way, and you can’t climb over it with a broken leg.

If the entrance is blocked by an iron gate, there’s no way out.

And even if someone happens to pass by, who would bother checking out a ruined, abandoned building?

“A closed inn…”

“The prosecution should be able to find that.”

Kim Geun-chan nodded in agreement.

“It shouldn’t be too hard to locate.”

***

And it wasn’t difficult at all. The prosecution started searching for closed-down motels on the outskirts of the city.

Most motels tend to cluster together to attract customers, usually around motel districts or tourist spots. But there were relatively few isolated places on the outskirts, and even fewer that had gone out of business.

The place they identified was in Gwacheon.

“You used your head well,” Kim Geun-woo said quietly, looking at the people who had led him there.

“Gwacheon is surprisingly underdeveloped. That’s why I suspected this area.”

“Gwacheon is underdeveloped?”

“Gwacheon has some clear limitations.”

Gwacheon is home to Seoul Land [a large amusement park]. In fact, a significant portion of the city’s land is occupied by Seoul Land. This restricts the city’s development.

“And there are quite a few failed motels in that vicinity.”

“How did you know?”

“Seoul Land used to be a big deal.”

Seoul Land was once one of the most popular amusement parks in Korea. But over time, it became a symbol of decline.

The problem was the lack of exciting rides compared to other amusement parks and the excessively large area.

‘It’ll get better eventually, though.’

But right now, the city of Seoul and the operating company have been locked in a dispute for a long time, creating a mess. So, it’s in a state of disrepair.

“There must have been a lot of motels when the amusement park first opened.”

There aren’t many decent amusement parks in Korea, so people from all over the country would have flocked there.

But now, if you’re going to visit the outdated Seoul Land, you might as well go to one of the other two major parks.

These days, Seoul Land is rarely visited by people from out of town; it’s mostly locals from Seoul looking for a bit of fun.

“There’s no reason for someone from Seoul to book a motel in Gwacheon.”

Even if they did, there’s no reason to choose a place that was built decades ago.

In reality, there are more empty motels in Gwacheon than you might think. Moreover, due to the presence of the amusement park, Gwacheon faces clear limitations in terms of development and reconstruction.

“Of course, the areas further away are doing fine, but the area near the amusement park is in a gray area.”

If you try to develop it, there’s nothing to build around the amusement park, and it’s difficult to construct apartments.

“A gray area, huh.”

“Exactly.”

Kim Geun-woo looked at Park Do-joon.

‘This guy is the informant.’

My brother just asked an acquaintance to identify the location, but he seems to know a lot about the case for just an acquaintance. And he won’t even reveal his identity.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

What does it matter as long as I get results? It doesn’t matter if Park Do-joon is a criminal.

Using informants is nothing new.

“By the way, everyone is late.”

Finding the place and then applying for a warrant is amateurish. In a case like this, you need to strike quickly and make arrests on the spot.

According to the analysis, the police will be desperate to cover up the case.

That’s why Kim Geun-woo came to the scene with only the prosecution investigation team, not the police.

However, since he didn’t know the exact location, he sent them to check out the suspicious places.

Anyway, the confirmation should be done within two hours, and then they can rush to the location.

“Prosecutor.”

“Oh, yeah. What did you find?”

“We found a suspicious place. It’s called Green Motel…”

“Green Motel? That’s a pretty old-fashioned name.”

It’s a name you hardly hear these days. And Park Do-joon seemed to know something just from the name.

“There’s a forest around it, and not much else to see.”

“How did you know that?”

“Names with colors usually reflect the surrounding area. Like how a place near the sea might be called Blue Motel.”

He just guessed that they named it Green Motel because it’s surrounded by forest.

“That’s right. There’s a forest around it, and it’s about three minutes down the road. The building itself is also old.”

“Really? But what’s strange? Is someone guarding the entrance or something?”

“Not that, but a sedan went inside.”

“A sedan?”

“Yes.”

The prosecutor who went to check the scene confirmed a sedan turning right from a distance and quietly followed it. But despite it being a one-way street with no other exits, the entrance to the Green Motel was closed when they arrived, and the vehicle had disappeared inside.

“Were there any guards?”

“Fortunately, no.”

“Tell them to check the door.”

“Why the door?”

“The door might be rusty, but it probably won’t be locked. If that’s the case, that’s the place.”

Logically, they’d lock it with a padlock to keep people out. But if people are coming and going, they wouldn’t bother with a padlock.

“Just a moment.”

The investigator spoke on the phone for a while, and then his face lit up.

“They said the door isn’t locked.”

“Let’s go.”

Kim Geun-woo bit his lip. He finally had his chance.

“Did you send people to the bar?”

“Yeah, the moment we go in there, they’ll go in too.”

“Good.”

They quietly headed to the location. When they arrived after driving for about 20 minutes, the surroundings were eerily silent. The investigators who had been hiding in the forest emerged and approached.

“Nothing unusual.”

“What about the vehicle that went in?”

“It hasn’t come out.”

“Did you check the license plate?”

“It was too far to see.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon smiled. Today is Saturday. It’s likely just someone who came for some fun on the weekend.

‘Maybe he’s not the first customer.’

It’s already 2 PM. There are probably a lot of customers.

“Call the reporters.”

Kim Geun-woo said with a smile. All of this is a means for him to become famous. To do that, he needs the reporters.

After a while, the reporters arrived, having been guided to the location. Kim Geun-woo took a deep breath and immediately shouted:

“Start the operation! Go in!”

At his command, a vehicle that had been waiting on the side began to move forward. It was a vehicle they brought to break down the door in case it was locked.

At that moment, someone approached the door, probably hearing the sound of the vehicle. He must have been coming to open the door for the customer.

But instead of a customer, he saw investigators rushing in.

“What the fuck!”

The man looked surprised and stumbled backward. Then he got up and ran inside like crazy.

But before he could get far, the vehicle smashed through the door and entered the premises.

“Catch that bastard!”

“Block the door!”

It was utter chaos. In the midst of the commotion, Park Do-joon said to Kim Geun-woo:

“Tell them to use the vehicle to block the entrance to the parking area. One vehicle will be enough.”

“Okay. Hey, block the entrance so they can’t escape with their cars!”

In this situation, it’s obvious that someone will try to run. Of course, they’ll want to escape in a vehicle.

But if you block the entrance, they’ll be trapped.