My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 234

“And what about Hwang In-chul in that regard?”

“Right, he made an absurd excuse.”

“If he had been brought in for attempted rape, Hwang In-chul might have surrendered.”

And he would have called a lawyer as soon as he got to the police station. Of course, the lawyer would have tried to protect him.

“We can’t even interrogate him about the child rape murder.”

“Because we don’t have any evidence.”

No DNA, no witnesses, no video.

Hwang In-chul was identified solely based on Park Do-joon’s profiling.

And profiling is just a tool to catch the culprit, not evidence.

Profiling cannot be evidence, nor should it be.

If it were accepted as evidence, it would mean anyone could be arrested based on suspicion alone.

“So, we had to let him go again.”

“Right.”

He would probably be punished for attempted rape, but by doing so, he could completely escape responsibility for the murder.

After confirming through his lawyer that there was no evidence, he would have flatly denied knowing anything.

“But not anymore.”

Park Do-joon acted as if there was evidence and witnesses, and Hwang In-chul made an absurd excuse about it.

That itself is a piece of evidence.

“You protected the police and secured solid evidence at the same time.”

“Yes, of course, it’s not easy to punish him with just this alone.”

But it’s obviously much more advantageous to start from +1 than from 0.

“Now, we need to find the rest of the +’s.”

The culprit was caught, but the case wasn’t over yet.

# How to Find the Crime

“Ah, it’s exactly as I expected.”

The team leader came in and slammed the file down on the table with a thud.

“He denies it?”

“He says he never said anything like that.”

“Like hell he didn’t. How many police officers were at the scene? And they even had body cams. What kind of bullshit is that?”

“He says he doesn’t know. He says what he said was about the woman he brought from the scene that day. And his lawyer is claiming it’s an entrapment [a legal defense arguing that the defendant was induced to commit a crime they wouldn’t have otherwise committed].”

“He’s putting on a real show, seriously.”

Not all entrapments are illegal. If someone is tricked into committing a crime when they had no intention of doing so, that’s entrapment. But it’s legal to provide a fake opportunity for someone who already has criminal intent and then arrest them.

If Hwang In-chul were a normal person, he would have called the police or an ambulance to take the woman to a safe place, instead of dragging her to the scene to rape her.

“So, we can’t punish him?”

At Lee Ji-soo’s words, the team leader scratched his head.

“It’s ambiguous.”

He needs to be punished. And if you look at the footage from that day, it’s clear that he’s the culprit. The problem is that it’s ‘psychologically.’ Psychologically, all the police officers recognize that he’s the culprit, but there’s no physical evidence.

“But he said himself that he raped a child that day, didn’t he?”

“Ah, about that. The female officer who was deployed that day is younger than him. So, to him, she’s a child.”

“Come on, does that even make sense?”

So, since he couldn’t avoid the attempted rape charge, he’s trying to shift the blame to that instead.

“There are more cases like this than you think. Especially when you’re working as a profiler. Is it any wonder there are so many misanthropes [people who dislike humankind and avoid human society] among profilers?”

No matter how strong your mental fortitude is, if you keep seeing this kind of filth, you can’t help but develop a hatred for people.

“So, you’re saying there’s no evidence!”

The scene has already been searched thoroughly. But there was nothing. There weren’t even any CCTVs [closed-circuit televisions, or security cameras] around in the first place.

“Do-joon, what do you think?”

“In my opinion……”

Park Do-joon thought for a moment.

‘There’s no physical evidence. But is there really no physical evidence? Really?’

The child died tragically. And no evidence was left behind in the process?

“I think there might be evidence, or there might not be.”

“What’s with that ambiguous answer?”

“To put it more clearly, there’s a possibility of evidence… no, there’s a possibility of a witness, but it won’t be easy to secure it.”

“Why?”

“Probably… his wife.”

“Huh? His wife?”

“Yes.”

Mentally enslaved, tied to Hwang In-chul, who has a criminal record of seven offenses and has spent more days in prison than out.

“She probably saw the evidence that day. But judging from her past behavior……”

“She’ll keep her mouth shut.”

Someone who has already been enslaved and treated like a slave won’t voluntarily come forward with such evidence.

“This is going to get complicated.”

The team leader just let out a long sigh.

***

“4 PM?”

“That’s right. She gets off work at 4 PM.”

Hwang In-chul’s wife’s name was Kim Sook-ja. According to Kim Choo-geun, his sister works as a cleaner. Due to the nature of her work, she usually goes to work around 6 AM and gets off around 4 PM.

“Wait, then at that time?”

“She would have been at home.”

Lee Ji-soo was surprised to hear that she got off work at 4 PM.

That meant she was at home at the time of the incident.

“Doesn’t she go anywhere else?”

“It’s not that she doesn’t go, it’s that she can’t. That bastard is extremely jealous.”

So, if she’s not in his sight, he beats her like a dog.

“Then she probably went straight home that day too?”

“Probably. Why else would I have been telling her to get a divorce for decades?”

“Still, considering that, you seem to get along well with your brother-in-law? You even drink together.”

Kim Choo-geun scoffed at Lee Ji-soo’s words.

“I don’t drink because I like it. I force-feed him so my sister can be comfortable when that bastard gets drunk and passes out.”

His daily routine is to force-feed him alcohol during the day, then wake up after sleeping it off, eat a bowl of hangover soup that Kim Sook-ja makes, drink again, and then sleep again.

“If he’s not drunk, he beats her for not buying him alcohol. What can she do?”

Park Do-joon nodded at those words. There’s more than one way to protect someone. The best way would be to get her a divorce, but if Kim Sook-ja doesn’t want to get a divorce, there’s a limit to what he can do.

“But why doesn’t she get a divorce?”

From what he’s heard, there have been many opportunities to get a divorce. Just looking at the crimes he’s committed so far, she could win 100% if she filed for divorce.

But the fact that she doesn’t get a divorce and tenaciously endures the beatings means there’s likely another reason beyond mental enslavement.

“I don’t know. I’ve gotten angry, I’ve pleaded, but……”

Kim Choo-geun shook his head.

“Is it a kind of enslavement symptom that people who are beaten experience?”

In reality, there are more wives or husbands who are beaten than you think. Usually, those people think it’s natural for them to be beaten, so they give up on escaping.

This is called learned helplessness [a condition where a person believes they are unable to control their environment, leading them to give up trying to improve their situation]. In short, it’s a situation where they completely give up on life because they’re constantly learning helplessness.

“Well, you could simply see it that way, but I think there might be another reason?”

“Why, Detective?”

“The battered wife syndrome is a stage of giving up, but at the same time, there must be no opportunity to escape it. More precisely, there must be no one to help them.”

It’s called battered wife syndrome, but that’s just the choice of words. Strictly speaking, it’s a term that applies to all families. Husbands and children often experience the same symptoms.

However, it’s called battered wife syndrome because it was first discovered in female victims of domestic violence.

“The common thing about those people is that they don’t recognize the situation and are neglected by those around them. If there’s someone around them who’s trying to help them, they can recognize the situation and try to escape.”

Moreover, Hwang In-chul has spent an incredibly long time in prison.

Of course, Kim Sook-ja would have had a way to divorce and escape during that time.

“It’s not like her brother wouldn’t help.”

“Of course, I’d help. I’d do anything if she just got away from that bastard.”

At Kim Choo-geun’s words, who seemed to be grinding his teeth in resentment, Park Do-joon pondered for a long time.

Then he glanced around.

“How long have you been here?”

“What?”

“How long have you been running this rice shop?”

“Here? About 60 years.”

“60 years? Your age is……”

“No, I didn’t start it from the beginning. I took over what my father was doing.”

In short, this store is a business that has been inherited. And Park Do-joon seemed to understand the situation roughly as he looked around.

“It’s been a long time. Aren’t you tired?”

“Well, it’s getting harder, but isn’t this the place my father left me? I have to protect it if I can.”

Looking at him speaking firmly, Park Do-joon let out a long sigh.

“Maybe that’s the problem?”

“What?”

“This rice shop, I mean.”

Park Do-joon pointed to the ceiling with his finger and said.

“This is the problem.”

At those words, Kim Choo-geun’s face hardened.

***

“You’re saying she’s afraid of retaliation.”

“Yes, I think that’s likely. There have always been opportunities. But if she divorces Hwang In-chul, he’ll retaliate. Kim Sook-ja can go anywhere after the divorce. But what about Kim Choo-geun? Would he sell it and leave?”

“I see.”

The store that his father left him and the store that he has put his whole life into.

In fact, considering his age, it wouldn’t be strange for him to retire soon.

But judging from his actions of still protecting the store, it’s obvious.

“Kim Sook-ja is afraid of retaliation. Retaliation against her brother, that is.”

At this point, the person who knows Hwang In-chul better than anyone else is his wife, Kim Sook-ja. So, if she thinks he’ll retaliate, there’s a high possibility that he actually will.

“So, she’s just living like that?”

“It’s ambiguous. You could say this worked in the opposite way of giving up?”

“What do you mean by that, Detective?”

“He’s a guy who’s spent more time in prison. So, he can pull himself together during that time. And he also expects that he’ll go to prison again if he just waits a little longer. And since he has a diet that fills most of his calories with alcohol, he probably won’t live long.”

“No, then it’s better to get a divorce……”

“That’s the problem. The police aren’t very afraid of retaliation. But retaliation actually happens, and in most cases, the police can’t do anything about it.”

“No, isn’t retaliation a crime with aggravated punishment?”

“Aggravated punishment isn’t prevention.”

What if the other party comes to retaliate and kills someone? That criminal will never see the world again, but that doesn’t mean the victim will come back to life.

“Ultimately, preventing retaliation can’t be done simply with aggravated punishment.”

You have to present a way to block retaliation so that the other party can report it without fear of retaliation.

“You know, but Korea has no way to block retaliation at all.”

They only punish after the incident has occurred. Just looking at whistleblowing, it’s legally mandated not to give disadvantages for internal whistleblowing, but no one follows it.

‘Even the police and the judiciary don’t follow it, so who would follow it?’

So, people can’t help but consider retaliation when they do something.

Of course, if the other party is a rational person and someone who wouldn’t cross the line, it’s different, but no matter how you look at it, Hwang In-chul is someone who can cross the line enough.