My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 299

“Touge Racing?”

At Changnyeong Police Station, Park Do-joon asked Ji Sang-hwan to request a meeting with his father, the chief, and told him what he knew.

“Yes, you know about it?”

“Not really.”

“It’s also known as street racing. It refers to illegal racing that takes place on public roads, not on designated racing tracks.”

“Is that a thing?”

“Yes, there’s even a movie about it called ‘Hit-and-Run Squad’.”

“And you think touge racing is happening there?”

“Yes, that’s right. Touge racing happens in many places. But usually, there are a few unwritten rules.”

“If possible, it’s done in secluded areas with minimal traffic. That’s the best way to race without interference from other vehicles.”

“Of course, some reckless people do it in the middle of the highway.”

“Ah, I’ve seen news about that too.”

“There have often been news stories about people touge racing on the highway causing accidents and devastating families.”

“A road with few people and almost no traffic… isn’t that exactly the kind of road where the accident happened?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“It’s a road that cost money to build, but it’s not scenic enough to be a tourist destination, and it’s not a convenient route to other places.”

“In fact, most navigation systems don’t even recommend that road.”

“Only locals who know about it use that road.”

“It’s a bit of a detour, but there are no traffic lights, so there’s no need to stop and go, which is why some local residents use it.”

“Seong-hoon was one of those people.”

Ji Sang-hwan said with a grim face.

“To get to the city from Seong-hoon’s house, you have to take the main road, which has a lot of traffic lights and passes by several schools.”

“So, taking that back road is a more direct route, in a way?”

“Yes, it’s a bit of a detour in distance, but there are no traffic lights, making it faster.”

Park Do-joon began to get a clearer picture of the situation.

“Who reported him missing?”

“Seong-hoon’s in-laws. His in-laws… I see. They live in the city.”

Oh Seong-hoon and his wife had been dating since high school and were from the same area, but her family home was in the city. It was something he hadn’t considered until now.

“Was he going to his in-laws’ house that night?”

“That’s highly likely. And Ji-soo, you saw skid marks there, right?”

“Yes, I did. That’s right. Even if he didn’t intend to commit suicide, his instincts would have kicked in.”

“What would you do if a car suddenly appeared in front of you while driving at night? Most people instinctively turn the steering wheel to the right and hit the brakes.”

“But there was no room to slow down by braking, and there wasn’t even a guardrail at the time.”

“He was driving at a considerable speed, and he instinctively swerved because of a touge racing car that suddenly appeared?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

Park Do-joon nodded at the chief’s question.

“In that case, it would look like an accident.”

“He clearly turned the wheel himself, so there would be no obvious signs of another vehicle, and naturally, it would look like a suicide to anyone investigating.”

“But why didn’t we realize this back then?”

“Because it’s a newly built road.”

“The newly laid asphalt still maintains its dark black color, making skid marks harder to detect. Plus, since it’s a new road, people are more likely to brake suddenly because they’re unfamiliar with it.”

“They’ve installed guardrails now, though. And as you know, direction signs are usually placed on top of guardrails on sharp turns.”

“In other words, since there were no guardrails at the time, drivers might have braked suddenly while driving, simply because they didn’t know the road.”

“There were a lot of complaints about that place, right?”

“Was there? Hmm…”

“Since it’s such a potentially dangerous spot, there might be more skid marks than you’d think.”

“But it’s been a while now.”

“Guardrails have been installed, and direction signs have been put up. In addition, the asphalt has accumulated dust, and the color has faded a bit, so skid marks are much more noticeable now.”

“When I examined the scene, there were a lot of skid marks, and a significant number of them crossed the center line. There’s only one driving technique that explains that.”

“You mean drifting.”

“That’s right. The guys who do touge racing love to drift.”

“In fact, drifting can be a necessary technique in certain situations, but professional racers generally avoid it.”

“Because it wears out the tires quickly, and the more they wear out, the more often they have to be replaced.”

“It’s not just about the money; if the tire condition is poor, the lap time will naturally increase, so real professional racers don’t use drifting unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“But from the perspective of guys who want to show off, it’s a very impressive technique.”

“Sliding sideways with a screeching sound, the tires burning and emitting smoke… the technique of quickly exiting a corner looks very cool to those who don’t know better.”

“Didn’t you know that touge racing was happening there?”

“There’s no way I would have known. There’s nothing out there.”

“There are no CCTVs or houses. All there is around are fields and rice paddies. So, if you’re going to do touge racing at night, it’s a place where you can do it quietly without being caught.”

“If a car suddenly appears from around the corner while sliding…

Lee Ji-soo had no choice but to agree. People would try to avoid it.

“It’s an accident.”

“Yes, it’s not murder. But it’s certain that they caused someone’s death.”

Park Do-joon said with conviction.

“But do you know who the guys who were touge racing there are?”

“That’s the problem. It’s already been four years since the accident.”

“They caused an accident and fled a whopping four years ago. And they’ve been hiding ever since.”

“To be exact, it’s been four years and three months.”

Ji Sang-hwan, a police officer, immediately understood what that meant. This wasn’t a direct accident, and it wasn’t intentional murder. Then the charge would be manslaughter. The problem is that the statute of limitations for manslaughter is five years. If the death occurred four years and three months ago… that means the period to catch them is only about nine months.

“So, if that time passes, we can’t punish them?”

“That’s right.”

At those words, Ji Sang-hwan gritted his teeth. The guys who killed his friend and his entire family are going to get away with it. As a police officer, he could never allow that.

“Do-joon, we have to catch those guys. If they go free, my friend won’t be able to rest in peace, even in death.”

“I know. I’m not going to stand by and watch those guys run rampant after the statute of limitations expires.”

“Those guys must know that they killed someone. If they had done anything to help, maybe the family would have survived.”

“So, let’s start by catching the guys who are still active there.”

“Huh?”

“The guys who do touge racing share information with each other. In fact, there aren’t that many places in Korea where you can do touge racing.”

“So, these groups are often closely connected.”

“Ah. I saw it in Initial D. They were competing against each other.”

“Initial D?”

Lee Ji-soo didn’t know what it was and tilted her head, but fortunately, Park Do-joon knew.

“It’s a Japanese manga about touge racing. It was a big hit and was made into an anime and a game. It also popularized touge racing.”

“In fact, all the races in Initial D are illegal. They start with civilians blocking traffic and illegally occupying the road to hold races without any official permission.”

“The biggest problem is that, unlike in the manga, the guys who race in reality don’t even have minimal safety measures.”

“There are a few rules for racing in the manga: first, they place people at all entrances to control access; second, the race location has extremely limited access from the outside.”

“But in reality, touge racing has no crowd control and no minimal safety measures.”

“They’re the kind of guys who race on the highway in broad daylight and cause fatal accidents.”

“This time is the same.”

“In fact, this road has only one way in, and if they had managed it from both sides, there would have been no way for people to enter from the outside.”

“But the high possibility is that those guys didn’t do that, which is why this accident happened.”

“The guys who do touge racing tend to avoid doing that kind of traffic control.”

“Why?”

“Because it gets reported to the police.”

“Touge racing is illegal, and these days everyone carries a cell phone.”

“What if someone is walking down the street and they’re told, ‘You have to turn back because we’re going to have a touge race here’?”

“Anyone would call the police right away.”

“There was a car club that blocked the middle of a tunnel to take concept photos in the past, right? Remember how much they were criticized?”

“I know what you mean.”

“Because it’s a hassle for them if people report them, they just do things recklessly.”

“That car club blocked all the lanes with cars to take internal concept photos, and they did that for over an hour while aligning the cars.”

“They claimed that there was no traffic, but logically, who would build such a long tunnel in a place where there is no traffic?”

“But isn’t it dangerous to suspect touge racing based only on skid marks?”

“Of course, that’s not the only thing we’re relying on. But touge racing is easier to confirm than you think.”

“Why?”

“The guys who race tend to have a lot of accidents.”

“There are guardrails, but they crash into them frequently. And the agency that manages these local roads is the local government. They inspect and repair the guardrails regularly, so we can check the repair records through them.”

“They probably won’t be uncooperative.”

“After all, they’re the same government organization, and investigating this won’t harm them.”

“We need to hurry. I don’t know who else these guys will hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter if they die playing among themselves, but these guys always drag others into accidents, so Park Do-joon was in a hurry.”

The employee who managed the road shook his head.

“Don’t even mention it. I don’t know how many times we’ve had to replace the guardrails there.”

“Really?”

“To be honest, that road, where no one even goes, costs us a fortune. I’d like to just close it down.”

“According to him, every time they patrol, there are always broken guardrails and debris everywhere.”

“So, you just fix it and that’s it?”

“There’s no other way. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“You should ask them to install CCTV.”