My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 485

“What?”

But that wasn’t the only surprise for the real estate agent. Jeong Iyeon smiled, pressing the point, “It’s the building owner’s choice whether to apply security fluorescent paint or not.”

There are no mandatory regulations. And it’s not like you’ll be publicly shamed for not applying it. However, if a real estate agent knows it’s a potentially dangerous property and conceals this while brokering the deal, they are likely to be held responsible.

“If incidents like rape, theft, or assault occur, the real estate agency that brokered the deal may have to take responsibility.”

At those words, the real estate agent looked thoroughly disgusted.

“We’ll be on our way then.”

Jeong Iyeon left the real estate agent with his sour expression and went outside. Park Dojun also offered a knowing, ambiguous smile before exiting.

“It’s satisfying to see him flustered.”

“By the way, was what you said earlier true?”

“What? Oh, about the real estate responsibility? It’s partially true. But there’s no legal precedent, so it’s not certain.”

It’s unclear whether the real estate agent’s failure to disclose the lack of security measures should be considered as presenting a dangerous property or not, especially since it’s not a mandatory requirement.

“But the very fact of being involved in a lawsuit is burdensome, right? You said the senior partner would get involved if he saw losses, right?”

“That’s right.”

Park Dojun nodded at Jeong Iyeon’s words. He had set the direction, but she seemed to have found a way to capitalize on it.

“And there’s the recording, too.”

Jeong Iyeon tapped the small recorder in her pocket.

“The real estate agents will probably be squirming.”

“They will. And the fluorescent paint job will be done faster.”

Park Dojun smiled knowingly, as if he had anticipated it.

# Existing but Nonexistent

As Park Dojun predicted, building owners urgently contacted them shortly after.

For owners who had refused to paint due to laziness or to save 100,000 won [approximately $80 USD], the real estate agent’s warning that they couldn’t attract tenants because their properties would be classified as dangerous simply for not having fluorescent paint was enough to make them reconsider.

Painting costs only 100,000 won, but not having tenants could result in losses of millions of won [tens of thousands of USD].

“Seriously, you’re good at using your head, senior.”

Jeong Iyeon had initially worried about how to persuade the landlords. But in the end, there was no need for persuasion.

“When you try to persuade someone, they mistakenly think they’re in a superior position.”

Therefore, they believe they have nothing to lose by disregarding the other person’s opinion.

“But if you show them the potential for financial loss first, humans will eventually act in their own self-interest.”

The landlords started to move when they realized they could lose money. Their immediate problem was now somewhat resolved.

“Now we need to solve the fundamental problem.”

That is, catching the culprit. Of course, that’s not an easy task. Even the local police aren’t actively pursuing him.

“I’ll go to the local police and ask for cooperation first.”

Of course, it’s uncertain whether the local police will be truly helpful. But the important thing is that they need to be confronted.

“They’ll refuse to help, won’t they?”

“Ah, of course, they’ll try to refuse.”

There have been as many as twenty-three victims. In fact, the situation has become so serious that requesting a profiler would be justified.

“But the fact that they haven’t means one thing.”

Someone, specifically someone in a higher position, is against using profilers.

“A section chief or a department head wouldn’t be able to block it. It’s probably the police chief.”

“That’s frustrating.”

Cha Daehun smiled wryly at those words. He knew, because he had worked as a profiler in the police force.

Some people dislike profilers, especially those who graduated from the police academy. They consider themselves the elite and future leaders of the police, but in reality, profilers often possess superior intellectual ability and investigative skills.

Police academy graduates may excel at administrative work, but when it comes to investigative skills, profilers are often far superior. And many academy graduates feel that profilers are trying to control them.

The main task of profilers is to suggest the direction of the investigation. But some misinterpret this guidance as profilers giving orders from a superior position, and they resent profilers intensely.

They believe it’s unacceptable for them, as police academy graduates, to follow the directions of profilers.

“Well, some even do the opposite.”

Ironically, some police officers even act contrary to what profilers suggest.

It’s less problematic if they are lower-ranking officers, because other police officers can still act and catch the culprit. But if they are police chiefs, it becomes a major obstacle.

“Then I understand why they haven’t called in profilers yet, even though twenty-three people have been assaulted.”

It’s not just about Park Dojun’s team. Each provincial police agency has a profiling team. Naturally, they should be asking for their help.

With this many cases, it should be a high-priority case for them.

“What do you think, team leader? You’ve talked to those police officers, haven’t you?”

“That’s right.”

No matter how much the higher-ups complain, they can’t completely prevent them from meeting and talking privately.

“At least the people below don’t seem to have any issues with me. Rather, they were very grateful for the little advice I gave them. Of course, I only offered limited advice because I had limited access to data, so I couldn’t do a thorough analysis.”

“Then the problem is the police chief.”

Jeong Iyeon frowned. She couldn’t understand a police chief who would neglect ongoing crimes because of personal dislike.

“That’s probably the case.”

Cha Daehun nodded and said.

“I told them that he’s probably Chinese, an illegal Chinese immigrant.”

But that alone won’t be enough for the police to track him down.

“We have no choice. We have to move separately.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t you overstepping your bounds?”

“Well, when have I ever listened to what the higher-ups say?”

Someone might criticize it as overstepping their authority. But it’s clearly the fault of those who are pretending not to know, even though there is a way to catch the culprit.

“Tell them to come and find me if they don’t like it.”

Park Dojun had nothing to fear and no reason to be afraid of them.

“What do you think, senior?”

“What? Oh, this?”

Normally, the police station takes care of things, but in this case, the police are unable to find a direction, so Wolgwang Law Firm had no choice but to take on the work instead. Fortunately, the new team leader, Jo Sanggyu, said that he would handle it as an outside job for the time being. He is also a profiler, so he understands that some people have a very negative view of profilers.

Of course, it’s acceptable to ignore it if there are no more victims and the culprit has fled. But if victims continue to appear, they will have no choice but to arrest him first.

Even if they try to help, they’ll only argue with each other, and sometimes it’s easier to just arrest him and pretend they didn’t know.

There’s no way they can cooperate if the police don’t want to cooperate.

“Team leader Cha said he’s Chinese, but I don’t understand.”

“In what way?”

“Just in every way. They say there’s no genetic comparison group, but even Koreans don’t have a genetic comparison group if they don’t have a criminal record in the past.”

“Hmm.”

Park Dojun scratched his head at Jeong Iyeon’s words and said. That’s definitely a valid point.

“I’ll explain it one by one. The biggest reason why Cha and I suspect he’s Chinese is because the interval between his crimes is too short.”

“The interval between crimes?”

“Yeah, there’s an interval between crimes. How should I put it? The interval between crimes doesn’t suddenly decrease at some point. You could call it a cooling-off period. That cooling-off period tends to decrease over time as someone continues to commit crimes.”

In the case of serial crimes, especially rape or murder, there is a period of time after committing a crime when the perpetrator is concerned about whether their crime is being tracked and whether the police or other investigators are following them.

Because their immediate desires are satisfied, their wariness of others and fear for their own safety take precedence.

“It’s like when you’re hungry, you want to eat anything, but after you eat, you want to eat something good for dessert rather than just satisfying your hunger?”

“It’s not a very good analogy, but I think I know what you mean.”

Jeong Iyeon nodded. She often saw similar behavior. When people are hungry, they might grab a convenience store triangle kimbap [a common and inexpensive Korean snack], but after they eat, many women will go to a cafe and buy a piece of cake. In fact, some people spend more money on dessert than on their main meals.

“And that period is usually quite long. The more unfamiliar the crime, the longer it becomes. But like drugs, these crimes are driven by instinct. When that reaches a kind of balance, they don’t necessarily try to commit a crime, but the moment that balance is disrupted, a crime occurs.”

Park Dojun raised his hands and showed them shaking like weights, then lowered one side and said.

“The moment when instinct overwhelms reason. That moment is the timing of the crime. But as I said before, it’s easier to suppress instinct at first.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s fear of being caught.”

The fear of those who are tracking them, and the fear of worrying about whether they have left any traces.

“You know the famous saying, right? The criminal returns to the scene.”

“I know that.”

“Why would they do that? They often come to check if there are any traces or evidence of the crime they committed.”

The police’s pursuit is something that criminals can’t help but fear, and if they worry about that, it becomes easier for reason to suppress instinct even more.

“But look at this case record. The cases are usually every two weeks. That’s very fast for a rape crime. That means he’s not paying much attention to the pursuit. Then the underlying emotion is simple: ‘These guys can’t catch me.’ That’s confidence.”

In fact, many criminals who have such confidence commit crimes very brazenly. There are even criminals who are so brazen that they commit fraud against the police.

“To have such a short cooling-off period, he must have committed more than one or two crimes. But if he did that in Korea, there’s no way there wouldn’t be a record.”

No matter how incompetent the police are, there’s no way they wouldn’t know about that many cases.”

Cheonjik is a Profiler