My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 542

“I came out a bit early, but what should I do? Should I grab a quick bite first?”

Park Do-joon glanced at his watch and started looking for a restaurant nearby. It was then.

“Let go of me!”

A woman’s voice was heard from somewhere. Park Do-joon’s gaze turned in that direction.

“You bitch! What do you think you’re doing? How could you abandon your child for a man!”

“Waaah, Mommy!”

“No, I don’t know you people. Someone, please save me!”

“Honey, let’s go. Let’s talk inside. Okay, Jun-soo’s mom!”

“Mi-hye, let’s talk inside. I’m your brother, but you can’t do this. How could you not only cheat but also set up a separate household with another man? You have to think about Jun-soo.”

Shouts and screams were coming from one side. Park Do-joon’s gaze naturally went towards them.

“I don’t know people like you! Please save me! Please!”

“Mi-hye!”

“I’m not someone named Mi-hye.”

“The guy you ran off with already ran away! You bitch!”

“Jun-soo’s mom, please come back. Think about Jun-soo. Please.”

There, a group of people who looked like family were struggling to drag a young woman away, and the woman was screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

“Help! Kidnapping!”

“Mi-hye, are you really going to do this? You like being horny and clinging to men that much!”

The man, who seemed to be her brother, slapped the woman hard across the cheek, seemingly genuinely angry.

“After Mom ran away, I didn’t raise you like this! How can you abandon your child? Don’t you remember being abandoned when we were young? And now you’re abandoning your child!”

At those words, disgust filled the gazes of the people around.

But the woman shouted, seemingly wronged.

“I’m not even married! Please save me! Please!”

She cried and begged, but people only looked at her coldly. No one in the world could forgive a parent who abandons their child and runs away.

“A young woman gone crazy… tsk tsk!”

“I know, right? How can she abandon her child and run away with a man?”

They were even cursing her instead of helping.

‘What is this?’

But Park Do-joon found it strange. Because it was too contrived.

‘Doing this on the street like this?’

Usually, they would talk in a quiet place. Because it’s a shameful matter. Even if it wasn’t true, victims usually don’t try to justify themselves but rather rationalize their actions.

They would say things like, ‘What have you ever done for me?’ or ‘We’re already over,’ or ‘Didn’t you cheat first?’ trying to fight with the other person, not saying, ‘I don’t know these people.’

‘Moreover, the child… is a bit….’

The child looked to be about four or five years old. But the woman didn’t look older than her mid-20s.

Considering the pregnancy period, she would have had the child in her early twenties. Of course, it wasn’t impossible. There were women who got pregnant in their twenties, married young, felt disillusioned with their lives, and cheated.

‘But still, something’s off?’

Even considering that, there were still many strange things. The child was crying while being held by the grandmother. But if she had abandoned the child and left home, a child of that age would normally cling to their mother and cry.

But no matter how he looked at it, she was just crying and looking for her mother.

‘Something feels strange.’

Of course, most people were ignoring it.

But Park Do-joon couldn’t.

“Please stop this.”

“Who are you!”

The man who seemed to be her brother got angry as Park Do-joon stepped in.

“I’m just passing by.”

“This is our family matter! Get lost!”

The man who seemed to be her husband also got extremely angry and tried to push Park Do-joon away.

‘Strange.’

Until now, the brother was the one getting angry, and the husband was the one pleading. But both the brother and the husband were being unnecessarily hostile towards him.

“She doesn’t seem to know you people.”

And the woman, who Park Do-joon thought he was helping, suddenly bit the hand of the man who was holding her.

“Argh!”

As the man let go in pain, the woman quickly hid behind Park Do-joon.

“I really don’t know these people! Please help me!”

“Mi-hye, you! Come here! This is our family matter! Get lost!”

“Is this him? Is this the bastard she’s cheating with!”

As Park Do-joon stepped in to help, the family even tried to frame him as the one she was cheating with.

Park Do-joon looked at the four of them and said quietly.

“Then let’s go to the police station first.”

“…What?”

“Let’s go to the police station to confirm the situation and talk there. Don’t do this on the street.”

“Who do you think you are!”

“So brazen, the guy she’s cheating with! A guy who seduces married women and sleeps with them, what? Go to the police? Who do you think you are!”

They were getting angry at Park Do-joon. Park Do-joon subtly took out his ID from his pocket while looking at them.

“Not who I think I am, but I am a police officer.”

The three people froze at that moment.

“Let’s go to the police station together. Let’s talk there first.”

Park Do-joon said that while holding up his phone.

“I’ll call a police car right now.”

At that moment, the three people suddenly started running in the opposite direction. But Park Do-joon was faster. Already sensing something was wrong, he immediately grabbed the child’s hand that the grandmother was holding.

“It hurts. Waaah….”

But that human, who was supposed to be the grandmother, didn’t hesitate and immediately let go of her grandchild’s hand and started running away. They quickly got into the van they had come in and drove off.

“Huh…?”

“Thank you! Thank you…!”

The victim woman was shedding tears and expressing her gratitude, and the child was crying while being held by Park Do-joon.

And Park Do-joon clicked his tongue while looking at that.

“This… my appointment is ruined today?”

Shortly after, police cars rushed over, and the victim woman and child were handed over to the police.

“Even if they come as family and ask for the child back, never give them the child. We need to keep the child on our side until the DNA test is over.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Park Do-joon handed over the child only after receiving confirmation from the police. Jo Sang-gyu and Lee Ji-soo rushed over to Park Do-joon.

“Detective, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know either.”

“No, you took a half-day off and went out because you had an appointment, but suddenly it’s child abduction? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t think it’s a simple child abduction.”

Park Do-joon first told his friends that he couldn’t make it to today’s appointment and then prepared to return.

“You don’t think it’s a simple child abduction?”

“Yes, someone is meticulously planning and abducting people.”

“Meticulous planning?”

“Yes, let’s go back first. Did you find the vehicle?”

“It immediately went out to the outskirts of Seoul. After that, we lost it.”

“Further tracking will be impossible.”

It was obvious without even looking. That vehicle was either a ghost car [unregistered vehicle] or a stolen car.

“This seems like a serious problem, so let’s talk while we go.”

Park Do-joon got into the car with the two and explained the situation that had happened at the scene. And Jo Sang-gyu frowned while listening to it.

“Something like that happened?”

“Yes.”

“No, why aren’t the people around reporting it to the police?”

“In Korea, people think it’s bad to interfere in family matters.”

For example, in Korea, if someone hits their family at home, it’s rare to report it.

Because they think it’s a problem within the family.

Conversely, in the United States or Europe, if someone hits someone severely enough at home that outsiders know about it, they often report it to the police.

If they hit a child, they even isolate the child and have the court review whether they are capable of raising the child.

“Even the police, if they get a report by chance, they just leave it alone and return, saying it’s a family matter.”

“That’s definitely true.”

Even the police draw a line on domestic issues, so how much more would other people?

“And it would be even more so if the woman did something wrong.”

Park Do-joon said with a bitter expression.

“A runaway woman who abandoned her child and the family who came to pick her up.”

Most people would think of it as a subject of interest and gossip, not a subject of help.

“And if they even know her name and have a child….”

They would believe it’s real and just watch it. Just like now. Of course, that victim’s name isn’t that name, but the important thing is that they call her as if they know her. They’re not going to show their ID there anyway.

“If someone interferes, they’ll act like they did to you?”

“Yes, realistically, it’s unlikely that a woman would interfere.”

Most women are reluctant to get involved in these kinds of issues. Moreover, there are two burly men on that side.

“When a man interferes, if they put the frame of being an adulterer on him, it wouldn’t be easy to keep helping.”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon could stand firm because he was a police officer, but if he wasn’t, most people would give up and leave due to unwelcome misunderstandings.

“Then kidnapping would be easy.”

“Yes, and the probability of people reporting it after seeing it would be very low.”

Because it’s a family matter. Moreover, they’re taking away a woman who ran away after cheating.

“Kidnapping in broad daylight?”

“Yes, it’s possible. And that woman becomes a missing person.”

The real family would report it, but the Korean police don’t really put much effort into finding missing persons.

If they’re lucky and there are circumstances that suggest she was kidnapped, they’ll start a full-scale investigation, but in a simple missing person case, the investigation is often pushed back compared to other cases.

Because it’s impossible to know whether this missing person case is a runaway, a kidnapping, or an escape from the family, they prioritize tracking down definite crimes first.

“But why did you grab the child? If you had caught another criminal, it would have been easier to track them down, right?”

“No. If I had done that, I would have missed them instead.”

There was an old man among the criminals, so if he had been caught and interrogated, something might have come out. But you’re saying you would have missed them?

“There were two men on that side. Would they leave someone there who could talk and report them?”

Of course, they would try to release their ally who could talk and accuse them in order to prevent themselves from being caught.

“Unfortunately, I can’t handle all three of them at once alone.”

If two men were determined and attacked, even the police wouldn’t be able to handle them easily. Moreover, you can’t ignore an old man. People who are desperately resisting are more dangerous than you think.

“Moreover, from my perspective, I have to protect two people.”

“Two people?”

“Yes, the victim woman and the child.”

“Why the child?”

“Do you think the kidnappers actually brought their own child?”

“No way?”

Only then did Lee Ji-soo, who had been focusing only on adult criminals, realize something and her eyes widened. The existence of a child that she hadn’t even thought about.