My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 587

Although they had identified three individuals, that wasn’t the only problem to solve.

“You haven’t found the culprit?”

“No, it seems the culprit was indeed active there.”

The NIS [National Intelligence Service] agent spoke with a serious expression in the meeting room. Despite the top-secret nature of the university entrance exam preparation, the meeting room was used for urgent matters requiring face-to-face contact, such as pressing banking needs.

Once Park Do-joon was inside, he had to use that room to meet anyone from the outside.

“Hmm…”

Park Do-joon stroked his chin at the words.

“It must be difficult.”

“Yes, there are no CCTVs in the mountains.”

Even if there were, it would be impossible to track all the hundreds of hikers who visited the mountain each day.

“How did the experiment go?”

“After several experiments, Park Do-joon’s words proved correct.”

Park Do-joon had suggested a simple experiment. Therefore, a proper experiment was needed, and the NIS conducted several photography experiments using printed exam papers.

Of course, they didn’t use actual questions, just a series of meaningless characters.

“When using high-performance lenses worth over 2 million won [approximately $1,500 USD], we could see everything from the letters to the graphs.”

“I see.”

Initially, lenses in the 1 million won range blurred the smaller letters, but with telephoto lenses over 2 million won, it was easy to see each letter clearly.

“So, how did you investigate? Oh, well, it’s obvious. You searched the surrounding inns and motels again, right?”

“Isn’t that the obvious thing to do?”

Park Do-joon scratched his head at that. It was indeed the standard investigative procedure. But knowing that made Park Do-joon sigh.

“Do you think the other party wouldn’t know that?”

“Pardon?”

“The culprits, they have no means of communication.”

“That’s right.”

When the exam committee members enter, their luggage is thoroughly searched, and all means of long-distance communication, like cell phones, are completely confiscated. It’s not just checked upon entry; additional surprise searches are also conducted.

“From the start, if they had secretly brought in a means of communication, they could have just taken a picture and sent it.”

If it was something that couldn’t be photographed, they could have quietly read the questions aloud. There’s no reason to risk taking pictures in the middle of the night with the lights on.

“Right?”

“That means they can’t make appointments.”

“Yes, that’s correct. So, they would have waited while finding accommodation nearby.”

Park Do-joon shook his head at that.

“No. You need to look beyond that.”

“Beyond that?”

“This is a secure area. How would they know to find accommodation nearby?”

“Well…”

The NIS agent’s eyes flickered at those words.

“Wait a minute, that’s…”

“Yes, from what I hear, people don’t come here in their own cars.”

“That’s true.”

When you become an exam committee member, you’re not told to come to a specific location in your own car. You’re told to come to a designated place, and from there, you’re taken together on a bus.

“They say they have no idea where they’re going or how they’re moving.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Even if someone is frequently selected as an exam committee member, the exam location changes every year, so they have no idea where they’re being taken. It’s impossible to tell someone in advance.

“From what I see, you seem to think one of the exam committee members is the culprit, is that right?”

“That’s…”

The NIS agent’s eyes wavered at those words. Because that’s what they had been thinking.

And Park Do-joon sighed at that.

“I never said the culprit was an exam committee member.”

In fact, Park Do-joon had never once said that the exam committee member was the culprit.

“No, if you had told us that the exam committee member wasn’t the culprit…”

“No, such preconceptions are poison in an investigation. There’s no proof that the exam committee member isn’t the culprit.”

Profiling is ultimately a matter of probability. And in that probability, I can’t be sure that the exam committee member isn’t the culprit.

“At least give them time to sort out their affairs and tell the people around them, like you did for me, right?”

“That’s right.”

Otherwise, they’ll think they’ve really gone missing and there will be chaos. As an exam committee member, they need to tell at least a few people, or else there will probably be chaos every year.

“Then there’s enough time to negotiate or make deals.”

If they’re frequently called in, pre-negotiations are even possible.

“As you know, no one hides the fact that they’re an exam committee member.”

Of course, being an exam committee member in the current year is kept secret and actually hidden, but if they were an exam committee member last year, the government doesn’t really control that. There’s not much reason to do so in the first place.

“But in the market, that value is enormous. Just being a three-time consecutive exam committee member means that even if you’re a school teacher, you can go to a private academy and be recognized enough to receive an annual salary in the hundreds of millions [of won, equivalent to hundreds of thousands of US dollars].”

That means they recognize your skills, but it also means you have information to predict the trends of the university entrance exam while chatting.

“If they negotiate in advance and quietly follow along, can you stop that?”

“That’s…”

Of course, they move in secret, but they don’t check for vehicles that are tracking them, assuming there is surveillance.

The person driving the tour bus doesn’t even know how to do that.

“And you can’t tell if it’s tracking or tourism.”

“Pardon?”

“At least 300 people are mobilized for the university entrance exam every year.”

How many hotels can accommodate that many people? If it’s two people per room, you need at least 150 rooms, and the hotel must be able to control people coming from the outside. There are only a few such hotels in the country.

“Those places can’t be in the middle of nowhere.”

Of course, they’re near tourist attractions. Even if you divide the team and separate them, you need at least 80 rooms in one hotel, and there aren’t many hotels like that.

“There are more than a few tourists coming to those places.”

It’s not uncommon for tourists to accidentally be going in the same direction, or for people to just travel without any plans. Some people think that randomly booking accommodations is the charm of traveling, rather than booking in advance.

“Has anyone like that come here?”

“They have. Ugh!”

Of course, those people would just leave without saying anything if they were told that the seminar was full, so they wouldn’t have suspected that some of them came to check the exam questions.

“Low probability and no probability are completely different.”

“Hoo…”

The NIS agent sighed at those words.

“You must have thought they were waiting here for the university entrance exam questions to come out. There’s no reason to do that.”

If they colluded with someone inside, they would know roughly when the exam questions would come out.

“They wouldn’t have stayed that long. Be honest. You searched mainly for long-term guests, right?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no reason to do that.”

Since the exam committee members entered two months ago, you thought they came around that time to monitor them, so you searched for people who stayed long-term around that time, but there would hardly be any such people in a tourist destination.

“We did something stupid.”

“Yes, there’s no point in staying put without the exam questions coming out, you’re just wasting money. The fact that they’re targeting the exam time means they know something about the exam.”

The NIS agent’s expression became strange at those words. Then he answered with a long sigh.

“Then, do you have anyone you suspect is the culprit?”

“Wasn’t that something you had to solve outside, not me?”

“The situation isn’t good.”

No matter how hard we try, solving the problem is never easy. There are only fifteen days left, what can we do to submit the questions in the meantime?

“In the worst case, we may have to postpone the university entrance exam…”

“The backlash would be huge.”

It can’t be helped. Since most students adjust their condition to the university entrance exam as it is a matter of life, lawsuits will pour in if even a small error occurs due to the nature of the university entrance exam, where that 1 point changes the university.

In fact, if there is one problem error, dozens of lawsuits break out because of it, and there are a lot of lawsuits against top schools because of it.

Even if it’s ‘in Seoul,’ the treatment differs from school to school, and the difference is bigger than you think. However, when it comes to university entrance exam scores, the difference is only 2 or 3 points, but since difficult problems in the university entrance exam have a 4-point allocation, a single problem error can change the school you go to.

“Call in other profilers or police.”

“It’s difficult for security reasons. Why would we keep this case a secret?”

“Haa~!”

If a murder case and a problem leak case break out, some forces will demand the postponement of the university entrance exam because they cannot trust the credibility of the problem, and conversely, some forces will oppose it.

In other words, it is obvious that the people will be divided into two sides and fight fiercely, so the government cannot easily disclose it.

“But I’m here…”

“The government has already officially approved a special outing. Of course, the conditions are strict.”

When going out to investigate, at least two NIS agents must accompany you, and you must not carry cell phones, etc.

In case one person goes to the bathroom and information leaks out, or conversely, some forces may cause confusion.

“You’re really desperate.”

“Because it’s the university entrance exam.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue at those words.

“Well, let’s do that. The sooner we catch the culprit, the more advantageous this side will be.”

Park Do-joon had no choice but to go outside with two NIS agents. And the first place he went was the village right below the mountain.

“Aren’t you going to the filming location?”

“I usually go, but there’s no time and it’s not a particularly important terrain. The NIS must have already identified the filming points, right?”

“That’s true.”

“So, you don’t have to go.”

They must have searched the place thoroughly, but since there’s been no word, there’s no possibility that something came out of there.

“No answer.”

The village below the mountain was literally a typical tourist destination. Many outsiders, many motels, many convenience stores and shops.

“In such places, it’s not easy to monitor outside personnel.”

Park Do-joon looked around and asked.

“Are there any tourist attractions around here?”

“Yes, there are a few. Didn’t you know?”

“There’s no way I’d know. I don’t even know where this is.”

All Park Do-joon knows is the name of the hotel, he has no idea where the hotel is located.

“The harbor is close and the tourist attractions are close.”

“It’s a typical tourist city.”

Park Do-joon said that and looked towards the mountain.

“There must be people walking around here to take care of their health. There must be some hikers on that mountain.”