My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 10

“Why him? Do you think he’s going to cause social problems? From a profiler’s perspective?”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi laughed as if he had anticipated this.

“Of course, I know that much. Rather than knowing, I think of it as a risk. We saw his skill, not his character.”

Of course, that’s possible. But Park Do-joon hadn’t come all this way just to talk about Kang Su-do’s character.

Even if Kang Su-do’s character becomes an issue, they can just terminate the model contract. He has the title of being a player fostered by Hyunseong, but that doesn’t mean Hyunseong is responsible for his misdeeds.

“I understand. But this is a matter for the company.”

“Company matter?”

“Kang Su-do is probably fixing matches.”

“Match-fixing?”

“Yes.”

“Certainly, that could be the case. But why are you telling me this?”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi tilted his head. Match-fixing happens from time to time, but it’s an individual’s crime and not related to the Hyunseong Group. They can just terminate the contract with Kang Su-do.

“I’m telling you because it involves the company.”

“Involves?”

“Kang Su-do isn’t just fixing matches; he’s acting as a broker for match-fixing. Moreover, the ones instructing the match-fixing are executives of the Hyunseong Group.”

“What? Wait. What are you saying?”

“To be precise, match-fixing is happening in the e-sports industry, and the Hyunseong Group is a major player in that world.”

The situation was this: Kang Su-do is currently active as a broker who solicits match-fixing in the e-sports industry, and his clients are directors, executives, and people with significant power in the Hyunseong Group.

“The Hyunseong Group’s power in the e-sports industry is enormous.”

Instead of having basketball, soccer, or baseball teams like other large corporations, the Hyunseong Group chose e-sports, and it worked, giving them tremendous power in the industry.

‘But this incident will completely ruin them.’

If it were just Kang Su-do’s individual match-fixing case, Hyunseong wouldn’t be involved. But Kang Su-do colluded with key executives of the Hyunseong Group to fix matches and connected them with players as a broker.

Naturally, they were able to generate huge profits through such actions.

‘But that’s their mistake.’

It won’t be long before that’s discovered. And it’s not just an individual’s crime but a case involving a significant number of director-level executives from the Hyunseong Group.

Of course, not all directors, but specifically the directors of the e-sports affiliate, but it was broadcasted as Hyunseong’s directors.

Naturally, people were furious, and Hyunseong, which had invested tens of billions in e-sports for decades, received all kinds of criticism and eventually had no choice but to withdraw from the e-sports industry.

A company whose director-level executives are involved in match-fixing cannot operate the sport again.

Naturally, they wasted hundreds of billions in advertising expenses, their e-sports team was disbanded, and the domestic e-sports tournaments supported by Hyunseong were drastically reduced, resulting in a dark age for the e-sports market itself.

Of course, it’s not a big deal for Park Do-joon. Back when that happened, Haneul Industries had just gone bankrupt, so Park Do-joon even felt a sense of satisfaction at the failure of the Hyunseong Group.

‘But I can’t do that anymore.’

Now that he’s returned, he has to live a new life, and to do that, he intends to continue the relationships that started with his father’s generation.

“Hmm. Fixing?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know that? I heard you haven’t been a police officer for very long?”

“Because I’m a profiler.”

“What does that mean?”

“Profilers aren’t just crime scene analysts.”

They have to analyze the other person’s psychology by looking at their face and behavior and predict their actions.

“And recently, Kang Su-do’s behavior has been strange.”

“He’s working hard in matches, isn’t he?”

“I’m not talking about matches, but his social media.”

Park Do-joon already knew the facts and had come prepared to persuade Bae Deok-gi. That’s why he was able to secure enough evidence.

He can analyze people just by looking at their faces, and social media, where people post their lives, is like a sea full of evidence to analyze them.

“Why is that?”

“You’ll see.”

Park Do-joon showed Kang Su-do’s social media on his phone. Bae Deok-gi didn’t know much about that kind of thing, so he couldn’t feel anything strange from looking at it.

“What’s so strange about this?”

Bae Deok-gi couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he looked at the photos posted on Kang Su-do’s social media. They were common photos.

“It’s no different from other people.”

“That’s the problem; it’s no different from other people.”

The world of professionals is cold. And cruel. Teenagers say they want to become professional gamers because they want to play games, but when they become professional gamers, they have to play games for 15 hours a day.

Fun games? There’s no such thing.

“Look at the social media of other players.”

The social media of other players mostly shows them training or at least with other players they train with.

Hanging out? That’s really rare.

“But if you look at Kang Su-do’s social media, it’s the opposite.”

The parts related to practice are ridiculously few, and most of them are photos of him hanging out with other players.

A life of partying and drinking. A life that everyone envies.

“And you think that’s strange? Couldn’t that be the case? I heard Kang Su-do is a genius. They said he’s a top-ranked player?”

“Of course, you can call him a genius. But that’s only among amateurs.”

Good? That’s only in the world of amateurs.

“Even in games, there are top-ranked players. But not all of them are professional gamers.”

There are people in the top 1%? Top 0.001%, but they don’t become professional gamers. Is it because they’re not good at the game? No.

They actually have the skills to beat professional gamers. But if they debut as pros, will they win? Sadly, no.

“Simply being good at a game online and being good at a game in a public tournament are completely different issues.”

Most people, if asked to play a game on a stage watched by tens of thousands of people, wouldn’t play the game properly but would just freeze up and retire.

In fact, the criteria for professional gamers are surprisingly low, and they are judged based on Diamond rank [a ranking tier in many competitive games].

It’s also important to have a good team in the game, and surprisingly many people freeze up when playing in public, no matter how good they are.

“And the actual results show that.”

Park Do-joon showed Kang Su-do’s prepared results. Kang Su-do is called a genius and is good at it. But if you look at his results, is he good? It’s hard to say.

“Kang Su-do certainly has skills that no one can match if you only look at the rankings within the game. But when he actually enters a match, he completely freezes up.”

He has almost no experience winning individual competitions and no experience winning major tournaments.

“The people who reported him as a genius must be the ones reporting to you, Chairman. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s right. Honestly, I don’t like games.”

In fact, a person over 50 is unlikely to like games. He didn’t sponsor the game itself, but he chose the game to promote the company called Hyunseong Group.

Of course, he doesn’t know the truth.

“It’s certainly possible for the company to push him, but you can’t know his character after that, Chairman.”

“So he’s acting as a broker?”

“His social media shows signs of that.”

The drinking parties that take place almost every day. And the people who show their faces there.

“It’s difficult to say, but there’s no way to confirm that without evidence.”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi drew a firm line. Even if Park Do-joon is right, he can’t just kick out Kang Su-do without evidence.

‘That’s right. That’s natural.’

What’s the most troublesome situation in the profiling industry? It’s when you have a strong suspicion but no physical evidence. When you work as a profiler, you meet all kinds of criminals, and at some point, you get a feeling that this guy is the culprit. But in such cases, due to the nature of current law, it’s impossible to punish the other party without physical evidence.

Of course, suspicion cannot be proven.

For that reason, profiling can assist in investigations, but it cannot lead them.

‘But there’s a way.’

“If you leave it to me, I’ll get a confession.”

“Get a confession? From whom?”

“From the board of directors.”

“The board of directors? Are you talking about the board of directors of Hyunseong Games, who are currently executing this?”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Chairman Bae Deok-gi asked with an intrigued expression.

“Yes.”

“You’re bold.”

Park Do-joon didn’t avoid his gaze. If he avoided it here, he would be at a disadvantage.

Rather, what he needs to choose in this situation is negotiation.

“Nothing changes.”

“Nothing changes?”

“If I’m wrong, the only thing you’ll lose is a little time. You’ll probably never see me again. You’re a close friend of my father, but that doesn’t mean you’re close to my brothers, does it?”

“That’s true.”

“But if I’m right, you can prevent the Hyunseong Group’s image from being shattered and avoid wasting the advertising expenses you’ve invested in over the past decade.”

There’s no point in asking him to believe him here. The other party isn’t in a position to trust Park Do-joon. So there’s no way he’ll trust him.

But if you make people compare their losses and gains, it’s natural for them to go for the gains.

“That’s not wrong. Okay. Then I’ll call those directors. So what are you going to do? Are you going to summon those people to the police station?”

“Summoning them to the police is only possible when a complaint is filed. And if that happens, it’s natural that Hyunseong’s image will be damaged.”

“That’s true.”

“So just have them called here.”

“Now?”

“Yes. If possible, call them immediately as if you’re very angry.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Bae Deok-gi nodded. After all, the directors of Hyunseong Games aren’t busy.

“I’ll do that.”

***

“What the hell is going on? Do you know anything?”

“No, I don’t.”

“The secretary’s office said the chairman is incredibly angry……”

“What’s going on?”

Hyunseong Games. A company that manages Hyunseong’s game-related business. It doesn’t develop the game itself, but it manages things like the management of the owned game team and investment in game tournaments.

It’s a subsidiary operated for the purpose of managing the group’s image rather than a major business executive, so the chairman has never called them before.

In fact, when the company’s major policy decisions are made, no one is called except for the president.