My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 104

“I think I roughly know what’s going on.”

“Roughly?”

“I think it’s Seo Ju-ran.”

“Seo Ju-ran? That rookie reporter?”

“Yes, I heard she’s been hanging around the economic crimes unit lately.”

“The economic crimes unit?”

“Yes, that’s what’s strange. There’s no reason for a rookie reporter to be there, right?”

When a major case breaks, resident reporters pass on information. The only places they look are the civil affairs office and the violent crimes unit. Because all cases are filed through the civil affairs office.

As for the violent crimes unit, they tend to rush out when an emergency occurs, making them an observation target, but the economic crimes unit, which operates based on complaints, yields nothing even if you watch them.

“Seo Ju-ran, huh.”

Park Gu-gang frowned upon hearing that.

***

“Do, Do-joon! Do-joon!”

Seo Ju-ran urgently came to find Park Do-joon. The other profilers frowned at the sight.

“This isn’t a dating spot.”

“It’s not a date.”

Ignoring Han Sung-gi’s words, Park Do-joon took Seo Ju-ran outside. Then, in a quiet place away from people, he asked.

“Park Gu-gang contacted you.”

“Yes? How did you know?”

“I expected it. Park Gu-gang would want to know the situation first.”

Park Do-joon had already told Seo Ju-ran to hang around the economic crimes unit for the past few days, keeping an eye on things. He said that Park Gu-gang would contact her if she did.

“Then, is Park Gu-gang the culprit?”

“Where did he suggest meeting?”

“Ah, he said he wanted to meet quietly outside…”

“Hmm, then there’s a high possibility he’s the culprit.”

“Does it make a difference?”

“Yes, it does.”

If he weren’t the culprit, the meeting with the reporter would fall into the public domain. Naturally, the meeting place should be inside the police station’s audit office.

But he wants to meet separately outside? That means he wants to meet secretly. In other words, he wants to hide the meeting with Seo Ju-ran from the people around him.

“And he probably chose the meeting place himself?”

“Wow? How did you know? Are you bugging him?”

“No. When people feel guilty, they want to create a situation they can control.”

And that includes the location. If something happened at a coffee shop, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Where did he say to meet?”

“Ah… Oh? The address is… a small farm in the countryside.”

“A farm? Out of the blue?”

“He said he wants to avoid being seen because he doesn’t know who the mole is inside the police.”

Park Do-joon’s mind went blank at those words.

‘Seo Ju-ran is dead.’

What came to mind was the blood flowing from her head and the grass stuck to her clothes.

‘Is that where it happened?’

It’s highly likely. A farm in the middle of the night would be deserted, and the countryside wouldn’t have CCTV [closed-circuit television] cameras.

‘Is that what happened?’

Seo Ju-ran probably trusted Park Gu-gang. She probably suspected Team Leader Seo Soo-min, not Park Gu-gang. Park Gu-gang approached Seo Ju-ran with the title of Audit Office Director and asked her for information.

‘And Seo Ju-ran tells the truth. Because he’s the Audit Office Director.’

He would have convinced her that there was a high chance he would run away if she exposed him, and she would have told the truth on the condition that he would be arrested first.

‘And she knew more than he thought.’

Judging by her clothes, it’s likely to happen soon, but she must have obtained some important information in the meantime.

Of course, she would have told him that, and Park Gu-gang would have realized that his life would be ruined.

‘An accidental murder, huh.’

And there would have been no way to stop it. Seo Ju-ran is a reporter, and this is a scoop.

The only way to stop it is to kill her.

Since it’s a farm in the countryside, killing her and burying her somewhere wouldn’t be difficult, and the case would eventually fade away. Park Gu-gang wouldn’t have turned himself in after Seo Ju-ran died, so he would have buried her somewhere, and the case would have ended as a woman’s disappearance.

“It’s dangerous.”

“Oh? Then don’t go?”

“No. You have to go. It’s not like they’ll give up even if you run away.”

“Yes? But…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll follow you.”

“How?”

“Well.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll follow right behind you.”

# Who is behind

A dark night. A car entered the farm in a place where there wasn’t even a moon. Park Gu-gang approached the car.

“Thanks for coming. No one followed you, right?”

“Yes, no one did. But do we have to come this far?”

“I have no choice. I don’t know who the traitor is inside the police. That’s what auditing is all about.”

“That’s true, but…”

“No one else is here?”

“No one.”

Even though Seo Ju-ran answered firmly, Park Gu-gang shined a light inside the car as if to confirm. There was no one inside.

“Let’s go over there and talk.”

“Yes.”

Seo Ju-ran got out of the car and followed him inside.

And after a while…

Click.

A small sound was heard in the darkness, and the trunk of the car Seo Ju-ran had been riding in opened. Park Do-joon quietly got out from inside.

‘He wouldn’t have expected this. He used his head, but still.’

Park Gu-gang probably thought Seo Ju-ran would drive the car. After all, a car is essential to come to this place where there are no buses.

Of course, he tricked her into bringing the car. And it would be difficult to check if someone was following behind the car late at night on a road where cars travel.

‘He used his head in his own way.’

But what he overlooked was the trunk. He checked the back seat, but not the trunk.

But the trunk is now a space where people can ride. To be exact, nowadays cars have a button that can be opened from inside the trunk to prevent car kidnapping.

Therefore, if a person is trapped, they can use it to open it and get out. Of course, most of the kidnapped people don’t know about it, and they can’t open it because their eyes and faces are covered and tied up, but if that’s not the case, they can pull it and open it.

‘There’s nothing here.’

Park Do-joon quietly came out and looked around. He couldn’t see anyone, and there were no buildings around. It’s called a farm, but it’s practically abandoned. Fortunately, there wasn’t a single light around, so Park Gu-gang was unlikely to find him.

‘I think I’ve adapted to the darkness enough.’

Of course, he wasn’t in the trunk all the way from Seoul. He came near here and got into the trunk from his car.

Naturally, his vision was fully adapted to the darkness, so there was no problem moving quietly.

As Park Do-joon quietly bent down and started moving, he heard the voices of two people talking in the distance.

“So, did you find out who it is?”

“I’m currently thinking it’s Team Leader Seo Soo-min.”

“Team Leader Seo Soo-min?”

“Yes, from the economic crimes unit.”

“Hmm.”

That’s predictable enough. Of course, Park Gu-gang doesn’t care what happens to Seo Soo-min. The important thing is not Seo Soo-min, but himself.

“No one else?”

“Not really. I’m still investigating.”

“Still investigating?”

“Yes, as I was investigating, I found out that Team Leader Seo Soo-min was appointed as team leader 6 months ago. But that means someone passed on the data before that. I don’t know who that is.”

“I see.”

Park Gu-gang said that while circling around. But his eyes were full of confusion.

‘Damn it, what should I do?’

If an investigation starts, he will inevitably be exposed. Just as he doesn’t care about Seo Soo-min’s safety, Seo Soo-min won’t care about his safety either.

If something happens, she will pretend not to know and put the blame on him, the predecessor, and he won’t be able to hide the 100 million won [Korean currency] that suddenly appeared when the investigation comes in.

He bought this farm to hide that money.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

Park Gu-gang, who instinctively felt that he couldn’t escape from Seo Ju-ran’s story, looked around in confusion. And what caught his eye was a shovel used on the farm.

A shovel he had used several times himself.

‘If only that bitch wasn’t here…’

Suddenly, that thought popped into Park Gu-gang’s head. Wouldn’t he be able to clean up the case if she wasn’t there? Could he put all the blame on Seo Soo-min and escape?

As that thought occurred to him, he unknowingly approached the shovel. Then he bent down and picked it up.

“Um… Director?”

“…”

“Director, why suddenly that…?”

Seo Ju-ran, instinctively feeling that something was wrong, stepped back. Park Gu-gang glared at Seo Ju-ran.

“You know too much.”

“Hieeek!”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to die!”

Park Gu-gang approached with the shovel. Seo Ju-ran stumbled back and fell.

“Die! You bitch!”

Bang!

The moment he raised the shovel high in the sky and tried to strike her down, a gunshot suddenly rang out loudly.

Park Gu-gang, who was naturally familiar with what the gunshot was as a police officer, froze. Then he looked towards the direction of the gunshot.

“Director Park Gu-gang, put that down.”

“Park Do-joon, how did you…?”

“I came knowing everything.”

Park Do-joon aimed his gun again and said. Then he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

The second gunshot echoed all around. But Park Gu-gang didn’t fall. But his face became even more stiff.

“Two shots are blanks. The third one is a live round. You know that because you’re a police officer, right?”

“…”

“Hieeek!”

Seo Ju-ran quickly got out of the way between the two. Park Gu-gang, who instinctively tried to chase after her, couldn’t help but flinch at Park Do-joon’s gaze.

“It’ll be difficult if you move.”

“…”

Looking at Park Do-joon, Park Gu-gang had no choice but to admit it. He was finished.

***

When Park Do-joon went to work at the police station, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“They’re freezing me to death.”

He already knew that many police officers didn’t think well of him. But now the gazes were so intense that they could kill him with their eyes if they could.

“Well, I expected it.”

In the last case, he wasn’t very visible. He had disciplined some police officers, but they weren’t police officers working in the same station.

But this time, he arrested a police officer working in the same place for attempted murder.

Naturally, the other police officers were glaring at him with cold and murderous eyes.

He was being treated as a traitor. Of course, Park Do-joon didn’t care about their gazes. None of the guys who gave him those looks were normal.

As Park Do-joon was ignoring them and walking, he saw Seo Ju-ran approaching from afar. She was holding a large bag in both hands.

“Reporter Seo Ju-ran.”

“Ah, Detective Park…”

“Looks like you got kicked out.”

“How did you know?”

“Even fellow officers are looking at me like they want to kill me, there’s no way they’d leave an outsider reporter alone.”

“Hee, as expected of a profiler.”