My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 128

“But aren’t there people in Korea who don’t experience stress?”

“That’s the problem. Doctors even say that Koreans experience so much stress that their frontal lobes are getting damaged.”

Park Do-joon stroked his chin, pondering. He couldn’t pinpoint the type of criminal based on that alone.

“Given the nature of wildfires, it’s all too easy to enjoy watching them burn.”

“That’s the problem.”

The second characteristic of arsonists: they tend to watch the fires they set.

Didn’t a Roman emperor set Rome on fire and then write poetry while watching it burn?

They relieve their stress by watching the burning scene.

“They delude themselves into thinking they have the power of destruction while watching it.”

Of course, that’s just their delusion. Such fires don’t grant any power of destruction. All they create are property damage and victims.

“But surprisingly, wildfires aren’t easy to approach.”

“What? With wildfires raging like this?”

The team leader glanced at the TV. The news was constantly reporting on the fire, explaining the situation.

“Isn’t there a thirst that they can’t quench just by watching the news?”

“Thirst… That’s not wrong.”

They quell their anger, resentment, and inferiority by watching the fires they set with their own eyes.

“The emotions that TV can convey are limited.”

Moreover, when a fire breaks out, most of the footage shows people trying to extinguish it and the victims, not the burning mountain.

It’s not a scene that would satisfy typical criminals who want to see the burning scene directly.

“But it’s not easy to get close to the fire during a fire.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

You can see it from afar. But people don’t realize how dangerous it is to watch from afar. Surprisingly, the gases emitted from wildfires spread quickly, so they can reach you in an instant, even if you’re far away.

“Generally, civilians can’t approach the area around the firebreaks [areas cleared of vegetation to stop the spread of fire].”

Even firefighters can get trapped in the flames if they’re not careful. Of course, ordinary people don’t approach it.

“But that’s why I think there’s an opportunity.”

“Opportunity?”

“Yes, if they’re not ordinary people.”

“Are you thinking it’s a firefighter?”

Park Do-joon shook his head at the team leader’s words.

“No. The areas where the fires occurred are too wide to see it that way.”

The areas are wide by region, and sometimes even different provinces are affected. If a firefighter is an arsonist and is trying to set fires no matter what, it would be in their own jurisdiction. That way, they can watch it properly.

“I think it might be a volunteer?”

“A volunteer?”

“Yes, volunteers can easily get close.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The team leader nodded at Park Do-joon’s words. In reality, there are quite a few cases where criminals approach as volunteers to understand the investigation situation of the case or to gain their own mental pleasure by approaching the crime scene.

“A volunteer…”

“If that’s the case, then one thing is certain: they’re probably self-employed or someone who can take time off freely.”

“You mean the timing of the other fires doesn’t match up.”

“Yes, that’s right. If they were office workers, the fires would have been concentrated on weekends.”

However, the cases that occurred in the valley—that is, the cases suspected of arson—occurred completely randomly from Monday to Sunday.

“We can’t say they’re office workers. But even if they’re self-employed, it wouldn’t be easy to take time off, would it? They wouldn’t just go volunteer for one case, would they?”

The time it takes to put out a wildfire is longer than you think. It can take as little as three days, as long as several weeks, or even months in severe cases.

Of course, to see it, they have to be on-site for that long, but ordinary self-employed people can’t take that much time off.

“Fixed customers are important to self-employed people.”

Let’s say there’s a restaurant. If its business hours are erratic, would people go to that restaurant?

Even if it’s not a restaurant, the same is true. For any self-employment, maintaining a set schedule and consistent pattern is surprisingly important.

“Then there are two possibilities.”

“Yes, one is that they run a large store with employees, so they don’t necessarily have to be there themselves, or the other is that they’re in a business where customers operate on an irregular schedule.”

“Both are too broad, aren’t they? Should we look through the volunteer list?”

“It won’t be easy. Korea tends not to manage volunteer lists effectively. Moreover, volunteers don’t just do one thing in one place.”

“Seriously, these damn public officials in this country don’t do their jobs properly.”

In reality, when something like this happens, Korea tends to do things haphazardly.

Back when the Sampoong Department Store collapsed [a major structural failure in Seoul in 1995], a contractor saw the news and sent a crane to the scene. And he saved people by removing heavy stones with the crane. After about 12 days, when most of the people who could be saved had been saved, the contractor told the authorities that he would take the expensive crane away, but it turned out that even while using the crane, the authorities didn’t even know who had sent it.

Moreover, there are not just one or two groups or organizations volunteering for the current wildfires. Already, thousands of volunteers have visited the five cities involved in the fire.

“There are so many people going to volunteer.”

It’s difficult to approach directly to put out the fire, but there are more people than you think who go to volunteer for these large-scale fires. There are many areas where volunteers are needed, such as cooking, helping evacuees, or moving luggage.

“It’s complicated.”

It’s too vague. It’s suspicious, but in this vague situation, a warrant will never be issued.

“But that’s why I think it’s easier to identify them.”

“What? Why?”

“Most volunteers work behind the scenes. Isn’t the purpose to see the fire burning in the first place?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Volunteers typically take care of evacuees in safe areas of the city. Firefighters are putting out the fire, but their meals are ultimately solved with things like lunch boxes.

“Firefighters aren’t the military, so they don’t have food service vehicles.”

If the situation takes a long time and continuous meals are needed, they can get cooperation from the military to provide meals, but normally, they make lunch boxes in the city and provide them to the firefighters.

“Someone who can get close…”

“So we have to go there.”

“Where? To the fire scene?”

“Yes.”

At those words, the team leader frowned.

“That’s about as far as we can predict. We don’t know what kind of person is needed or how they’re needed inside.”

“The higher-ups won’t want to send us, will they?”

It’s a dangerous place. There’s no way they’ll send us if we say we’re going to investigate.

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

“That’s true.”

“Let’s go all out this time.”

“It’s going to get really hot.”

The team leader had nothing to say but mutter worriedly.

***

Park Do-joon went to the fire scene again with Shin Cheol-gwang. However, that didn’t mean they could actually approach the fire scene. Their destination was the nearest control center.

“Damn, it’s so hot.”

“Because the surroundings are all on fire.”

Even though they were keeping their distance, the surroundings were a sea of fire, so it was naturally incredibly hot here.

Park Do-joon noticed that there weren’t many people around Shin Cheol-gwang.

“What’s this? Why aren’t there many people?”

‘Of course. If they had any spare time, they would have gone to put out the fire.’

The people who were occasionally visible were firefighters sprawled on the ground. They were lying on the ground with only their firefighting suits off, drinking lukewarm water and resting.

“Aren’t you going to put out the fire! What are you doing! What are you doing now! Huh!”

The moment he heard the voice, he turned his head and saw an old man pointing his finger at a firefighter.

“What are you doing now! If you came to put out the fire, you should put it out! These damn firefighters are playing around!”

The white-haired old man was shouting at the resting firefighters. Seeing that, Park Do-joon clicked his tongue and approached.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, he’s a resident who lives down there. He’s complaining that the fire is approaching his side and why aren’t we putting it out.”

Park Do-joon looked in the direction the firefighter was pointing. It was towards the city.

“I don’t see it?”

“It’s over one mountain.”

“It’s still far away.”

If it’s not inside the firebreak, not even nearby, but over one mountain, then it’s really far away.

“Well, he’s still anxious.”

‘Anxious…’

Of course, he can be anxious. Once a firestorm sweeps through, you lose everything. Moreover, surprisingly, not many houses have fire insurance, so in the case of rural houses, it’s only a matter of time before they lose all their assets if they’re caught in a firestorm.

‘But still, that’s not right.’

Regardless of his anxiety, the people resting here are exhausted. Just looking at how they collapse and fall asleep almost as soon as they lie down on the bare ground without even a cot or mat, you can see how hard they’re working to put out the fire. And yet, he’s telling them to go out and work.

‘He’s telling them to go out and die.’

People need to rest when they’re exhausted. Otherwise, they might die doing something really dangerous.

Does that old man not know that? He knows. But he’s doing that because he’s worried about his property, which is clearly still safe.

‘If it were me, I’d move my luggage just in case.’

But instead of the trouble of moving his luggage, he chose to come and harass the firefighters. Well, in a situation like this, it wouldn’t be cheap to rent a vehicle to move his luggage.

And even if he moved it, he would need a space to put it.

‘There are selfish people everywhere.’

Before, firefighters sent a helicopter to an apartment to save people. But the apartment demanded compensation for the fire spreading due to the helicopter’s wind.

It was ridiculous, so they actually lost the lawsuit, but selfish people never give up.

They maintained the attitude that our property is more important, no matter how many people die. Of course, if the dying person was themselves or their family, their attitude would have changed.

In reality, selfish people don’t give up easily.

‘Well, should I help for a moment?’

Seeing the firefighters struggling because he was a complaining citizen, Park Do-joon clicked his tongue and approached the old man.

“Please stop.”

“Stop what? These damn firefighters came to put out the fire and are playing around? Do you think I’m going to let this go! I’m going to spread it all over the media!”

He suddenly picked up his phone and started taking pictures of the resting firefighters. And seeing that, the firefighters frowned. If that happens, regardless of the circumstances, people will curse at them, and they’ll definitely be disciplined.