My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 129

“Please calm down….”

“Calm down? Do I look like I can calm down? You government employees are just slacking off. Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?”

The old man raised his voice.

And the people around him sighed, thinking he was a real piece of work.

‘There are always people like this.’

Putting out the fire probably isn’t his main concern right now.

Of course, he’s worried, but he’s using that as an excuse to assert his superiority and exploit the firefighters for his own protection.

In reality, there are many houses around here that need protection. Unless the situation is really dire, the flames aren’t likely to cross an entire mountain. Plus, the firebreaks [barriers designed to stop or slow down the spread of fire] are already in place.

‘You can’t reason with people like this.’

If you’re nice to them, they think you can’t resist them, and they become even more unruly.

To powerful government officials, a civilian complaint is less than dust, but to powerless lower-level officials, a civilian complaint, especially from someone like that, is like a bolt from the blue.

Seeing the old man, Park Do-joon decided to help the firefighters. If they were harassed when they were already exhausted, someone might actually die later.

“That’s suspicious.”

“What? What are you talking about? And who are you?”

The old man flinched at Park Do-joon’s dubious expression.

“I’m a police officer.”

“Police?”

“Yes, police. I came because I received information that an arsonist appeared here.”

“Arsonist?”

He flinched again at the word arsonist. Considering the damage right now, it would be strange if he wasn’t surprised.

“Yes, there’s a saying: the culprit always appears at the scene.”

“That’s….”

Most people have heard that saying at least once.

“And arsonists tend to come close to watch the fire burning.”

“So?”

“Well, if your house is across a mountain, it’s not that dangerous, so why would you come all the way here?”

Even though there is a fire suppression headquarters, it is still near the danger zone. So, generally, people don’t come this far.

“And trying to interfere with the firefighting process by any means possible….”

“What? No, when did I…?”

“As you can see, the firefighters have finished putting out the fire and are resting. But you came all the way here to badger them for resting, take pictures, and file complaints? Is there any reason to do that? Perhaps….”

Park Do-joon glared at the old man with a menacing look.

“Is there a reason why the fire shouldn’t be put out….”

“What? Wh, why would I? I’m just trying to protect my house!”

“But right now, it looks like you’re interfering with firefighting, not protecting your house. Don’t you think? If I were you, I’d be moving my belongings in preparation for the fire.”

“No, who’s going to give me that money for free? The firefighters should do that, of course….”

The old man stopped talking, realizing what he had said.

‘I knew it.’

It would cost at least two million won [approximately $1,500 USD] to move belongings from the fire site. He doesn’t know how much stuff there is, but he won’t want to move it nearby, and he’ll have to hire more people to get the stuff out quickly.

And because he doesn’t want to spend that money, he came to cause trouble and demand they move it for him.

“Does that make sense? They’re busy trying to put out the fire.”

Even the firefighters were dumbfounded when his true intentions came out. They were struggling to put out the fire, not even getting any sleep, and he came to ask them to move his belongings.

“That’s right. It doesn’t make sense. This is clearly obstruction of official duties.”

“Obstruction of official duties? What do you take me for!”

“It doesn’t matter what I take you for. The important thing is that you obstructed official duties, and the firefighters were harmed as a result.”

“Damn it! Ptooey, this is disgusting…! That’s why public officials get cursed at! Huh? Shouldn’t you be rescuing people!”

The old man, who was trying to argue one more time, flinched the next moment.

“It seems like we suspect you of being an arsonist… Would you like to come with us?”

The old man flinched as Park Do-joon took out handcuffs and rattled them.

“There are a lot of reporters outside, right? I’m sure the reporters are very curious about who the arsonist is.”

“This is disgusting… I’m going, I’m going!”

The firefighters sighed in relief as they watched the old man, who had been frightened by the handcuffs, run away.

“Thank you. There are so many crazy bastards out there.”

“There are quite a few, right?”

“Yes, there are quite a few.”

You never know when or how a fire will grow. Especially if embers fly and cause a fire on another mountain, the fire can suddenly come upon you.

In that case, people are the priority, so they rescue them first, but some people scream and demand that they take out their belongings as well.

Some people are so busy saving people that they even ask them to leave them and take out their property first.

“To act like that when they have so much leeway.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue.

“By the way, is there really an arsonist?”

“I think there is. That’s why I came to check. Arsonists try to watch the fire burning up close; it’s a kind of obsession.”

No arsonist in the world turns around and runs away after setting a fire.

They are happy watching the burning place from around.

“Excuse me? Here?”

The firefighters were startled. That’s because most of the people inside are firefighters. If Park Do-joon is right, does that mean the arsonist is a firefighter?

“Oh, I guess the fire chief didn’t say anything.”

“No, he didn’t say anything.”

“I’m just investigating the possibility of an arsonist; I don’t think it’s a firefighter. If it were a firefighter, their alibi wouldn’t overlap with the existing cases.”

The firefighters sighed in relief at Park Do-joon’s words. No matter what, they wouldn’t want to hear that their colleague was an arsonist.

“Still, the fact that there’s an arsonist here….”

Park Do-joon gave the firefighters, who were looking uneasy, a sufficient explanation.

“That’s not it. I just came to check on the volunteers.”

“Volunteers?”

“Yes, actually, we’ve roughly analyzed what type of person the culprit would be.”

“Yes?”

“We’re police officers, but we’re also profilers.”

As he said that, Park Do-joon glanced at Shin Cheol-gwang, and Shin Cheol-gwang frowned at him. He seemed unhappy about something.

‘Whether he cares or not.’

Park Do-joon ignored him and asked the firefighters again.

“How many volunteers are there at this site?”

“Not many. This is a really dangerous area.”

The fire site is nearby. As a result, volunteers are not allowed to enter unless it is a really urgent situation.

Volunteers and soldiers can suppress the remaining fires, so they are sometimes left to do that, but this is not a remaining fire; it is a really dangerous site.

‘And there’s no way an arsonist would be satisfied with just the remaining fires.’

Of course, the arsonist will try to enter the main fire site by any means possible.

Of course, there is a suppression headquarters on the other side of the town, but this side is responsible for covering the site, and the other side is covering a wider area.

The fire has already grown so large that it is burning across several cities.

“So, there are almost no volunteers.”

“Yes, there aren’t any. But you could find out by calling the headquarters, right?”

“Volunteer management in Korea is not done properly. There are people who come without getting volunteer permission. Besides, they don’t know who’s needed in this area, do they?”

The firefighters nodded at his words. The people working on the front lines and the people working on their own know completely different things.

‘If I ask by phone, they’ll say, ‘We’ll look into it,’ and put it off day after day.’

There won’t be anyone who can be investigated so leisurely in a situation where there are not enough people.

“So, it’s someone who can come here?”

“Yes, it’s probably a volunteer who is focused on that.”

Park Do-joon explained his expectations to the firefighters.

“They may be able to come inside, but they won’t be busy. And they’ll be someone who volunteers often.”

“Everyone here is busy.”

It’s so busy that they need even a cat’s paw [any help, even if it’s small].

“That’s why I came. Because it’s logically nonsensical. I was hoping you might know.”

Who would be such an important volunteer that they can come to the final defense line but are not busy?

“See? I told you it wasn’t. How can a rookie whose ink hasn’t even dried on his police documents be a profiler….”

Shin Cheol-gwang sneered at Park Do-joon for not being able to identify him properly.

At that moment, one of the firefighters standing next to him suddenly said something as if he had remembered something.

“Uh… a doctor?”

Shin Cheol-gwang sneered at the words.

“How busy is a doctor?”

“No, they don’t have anything to do here.”

“They don’t have anything to do?”

Park Do-joon looked at the firefighter at those words. The firefighter scratched his head at those words.

“Well, doctors are usually allowed to enter the fire suppression headquarters as emergency personnel. It was like that last time.”

“Last time?”

“Ah, there was a doctor there during the last fire. Well, he’s not here now.”

At those words, Park Do-joon checked one more time.

“Was there a doctor there?”

“Yes, there was definitely one. Come to think of it, he was a volunteer too.”

“Why doesn’t a doctor have anything to do? How much work is there in this war-like situation!”

Shin Cheol-gwang muttered as if something didn’t make sense. Park Do-joon shook his head at those words.

“It’s a war-like situation, but it’s not a war.”

“What’s the difference?”

“There’s a difference.”

Doctors are clearly treated as emergency medical personnel here, so they can come inside.

“But I don’t think there will be that many injured people here, do you?”

“What?”

Shin Cheol-gwang, who didn’t understand the chaotic situation, asked again.

“There are no injured people here?”

“Yes, it’s like a war, but it’s not a battlefield.”

The firefighters are doing their best to put out the wildfire.

And in terms of danger, wildfires are actually safer for firefighters than residential buildings in the city.

In the case of residential buildings, firefighters often have to go inside to save people, but wildfires are not like that; they are a method of spraying water from outside to maintain the firebreaks.

“Firefighters have equipment, so injuries are not very common.”

Burns or being stabbed by branches can be prevented by thick fireproof clothing.

“That’s right. We’re not too far from the road anyway.”

If it’s really dangerous, you can run away down below. In the case of firefighters who died in the fire, it was not because they were burned by the fire, but because the embers that spread through the air currents set fire to the retreat route and they could not escape.