My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 135

The women were benefiting more from Park Geoseok’s attention than from serving customers, so they didn’t mind him, but Imyeon, who disliked men like Park Geoseok, refused to even see him.

“So Park Geoseok harassed her terribly for months. He really made her life difficult. I even got hit a few times trying to defend her.”

Even though Imyeon said she didn’t want to get married, Park Geoseok disapproved of her boyfriend, Kim Dogun, and made things difficult for him as well.

“So she quit her job and said she was moving to Seoul.”

“What about Kim Dogun?”

“I knew I couldn’t keep working there, so I was thinking about finding another job.”

It was impossible to know if Imyeon was actually going to Seoul or if she was just saying that to get away from Park Geoseok. But she must have mentioned Seoul to deter Park Geoseok.

Of course, regardless of Imyeon’s plans, Kim Dogun intuitively felt that he couldn’t work at a bar in that area anymore, so he was also considering leaving.

“So they decided to break up. They couldn’t leave together.”

“I guess so.”

It’s not hard for a woman to find work, but it’s not easy for a man. They couldn’t leave together, and what kind of establishment would hire a couple?

What if a boyfriend is watching his girlfriend work as a prostitute? If things go wrong, there could be a fight, so bars will almost never hire them both.

“Really? Did you tell the police all of this?”

“I told them. I told them hundreds of times. But they accused me of lying.”

It wasn’t a mutual breakup; Kim Dogun desperately clung to Imyeon, and after she insisted on ending the relationship, he harbored resentment and committed murder.

This was the official conclusion of the investigation.

“Don’t you have any other evidence? Like text messages discussing the breakup?”

“There’s no way. They saw each other every day anyway.”

They were just filling each other’s emotional voids for a while, so they broke up without much thought or regret.

“Hmm.”

Park Dojun paused, considering the story.

“It’s clear that someone interfered with the investigation.”

“How do you know that, Detective?”

Jeong Iyeon asked Park Dojun, feigning curiosity. Even she found the situation suspicious. It’s rare for a couple to break up completely amicably.

“You said the police investigated the breakup, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Did many people know you two were dating?”

“Huh?”

Kim Dogun didn’t understand and asked him to repeat the question. Park Dojun explained it more clearly.

“After the murder, if someone pointed to the ex-boyfriend as a suspect, they must have known that Kim Dogun and Imyeon were dating and had broken up. Right?”

“So, what are you saying?”

Looking at the situation, it seemed that people around them were subtly aware of their relationship.

“But how would they know that you two were dating and broke up? You don’t seem like the type to broadcast your breakup to everyone.”

“Oh? That’s…”

That was true. Kim Dogun and Imyeon had kept their relationship quiet.

Only a few people knew they were dating, and they hadn’t told anyone else.

“Anyway, it’s an ambiguous situation when coworkers are dating.”

“Oh, I guess so. Even if two people agree to break up, other people will feel awkward.”

“That’s right. So people who have office romances usually don’t talk about it. Even if it’s known, they avoid discussing it.”

This is a common phenomenon not only in bars but also in office romances.

“Besides, the two of you quit at the same time. What would people say if you broke up in that situation?”

“Ah, they would assume we broke up and then quit?”

“No one wants to be the subject of gossip.”

“That’s right. So I didn’t tell anyone that we broke up.”

There was no reason to tell anyone, because they wouldn’t be working there for long anyway.

“Then who knew about it?”

They hadn’t told anyone, but the police knew. Even though there was nothing in their text messages to indicate they were a couple.

“Oh? That is…”

Kim Dogun, who was confused, suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Park Geoseok! That guy knew!”

“Huh? Park Geoseok?”

“Yes, I got hit once after we broke up.”

And later, Imyeon told him that she had told Park Geoseok that they had broken up so he wouldn’t bother her anymore.

“That was… five days before she died.”

“Five days before she died…”

The police knew a fact that no one else knew, and the only other person who knew it was another suspect.

“I’m starting to see the picture.”

Park Dojun’s eyes lit up.

# Is the answer already determined?

“A predetermined investigation?”

The two went to a nearby coffee shop where it was less crowded and began to discuss the case seriously.

First, Jeong Iyeon decided to participate in the case as a lawyer and request related data, but before that, she wanted to organize everything she already knew.

“There are many cases like that when the police investigate. It could be for political reasons, or sometimes for the convenience of the police or prosecutors themselves.”

Park Dojun said, rubbing his chin.

“It’s too much of a coincidence that the police know a fact that only one other person knows, and that person is another suspect.”

“But would the police really manipulate an investigation that much?”

Jeong Iyeon tilted her head, as if thinking, ‘No way.’ Of course, investigating political cases was common, but this wasn’t a political case, was it?

“Of course, they can’t do it in a general case. But the suspect is Park Geoseok. If he runs a bar that offers secondary services [prostitution], do you think he doesn’t have connections with the police in that area?”

“Even so, it’s murder!”

“Do you have evidence?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if you have evidence that Park Geoseok committed the murder.”

“Oh? No?”

“That’s the problem. That’s what people misunderstand.”

Not punishing criminals and not investigating their crimes are completely different issues. From the perspective of the police, or from the perspective of investigators, not punishing criminals is a risky behavior that causes a lot of guilt.

“But not investigating criminals is a completely different issue. In fact, there’s almost no guilt associated with that.”

“Not investigating?”

“There are many excuses.”

They’re busy, or the suspect doesn’t seem like the type to commit such a crime.

“Releasing a criminal is the same in the end, but the psychological impact on the person is completely different.”

It’s hard to kill someone directly when they are dying, but it’s relatively easy to neglect them.

“They usually don’t do that, right?”

“Usually, that’s right. But human emotions eventually wear out.”

“Huh?”

Jeong Iyeon didn’t seem to understand, so Park Dojun explained it more simply.

“You will experience someone’s death as you live, but not that many times.”

It will be family or friends, and it will be heartbreaking enough, but it won’t be hundreds of cases.

“But imagine your job is a doctor, especially a doctor working in a place like the emergency room. Then you will see more than two deaths a day. In that situation, how will your perception of death change?”

“I guess so. A nonchalant… kind of feeling?”

“That’s right.”

Emotions about death and people who are sad about it wear out, and it becomes just a job, so they just work mechanically.

“And that’s inevitable, and it’s not even a bad thing.”

If an emergency room doctor, who holds the lives of dozens of people in their hands every day, is shaken by the sadness of others, more people will die.

“There are some lawyers who look at the other person very mechanically.”

“Ah, there are people like that. It’s not for me by nature.”

“That person wasn’t like that from the beginning.”

Most of the people who hire lawyers are eventually perpetrators. Especially if you specialize in criminal law, most of your clients will be like that.

They feel guilty about defending perpetrators, and sometimes they are attacked by the anger of the victims.

“Kim & Kim [a fictional large law firm] is famous for protecting extremely bad people. But would those people’s consciences be intact?”

“Ah… I guess so?”

“That’s right.”

Kim & Kim is a large law firm that is notorious among the police, or rather, among the entire nation, because they hardly ever accept cases from the victim’s side.

To be exact, they don’t accept cases that don’t make money, and victim cases usually don’t generate much revenue.

They represent serial killers, large corporations that cause accidents, or entities that create anti-social problems.

In the past, they even defended Japan in the Japanese military sexual slavery case [comfort women case during World War II].

“If you continue to do criminal work, people’s emotions and conscience will wear out, and they start to rationalize their actions.”

When they lived a normal life, they thought, ‘How can they do such a thing?’ But as their emotions wear out, they start to think, ‘Other guys are committing murder or fraud of hundreds of billions of won [Korean currency], so this is nothing…'”

“Most people who work in legal affairs gradually become corrupt while doing this.”

It’s not difficult for such people to subtly divert their attention away from an investigation.

“Furthermore, Kim Dogun is a waiter at a bar. From a social point of view, his status is the lowest in society. In other words, he’s a person who can’t resist.”

“Didn’t you say he was a college student? He said he was going back to school?”

“That’s right, but there are many college students. Very few of them work in bars.”

This is because waiters who know about prostitution crackdowns but don’t report them are also punished.

Of course, no one wants to have a criminal record before they even start their social life.

“Maybe he didn’t tell us in detail, but his family is probably quite poor. It’s likely that it’s not just a matter of running a store.”

“I guess so?”

“That’s right. And you said he used a public defender at the beginning of this case? Why would a person with parents use a public defender?”

“Ah! I guess so.”

If it were a normal family, the parents would have taken out a loan and hired a private lawyer. But the fact that they couldn’t hire a lawyer even when he was already in prison means that the family doesn’t have much economic power. No, it’s not just a matter of power, but it means that even meeting basic living expenses is difficult.

“Ah, I didn’t think about that.”

“And Kim Dogun said he dated Imyeon because he was lonely, right?”

“He did.”

“Usually, those people are psychologically lonely. In cases where they are not psychologically empty, they don’t usually date people from that industry.”

“Hmm… I guess so?”

Dating is mostly considered to be on the premise of marriage in Korean culture. Of course, the times have changed, so that’s less common now, but people still often think, ‘What would it be like to marry this person?’