My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 137

Of course, having such thoughts would lead to seeking a weapon.

“And that was the belt.”

“Probably.”

“Do most profilers reach your level, senior?”

Jeong I-yeon was surprised by the surprisingly detailed prediction.

“Do you think so? I wish they would.”

Park Do-joon shrugged.

“So, let’s say Park Geo-seok committed the murder. Where would the evidence be?”

“First, get the related materials. You should get a rough idea from that.”

“Yes, senior. I’ll get them as soon as possible.”

Jeong I-yeon seemed impatient, shifting in her seat. Watching her, Park Do-joon chuckled to himself.

***

“There’s not much in the related materials. The only evidence submitted is Kim Do-gun’s belt, as you said, senior. It was submitted as evidence because the width is the same.”

“Most men’s belts don’t have much difference in width.”

But all that matters is getting an indictment; preventing it is the lawyer’s job.

“Yes, so I looked at the records, and the lawyer just wrote a letter of remorse to smooth things over.”

“Crazy bastard.”

It’s expected that a public defender wouldn’t work hard, but this crossed the line. It seems Kim Do-gun unknowingly submitted a letter of remorse at the suggestion of the lawyer.

A letter of remorse ultimately means admitting guilt. A women’s organization once told people to apologize unconditionally regardless of their opinion if they made a mistake, but that’s just suicide [figuratively, meaning self-destructive].

The moment you do that, the guilt is confirmed, and you can never reverse it afterward.

“He didn’t argue innocence or anything?”

“Not at all. Do you think he’d work properly for a few hundred thousand won [a small sum of money]? I asked my dad, and he said public defenders often try to turn those cases into private retainers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but if the other party has nothing, they just kill time and leave.”

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

Park Do-joon nodded, knowing that things wouldn’t change much in the future. Of course, the purpose of the public defender system is good. But regardless of the purpose, the structure of paying them just for taking cases leads to many public defenders who don’t work even after taking them, and even that money is ridiculously small.

In the first place, a regular defense costs at least 5 million won [a significant sum], but how can lawyers properly defend a case for only a few hundred thousand won?

“Anyway, it seems like this was treated as a discarded case. Looking at the records, there wasn’t even a gesture of reviewing the evidence.”

Moreover, the police claimed he committed the murder out of spite after breaking up, and he admitted that they had broken up, so he must have thought he couldn’t escape.

“Any special points?”

“Oh, Shin Cheol-gwang testified as a witness.”

“It’s quite unusual for a profiler to testify.”

Profilers usually just provide direction. A witness must prove the crime by their very existence, but a profiler’s testimony cannot be evidence.

Even if a profiler goes to court and testifies, ‘The perpetrator is a professional in their mid-30s,’ there are many such people in Korea, and it’s impossible to know if that judgment is based on the defendant on trial.

So, profilers rarely testify unless it’s a significant case. Maybe once or twice a year at best?

“That’s usually for serial killers or serious social crimes.”

Of course, this is murder, but considering the intensity and danger of the case, it wasn’t a dangerous enough case for a profiler to testify.

“It seems like my prediction was right.”

Shin Cheol-gwang, having received a hefty sum from Park Geo-seok, likely actively interfered in manipulating the case.

“Besides that, there’s nothing much. Or rather, it’s like they didn’t work at all?”

“Give it to me.”

Park Do-joon received the documents and read them through. Then, he clicked his tongue while looking at the records.

“They matched the form, but the most important part is missing.”

“What is it?”

“The murder location.”

The cause of the murder is specified as the breakup, but the murder location is not. It was stated that the murder took place in Kim Do-gyun’s studio apartment.

“It’s written that he moved the body in a car after the murder in the studio and dumped it in the mountains.”

And the evidence submitted was the victim’s DNA found in his room and the belt marks identical to the marks on the neck.

“There were no CCTVs [closed-circuit television cameras] on the way from the house to the car?”

“No.”

“Kim Do-gun said he was sleeping at home at that time.”

“Yes, so they think he committed the murder. If you look at the time, it’s when he should have been receiving customers.”

“They’re making the investigation easy.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue.

According to Kim Do-gun, he was beaten up at work. Would he want to go to work in that situation? From what I heard, he had bruises on his eyes at the time, so he couldn’t even work properly even if he went to work?

In fact, when he was first arrested, faint bruises remained on his face.

“Well, it’s true that there’s no way to prove his innocence in the current situation, senior.”

“Really?”

“But at the same time, there’s nothing to prove his guilt either.”

If neither innocence nor guilt can be proven, the law should presume innocence and sentence accordingly.

That’s called the principle of presumption of innocence. But in South Korea, the principle of presumption of innocence has virtually disappeared.

In court, the prosecutor confidently tells the person they accused to present evidence of their innocence.

“Since he said he was at home that day, there’s nothing to prove after all.”

Park Do-joon nodded as if it were obvious. Since he didn’t do anything at home, it’s natural that he can’t prove it.

“Then what should we do….”

“What do you mean? We have to think in reverse.”

“Think in reverse?”

“If we can’t find evidence of innocence, we can find evidence of guilt.”

“Ah! You mean evidence of Park Geo-seok?”

Park Do-joon nodded at Jeong I-yeon’s words. Sticking to something that can’t be proven won’t change anything.

“Of course, there are other ways. Seeing that he didn’t even make a minimal defense, either that public defender is really incompetent or doesn’t want to work at all.”

“Like what?”

“The victim’s phone. That record is missing.”

“Ah!”

The location of Kim Do-gun’s phone can prove that he was at home all day. But now the police are claiming he’s the murderer. So that itself will be a weakness.

“But then, of course, tracing the victim’s phone records would give us the answer.”

“If he didn’t kill her, then of course they wouldn’t overlap.”

“Exactly.”

If the murder location is different, the chances of getting out of the crime are very high.

“And on top of that, if the perpetrator is different, the profiling should be different too.”

“Hmm, then how would you profile if the perpetrator was Park Geo-seok, senior?”

“First, I’d have to specify the murder location.”

“Isn’t it his house?”

“I don’t think so.”

Of course, it’s almost certain that he committed the murder. But hiding the body is a completely different issue from committing the murder.

“The house he lives in is a luxury apartment. There are CCTVs installed from the elevator to the stairs.”

“That’s true.”

“If there was a murder there, you’d need some means to move the body.”

The most common thing is a large carrier. You’d put the body in it, move it, and dump it.

“But according to this autopsy record, there’s no damage to the muscles or joints. They didn’t find a carrier that big in his house after all.”

What’s important is that rigor mortis sets in slowly after death.

If the body was put in a carrier and dumped, the muscles would have hardened in a bizarre shape while confined in the carrier. To prevent that, you’d need a carrier that fits the size, but there was no carrier at the scene, and no evidence of buying a carrier was found.

“But if that’s the case, it’s different from what you said before, senior. You said he might be taking off his pants in a comfortable space?”

“Yes. To be exact, I said he might take off his pants for a specific purpose.”

“Then maybe a villa or something?”

Park Do-joon shook his head from side to side at that.

“It wouldn’t be a villa.”

“Yes? Why?”

“Lee Mi-yeon had no intention of dating Park Geo-seok. She wouldn’t carelessly go to a villa.”

If she went in Park Geo-seok’s car, it wouldn’t make sense to go and refuse, and if she drove herself, Lee Mi-yeon doesn’t have a car.

And if she took a taxi or something else, once she went in, there’s no way to get out once the taxi leaves, which is a practical problem.

“Then where would it be?”

“Probably a third place.”

“A third place?”

“Park Geo-seok probably has more than one house. To be exact, a house under someone else’s name.”

“Yes? Why?”

“Park Geo-seok makes a tremendous profit in this area every year. Of course, he’d evade taxes.”

Most prostitution is obviously done in cash. The problem is that if you put all that cash in the bank, the National Tax Service will quickly notice.

As a result, Park Geo-seok has to hide that money in other ways. But he can’t hide it in a space under his own name. He’d get caught quickly if he did.

“Ah, that’s right. You said the king of Seoul’s nightlife was caught for tax evasion.”

Of course, there’s a way to create and manage a borrowed-name account, but realistically, it’s really hard to manage a borrowed-name account.

“There’s also the issue of court rulings.”

In court, if the real owner of the borrowed-name account claims ownership of the money in that account, they actually recognize that person as the owner of the money.

Knowing that, a borrowed-name account isn’t a good choice for storing money long-term, except for short-term scams like voice phishing [a type of phone scam].

“Unless you’re someone who can have truly loyal people or someone with the power to retaliate against someone who swallows it up, there’s a limit to using borrowed-name accounts for long-term storage of money.”

Large companies have many people who pledge loyalty, and decisively, if someone takes that money, they can use the prosecution and the courts to retaliate against them until they commit suicide.

“So realistically, the safest way is to keep the money in cash at home.”

Buying buildings or land is obviously known to the National Tax Service, so there’s a high possibility they’ll dig into it, and buying gold requires confirming where the assets to buy that gold came from.

Buying a little bit every day also has its limits, so the best way is to have a safe in a separate space and pile it up there.

A Professional Profiler