My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 141

“But Park Geo-seok doesn’t know that. Or, more accurately, he lacks the awareness to understand when pressure is being applied.”

Moreover, with an investigation underway, he feels trapped and unable to act.

“In that situation, people naturally want to cover their tracks.”

“Ah!”

“First, he’ll likely try to embezzle the money. It’s a natural human instinct to want to distance oneself from a dangerous situation for self-preservation.”

“Do you think he really will?”

“Because his relationships aren’t built on trust. And by now, he’s probably heard something from a corrupt officer.”

“Pardon?”

“He won’t be acting solely on your information, surely.”

Of course, any establishment like that would have a police contact managing it. While they wouldn’t know the specifics of the case since they’re not directly involved, they could find out if the case is being reinvestigated.

“Shin Cheol-gwang probably pressured them to reopen the case.”

Most likely, the investigation will now proceed discreetly.

“Quietly?”

“It has to be. They’ll need to quickly cut off any external contact to control the flow of information.”

That’s the best course of action for the police. It prevents them from getting caught up in unwanted attention and potential scandal.

“This is a surprisingly serious issue.”

“Why is it serious?”

“If they accidentally conducted a wrongful investigation, the police compensate based on the minimum wage.”

In simple terms, if someone was wrongly jailed for a year, the compensation would only be the minimum wage calculated for 8 hours a day for that year.

In reality, there’s virtually no real compensation for the damages suffered.

“But if there’s malicious intent, many people get hurt.”

“Ah!”

Naturally, they have to investigate quietly to conceal any malicious intent and prevent problems from surfacing.

“They’re probably investigating now, but they won’t tell Park Geo-seok directly.”

Otherwise, he might gather evidence of being threatened for money.

“And he’s being led right back to the crime scene he committed.”

Park Do-joon followed Park Geo-seok’s car, and before long, Park Geo-seok arrived at what looked like a respectable officetel [a multi-purpose building, often used for both residential and commercial purposes].

“Good security and a high-rise officetel. Definitely deters unwanted visitors.”

It’s much safer than a run-down villa. Plus, it’s easy to get around by taxi.

“But how do we raid that place?”

“Why would we raid it?”

Park Do-joon chuckled.

“Just wait.”

Park Do-joon set up the camera and waited. Soon, Park Geo-seok came out, pulling a large carrier. He took the carrier to another villa.

Park Geo-seok went into that villa and came out after a while, and his demeanor was noticeably different.

“Do you see any difference?”

“Yes, he was pulling a carrier earlier, but now he looks lighter.”

“He’s probably moving the money first. And right now, Park Geo-seok is a prime suspect in a murder investigation.”

As Park Do-joon said that, he picked up the phone.

“Hello? This is the police, right? A man just went inside with a large carrier. I think there’s a body in it. Yes, I heard a woman’s scream inside, and then he went in with a large carrier. The address is….”

***

Following Park Do-joon’s report, the police raided the house.

Given that he was already suspected of murder, and there was a scream from inside the house he was in, and he carried a large carrier inside, there was no reason to hesitate.

At least, this situation warranted an emergency dispatch, and a warrant wasn’t necessary.

“Police! Open the door!”

The police immediately dispatched to the scene and kept knocking on the door. But there was no response from inside. In fact, it would be impossible to respond.

From Park Geo-seok’s perspective, if the police came in, his enormous hidden wealth would be at risk.

Moreover, he had brought the money from the murder scene to move it to another hiding place.

That day, he had planned to seduce Lee Mi-yeon with the money he brought. He thought that if he showed her this amount, most women would throw away their pride and cling to him.

But Lee Mi-yeon told him not to do anything foolish. Park Geo-seok lost his temper at those words and committed murder.

At first, he thought about cleaning up the place, but he thought it would be suspicious if he moved rashly, so he left it as it was, which was a mistake.

If this place was raided, he would lose his entire fortune. So Park Geo-seok locked the door and desperately hoped the police would leave.

However, the problem was that the police hadn’t come just because of a disturbance.

Before, they might have taken some money and left, but now they couldn’t do that.

“Is this a murder scene?”

“Hurry up and film it.”

Park Do-joon knew that Park Geo-seok was manipulating the police with money. So he knew that would happen this time too.

So he contacted not only the police but also other places.

“How did the reporters find out?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the reporter contacted the reporters too?”

“Tsk!”

With several reporters holding cameras and watching every move behind the police, there was nothing they could do.

“Open the door!”

But the door didn’t open. Seeing that, the police frowned.

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? Break it down!”

If they just left and someone really died inside, it wouldn’t end with just one or two heads rolling. There was actually such a case, and the commissioner general was fired because of that case, and heads rolled down the line.

Moreover, there were no reporters at the scene at that time, but now there were reporters.

‘I’d rather get cursed and pay for the door repair if it’s a misunderstanding.’

If it wasn’t a misunderstanding, everyone’s careers were at stake, so they had no choice but to break down the door.

“Huh? There’s nothing to break the door with.”

It wasn’t a wooden door, and they couldn’t break down a modern steel door with their feet.

“Then call a locksmith from around here, you bastard.”

At the roar to his junior, the junior quietly picked up the phone and searched. Soon, the locksmith arrived, broke the lock with a drill, and opened the door.

“Police!”

“Damn it, don’t come in! Who told you to come in!”

Park Geo-seok desperately tried to stop them with his body, but rather, that action made the police suspicious.

“Emergency report!”

“What emergency report after breaking down the door! Get out! Won’t you leave? I’ll call the police!”

“We are the police.”

They pushed Park Geo-seok and went inside. And what they saw was an enormous amount of cash.

“What is this?”

There was no body, but the room was full of cash. From 50,000 won bills to 10,000 won bills. The police widened their eyes as they looked at the boxes full of bills.

“This… must be at least 5 billion won [approximately $3.7 million USD]?”

“5 billion? Hey. It’s four times that. Where did this bastard get this money?”

The police looked at him in disbelief. And Park Geo-seok’s face turned pale as he looked at the police.

***

With such a large amount of money found, Park Geo-seok had no choice but to be investigated. Naturally, Park Geo-seok began to struggle to resolve the situation. The problem was that the struggle was too obvious.

“Hey! Do you think I’ll go down alone!”

Naturally, he began to threaten the surrounding police officers. He shouted at the prosecutors and police officers who had received bribes from him, demanding that they cover up the case. But it wasn’t that they didn’t want to cover up the case.

“No, how can we cover up this situation?”

It was impossible to cover it up in a situation where information had already leaked to the media. But Park Geo-seok didn’t care about that.

“I don’t know, just cover it up!”

Naturally, he screamed desperately.

“If you don’t cover it up, we’ll all die together! Do you understand what I mean!”

Park Geo-seok shouted. And the police frowned as they looked at Park Geo-seok.

“Chief, what should we do? I don’t think that bastard will stay silent.”

“Damn it, why did that money have to turn up there?”

“Well, isn’t it common for bar owners to skim profits?”

“That’s true… Tsk!”

The police’s concerns deepened because there were more than one or two people who had taken money. In that situation, the chief gave a direction.

“What are you all worried about?”

“Ah, Chief?”

“Is it because of Park Geo-seok?”

“Huh? That’s….”

“Prevent that bastard from talking. That’s all you have to do, right?”

“Pardon?”

“You said there’s something to tie that bastard to the murder case, right?”

“That’s true… No, that’s just a suspicious situation.”

It was just a suspicious situation, and there was no concrete evidence or testimony. But the chief was desperate. Most of the police here had taken money, but the chief must have taken the most money.

“Haven’t you all done this before? Dig deeper. Call the National Forensic Service [South Korea’s primary forensic science agency] there too.”

“What will come out of there?”

“Something might come out. Who knows?”

It was a small expectation. They nodded at that expectation. And that wasn’t a wrong expectation.

***

“The victim’s DNA came out?”

The team leader doubted his ears. Didn’t the incident happen a long time ago? But the DNA came out of there?

As the victim’s genetic evidence surfaced at the scene, the case began to pick up speed.

“Yes, Lee Mi-yeon’s DNA was found in the house where the money was taken out.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s not just certain, but there’s also corroborating evidence. You know the carrier that was examined that day? Lee Mi-yeon’s DNA came out of there.”

“Really?”

“It seems they always kept the carrier there for the purpose of moving money.”

But after killing her that day, they used the carrier to dispose of the body.

There’s almost no chance that a person’s DNA would get into a carrier unless they were transported in it, so as a result, they must have put Lee Mi-yeon in it and disposed of her.

“Then this case is over now, right?”

“That’s right.”

Kim Do-goon will now be released, and Park Geo-seok will definitely be held responsible for Lee Mi-yeon’s murder.

“And Park Geo-seok is currently in jail.”

“Then it’s impossible to connect him to Shin Cheol-gwang, right?”

The team leader said, realizing it. Of course, the primary goal was to clear Kim Do-goon’s name, but a secondary goal was to expose Shin Cheol-gwang’s corruption.

But it’s impossible to tie him to Shin Cheol-gwang now.

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ve enlisted a reporter’s help in case of this.”

“A reporter? No, can you just get a meeting simply because a reporter asks?”

The team leader tilted his head at Park Do-joon’s words. Park Do-joon chuckled at the team leader’s words.

“Do you need hard evidence or an official interview?”

“Huh?”

“The Korean media is protected by the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of the press.”

“So?”

“There’s a common saying, ‘according to a reliable source,’ right?”

“Ah!”

“Yes, just that phrase, ‘according to a reliable source,’ is often enough to start an investigation.”