My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 148

“But the only difference from other artists is that he succeeded.”

“Well, the essence is the act of painting.”

“That’s right. It’s ambiguous to classify someone as ‘intelligent’ in Korea.”

In the end, whether a nameless artist or a famous artist, the essence is the same: an artist. He’s just classified as intelligent because he’s more famous.

But if you classify based on that, the profile target completely changes.

“Hmm… well, profiling needs some terminology clarification. There are many ambiguous cases because it’s brought from overseas.”

“Yes, and the ‘intellectual class’ part is also ambiguous.”

Generally, the social intellectual class is like that. If someone knows a lot about law or medicine, they are generally called an intellectual.

But what about areas like popular art? If someone knows a lot about that, would they be classified as an intellectual?

Even if there’s a popular art expert who has made dozens of singers successful, it’s hard to classify them as an intellectual.

“It’s ambiguous. Well, it’s also a matter of whether it’s standardized or not….”

“It’s ambiguous. The important thing is that this magic circle is intelligent but also not intelligent at the same time.”

“Intelligent but not intelligent….”

The team leader couldn’t understand the meaning. Park Do-joon explained it more easily to him.

“Perhaps the culprit is not a socially recognized intellectual. But at least in the area where this magic circle… no, where these magic circles come from, they must have a variety of knowledge.”

“But where does this area of magic circles come from? Currently, no common religion uses magic circles.”

The team leader asked, as if he couldn’t understand Park Do-joon’s words. Well, no existing religion uses magic circles like that.

“I said the area where magic circles come from, not the religion where magic circles come from.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t I tell you before? Magic circles are definitely used in the realm of creation.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the team leader could only stare at him as if he was shocked.

“Creation? You mean like comics?”

“Yes, specifically, it would be Japanese manga.”

The team leader had a strange expression at Park Do-joon’s words.

Then he said, as if it was absurd.

“Manga? How do you explain that to the other detectives?”

“That’s the problem.”

Park Do-joon scratched his head at the difficult problem.

***

“What nonsense are you talking about? Japanese manga?”

Back at the investigation headquarters, the explanation began again with the investigators gathered. But this time, the investigators’ faces seemed to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Still, what could he do? He had to explain.

“First of all, there are almost no magic circle forms in Korean manga.”

In Korea, after transitioning to the webtoon format, daily life cartoons have long been the trend.

The amount of fantasy is ridiculously small, and even within that, detailed expressions of magic circles are omitted.

Of course, it’s natural because drawing a proper magic circle takes a tremendous amount of effort.

“On the other hand, fantasy occupies a significant portion of Japanese manga, so there are quite a few magic circles. In fact, I heard that there are even books in Japan that teach you how to draw magic circles.”

“Have you ever seen one?”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t. It’s not a product released in Korea.”

To be exact, it was selling pre-drawn magic circle designs using a memory card included with the book.

Even in Japan, it still takes time to draw magic circles.

“If you download and paste those designs, you can save time.”

After all, people don’t really look at magic circles properly. And even just pasting them in makes the details come alive.

“Whether the other party borrowed from there or copied from existing manga, they are likely to have a considerable interest in Japanese manga.”

Considering the detailed characteristics of magic circles that are hard to see in Korea, the possibility is even greater.

“So, this victim is just a simple victim?”

“Yes, the culprit probably made these preparations to divert the police’s attention before killing someone.”

“What bullshit are you saying, really?”

“This is ridiculous.”

The investigators who heard Park Do-joon’s words were angry with absurd faces. Well, it’s a profiling that doesn’t make sense in terms of common sense.

‘But common sense is only based on the average person.’

But what they don’t know is that ordinary people created that ‘common sense.’ But can you expect common sense from a criminal who kills people, especially a criminal who kills other people to hide their crimes?

“Here’s what I think. The culprit is likely to be a healthy man in his 20s or 30s. He’s likely to be in the real estate industry, and he’s likely to have a strong interest in Japanese magic genres, especially isekai manga [a subgenre of Japanese fantasy fiction]. From a social point of view, he’ll have strong antisocial tendencies and a lifestyle that doesn’t fit into society.”

As Park Do-joon explained, everyone’s expression became more and more absurd, but his explanation continued.

“He’s smart, but rather than being recognized as good at studying socially, he’s the type of smart that has good creativity. He’ll have a low ability to empathize, and he’s likely to have a very strong dissatisfaction with his current reality. Ultimately, the target is likely to be family, and the target is likely to have considerable wealth.”

“No, why do you think so? It’s good that it’s detailed, but it’s too absurdly detailed?”

“First of all, I think you understood enough about the magic circle part, so I’ll skip it. The age range is because the main consumer base of that genre is in that age range.”

The main consumer base for such manga is around 10s to 30s. There are also people in their 40s, but in fact, by the time they are in their 40s, they are busy with social life, so they don’t have much time to enjoy it even if they want to.

“What does it mean to have strong antisocial tendencies?”

“People are greatly influenced by what they see and learn. And there are many cases where they try to blame the outside for their shortcomings.”

“No, just because you watched some Japanese manga, you’re antisocial….”

“Hmph, if you buy Japanese stuff, you’re pro-Japanese… I guess that’s what you think.”

Park Do-joon sighed inwardly as he watched the sneering detectives.

‘They’re just sneering at the fragmentary things… Well, what can I expect?’

Unless the detectives are all profilers, it’s absurd to expect them to understand what he said all at once.

Profiling is in the realm of experts because it is so difficult.

“Everyone be quiet and listen? Or get out of here. If you want to drop out of the investigation, tell me. I’ll tell the chief myself.”

The team leader, who couldn’t stand it any longer, burst into anger. Well, as a first-generation profiler, he must have seen the police sneering like that more than once or twice.

“……”

Rank is gangster, and the other detectives couldn’t make a peep when he showed his displeasure. The team leader said to Park Do-joon when it became a little quieter.

“Continue.”

“Yes, the reason I said he has strong antisocial tendencies is not simply because he likes Japanese works. As I said repeatedly, this case chose the method of a devil worshiper to hide his murder. But in order to do that, he has to sacrifice someone who has nothing to do with him. But is that possible for an ordinary person?”

Of course not.

“Furthermore, according to this autopsy record, no hesitation marks were found on the victim’s body.”

Hesitation marks refer to wounds that occur when hesitating when killing or committing suicide, or when damaging a body.

The fact that it’s not there is an area that cannot be expressed simply by saying that the mind is cruel.

“You must have a low ability to empathize with the other person and have no minimal respect for the other person to be able to damage the body without hesitation.”

Liking Japanese manga or liking Japanese magic circles is a completely different issue from damaging the body.

“So, what, you mean he’s on the sociopath or psychopath side?”

“Yes, based on the current situation, it seems likely that he is a sociopath.”

“Why?”

“Psychopaths can’t feel the emotions of others. In murders committed by psychopaths, the purpose is not clearly visible. Of course. Murder itself is the purpose for them. But based on the profile of the current murder, a purpose other than murder is clearly visible. A plan to get out of the suspect list. Killing with a purpose is more in line with the tendencies of a sociopath than a psychopath.”

The investigators nodded as if they understood to some extent at those words. Certainly, psychopaths’ murders tend to be more impulsive than systematic.

“But what does it mean to have good creativity? Does that mean he’s smart?”

Someone raised their hand and asked, perhaps because Park Do-joon’s words were now being taken more seriously.

“No. He probably isn’t good at studying itself. Having good creativity and being good at studying are different areas. This part must be investigated separately.”

The detectives had puzzled expressions at Park Do-joon’s words. Well, in Korea, they think you have to be good at studying to be smart, but they don’t think having good creativity means you’re smart.

But being smart means being fast at performing a set routine, not being good at developing a new routine. That’s why Park Do-joon added a sufficient explanation.

“It’s not just one or two people who have seen works with magic circles. In the first place, everyone has been watching such manga since they were young. But no one thought of connecting it to devil worship to hide the murder. But the culprit did. With this, he thought he had a good idea and was brilliant.”

“Certainly…….”

The investigators nodded at those words.

“I understand the words that he has antisocial tendencies or lacks empathy, but what does it mean that the person he’s targeting is likely to be family?”

“He’s taking the time to prepare for the crime. In fact, killing a third party and giving confusion to the investigation in a completely different way means that the purpose is different in some ways.”

“What do you mean?”

“The purpose is not murder.”

“Not murder?”

“Yes.”

Two people have already died. But the purpose is not murder? It was nonsense. But Park Do-joon calmly explained it to them.

“The purpose of murder and the process are completely different conclusions.”

“Please explain it a little easier.”

“If the purpose is to kill the target, there’s no reason to bother creating something like a devil worshiper.”

You can just kill the other person, bury them somewhere, or throw them into the sea, and then report them missing.

In fact, there are quite a few such cases. Even if you report a missing person, the police rarely investigate the missing person, so after 5 years, you can naturally report the death.