My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 173

“It’s probably a free show.”

“Ah!”

Not all performances charge money. For local events, there are quite a few free performances. Of course, the organizers provide the funding, but the audience gets to watch for free.

“Are you saying Jang O-gi happened to see one of those performances?”

“Yes, and those kinds of performances are rarer than you think.”

“Free performances are rare? I thought there were quite a few.”

“That’s only really true in Seoul. Most cultural facilities are concentrated there. And what I mean by those kinds of performances being rare isn’t just free performances, but that there aren’t any performances that match his level.”

“Level?”

“Jang Jin-woo is a top star who has released five albums. Booking him isn’t cheap.”

You can’t bring in a top star who caused a sensation for just a few million won [roughly equivalent to a few thousand US dollars]. You’d have to give him tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of won [tens or hundreds of thousands of US dollars]. Realistically, how many local events can allocate that much of their budget to a guest singer?

“I saw before that there are 700 festivals nationwide.”

But most of those festivals are just neighborhood festivals, and the number of festivals that can afford to bring in guest singers costing tens of millions of won is extremely limited.

“And free events are rare among those festivals.”

Because there’s money involved.

“I guess so.”

“Fortunately, we have Jang Jin-woo’s schedule from that time.”

Park Do-joon opened it and started eliminating unlikely events, one by one.

At that time, Jang Jin-woo didn’t have many events himself. He was preparing his fifth album, so he reduced his appearances and was focusing on that.

So, organizing the schedule didn’t take long, and there was only one free performance among them.

“It doesn’t seem like there would be a reason to come all the way here just to see a performance, right?”

“Yeah, probably not. He wouldn’t have the mental余裕 [mental余裕, pronounced ‘yoyuu,’ refers to having enough mental space or余裕 to enjoy something like a performance].”

A performance is a kind of culture and leisure activity. Would a person go to see that performance when they don’t have the mental余裕?

There’s no reason to. Watching these performances isn’t a matter of money, but a matter of a person’s mindset.

“And actually, it’s not really free.”

All the costs of eating and drinking inside are much more expensive than usual at these events. It costs a lot just to go and see the performance.

Even if you just go to see the performance, it’s hard to even get close because there are so many people at these events.

“Then?”

“But if he worked there, it’s possible.”

“Ah, I guess so. These events would need a lot of people.”

“That’s right.”

Of course, they wouldn’t use contract workers for people they’d only use for a few days; they’d use day laborers.

“Jang O-gi is a bit old. He probably doesn’t have the stamina to do typical day labor, what they call ‘Nogada’ [Nogada refers to unskilled construction labor].”

Moreover, he used to be a successful CEO. Of course, he’s never done that kind of construction site day labor.

People who have done it know, but it requires a lot of stamina. The people who keep doing it have the stamina and know-how to do it, but if you’re old and suddenly go to work on a site, you’ll end up groaning for three days after working one day.

“There are jobs that even older people can do, like cleaning, tidying up, or patrolling.”

Jang O-gi probably saw Jang Jin-woo while working there. And he must have been blinded by anger.

“The cheers of the crowd, the spotlight, and the adoration of the people. Wouldn’t he have thought that all of that was once his?”

But he had fallen. If he thought Jang Jin-woo was the cause, his resentment would have exploded.

“So, you’re saying he’s hiding near there?”

“Probably. At least he was near there at that time.”

“But it’s still hard to track him down, right? If he committed murder, he would have fled, right?”

He’s not an idiot. If he committed murder, he would be scared and try to get away from the scene and hide from where he lived.

He doesn’t have a fixed lifestyle, and his life is day labor wherever he goes. It wouldn’t be difficult to clean up his surroundings and move on.

“It’s hard to track him down. But I told you, he’ll have a burner car [a car used for illegal activities and easily disposed of].”

He’ll have a burner car and drive it around.

“What are the characteristics of a burner car?”

“Everything is free.”

Even if he gets a ticket, even if he doesn’t pay the Hi-Pass toll [South Korea’s electronic toll collection system], the bill all goes back to the original owner. So, the guys who drive burner cars speed and break the law without hesitation.

“I don’t think there are many cars in this countryside that intentionally don’t pay the Hi-Pass toll.”

Park Do-joon smiled.

Park Do-joon requested the Hi-Pass records from that time. Fortunately, the highway corporation identified the suspicious vehicle in cooperation. Hi-Pass keeps tracking vehicles to get paid.

“○○가○○○○ vehicle, huh……”

“The schedule matches, and the period matches. Not only Hi-Pass but also a lot of speeding tickets.”

“As expected.”

The accumulated Hi-Pass fees are 2.3 million won [approximately $1,700 USD]. Speeding tickets are 3.2 million won [approximately $2,400 USD], and illegal parking tickets are 1.9 million won [approximately $1,400 USD].

You can see traces everywhere that he just drove it recklessly because he knew he wasn’t paying.

“And a guy like that wouldn’t suddenly obey the law.”

Of course, the vehicle was still passing through Hi-Pass without paying, and the most recent activity was in Gyeongsan, Jeollanam-do.

“Hide well. I see your hair.”

Park Do-joon smiled like that and glared at the vehicle in the picture.

Gyeongsan isn’t a small city just because it’s called Gyeongsan. No, rather, Gyeongsan is a big city. It just feels like a small city because Daegu is right next to it, but considering it’s a local area, it can’t be said to be a city with a quiet rural town.

“The murderer of Jang Jin-woo is here?”

Park Do-joon went down to Gyeongsan and requested cooperation from the local police.

“Yes, we suspect so for now.”

“No, when did Jang Jin-woo die……”

“It’s a cold case. But there’s no law that says it’ll be forever unsolved.”

At those words, the violent crimes unit chief swallowed hard. As Park Do-joon said, there’s no law that says an unsolved case will be forever unsolved. In fact, it’s been solved after decades.

Even the Hwaseong serial murder case, which was thought to be forever unsolved, wasn’t the culprit eventually caught?

However, that case wasn’t difficult, but rather the police were incompetent.

In fact, the culprit in the Hwaseong serial murder case was a suspect, but the police just let him go because he was someone they knew.

Instead, they caught an innocent person and tortured him. That was the biggest reason why the case remained unsolved.

“Ah…… um, are you sure?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Yes?”

“Profilers only grasp the direction. There is no certainty in the profiler’s dictionary.”

Jang O-gi’s actions and Jang O-gi’s personality, plus the grudge. It is highly likely that he committed murder, but that doesn’t mean he is 100% the murderer.

Humans kill just for overtaking a car.

You have to catch them and find out from their own mouths.

“I understand. But do you know where he is? Gyeongsan is definitely not a small city.”

Gyeongsan City is large and has many villages. No matter how relatively small it is, there are many places to hide.

“We have to find out now.”

At those words, the violent crimes unit team leader frowned.

“We don’t have time for that.”

If it was a criminal of that level, it would be good to deploy all forces to arrest him, but small cities tend to lack the police manpower to do so.

Rather, small rural areas have even less police manpower because the number of police officers is small as the city is small.

The problem is that the word small city means a small population, not a small area. Therefore, there is a shortage of personnel to patrol.

“Ah, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you have to run around with your whole body to solve it.”

“Then?”

“We have to do profiling. Do you have a map?”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the team leader nodded.

“Gather your team members. We’ll do profiling.”

After a while, Park Do-joon started profiling the detectives with a map.

“We brought people from the side that has room on the other side because there are not enough people.”

“Good job.”

Park Do-joon nodded. Next to him, Lee Ji-soo was looking at Park Do-joon with expectant eyes.

“It’s my first time doing something like this.”

“Everything will be your first time.”

Since these people are investigating based on the profiling they did, Lee Ji-soo naturally felt strange.

“Okay, let’s not get excited and move right away.”

Park Do-joon took a deep breath and started explaining the situation to the people.

“First of all, Jang O-gi is a suspect in the murder of Jang Jin-woo. He is Jang Jin-woo’s great-uncle, has a history of threatening him as a child, and has a history of leaving Jang Jin-woo’s younger sister, Jang So-young, in an orphanage. His personality is extremely selfish and he has a great obsession with money.”

That’s how the profiling started. And the police started writing it down. Park Do-joon continued to talk while looking at the people.

“Jang O-gi is probably hiding in the city center. According to the current investigation, his vehicle is a van suspected of being a burner car. The vehicle number is ○○가○○○○. He will probably be wandering around motels and staying on the outskirts rather than in the downtown area.”

One of the investigators who was listening raised his hand.

“Why do you think so?”

‘I was wondering why this question didn’t come out.’

He’s not saying anything to him. It’s because people who don’t know won’t understand.

And Park Do-joon thinks it’s good to ask those questions. Some profilers talk nonsense that they doubt their authority or are annoyed, but if you learn even a little like this, it will help you investigate without a profiler later.

“First of all, it’s because of the parking violation tickets that his vehicle was taken in the past.”

“He’s going around this area and that area, right? Then he might get caught, right?”

“If that’s the case, there would be more speeding tickets. Parking tickets mean that he has been parked there for a considerable period of time.”

“But well, there are many cases where you get caught in a place you’re going to for the first time……”

“The important thing is not the existence of the parking ticket, but the time it was taken.”

“Time?”

Everyone didn’t understand the words that the time stamped on it was important, not whether there was a ticket or not.

“The time the ticket was issued is 8:39 p.m. It’s after work. As I said before, Jang O-gi is wandering around here in Gyeongsan. Looking at the past records, it is unlikely that he has an acquaintance here.”

Even if he does, he’ll avoid it. Because it’s embarrassing.

“In other words, it is unlikely that he will come out at that time. Considering that, this will be his break time.”

In other words, he has a place to stay somewhere and is resting there. And most of the people who work while moving like this tend to get a monthly room (a room where you pay money in advance every month) while working.

“But still, there are spaces like Goshiwon [small, inexpensive rooms often used by students or those on a tight budget], right?”

Park Do-joon nodded at those words. Certainly, it’s not that there aren’t such spaces.

“But that’s only when there’s no space. Goshiwon is the second best.”

“Why?”

“First of all, it’s the existence of the parking violation ticket as I just mentioned. If he was often caught, it is highly likely that it is a Goshiwon. But he has rarely been caught often in that neighborhood. Secondly, there are very few Goshiwons that operate parking lots. Even if there is, it is very narrow.”