My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 174

Of course. Most people living in *goshiwons* [small, inexpensive rooms often rented by students or those on a tight budget] don’t have much money, so they can’t afford a car.

Having enough money to buy a car is almost the same as having the deposit for a small studio apartment.

“And the illegal parking tickets were mainly issued on weekends. The fact that the vehicle is illegally parked on weekends suggests that someone is trying to secure a spot every weekend. Do you know why suddenly more people are occupying the parking lot from the afternoon?”

“Ah… visiting hours!”

Someone shouted. There are several military units in this area.

“That’s right. People coming for visiting hours are likely to take up the motel parking lot first.”

When families come to visit, they often rent a motel to spend time together.

“In fact, the dates when parking tickets were issued are mainly Saturdays. Generally, when they come for visiting hours, they arrive on Saturday, spend the day together, and then leave on Sunday.”

And when families visit, they tend to go to their accommodations relatively quickly. They aren’t likely to spend the day at a movie theater or PC [internet] cafe.

The usual pattern is to book a room and catch up on missed stories.

Naturally, on such weekends, even when Jang O-gi returns after work, he finds the parking lot full.

“Then the reason why tickets are mainly issued on Saturdays is explained.”

“Oh!”

“It can be interpreted like this!”

The police officers chattered to each other, amazed. They seemed to know he was around because of the parking tickets, but they never thought of tracking down his hiding place based on the timing.

“Furthermore, Jang O-gi was once a wealthy person. In other words, he is used to living comfortably.”

In a *goshiwon*, you have to do everything yourself – your own laundry and cleaning.

“But not in a motel. Of course, you still have to do your own laundry.”

Motels provide fresh towels and clean the room. The space is incomparably larger than a *goshiwon*. And there are many laundromats around these days, making it easy to wash clothes all at once.

“He will prefer a motel to a *goshiwon*.”

“This might be easier than we thought?”

The number of motels isn’t so large that they can’t be tracked down. Moreover, since he tore off the ticket, he likely ate meals nearby, narrowing down the possibilities even further.

“First, limit the search time to before 5:00 PM from Monday to Friday.”

“Yes? Why?”

“If you encounter him by chance while searching at night, he might run away.”

However, if you visit the motels during work hours and ask the owners to identify him, you can completely block his escape route.

“Let’s move right away.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the police officers jumped up from their seats.

There was no reason not to take advantage of the ready-made results.

The search ended quickly. In just three hours, they found the motel where he was hiding.

“It’s absurd. Is this really a case that has been cold for several years?”

“That’s right. This is the power of profiling.”

If you set the direction properly, the investigation can proceed smoothly. Of course, if you set the direction wrong, you’ll be digging in the wrong place.

“So, you should learn well, too.”

“Yes, Senior!”

Lee Ji-soo’s eyes sparkled at Park Do-joon’s words. It was a strange feeling to see the person she had dreamed of emulating while learning profiling right in front of her.

“I think it’s about time to come……”

Park Do-joon glanced at the entrance. At that moment, an old van was slowly approaching from afar.

“○○가○○○○, that’s right. Everyone, stand by.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the police officers became as quiet as mice.

“Let’s go. It’s your first case, so you have to decorate the finale.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Park Do-joon took Lee Ji-soo and slowly headed to the motel. From the beginning, there was no plan to catch him outside. If they tried to catch him on the main street, he would naturally run away. When he parked the car and went inside, Park Do-joon followed him. And there, he caught Jang O-gi, who was about to take the elevator.

“Mr. Jang O-gi?”

At the same time, the police officer hiding inside suddenly appeared and blocked the other escape route.

“Yes?”

Jang O-gi looked at Park Do-joon with wary eyes at the sound of someone calling him. At that moment, the called elevator arrived.

With a ding, the door opened and two burly men came out.

The police blocked all three directions.

“We are the police. We have something to investigate regarding the Jang Jin-woo murder case. Please come with us.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Jang O-gi frowned.

“I don’t want to?”

“You don’t want to?”

“I know my rights, too! It’s not a voluntary escort! I can refuse a voluntary escort!”

Jang O-gi resisted roughly, rolling his eyes. Watching Jang O-gi like that, Park Do-joon took out handcuffs.

“Well, then there’s no choice. I’ll arrest you urgently.”

“You don’t think he’ll open his mouth?”

Lee Ji-soo said, looking at the room where Jang O-gi was locked up.

“He probably won’t. He’s probably thinking that he’ll be released in 24 hours anyway.”

Perhaps because he had experience running a company, Jang O-gi was quick-witted. As soon as the story of murder came out, he called a lawyer and kept his mouth shut.

“24 hours…… no, it’s been two hours now, so there are 22 hours left. But how do we prove the crime within that time?”

Clearly, he will disappear as soon as he gets out. Now that he knows that he has been identified as a suspect, he will try to hide even deeper, so tracking him will not be easy.

“Moreover, it won’t be easy to pressure him because he even has a lawyer?”

The lawyer told Jang O-gi to exercise his right to remain silent unconditionally. Then he will be released after 24 hours, and then he will defend himself.

“It’s an efficient method.”

Even if the lawyer doesn’t work, he will eventually have to be released. Investigations into the vehicle are already underway, but realistically, there is little chance that evidence will come out of it. First of all, too many people used it.

Jang O-gi didn’t just work. He traveled around the countryside, transporting workers from rural areas in a van, and also worked there, so he was able to save a considerable amount of money.

Thanks to that, the number of people who used the vehicle was easily over several thousand. Due to the nature of the countryside, it was full of dust and dirt, so he often cleaned the interior, making it realistically impossible to find evidence.

“If we contact a large company, won’t they assign someone to us?”

“No, they won’t assign anyone. It’s not even worth it.”

Of course, it is true that he owes them a huge amount of money, but from the perspective of a large company, they know that they won’t be able to get that money even if he earns it for the rest of his life, so there is no reason to assign someone to monitor him.

“I don’t think he will ever admit his crime…….”

Lee Ji-soo bit her lip, feeling insecure at the thought that it would be impossible to prove the crime even after coming this far.

“Since it’s a simple murder, there probably won’t be any trophies or anything like that.”

Lee Ji-soo felt a sense of disconnect between what she had learned and reality.

“Everyone experiences it once. No matter how well you learn at school, your head turns white the moment you see a criminal. What is that guy thinking? Will his predictions be correct? What if he’s wrong? Those kinds of thoughts.”

Park Do-joon said, watching Jang O-gi, who was keeping his mouth shut and even closing his eyes, from across the screen.

“But Jang O-gi is the culprit.”

Tightly closed lips, closed eyes, and a posture that is more upright than necessary.

“If he weren’t the culprit, there would be no reason to take such a posture.”

If he were wronged, he would protest harshly or get angry by suing through a lawyer. But he is not reacting that way.

“That posture of not reacting to external stimuli means, conversely, that there is something big inside that shouldn’t be caught. He chose not to react at all in preparation for any possible mistakes.”

In other words, he is indeed a murderer, but he wants to hide it.

“What do you think is the last puzzle that can solve it?”

“Yes? The last puzzle?”

“Yes, there is a last puzzle in this case, and we haven’t solved it yet.”

“What is it?”

“Why was Jang Jin-woo caught by Jang O-gi?”

“Ah!”

Jang O-gi clearly caught Jang Jin-woo, dragged him away, and murdered him. That is almost certain.

But no one knows how Jang O-gi lured Jang Jin-woo out.

“Jang Jin-woo hates Jang O-gi terribly. He hates even his name so much that he calls him ‘that human.’ But he met Jang O-gi. Why would he do that?”

“Um, well? Now that you mention it, I don’t understand?”

There is no reason to meet. Jang Jin-woo hates him so much that he didn’t even file a lawsuit related to money. Such a person comes out to meet Jang O-gi in person?

It doesn’t make sense.

“We already know.”

Park Do-joon chuckled, took out a document, and shook it.

“Being good at deception is also a profiler’s ability. Watch and learn.”

Park Do-joon smiled. Then he slowly headed to the room where Jang O-gi was, sat across from him, and said leisurely, “Mr. Jang O-gi, let’s stop now.”

“…….”

“Aren’t you curious how we caught you?”

“…….”

“Well, it doesn’t matter what you say; it’s impossible to escape from sin anyway.”

“…….”

Jang O-gi, of course, kept his mouth shut without saying anything.

“We already know that you lured Jang Jin-woo out with his belongings. Do you think we wouldn’t know?”

At those words, Jang O-gi’s eyes, which had been still, suddenly widened. As if ignoring all the efforts he had made to avoid reacting until now, his eyes widened uncontrollably and were shaking.

“Didn’t you get Jang Jin-woo’s phone number through a private detective agency and then lure him out by saying you wanted to sell his belongings?”

“…….”

“And then you attacked him and disguised it as a suicide. Isn’t that right?”

“…….”

“What will change even if you keep your mouth shut when there is evidence?”

Park Do-joon said with a sneer.

“You probably saw Jang Jin-woo by chance at the concert hall and were filled with anger when you saw him doing well. So you told Jang Jin-woo that you wanted to sell his belongings, but you said that you wanted to meet quietly because a large company was tracking you. Jang Jin-woo would have had no choice but to come out at those words. At that time, you attacked him, knocked him unconscious, dragged him to the mountain, and murdered him, right? Isn’t that right? Am I wrong?”

“H, how did you……!”

At the very accurate point, Jang O-gi’s mouth opened without him realizing it. But it was already after the mistake had come out of his mouth.

“How would I know? Because there are records from that time.”

“What?”

“Did you think the private detective agency you used would be so kind? Isn’t the cell phone you’re using also given to you by that private detective agency? Would they be so kind?”

Park Do-joon said with a smirk.

“That side was caught in another case and requested a plea bargain. On the condition of handing you over, they would reduce the sentence. Surely, even though the murder case was several years ago, you wouldn’t have been identified without a method, would you?”

At those words, Jang O-gi’s eyes rolled back.

“Damn it! Those dog-like bastards! I shouldn’t have trusted those bastards!”

“So you should have trusted someone trustworthy. Everything from your call history to how you lured him out is recorded. You’re not stupid. Did you think that the private detective agency wouldn’t be suspicious when you asked them to get the contact information of a top star like Jang Jin-woo? You’re so stupid…….”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Jang O-gi was filled with anger.

A Natural-Born Profiler