My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 176

# A Guy Whose Brain Is Below the Belt

Woo Joo-hye. A famous actress representing Korea. A late bloomer, she isn’t strikingly beautiful but is known as an actress with a thousand faces.

Woo Joo-hye received a rookie award for her very first role and has been on a roll ever since. However, she also has her share of headaches.

“Stalking?”

“Yes.”

Woo Joo-hye spoke with a troubled expression.

“Of course, I know it’s unrealistic for a celebrity not to have a stalker. In some ways, I know it’s something we have to accept.”

Woo Joo-hye nodded.

“The problem is that this stalker can’t be punished or defended against.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s my advertiser. Well, it’s more accurate to say he’s *going* to be my advertiser.”

“Ah…”

It’s common for celebrities to be commissioned for advertisements. In fact, most of a celebrity’s income comes from events and advertisements, so they can’t ignore advertisers.

“But Ms. Woo Joo-hye, you must have quite a few advertisements already, right?”

“I have at least 30 right now.”

Jung Yi-yeon, who was next to her, nodded and said.

“We’re providing legal advice on that side, so I know better than anyone.”

“And there’s an advertiser causing problems…”

Park Do-joon thought about where Woo Joo-hye might have issues right now. And he answered immediately.

“Next World, I presume.”

At those words, Woo Joo-hye looked startled.

“How did you know that?”

“It’s simple. It’s not like Ms. Woo Joo-hye has only been working as an actress for a day or two.”

First of all, established companies aren’t usually the ones engaging in this kind of behavior. Of course, there are people who run the companies, but most of them are older and not the type to do something like stalking.

There might be young people working under them, but Woo Joo-hye and her agency, The One Entertainment, aren’t small companies, so they have the power to protest if a middle manager does something like stalking.

“Moreover, based on the last incident, your boss doesn’t seem like the type to tolerate unfair behavior.”

If it were a middle manager who was stalking and exerting pressure, they could just decline one advertisement.

“Nevertheless, the reason you’re worried is that it’s not an old company, and the person managing this isn’t a middle manager but the CEO himself.”

And Next World fits that description perfectly.

“It’s no secret that the CEO of Next World isn’t a good person.”

Next World. At first glance, it looks like an IT company. In fact, that’s how it’s registered with the government.

“But in reality, it’s a publicly recognized group of thieves.”

Next World is supposedly an IT company, but it’s actually a web storage service. Of course, most of the content uploaded there is illegally traded, completely ignoring copyright laws.

And Next World makes hundreds of billions of won every year through such de facto theft.

“Oh, sunbae [senior colleague or mentor], you know a lot?”

“When you work as a police officer, you can’t help but get involved.”

Because it’s a place where hundreds of billions of won worth of theft occurs every year. The problem is that the sales amount is hundreds of billions. If you convert that to damages, it would probably exceed trillions of won.

“Plus, Next World probably has about five web storage sites under it.”

“Seven, to be exact.”

Jung Yi-yeon nodded as if she knew for sure.

“And I also know that the CEO of Next World has been trying to legitimize the company these days.”

Strictly speaking, Next World grew through theft. Especially in Korea, there’s a strong atmosphere of disregarding copyright as much as China.

Most Koreans criticize China’s disregard for copyright, but in reality, Korea isn’t a country where copyright is well protected either.

“Sunbae, you know a lot?”

“There was a recent assault case too, right?”

“I know.”

“Yeah. So he got a lot of flak.”

Lee Don-joong, the CEO of Next World, was not a good person. From the outside, he looks like a successful IT entrepreneur, but in reality, he’s closer to someone who knows nothing about IT.

The form of all the web storage sites operated by Next World mostly involves hiring employees to apply existing sources, and he can’t develop or program himself.

In other words, he may be a good businessman personally, but he’s not an IT talent.

“That’s right. Sunbae might not know, but that guy poured a lot of money into getting into politics. Well, it’s ruined for the time being.”

His dream was to legitimize Next World and use the enormous amount of money as a basis to get into politics. He thought he could cover up any crime if he had power.

“Really?”

“Yes, but well, it’s ruined because of the last incident.”

Lee Don-joong was going along so well, but then he caused an employee assault incident. He lined up employees at the company and did what’s called ‘line beating’ [a form of physical punishment]. The reason was that sales had fallen by 10% compared to the previous month.

He beat both women and men, and there was even a pregnant woman among them.

An employee who was prepared to write a resignation letter secretly installed a camera and filmed it, then spread it on the internet.

“Well, I did some investigation afterward. He’s a gangster.”

“Seeing him do that, he does seem like a gangster.”

Jung Yi-yeon nodded in agreement, and Park Do-joon shook his head slightly.

“No, not like that, he’s really from a gangster background. To be exact, he’s from an organized crime group.”

Jung Yi-yeon frowned at those words. She didn’t seem to know. Seeing her expression, Park Do-joon gave her an additional explanation.

“It’s no joke. Next World hit the jackpot in the process of becoming legitimate, but the core members and executives are still gangsters.”

Lee Don-joong was famous as a bully since he was in school, and even in college, he took his gangsters with him. He even has a criminal record.

“Well, he says he’s turned over a new leaf…”

“Turned over a new leaf my ass. Do they call stalking turning over a new leaf these days?”

Would someone who has turned over a new leaf have chosen theft as a business model?

“But what’s the problem?”

“He’s literally stalking me. CEO Lee Don-joong calls me every day and monitors me. It seems he’s actually mobilizing people to monitor my movements.”

Woo Joo-hye shuddered as she spoke.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, it would be better to cut off that advertisement, wouldn’t it?”

Next World’s image is quite bad. They’ve been trying to legitimize themselves by advertising, but Lee Don-joong overturned everything by causing the assault incident. No matter how much they push Woo Joo-hye as an advertising model, it won’t get better.

“I know. An extension offer came, but the company has refused the next advertisement. But the problem is that he’s not the type to give up just because we cut it off.”

“I see.”

It’s not like Woo Joo-hye is so desperate for money that she has to flatter him and hold on.

If it was a problem that could be solved by simply cutting it off, they would have already done so.

Do they do all advertisements just because they make money? No. For top-class actors, advertisements can sometimes define their image. But an advertisement for a company whose CEO assaults pregnant women? From Woo Joo-hye’s perspective, it’s definitely not a welcome advertisement. No celebrity would want to receive an advertisement from such a company.

“So, he’s revealing his true colors.”

“That’s right.”

Until recently, he was simply expressing his liking for her. In fact, Jung Yi-yeon had no feelings for him, but she kept her manners because Lee Don-joong was an advertiser. So she actually had a few meals with him. Of course, she always brought her manager with her officially.

“But when we refused the next advertisement, he suddenly changed.”

“Hmm.”

Park Do-joon stroked his chin and fell into thought.

‘That’s definitely often the case.’

What’s the difference between unrequited love and stalking? It’s whether or not you think about the other person’s feelings. Unrequited love considers the possibility that the other person may not like you, even if you like them.

But stalking is closer to a kind of possessiveness. A terrible obsession and madness that says if you can’t have the other person, you’ll destroy them.

“Certainly, the moment that possessiveness is revealed is when the other person thinks they’ve escaped from their grasp.”

“Yes, that’s the problem.”

“Did you report it to the police?”

“Report? I already did. But there’s no response, that’s why I’m here. Sunbae, do you know what kind of punishment Lee Don-joong received last time?”

“Huh? I don’t know.”

Since it wasn’t a case he was in charge of, he doesn’t remember it clearly.

“He got a fine of 5 million won [approximately $3,700 USD].”

“A fine of 5 million won? That’s all?”

“Do you know what’s even funnier? The prosecution requested a fine of only 8 million won [approximately $6,000 USD].”

A request is when the prosecution asks the court to impose such a punishment. And in general, the court’s ruling tends to be lower.

Even considering that, a request for a fine of 8 million won is seriously low in this case. But they didn’t accept it as is, and they cut it down from there?

In fact, it’s safe to say that the court and the prosecution are in Lee Don-joong’s pocket.

“A fine of 5 million won…”

He makes hundreds of billions of won every year from web storage sites and must have used that to bribe an enormous amount.

In fact, it’s not well known, but even large corporations operate several web storage sites under borrowed names. Because it’s a completely cash-based business, and it’s the same as theft, it’s difficult to trace the funds themselves.

Logically, such theft is taking place at the corporate level, but would the prosecution, the court, and the police not know about it?

Of course, they know, but they pretend not to know because the bribes they give are so overwhelming.

“So, did he threaten you?”

“To be honest… yes, I was threatened. But the police said there’s nothing they can do.”

“That’s right. It’s actually a limitation of police work.”

The police can’t prevent crimes. In fact, prevention isn’t easy. In the first place, to prevent it in advance, you’d have to follow them around 24 hours a day and do security work, but that’s impossible.

The only thing they can do is patrol more often. Of course, they usually don’t even do that unless the other person is a celebrity or someone with power.

In fact, there was a case where someone who was suffering from a stalker asked the police for help, but the police ignored them, and they were murdered just three hours after leaving the police station.

“Is there no legal way to do it?”

Park Do-joon looked at Jung Yi-yeon and asked. To solve this, you have to use the law in the end. Police power alone won’t solve it.

“Well, there are many ways. You can file a restraining order. But that’s not what I’m worried about, is it, sunbae?”

“I see, that’s right.”

If the other person is determined to harm Woo Joo-hye and rushes at her, they won’t even pretend to listen to what the court says.

“So, you’re accompanied by bodyguards.”

Park Do-joon said, looking at the two men standing behind her.

“Yes.”

If someone who is qualified to be a bodyguard resists with a baton, they can subdue at least five people.

A Professional Profiler