My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 190

“Besides, ports where fish are unloaded are teeming with people.”

Although there are ship owners and captains who know each other, there are also merchants, auctioneers, and tourists, so if someone suddenly starts running around shouting for help, things will escalate.

“Using slaves in such places isn’t as easy as you might think.”

In contrast, salt farms have almost no outsiders coming in, and surveillance is easy.

“I heard that in the old days, if they escaped, the villagers would catch them and bring them back?”

“That’s how it’s recorded, at least.”

If a salt farm slave escaped from another place, the village chief would catch them and bring them back, or a villager would catch them and bring them back… There are even records of the police catching a victim trying to escape on an intercity bus and taking them back to the slave owner.

“Actually, the last salt farm slave case was triggered by a public health doctor reporting it.”

“Hmm… I’ve heard that rumor too. But among the people who work here, there are many suspicious murder cases.”

“That’s right. That’s why I’m being extra careful.”

In the past, a public health doctor died by suicide due to overwork. However, there was also suspicion that he was murdered for trying to expose the internal salt farm slave case.

However, the local police didn’t reinvestigate, so the truth remains unknown.

“There’s that, and there’s also the opinion about the traces of the wounds.”

“Ah, the saw, you mean.”

“Saw?”

“Yes, I saw the records too, and it said that the tool suspected of cutting the hands, feet, and neck was a saw.”

Seo Joo-won nodded as if he understood.

“Yes, but saws are rarely used on ships.”

There’s almost no need to cut wood with a saw on a ship. If you need to cut something, you should use a larger knife or axe to cut it off in one go, rather than slowly sawing something, as it increases the possibility of accidents in dangerous situations.

“But saws are often used in salt farms.”

The purpose of a saw is to cut wood. Naturally, there are more occasions to cut wood on land than on a ship.

“The problem is that in such cases, we can’t know which salt farm the victim came from.”

“Realistically, we can’t expect help from the surroundings?”

“How many salt farm slaves would come out if we started raiding the salt farms here?”

Of course, everyone would pretend not to know and effectively protect them.

“Why on earth did they kill him?”

“They didn’t kill him.”

“Pardon?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head at Park Do-joon’s words.

“His neck was cut off, though?”

“To be precise, they disposed of the body after he died. This isn’t a murder case.”

According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was overwork.

Of course, there were traces of beatings here and there, but not injuries dangerous enough to cause death.

“This case should be seen as a body disposal case, not a murder case.”

“Ah, then the profiling will be completely different.”

“Yes, completely different.”

Body disposal and murder are completely different. The style of the crime, the cause, and even the result are different.

‘Come to think of it, what did Han Seong-gi say it was?’

I guess he said it was murder. So, in the end, he couldn’t solve it, and the case ended as unsolved.

“Body disposal… I guess they wouldn’t kill him directly since he’s a source of labor?”

“That’s right. Even if they did kill him, it would have been a mistake.”

Clearly, the post-mortem treatment itself is extremely brutal, but that doesn’t prove that it was murder.

Inhumane and brutal post-mortem treatment and the purpose of murder are not always the same.

“The culprit is probably the owner of the salt farm.”

Park Do-joon put his hand on the case record and began profiling while organizing his thoughts.

“He won’t be too old, and he will have had slaves before. He probably operates a large number of slaves now, and he probably had a hard time because of it once. He’s likely living with a small number of people on an outer island rather than the main island.”

“Why do you think so, senior?”

“First of all, the wounds.”

He used a saw, of all things, to damage the other person’s body.

“Actually, cutting off a person’s body is harder than you think.”

A person’s body is not easily cut. At least, cutting off the hands and feet is one thing, but cutting off the neck is definitely not easy.

“Of course, if you know anatomy or have a lot of experience like the Japanese army during the Japanese colonial period, you can do it more easily. But if you haven’t done it much, it’s probably difficult.”

“The Japanese army?”

“The old Japanese army often held prisoner head-cutting competitions.”

They would drag out living prisoners and hold head-cutting contests, and the winner would even be featured in the newspaper.

“Moreover, bones are not easy to cut. Usually, an axe is more reliable for dismembering a person.”

It would be able to cut off hands and feet reliably in one go.

“Of course, it’s possible that they have no experience at all. But the important thing is not that. That’s just an assumption. A profiler must distinguish between assumptions and possibilities.”

If you start analyzing by including assumptions, it becomes too complicated, and it becomes impossible to narrow down the scope, let alone identify anything specific.

“The important thing is that they used a saw to cut off the neck. It’s definitely not an easy task. Moreover, it is stated that each part appears to have been cut at the same time.”

If it were an old person, it would probably have taken a long time due to physical limitations.

“What about the fact that there would be other slaves?”

“You can tell from the way the body was disposed of. I told you, it’s someone who works on an outer island. In that case, it’s safer to bury it inside the island rather than in the sea.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

Of course, if you throw it into the sea, there’s a high possibility that the sea will take care of it. But at the same time, there’s also a high possibility that it will be found in the sea like now, carried by the currents.

“On the other hand, if you bury it inside the island, it’s virtually impossible to find it.”

There’s no possibility of redevelopment, and there’s no possibility of digging around inside to find the body.

“But they deliberately threw it outside. Why would they do that?”

“Hmm?”

Certainly, unless you dig up the entire island, it’s almost impossible to find the body.

“They want to hide the body. From someone.”

“Someone? You said no one goes there?”

“No one goes there and no one remembers are different. Would you want to work near the grave where your colleague is buried?”

“Of course not…?”

It would constantly remind them that it could be their future.

Even though they kidnap disabled people and use them as slaves, they can’t use them as labor if the disabled people don’t even feel their lives are threatened.

“So, they want to keep the body far away in order to control the remaining slaves. And they probably run a fishing business together or at least have a fairly large ship.”

“Well, they can’t bring a ship from the outside and ask them to throw it away together.”

Moreover, according to this record, the area where the body was found is not on the inner sea side but on the outer sea side. You can’t get there with a small boat that only travels to nearby islands or the coast.

First of all, there’s the issue of power, and those boats don’t have equipment to know the direction. If you go to throw it away in the open sea where you can’t see the island, you’re likely to drift in the open sea.

“It’s unlikely that they would risk their lives to dispose of the body. In other words, the culprit has equipment to find their way even in the open sea.”

No matter how much experience a person has in the sea, it’s almost impossible to find their way in the open sea without any equipment.

That’s why the sextant [an instrument used for navigation by measuring angles] is called the first step in the exploration of the sea in human history.

Because it became possible to move because you could know the location.

“And the price of such a ship is never low.”

It varies depending on the size of the ship, but the price of a ship that can be used for fishing, that is, can operate in a place where the island is not visible, will be at least 100 million won [approximately $75,000 USD based on current exchange rates].

“Ah, then the owner of that salt farm is richer than I thought?”

“Maybe.”

Earning that much from a low-profit salt farm means, conversely, that you must have that much wealth.

“What about having a hard time once?”

“They took a risk to dispose of the body. In fact, there’s no need to cut off the face and limbs.”

Most slaves live completely isolated lives. Because of this, it’s unlikely that outsiders will recognize them. Even if people around them remember him, it’s highly unlikely that they will tell the police or report it, given the characteristics of Sinan.

“But the fact that they deliberately cut off the face and limbs comes from a self-defense psychology to hide their connection with him.”

Cutting off the limbs may be a means to hide their identity, but at the same time, such actions are also conditions that can attract attention from the police or other people.

“Take this case, for example. Why did the Coast Guard request a profiler this time?”

The Coast Guard’s role is to protect the sea. What happens inside the island is the responsibility of the local police, not the Coast Guard.

That’s why the Coast Guard has been handing over cases to the local police whenever a body is found.

“But the corrupt police in Sinan didn’t investigate.”

“That’s right, but this time, the beheaded body stimulated the Coast Guard.”

Even if they hand it over, it will be passed on as unsolved anyway. If they’re unlucky, they’ll cover it up as a Chinese body, and if they’re lucky, it’ll be passed on as unsolved.

“The Coast Guard has realized that at least island slave cases cannot be resolved.”

So, they quickly called in a profiler before the overreach occurred.

Until it is formally transferred, it is clearly within the Coast Guard’s authority.

“Then it seems like it will be easier to identify than I thought?”

Sinan is constantly cracking down internally. Of course, there will be past crackdown records and information on the size of the salt farms.

Moreover, a salt farm owner who owns an island that is difficult to enter from the outside.

Sinan is called the island of angels, but not all islands are inhabited. And even within that, there are very few places that do salt farming.

“It seems like we can identify it more easily than I thought.”

Lee Ji-soo’s face brightened.

“And we’ll get one step closer to the culprit.”

# The Slave System is Alive

There are many salt farms. But there are not many places that meet the three conditions Park Do-joon mentioned. It must be large, isolated, and have a young person as the owner.

“This is a mess, really.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue after securing the documents that Sinan County had investigated on its own.

“Why do they do things like this?”

“Because money is involved. Sinan is generally corrupt. It’s virtually impossible to expect the public officials working here to be clean.”

The reason why Park Do-joon and Lee Ji-soo are saying this is because the internal investigation records were so absurd.

“There are suspected cases, but no accusations, no investigations…”

Since it’s an internal investigation, people from the outside can’t help but not know. Because they don’t announce it.

“No, isn’t this too much?”

Clearly, in the first and second investigation records, it is stated as ‘suspicion exists.’

In the first investigation, they probably checked roughly through rumors, and in the second investigation, they probably went to the site.

But suddenly, in the third investigation, it’s processed as ‘no problem.’

“What do you think?”