My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 191

“I think I know this without even looking. It’s a corruption case.”

Even though he is a relatively inexperienced profiler, he has basic knowledge. He knows enough to tell that this isn’t a violent crime.

“Realistically, it’s unavoidable.”

Working in one area for a long time and moving up the ranks makes corruption easier. Moreover, this area has been secretly operating a slave system for a very long time.

“It’s been discovered several times already, but there hasn’t been any proper punishment.”

In a town where even slave owners who have extorted for decades are released on probation, there’s no way the public officials who neglected it would be properly punished. They got promoted and secured positions higher up.

“It’s a structural problem.”

Usually, public officials who are just starting out don’t become that corrupt. Naturally, they would have reported any suspicions according to the regulations. That’s why they would have said it was suspicious in the first and second investigations.

But the salt farm owners who found out about it would have spread bribes, and in the third investigation, the higher-ups would have shut it down, resulting in a conclusion that there was no problem.

“The important thing is that we found the guy we suspect.”

Park Do-joon glanced at the documents.

“You mean Jo Pal-gyu?”

“Yes, there’s no one who fits our suspicions as perfectly as Jo Pal-gyu.”

He is 48 years old.

Of course, he can’t be called young socially, but considering the average age of salt farm owners is very high, he is among the younger ones.

“He runs a large salt farm in Jangjeong-do.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue while checking the registry.

“Jo Pal-gyu owns 80% of Jangjeong-do.”

Except for a small part on the opposite side of the island, Jo Pal-gyu owns most of it. At this point, it’s practically a private island.

“There’s no separate ferry service either.”

Of course, Jangjeong-do is an island, but it’s not a very large one. No matter how much wealth you have, it’s difficult to own an entire island. Naturally, the population is small, and there’s no separate ferry service.

“The only way to get there is by boat.”

You have to rent a boat from the outside or take a boat from the island.

“According to the records, Jo Pal-gyu actually owns a fishing boat.”

The coastal fishing boat Daemang No. 4. It can’t go as far as the open sea, but it can at least go to the site where the body was abandoned.

“It’s the perfect location to use salt farm slaves.”

The only way to get out once you’re dragged in is by Jo Pal-gyu’s boat.

There are occasionally people who come to buy salt, but most of them are probably in on it.

Do the traders who deal with salt from the salt farms really not know about the existence of slaves? They know. But if there are no slaves, labor costs will rise, and if labor costs rise, prices will rise, and if prices rise, their profits will decrease.

Of course, they pretend not to know.

“But wouldn’t it be difficult to confirm that Jo Pal-gyu is the culprit, Detective Park?”

“It would be.”

Apart from using salt farm slaves, it’s impossible to punish him.

“They will never punish him in this area.”

“How do you know?”

“Look at the scale. Is it really possible to run a salt farm of this size with the power of just one or two people?”

It’s impossible. Salt farms are surprisingly labor-intensive businesses. According to these records, Jo Pal-gyu owns an entire side of the island as a salt farm.

“I don’t know much about the operating personnel of salt farms, but I think you need at least 50 people to run it? But if you use more than 50 people… there’s a high possibility that a traitor will emerge from within.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

Not just one or two, but at least 50 people. Is there really no one with a conscience among those 50 people?

Moreover, the people who work at the salt farm are not tied to it.

Salt farm workers are always in short supply. Shinan [a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, known for its salt production]? Shinan is famous for its salt, but it’s not the only production area.

If someone reports it, they can just go to another salt farm.

But there are no reporters?

“It’s highly likely that all of them are slaves.”

“……Yes?”

At those words, Lee Ji-soo looked at Park Do-joon as if it were absurd.

“Come on! Even so, it’s 50 people?”

“It’s not impossible.”

Park Do-joon glanced at the related documents.

“People with disabilities have poor judgment and can’t think of cooperating to subdue the owner. No, it’s not even right to call them owners. Because they are criminals.”

“That’s…….”

“Moreover, that area is an area where ships cannot enter. Realistically speaking, if there is no one who knows how to drive a boat, escape is impossible even if they subdue the owner.”

If it were an ordinary non-disabled person, they could touch this and that and somehow drive the boat. These commercial ships are not difficult to operate. But if you are disabled, it will probably be difficult.

“Moreover, as you can see from the nutritional status, they were not provided with proper meals. Maybe even if they subdue the owner, they will all starve to death in the near future?”

“But it’s 50 people…….”

“That’s why it’s a problem. If all 50 people are really slaves, even if this local community is a closed environment, they can’t not know.”

Would the people in this area really not know that more than 50 people are being used as slaves? Maybe Shinan County Hall and the local police know too.

But they were not punished?

“They are being protected by the region.”

Just looking at this document, the first and second reports say ‘suspicious,’ but the third report says ‘no problem.’

“I want to see the person who wrote this?”

“Missing?”

“Yes, he’s been missing for a while.”

But the story started to get weird. Clearly, there is a public official who investigated and confirmed this document. But he disappeared two years ago.

“What happened?”

He’s just a level 9 public official, but still, a sudden disappearance?

“But the police aren’t investigating.”

“The police believe it’s a simple runaway.”

Lee Ji-soo had already confirmed the incident with the police. In response to Lee Ji-soo’s question, the officer in charge replied, ‘Do we have to take care of old men who run away from home?’

“Well, disappearances or suicides of workers are quite common in this area.”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

“In a way, one of the biggest reasons why people don’t apply for local government jobs is that. It’s hard to get the protection of public power.”

Park Do-joon said with a serious face.

“As far as I know, there have been two mysterious deaths in this area.”

One was a teacher who worked in this area. Shinan has so many islands that there are quite a few branch schools, and one of the teachers who worked in one of them went missing.

“But that case was simply closed as a disappearance.”

I don’t know if a search or investigation was conducted, but that’s the result.

“The other is the death of a public health doctor.”

A public health doctor assigned to this area committed suicide. A public health doctor is a doctor sent by the government to medically vulnerable areas. They are dispatched in lieu of military service and are responsible for medical care in medically vulnerable areas.

“But that case is a bit strange.”

Generally, doctors serve as military doctors. The first priority is military doctor, but if that position is full, they are assigned as public health doctors.

“If the records at the time are correct, it was a suicide. But logically, a public health doctor committing suicide? It doesn’t make sense.”

The official police announcement is that the public health doctor committed suicide due to overwork.

“But what does it mean that medically vulnerable areas occur in the first place? It means that it’s not profitable.”

Doctors don’t go there because it’s not profitable.

If there are so many patients that a doctor commits suicide due to overwork?

Probably anyone will come. Moreover, a public health doctor is a doctor. In other words, if you endure that period, you can live as a doctor in that area.

And the level of overwork that doctors experience during their internship is enormous. It’s famous to the point that sleeping 3 hours a day is considered a lot.

In addition, public health doctors don’t necessarily have a place only here. If it’s difficult, you can ask to change your location.

What’s even funnier is that there were not one but two public health doctors assigned to the area at the time.

One of the two doctors commits suicide due to overwork.

“Could it be……?”

“I think he was probably ‘suicided’ [forced to commit suicide or murdered and staged as a suicide]. There are always people with a conscience.”

It wouldn’t be strange to suspect that the locals made it look like a suicide because they were trying to expose the reality of the slave system that was happening here.

“Human lives are worth less than a thousand won in their pockets to the slave owners.”

Lee Ji-soo’s face contorted at Park Do-joon’s words. She couldn’t have imagined such a thing.

“Of course, it’s even more suspicious because the local police investigated it.”

Park Do-joon stroked his chin and pondered.

“But aren’t we in danger then?”

“Not yet.”

Even so, they are people from the outside. It doesn’t make sense for two people from the outside to commit suicide together.

It’s not like they’re eloping.

“But if it becomes an extreme situation, you never know.”

“If it’s extreme…….”

“They might process us as missing.”

It’s hard to kill, but if they process it as a disappearance, no one will find them. Of course, if you touch the police, you will be retaliated against later, but if the local police who have to retaliate are corrupt, that retaliation becomes uncertain.

“For safety, I think we need to find another way.”

In order to prevent them from moving and to ensure the safety of the two, we need to find another helper.

“But who do we ask for help? It seems like everyone has gone over to that side?”

It is impossible to find a reliable helper in a situation where everyone from prosecutors to judges and police, and even those working in the city, have gone over to that side.

“Well, there’s no reason to only ask people in this neighborhood for help.”

Park Do-joon shrugged.

“Are you asking me to help you?”

“Yes, is it possible?”

“Um… I guess it’s possible for now?”

Lee Jeong-yeon was puzzled by Park Do-joon’s sudden request. Usually, the police take care of the investigation. But Park Do-joon, who is conducting the investigation, is asking her to help with his investigation.

“But we don’t have investigative powers… well, there’s nothing we can do to help you?”

Raids are out of the question, and realistically, it’s impossible to accompany the police.

“Of course, we can file a complaint, but it won’t mean anything.”

“I know. It’ll come back here again.”

It is suspicious that there are slaves now, but even if we report it, the place that will eventually investigate it again is the Mokpo Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Shinan. There is no police station in Shinan.

After the slave incident, the government was trying to create a police station, but on the contrary, the Shinan area was desperately preventing the police station from coming in, so it was not easy.

Even the higher-level agencies’ natural local audits are being blocked by Shinan, claiming that it is a violation of autonomy.

Of course, they will obviously bury the case there.