My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 193

“Salt warehouses basically have high ceilings.”

They are built with high ceilings and large sizes to allow vehicles to move freely. When you go into a salt warehouse, the salt isn’t stacked in bags but piled up like mountains, and it’s only scooped out when it’s time to sell it.

“But that building is long, right? And the ceiling is low. It’s not a very good shape for storing salt. Any Korean man of a certain age would recognize that kind of building.”

Kim Geun-chan gave a wry smile at Park Do-joon’s words as he looked at the long building. He wasn’t from the generation that used those buildings, but he knew when and where they were used.

“The military used those in the old days, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. They’re called barrack-style dormitories.”

Nowadays, soldiers get their own beds, but in the past, they used what were called barrack-style dormitories.

A barrack-style dormitory was a long building with sleeping platforms along both walls and personal lockers at the head of each bed.

It was basically the same as a prison facility… no, even worse.

An entire platoon would be crammed into that long barrack, with each person getting less than a square meter of space and no personal space at all.

That was the way the military used to be.

“Low ceiling, long shape, and the windows are very small. And even those are blocked with iron bars.”

Park Do-joon took out his binoculars and looked at the building.

“I can’t see the entrance from this side. It’s probably over there.”

There’s only one entrance. There are small windows, but even those are barred.

“Moreover, that building is almost the only one made of brick, except for the main house.”

“Is that important?”

“It’s important. Buildings have a purpose. You know that swimming pools and libraries require separate designs, right?”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know that.”

“Those things need to withstand greater loads, so they’re built much stronger.”

Every building has a purpose: a place for people to live, a place to work, a place to store things, and so on.

“Look at the other buildings. They’re made of wood or corrugated iron, right? Why do you think that is?”

“Uh, I don’t know?”

“Because all they need to do is keep out the rain and wind.”

Building something out of brick in a place like this is a luxury. To build a brick building here, you’d have to bring bricks and cement by boat, which would cost a fortune.

In fact, building on an island costs more than on the mainland.

Especially in a place like this, where there are no regular liners or large cargo ships, it would cost even more.

“The salt isn’t going to complain about being cold.”

So all you need to do is keep the salt from getting wet.

That’s why they just put up corrugated iron walls to keep out the rain.

“But why would you need such a large brick building in a place like this?”

“A prison camp… something like that.”

“That’s right.”

A place designed to prevent escape and control people. That’s what that building is.

“And you see the CCTV cameras around it?”

“Yes.”

“No one’s going to come all the way here to steal salt.”

Salt isn’t that valuable, and it’s not even a salt warehouse, but there were CCTV cameras all around the building.

If they were the new, small models, we might not have noticed them, but they were the old, long type, so it wasn’t hard to spot them. And thanks to that, we could also see which way the CCTV cameras were pointing.

“The CCTV cameras are also pointed at that building. That’s probably where they keep the slaves.”

They keep people locked up there and control them from there.

“But how many people are in there?”

Lee Ji-soo swallowed hard at Park Do-joon’s words.

“Who knows? We’ll find out tomorrow.”

All we could do now was wait.

“At least 100 people, I’d say.”

Early in the morning, men were seen coming out of the beds and heading towards the long building. We couldn’t see the door from our position, but after a while, people being beaten as they came out were visible. Roughly cut hair and a grimy appearance that showed they hadn’t been properly washed.

The clothes looked like they had been worn for so long that they were almost black.

“Definitely not employees.”

Four men were hitting the people who were struggling to come out. People were going to work, watching them carefully.

The clothing and nutritional status of the two groups were completely different.

“Exactly 112 people.”

Park Do-joon counted the numbers as they came out, then smiled bitterly when the four men moved away from the building.

“You mean they’re using 112 slaves? Is that even possible in the 21st century?”

This is Korea, not some poor African country.

“It’s not impossible. It’s just that the local police aren’t investigating properly. They don’t investigate other places, so why would they investigate here?”

“That’s shocking.”

Lee Ji-soo looked betrayed. Park Do-joon said to her sympathetically,

“It’s something the police have to experience at least once. The police organization is more corrupt than you think. But this is a pretty serious level.”

And then the police who feel that way have two choices: join in and rot with them, or leave the organization in disappointment.

“There’s nothing we can do.”

The police structure, divided by region, is vulnerable to this kind of corruption. No, not just the police, but every organization that is divided by region is vulnerable to corruption.

“Local autonomy isn’t always a good thing.”

Park Do-joon looked at the people working through the binoculars and said. Then he turned his head and looked at Kim Geun-chan.

“Look for the guy with the weapon.”

“Weapon?”

He didn’t have binoculars like the others, but instead, the reporters had a telephoto camera. It was much better than a mediocre telescope.

“Yes, there are over 100 slaves. The number of people controlling them is only four in total. In a normal situation, they wouldn’t be able to control them.”

“Ah!”

Even if they were disabled, if they got angry and rushed in, the four of them would be overwhelmed in an instant.

This island is the best place to keep them from escaping, but on the other hand, it also means that the slaves won’t have a chance to escape if they revolt.

“But what kind of weapon are you talking about…”

“Huh?”

At that moment, another reporter made a strange noise without realizing it.

“Senior, isn’t that it?”

“Isn’t that what?”

“A gun… I think? No, it’s a gun. It’s definitely a gun!”

“What?”

Kim Geun-chan flinched at the words. A gun? Why would there be a gun here? But Park Do-joon wasn’t surprised.

“Realistically, that’s highly likely. It’s impossible to control that many people with something like a club.”

Of course, they’ve been tamed, so they’re probably too scared to resist, but they’ll still want to be prepared for anything.

“But a gun? How?”

“It’ll be a shotgun.”

“How did you know?”

The reporter who was watching the man with the gun asked in surprise when Park Do-joon said that.

“Even if they’re salt farm slave owners, it’s impossible for them to get a military rifle. And in places like this, it’s surprisingly easy to get a gun permit. There’s quite a bit of damage from wild boars.”

“Wild boars?”

“Yes, you’d be surprised how well wild boars can swim.”

In fact, there is quite a bit of damage from wild animals such as wild boars and roe deer even on the islands. Wild animals are basically good at swimming, and their movement is not difficult in the salty sea.

“If you apply for a gun permit citing wild boar damage, you’ll get a gun permit.”

Of course, legally, you can only hunt for a set period. Outside of that period, all guns must be deposited and stored at the police station. But will the local police, who turn a blind eye to slaves, really manage the guns well?

There are plenty of excuses. You never know when a wild boar will appear, and you can’t go to the Mokpo Police Station to get a gun every time.

“So it’s not hard to expect them to be armed.”

Of course, it would be difficult to subdue people with a shotgun for hunting birds, but a slug round for hunting wild boars would be enough to subdue people.

“This…”

“I think that’s enough.”

Park Do-joon smiled.

“Go and blow it up. This is enough to be bait.”

“It’s enough.”

This is a qualitatively different situation from the existing slave cases. The existing cases were about subduing one person and making them a slave, but this time, it’s a situation where over 100 people were subdued with guns.

“So go and blow it up. Ah, the other reporter has to stay.”

“Yes? Why?”

“I’ll give you another scoop.”

Park Do-joon smiled confidently.

Kim Geun-chan went up and immediately posted the article as a scoop. The desk also called it a scoop and put it on the front page right away. And as expected, the country was turned upside down.

-Wow, is this a prisoner-of-war camp now?

-According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners can’t work. They’re worse off than prisoners.

-Slaves in units of 100. I thought we didn’t have slavery in our country?

-Angel Island is bullshit… It’s Devil’s Island.

-No. Sinan is Angel Island. Once you go in, you can’t get out until you meet an angel.

Sinan’s image wasn’t good anyway. But when the fact that they were using slaves in units of 100 was reported in the media, people went crazy.

And at that moment, Park Do-joon was hiding on the island, looking at the salt farms.

Fortunately, Jo Pal-gyu, the owner of the salt farm, didn’t think of searching the island. He thought the reporters who had been secretly covering the story had already left.

“But it’s said that it’s darkest under the lamp [meaning the most obvious things are often overlooked].”

Park Do-joon said, looking at Lee Ji-soo.

“Jo Pal-gyu has been put in a situation where he has to do something when something happens. And we have to stop him before he does that.”

Park Do-joon glanced at his watch. Articles were pouring out on the internet by the minute.

“The name and location aren’t specified, but Jo Pal-gyu will know it’s his story when he sees the news.”

“You think Jo Pal-gyu is going to do something?”

“Yes, maybe he’ll lock the slaves up somewhere and hide them… or, in the worst case, execute them all.”

“Execute…!”

“Of course, execution is the worst-case scenario. But we can’t ignore it. In any case, it’s a criminal’s instinct to want to hide their crimes.”

What’s more, if the media is specifically targeting him, an investigation is bound to come. Of course, he’s been using slaves like this under the protection of the Mokpo Police Station, so even if he didn’t see it himself, the Mokpo Police Station would have warned him by now.

In fact, the Mokpo Police Station, which is in charge of Sinan, has cracked down on slaves several times, but each time, they would call the salt farm owner in advance to let them know when they were going to crack down.

“Even if the Mokpo Police Station investigates, it will be difficult to punish them in reality.”

“I think so too. This is a completely different country.”

Slavery is strictly illegal. However, the Mokpo District Court, which is in charge of Sinan, handed down lenient punishments for slavery in Sinan, citing that it was a local custom.

In effect, they had made a legal judgment through the court.