My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 197

They had turned a blind eye because punishing them would cut off the supply of slaves in Shinan.

“They supplied over 100 slaves. Catching them is what’s important.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be just one or two slave brokers. But identifying even one could solve quite a few problems.

“Before, there was no way to investigate.”

The perpetrators would keep their mouths shut, and the victims lacked the cognitive ability to remember.

“But now we have a reliable witness.”

Other officers had already investigated for some time, but Park Geun-hyeok wasn’t talking.

“Good cop, bad cop is a surprisingly effective method.”

Park Do-joon smiled slyly.

“If you understand the individual’s life, that is.”

“Park Geun-hyeok, is it?”

Park Do-joon sighed, looking at the investigator who was watching him.

“Look… I’m really being framed.”

That’s what he had been saying. But no one believed him. Even his lawyer only told him not to say anything when they weren’t present. In other words, even his lawyer didn’t believe he was innocent.

“I’m really being framed.”

Park Geun-hyeok only repeated that and hung his head. But then, a voice as comforting as honey reached his ears.

“I know. It must have been hard for you?”

“Huh?”

“We know that Park Geun-hyeok was practically a slave himself.”

At those words, Park Geun-hyeok’s eyes flickered. This was unexpected.

“You know?”

“Of course. We’ve been investigating for a long time.”

Park Do-joon coaxed Park Geun-hyeok gently.

“It was terrible. They didn’t give Park Geun-hyeok a moment to rest, making him cook ramen, prepare meals, do laundry…”

Park Geun-hyeok felt like he could finally breathe.

“That’s right. I really was just a slave. I wanted to escape, but there was no way. It’s true.”

“You endured it well. You must have suffered a lot.”

“You have no idea. I went through all sorts of dirty things.”

“Doing all that laundry must have been tough, not to mention cooking for over 100 people.”

“Sob!”

At those words, Park Geun-hyeok’s eyes filled with tears. He had said he was being framed, but no one believed him. Yet, someone, whoever it was, understood.

‘Well, that’s to be expected. Human organizations are always the same.’

Park Do-joon was speaking as if he knew everything about Park Geun-hyeok from a completed investigation, but that wasn’t the case.

‘Humans always pass their work onto others; it’s nothing new.’

It’s common sense in the military, and even civil servants illegally pass their work onto public service workers.

The tasks that public service workers can be assigned to are limited because they are often individuals with health issues, and their duties are legally restricted.

However, most workplaces pass on the difficult parts of their regular work to public service workers.

It’s illegal, but they know they won’t resist. In organizations, the act of passing on all sorts of tasks to junior members, so-called ‘dumping,’ is commonplace.

‘A subordinate comes in, and they’re going to distribute the work fairly? Those guys wouldn’t be running a slave operation.’

Of course, they would have passed on all sorts of tasks.

“Cooking and doing laundry for over 100 people couldn’t have been easy, even if you were only giving kimchi [a traditional Korean fermented cabbage dish] to the victims.”

“Sob!”

Naturally, they passed the work onto Park Geun-hyeok as soon as he arrived. He had to cook and do the laundry for his seniors. Moreover, even if they were slaves, they couldn’t make them wear the same clothes for decades, so they had to wash them occasionally.

Would those guys do that?

“That’s right. To them, I was just a slightly smarter slave.”

Park Geun-hyeok trembled with anger. When they went to the salt fields, he had to be the one giving orders to the slaves. Jo Pal-gyu sat leisurely in the shade with a gun, playing games, while the other two were busy trying to please Jo Pal-gyu.

And if he didn’t do it?

Then he would be beaten mercilessly.

‘I thought so.’

Park Geun-hyeok was a later addition to the group, holding a different status from the other three. Would they have treated him fairly?

“Do you want to take revenge?”

“But how? The police don’t believe me.”

This wasn’t the first time he had said this to Park Do-joon. But the police told him not to talk nonsense, accusing him of being an accomplice.

Of course, he couldn’t deny being an accomplice. At least Park Geun-hyeok had opportunities to escape, unlike the other slaves.

He even accompanied them when they went out to buy things.

“It’s simple. Tell me everything you know.”

“But…”

Park Do-joon knew why Park Geun-hyeok was hesitating. Telling everything he knew meant confessing his own crimes. The punishment would only get stronger, not weaker.

‘And they probably made Park Geun-hyeok commit most of the crimes.’

Park Do-joon smiled bitterly inwardly.

“Either way, in this situation, Park Geun-hyeok, you’re going to take all the blame.”

“What? Why? I was forced to do it!”

“That’s right. But the victims don’t know that.”

Even if they are disabled, they aren’t completely unintelligent. They have some level of cognitive function.

They are currently recalling what happened to them and giving statements.

“The person who hit them the most, the person who tormented them the most, will all be Park Geun-hyeok. According to the police’s analysis methods, you’ll undoubtedly be the main culprit.”

“What?”

“It can’t be helped.”

He was the closest to them, and he had to move the most.

Mentally incomplete disabled slaves would have difficulty understanding the structure of power.

“Their testimonies will be fragmented. But you will appear in all of them.”

At those words, Park Geun-hyeok’s eyes began to waver.

“Based on their testimonies, you’ll probably be the main culprit, and the rest will be accomplices.”

“No, I’m a victim too! I, I too…!”

Park Geun-hyeok felt like he was suffocating. It wasn’t because he liked it. At first, he was afraid of them, but later he ended up becoming part of the group and had no choice.

“It’s common to make accomplices commit the same crimes.”

In fact, in the past, the Makgapa [a notorious Korean crime syndicate] forced victims to eat the flesh of other victims to create accomplices.

“Then… what should I do?”

“Tell the truth.”

“But… how?”

He couldn’t trust the police. There was a high possibility that the police would cover it up.

‘In reality, that’s very likely.’

Ironically, there are plenty of people working as slaves right now.

‘This is complicated in many ways.’

These slave cases cannot be established without the tacit approval of the region.

Yet, dozens of cases have occurred so far, but not a single local government official has been punished. Why aren’t government officials punished?

The reason is simple. Punishing government officials would be tantamount to admitting the state’s fault, and the government would have to compensate the victims.

So, in reality, those who find slave cases are mostly disciplined, while those who hide them are promoted or avoid punishment.

The reason why a police officer who found a slave case in the past was disciplined is that he stirred up trouble when it could have been avoided, making the government look bad.

Considering that, there’s a very high chance that telling the police will lead to a cover-up.

“So, tell other people besides me.”

Park Do-joon’s words sounded bewildering to Park Geun-hyeok.

“What? What are you saying?”

“Don’t tell me.”

Disappointment crossed Park Geun-hyeok’s face at those words. He thought that because he understood him, he would help him. But you should always hear someone out until the end.

“Tell the reporters instead of me.”

“Reporters?”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon nodded.

-It’s true that I used slaves. To be exact, I had no choice, or I would have died.

Park Geun-hyeok’s press conference turned the country upside down. It was the first time a perpetrator had ever held a press conference. Moreover, what came out of it wasn’t just related to the crime.

As expected, he also knew about the people who had died inside.

-Four to five people died there every year. But every time they died, Jo Pal-gyu brought in new people from the outside… no, slaves. Later, I found out that the person who brought me there was the supplier.

Of course, that ‘later’ was when Park Do-joon told him. To be exact, he only said it was suspicious, but from Park Geun-hyeok’s perspective, it naturally became a certainty.

He was a salt field worker.

A skilled worker who was welcomed everywhere, at least when it came to salt field labor.

But the fact that he specifically took him to Jo Pal-gyu’s salt field meant there was no other answer.

-What did you do with the bodies of the deceased?

-Jo Pal-gyu threw them into the sea.

It was as expected. Jo Pal-gyu threw the bodies into the sea. There was nothing to identify if they were thrown into the sea.

-Is the body found this time also Jo Pal-gyu’s doing?

-That’s right. I didn’t cut off the head or anything… but in the first place, the slaves don’t get many clothes. I remember giving the clothes that body was wearing.

-You haven’t been caught all this time? So why were you caught this time?

-I don’t know the details, but I think he bought weights for the fishing nets quite often.

He probably tied them to weights and threw them into the sea. But this time, either it came loose, or it was cut, but it floated to the surface and became a problem.

-Why are you talking about this through a press conference?

-One of my acquaintances told me not to trust the police. They said the police would try to cover it up. They said they were actually framing me as the main culprit. And they said the government would try to cover up the case to avoid liability for compensation, and they wouldn’t punish government officials or police officers. They said that the salt field slaves hadn’t disappeared because that’s how it’s always been. They said that if you discover and report or punish salt field slave cases, you’ll be fired or, in the worst case, murdered, and if you cover up the case, you’ll be promoted. They said that one of their acquaintances disappeared after investigating salt field slaves.

The last statement was more serious than expected. At the mention of organized disappearances, the reporters’ eyes widened, and they quickly began writing articles.

“That ‘acquaintance’ you mentioned at the end is Senior, isn’t it?”

Lee Ji-soo asked Park Do-joon with a hopeful expression.

“That’s right.”

Park Do-joon nodded. There was no need to deny it, and he didn’t want to deny it.

“These slave cases are ultimately the responsibility of the region.”

It’s as if Shinan is actively encouraging slavery rather than preventing it.

So, to prevent it, we have to tie them in somehow.

“Moreover, the missing government official hasn’t been found.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed. Of course, he wanted to find him too, but it wasn’t his case.