My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 202

“There’s someone sweeping up all the buildings.”

And not just one or two people, but five. Or rather, five companies.

They were buying up every property that came on the market.

“Isn’t that legal, though?”

“It is legal.”

After all, the properties were put up for sale in the real estate market. Buying them isn’t illegal.

“But it’s strange to be so persistent in buying them all up like this.”

Such purchases are illegal when done at the corporate level. So, they’re usually done under borrowed names.

“But I don’t think a major corporation would lose its redevelopment rights over this, would it?”

“That’s the problem.”

This is something all the major corporations are quietly doing, and they can’t really say anything about it.

‘Is it not time yet?’

Perhaps that event hasn’t happened yet. Judging by the timing of the trial, it should be around this time, but it’s hard to believe it has already happened.

“Anyway, that’s it for today, so you can go back. Please get me some data related to this.”

“Huh? What are you going to do, Senior?”

“Since I’m on vacation anyway, I’m going to look into this for a while.”

The police department had decided to get rid of Park Do-joon. Because of that, they didn’t seem to mind that Park Do-joon, who had accumulated a lot of annual leave and vacation time, was taking time off.

So, it wasn’t impossible for him to take some time off for the time being.

“I’m thinking of talking to the other residents tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Jung Yi-yeon nodded.

“Be careful, just in case.”

“Don’t worry. What could happen?”

Park Do-joon said with a smile.

“Fire!”

“Fire!”

Nothing would happen. That’s what Park Do-joon said. But that evening, something did happen at the inn where Park Do-joon was staying. No, it wasn’t just the inn.

“Fire!”

Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo!

The sound of sirens was heard from all directions, and someone was knocking on the inn door. Park Do-joon hurriedly got dressed and opened the door.

“Evacuate quickly!”

The firefighter in front of the door shouted. The firefighters were knocking on every door, telling people to evacuate.

“Is there a fire?”

“Yes, evacuate immediately. This place is dangerous.”

Park Do-joon looked around at those words. But there was no smoke or anything around, considering there was a fire.

“Okay. Can I help?”

“It’s dangerous, so please evacuate first.”

“I’m a police officer. If you need help anyway…”

“No, please evacuate first. The danger isn’t here, but…!”

At that moment, bang! An impact shook the building. All the windows shattered from the tremendous impact. Even Park Do-joon, who was talking with the door open, was thrown into the hallway.

“Ugh.”

His ears were ringing, and his whole body ached. His body trembled from the strong impact.

“Cough!”

An intense pain that made it hard to breathe enveloped his entire body.

“Damn it.”

The firefighter quickly took out a mask, put it on, and then put it on Park Do-joon.

“I’m sorry, but you need to leave quickly.”

The voice heard from beyond the mask. It hurt, but it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t understand. He turned his head and saw another firefighter putting a mask on a man from another room and leading him out.

“There’s not enough time. Hurry!”

At those words, Park Do-joon raised his trembling body.

“I’ll run.”

“Are you sure you can?”

“It seems like a gas pipe or storage facility exploded. Let’s go quickly.”

His whole body ached, but his mind coldly assessed the situation. As the saying goes, even if you’re caught by a tiger, you can survive if you keep your wits about you [meaning: stay calm and think clearly in a dangerous situation].

A building with no signs of fire, a strong impact, a firefighter putting on a mask as soon as the impact occurred… and the topography of Incheon, where factories are scattered everywhere. Considering that, there was only one answer.

A fire broke out in a factory somewhere, and the place where chemicals were stored exploded due to the fire.

“I’ll run.”

At Park Do-joon’s words once again, the firefighter supported Park Do-joon, and Park Do-joon ran with all his might. His whole body was screaming, and he felt like he was about to die, but he couldn’t stop walking.

Of course, he wouldn’t die right away because he had a mask, but instead, someone else who didn’t get rescued would die, so all he could do was get to a safe zone and let the firefighter go back in to save someone else.

“Hold on a little longer! Just a little more!”

The firefighter, who had almost dragged Park Do-joon out, approached an ambulance a little further away. The paramedics in the ambulance hurriedly put on a gas mask that they had prepared in advance. It wasn’t military-grade, but it was for civil defense, but that alone was enough to be effective until he got out of here, so they put it on him in a hurry.

“Ugh.”

In the midst of his disorientation, Park Do-joon saw a light blazing in the distance. He didn’t know what was there, but it was definitely the location of the fire.

“Take him away. This place isn’t a safe zone anymore.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The paramedic in the ambulance tried to lay Park Do-joon down. Park Do-joon grabbed his hand and said.

“I’m fine, so I’ll sit down.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, for now.”

In situations like this, ambulances are always in short supply. It’s impossible to move everyone by laying them down one by one.

Someone has to lie down, but someone has to sit down.

“Here, here!”

At that moment, a firefighter was seen carrying a woman on his back from far away. She also had a mask on her face, but she seemed to have completely lost consciousness.

“Lay her down and I’ll sit down.”

“Thank you.”

The firefighters left the two of them there and headed back towards the building to save other people. And Park Do-joon forced his aching body to sit against the wall of the ambulance.

“Depart. Quickly!”

The ambulance left the place with sirens blaring. At that moment, a powerful impact struck the ambulance.

“Aaaagh!”

The impact was so strong that the car spun around and around, and Park Do-joon curled up his body with effort. Then darkness came.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you okay!”

“Ugh!”

Park Do-joon groaned and opened his eyes.

“Team Leader?”

“You’re not dead. That’s a relief.”

“If I were dead, I’d be in the morgue, not the hospital room.”

“You little bastard, is this a time for jokes?”

“I’m not joking. Ugh!”

Park Do-joon, who was trying to get up, winced without realizing it. He frowned and examined the condition of his body.

“Looks like there are no fractures. It seems to be just a simple contusion [a bruise].”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“If I had a fracture, there would be a fixation device, but there isn’t, and if I had a wound, there would be a bandage, but there isn’t, so it’s just a contusion.”

“You crazy bastard, are you saying that in this situation?”

“I guess it’s an occupational hazard.”

Park Do-joon said with a frown.

“I should tell the doctor to give me a painkiller.”

“This bastard is fine. Wow, seeing you fine in this situation makes me wonder if I raised a tiger cub [meaning: a strong and resilient person].”

Even so, a sense of relief crossed the team leader’s face.

“What happened?”

“What happened? The ambulance crashed into a wall due to the impact.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“Haa…”

The team leader shook his head at those words. Then he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

-Dozens of casualties have occurred due to the fire in Incheon, and the damage is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of won. Currently, the surrounding area is completely sealed off…

“What happened?”

“One of the chemical storage facilities in the factory there exploded. No, it wasn’t just that that exploded.”

“It wasn’t just that that exploded?”

“Yeah, at least twenty people died from that accident. And the death toll will increase due to chemical poisoning.”

At those words, Park Do-joon bit his lip. The face of the firefighter who put a mask on him when he was rescued flashed through his mind.

“Only six firefighter deaths have been found. Only fourteen victims have been found. And seventy-nine people are being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“I guess I was outside the radius.”

“Yeah, you were shocked, but fortunately, it seems you weren’t exposed to chemicals.”

Park Do-joon bit his lip.

‘Damn it.’

There was no such incident in his memory. If there had been, he would have stopped it somehow. The fact that there wasn’t meant that it was a crime committed by someone. Not an accident.

“The fire at the scene hasn’t been extinguished yet. It doesn’t seem like it will be easy.”

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“24 hours.”

The factory and surrounding buildings have been burning for a full day. Seeing that, Park Do-joon sighed deeply.

‘I don’t know what’s going on.’

It was Park Do-joon’s job to find out.

“It hurts.”

“Why did a bastard who hurts crawl out here?”

“I don’t think I was there by coincidence.”

“You crazy bastard.”

After the fire was extinguished, Park Do-joon took a painkiller and headed to the scene. The doctor gave him an earful, but at the words that he had to catch the culprit, he prescribed the strongest painkiller he could prescribe.

“Have the results come out?”

“Yeah, they came out terribly.”

The fire started in a house. The fire that started in a small house spread quickly and engulfed the entire building.

The problem started after that. This area was terribly old and dilapidated, so there was still no natural gas.

So, most of the houses used propane gas instead of natural gas, but the propane gas exploded due to the fire.

The problem is that even household propane gas has a large capacity.

It’s like a powerful bomb in itself, and in the end, it exploded, causing a strong impact on the surrounding area.

And that impact hit another gas storage facility a little further away.

The fixed gas storage facility used in restaurants, not just simple propane gas, contained gas that was incomparable to propane gas, and it was already heated up due to the fire.

Of course, it wasn’t made carelessly, so it wasn’t weak enough to explode in a fire at a certain distance.

However, a large piece of debris that flew from the propane gas explosion hit it, causing a chain reaction explosion.

The reason Park Do-joon flew away was because of that second explosion.

And some of the fragments that exploded in that way covered the factory, blowing away the chemical tanks of the malfunction.

That was the third impact, Park Do-joon’s last memory in the ambulance.

“Six firefighters died trying to prevent the fire from approaching the scene. As of today, the death toll is twenty-two.”

The firefighters saw the fire and hurriedly evacuated people, but… the impact was too great.

Moreover, the damage was bound to be greater because it happened late at night.

“There are still seven seriously injured. The death toll will increase over time.”

At the team leader’s words, Park Do-joon clenched his fist tightly.

“What about evidence related to the crime?”

“We’re checking.”

“But you seem to suspect something.”

“Yeah, follow me.”

The team leader took Park Do-joon to the house where the first fire broke out. It’s a typical old single-story house. A house that looks at least 50 years old.