My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 204

“First, look into that. And…”

The team leader lowered his voice.

“You know this too, right? This could get really dangerous if we mess it up.”

It’s the Jindo Group involved, not just any other place. The police are already trying to get rid of Park Do-joon.

If they find out he’s trying to mess with Jindo Group in this situation, the police might actually try to silence him permanently.

“I know. They’ll try to cover it up no matter what.”

It’s Jindo Group, after all. There are plenty of guys who would kill dozens, even hundreds, for them.

“I plan to move quietly.”

Park Do-joon nodded.

Park Do-joon immediately sought out people who would know about the situation. People who had talked to the victim until the very last moment, and people tied together by profit.

“You mean Jo Tae-gyu.”

Where there are people who want to redevelop an area, there are bound to be groups opposing the redevelopment.

Park Do-joon visited the 11th District Redevelopment Countermeasures Committee. They were an organization of people who opposed redevelopment in that specific area.

“Yes, I know him. He was a member of our committee.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Why did Jo Tae-gyu oppose the redevelopment?”

A person like Jo Tae-gyu could easily live somewhere else.

“Even if he goes somewhere else, whether he can live comfortably is another matter.”

“I understand what you mean.”

If you own a lot of houses here, you get a significant amount in rent. But if you sell here and buy a house somewhere else with that money, there are limitations. And whether you can get enough rent from the house you buy there is another matter.

For example, if you bought a small villa here for 200 million won [approximately $150,000 USD], the monthly rent you can get from that house would be about 500,000 won [approximately $375 USD].

But assuming you have three villas and sell them all to buy an apartment somewhere else for 600 million won [approximately $450,000 USD], will you really get 1.5 million won [approximately $1,125 USD] from there?

You won’t. The price of an apartment to get more than 1.5 million won a month would have to be at least 1.5 billion won [approximately $1.125 million USD].

In other words, for Jo Tae-gyu, who is in the rental business, leaving here is, in a way, a financial loss.

‘Moreover, there’s nothing more foolish than selling now.’

Even though there is some premium attached right now, it’s nothing compared to the premium that will be attached after the redevelopment starts properly.

Of course, if you hold on to it, you get that much more premium.

In the case of redevelopment, one admission ticket [the right to a new property in the redeveloped area] is issued per owned house. He’s not short on money, so there’s no reason to sell it now.

‘Jo Tae-gyu probably isn’t really against it.’

He’s probably not really against it, but rather attached himself to the opposition to increase his bargaining power.

“Then how many houses does Jo Tae-gyu have?”

“About 40 houses.”

That’s definitely not a small number. Even at 500,000 won per house, that’s a monthly income of 20 million won [approximately $15,000 USD].

“Then, has there been any talk of him putting those houses up for sale recently?”

“Not at all. Frankly, it’s not the time to sell.”

Park Do-joon rubbed his chin at those words.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

I already know the situation roughly. Identifying the culprit? That’s not difficult. Wouldn’t the guys who told Jo Tae-gyu to sell his house have told other people to sell too?

Of course, they would.

“Have there been any guys going around here recently telling people to sell their houses?”

“Of course, there have been. Honestly, there are bad rumors going around too.”

“I heard that some people were threatened into selling their houses.”

The committee member nodded at those words.

“That’s right. I heard they were threatened.”

“Did you report it to the police?”

“Report it? We did it several times. But the police didn’t do anything.”

It’s probably the police who already know who they are. So, they won’t touch them.

At the very least, even if they do touch them, they’ll probably just pin the blame on a few people after everything is over and send them away for a while.

“Then, are there any of them who haven’t been seen lately?”

“They’re all gone.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, they all disappeared suddenly.”

‘So that’s how it is?’

If they were separate organizations, they wouldn’t have moved all at once. That means that even though they have different names, they ultimately work for the same entity. So, they quickly washed their hands and left when things got too hot.

‘This situation is actually an opportunity.’

There are many factories around, and the image of the neighborhood has become dangerous. Naturally, the land prices in this area are falling, which is to be expected.

If they were each working for their own interests, they probably wouldn’t have missed this opportunity to buy up cheap land.

‘But something’s bothering them.’

So, they hurriedly turned tail and ran away. And that means only one thing. Even though they’re showing different faces and company names, they’re originally one and the same.

‘Well, it’s not common for guys to do such crazy things.’

It can’t be common. In the first place, this kind of problem can’t be done by a mediocre-sized violent organization. These fights are happening because the stakes are so high.

“Then, do you know the contact information of any of them?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Even if you’re trying to sell, you have to contact them, right?”

“Most of the time, those bastards come to us. It’s not that we don’t have their contact information…”

“It’s not?”

“They all got cut off after the accident.”

‘Burner phones, huh [disposable cell phones].’

After all, there are already a dozen deaths and tens of billions of won in property damage.

The chemicals are spreading around, and it will cost a lot of money to clean them up.

Chemicals aren’t something that disappears just by washing them with water.

‘It was oil-soluble, right?’

If it were water-soluble, it would be better, but oil-soluble, that is, oil-soluble components, do not wash away with rain. Of course, to get rid of it, you have to clean the entire contaminated area with a substance that removes it.

Moreover, oil itself is a pollutant from an environmental point of view. In other words, you have to wipe off the chemicals with oil once, and then you have to get rid of the oil used to remove the chemicals.

Of course, the guys who caused the fire have to take responsibility for it.

“I understand. Then, do you have any information about the people who were harmed by those guys?”

“It’s not that we don’t have any, but everyone is being careful… We’re also judging based on what we can see.”

After all, people who are afraid of the danger of gangsters and move away won’t go around telling people about it.

“I don’t have anything to tell you.”

“I understand what you mean.”

Park Do-joon nodded. There’s definitely no hard evidence. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to track them down.

“Please confirm with me later when you find the culprit.”

“Of course. Please catch those bastards.”

Park Do-joon left the place and immediately called the team leader.

-Oh, what did they say?

“They say everyone went into hiding at once. It seems like they’re one gang…”

-One gang… You think so too?

“That’s right. In the first place, it doesn’t make sense for multiple organizations to coexist peacefully in this situation.”

Violent organizations are brutally barbaric. It’s not a story of law and principles. The way they operate itself forms a sphere of influence and exclusively attacks other organizations that enter it.

It’s like beasts setting up their own territory and attacking other creatures of the same species that enter it.

“But it doesn’t make sense that there are four organizations acquiring land only in this area.”

Of course, if their sources of income are different, they may be indifferent to each other. But they have the same sources of income, and they are telling people to sell their land and buildings for the same purpose. That means that from their point of view, they are rivals and enemies to each other.

-But there can’t be no trouble at all.

That’s impossible. Their instincts won’t let it go.

Of course, it’s not like the old days when organizations fought each other with steel pipes and sashimi knives, but that doesn’t mean they’re working together in a friendly way.

-If you’re running four such lower organizations, it’s not a normal organization. It’s at least a nationwide level… Most of the nationwide organizations are under surveillance, right?

A nationwide organization is a violent organization that dominates at least two regions. But there aren’t that many nationwide organizations in Korea right now. The reason is that in the case of local organizations, that is, those based in the region, they can bribe the local police and prevent investigations, but nationwide organizations have more than one or two organizations targeting them.

So, in the case of nationwide gangsters, they mostly go through a process of legalization and move quietly behind the scenes, and it’s rare for them to move like this.

Except for organizations sponsored by major companies.

“It’s probably Jindo Group.”

And although it’s not publicly known, Jindo Group is suspected to be one of the companies that sponsors such organized crime groups.

-If it’s Jindo guys, it’s possible.

“Realistically, Jindo Group is the biggest beneficiary of this incident.”

Jindo Group is suspected of using gangsters and redeveloping this area at the same time. When a large company redevelops, the first thing they do is manage the local police, often through bribery or influence.

It can’t be helped because gangsters are sometimes brought in during the redevelopment process.

Even if they openly bring in violent organizations under the name of security, the police turn a blind eye. It’s not exactly a secret that they bribe them to turn a blind eye to them wielding wooden sticks, but they’ll stop them if they wield sashimi knives.

-This is a headache.

There’s a reason why the team leader is saying this. If Jindo Group is really behind it, it’s obvious that there will be interference from above regarding the investigation.

If we’re unlucky, they’ll tell us to end it as a simple fire, and if we’re lucky, they’ll probably pass it on as an unsolved case.

“Let’s not report it for now. The moment we report that we’re suspicious, we’ll be excluded from the case.”

-That’s true… But even if we hide it, Jindo Group will likely find out.

That’s definitely true. However, if the situation is urgent, there will be a difference in the extent to which they openly bribe and try to cover up the case.

“I know. But at least if there’s no pressure from above, we can put pressure on them from somewhere else.”

-What? What are you talking about?

“Didn’t you say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

Park Do-joon’s eyes sparkled.

“In this case, we can bring in Jindo Group’s enemy.”

“Is this true?”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi shook the report and spoke with a serious face.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes, I don’t know. In the current situation, we can be suspicious, but we can’t be sure. I’m a profiler.”

Profilers don’t make assumptions. If you make assumptions just because the probability is high, it may be wrong.

Profilers must constantly doubt. Even themselves.

“Then what’s the point of this? We can’t even announce it?”

“We can’t announce it.”

If Hyunseong Group announces here that Jindo Group is the culprit, it will be a really serious war. Of course, it’s true that Jindo Group and Hyunseong Group don’t get along, but they’re not on such bad terms that they’re going to have an all-out war yet.

To be exact, they want to, but if they do, the Korean economy will be ruined, so the people around them are stopping them.

Profiler