My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 214

“Most of the Chinese working in the Daerim-dong area are lower class. No matter how you dress, you’ll stand out there.”

“Ah….”

“But men are less noticeable.”

Moreover, men who have served in the military often neglect skincare for a while. If they look a little rough, they might blend in better with the Chinese population.”

“Also, a young man and woman walking around together will attract attention in that area.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon wasn’t trying to discriminate against Lee Ji-soo. He was just pointing out that their strategy needed to adapt to the situation. Simply barging in and announcing they were police without considering the context would be foolish.

“But you don’t have a partner, do you? And even if you went in, would it even be possible to approach the Kangryong Clan in the first place?”

“It’s impossible. Especially if they’re operating by sending members from China, as the team leader said.”

They would never trust a stranger enough to make them a member.

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to gather information first.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the team leader looked dubious.

“Do you really have to do it? It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll back out if it seems too dangerous. I’m just trying to see if there’s a way to approach them.”

‘There’s no other way but to try.’

Park Do-joon didn’t elaborate.

Park Do-joon headed to Daerim.

When he arrived, he was met with Chinese signs everywhere.

“Is this Korea or China?”

Anyone would think it was China, given the overwhelming presence of Chinese characters.

“Hmm.”

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. People subtly began to avoid him. Soon after, four police officers wearing stab-proof vests appeared, patrolling the area.

‘As expected… or should I say, figures?’

The gazes of the Chinese people were colder than ice, filled with animosity.

Daerim was practically Chinese territory. They didn’t welcome Koreans walking around.

Knowing this sentiment well, the police officers were only going through the motions of patrolling, hurrying to leave the area.

‘Patrolling is supposed to be about checking for unusual activity.’

The hostility was so palpable that they couldn’t even react, let alone spot anything unusual.

“Hoo~!”

Park Do-joon sighed as he watched the police officers retreat. Just then, someone called out to him in Chinese from behind.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you around here before? Who are you?”

Park Do-joon turned around. Fortunately, he was fluent in Chinese. Before his regression [time travel/rebirth], dealing with the influx of Chinese criminals had made it almost essential.

In fact, he had even learned the local accent from a Chinese-Korean police officer for undercover work.

“I’m new here.”

“Judging by your accent, you’re from the Heilongjiang Province area. Am I right?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm.”

The man, still suspicious, gestured for him to come closer.

“Looks like you’re an illegal immigrant… be careful, don’t get caught by the Joseon [Korean] bastards.”

“I understand.”

The man seemed to think Park Do-joon’s sigh was one of relief at not being caught by the police.

“Since you’re here, go over there and pay your respects.”

“Pay my respects?”

“There are people who hold power here. You need to introduce yourself and explain your situation, or you’ll run into trouble later.”

Park Do-joon had a good idea who they were, but he pretended not to know. He decided to fully commit to the role of a newcomer from China.

“Who are they….”

Just then, a loud crash echoed, and a man was thrown out of a building. Three men followed.

“Please, please save me!”

“I told you to pay the protection money, right? Do you think we’re joking?”

“No, it’s not that. Business hasn’t been good. Please, have mercy! Just this once…!”

“You bastard, do you think we’re easy to fool?”

The three men kicked the fallen shop owner.

“You should sell your daughter to pay the protection money!”

They said it casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, continuing to kick him.

“Words won’t work with this one. Hey, let’s cut off one of his fingers.”

“Please….”

This was a restaurant. Losing a finger would severely impact his ability to work.

“Grab him!”

“Aah! No!”

One of the men pinned the shop owner down. They kicked his wife when she tried to intervene. The man in front then pulled out a large Chinese knife from his waist.

“No! Please!”

“Get lost!”

The woman was kicked with a sickening thud, sending her rolling across the floor.

In the meantime, two men forced the shop owner’s hand open. Naturally, he resisted.

“You son of a bitch!”

The man with the knife stomped on his hand.

“Aah!”

His hand finally opened in agony. The other man pressed down on it, forcing it flat, and the knife came down.

“Aah!”

The man screamed as his index finger was severed, but the onlookers simply stared blankly.

“If you don’t pay the overdue protection money by next week, your daughter is next. Got it?”

“Kkeueuk!”

“Did you get it, you bastard!”

The three men kicked the writhing man once more.

“I, I understand.”

“Let’s go.”

“What are you looking at, you bastards.”

At those words, the Chinese people subtly averted their eyes and dispersed.

‘That’s how Chinese people are.’

They pretend not to notice even if someone dies right next to them. It’s part of their culture.

Especially when it comes to criminal organizations like this, anyone who gets involved becomes the next target.

‘Hmm.’

Park Do-joon glanced in the direction the police had gone. They were out of sight, but not enough time had passed for them to be out of earshot of the screams.

‘But they’re not coming….’

This meant the police had essentially abandoned security in this area.

“Quickly, quickly, go to the hospital.”

At least after the gangsters left, a neighbor quickly rinsed the severed finger in water and handed it over.

“If you go to the hospital right away, they might be able to reattach it.”

“Yes, yes….”

The woman, presumably his wife, hurriedly took her husband to the hospital. But even that wouldn’t be easy. First of all, there were no hospitals in this area. It was too dangerous, so doctors avoided it.

Just because they were doctors didn’t mean they didn’t demand protection money.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes.”

“Go and pay your respects.”

If you didn’t introduce yourself and got caught later, you’d face retaliation. But if you did, they’d investigate you, find out your hometown and family, and exploit your weaknesses.

“Yes.”

The shop owner shook his head as he looked at his broken door, then went back inside. Park Do-joon remained, watching him with concern.

“So that kind of thing happened?”

“Yes, the area is practically controlled by the Kangryong Clan. You can consider that Korean law enforcement has no power there.”

After witnessing the incident, Park Do-joon went to the police station and checked the report records, but there was no mention of it.

In other words, it hadn’t even been reported. Even the officers who had been on patrol denied hearing anything.

“In my opinion, that area isn’t Korea; it’s China.”

“But how do you solve that? Unless you bring in the military.”

The team leader shook his head. It was a hopeless situation. When they couldn’t get support from above, they passed on unsolvable cases to make them quit, or they hoped they’d die by accident.

“Ah, I don’t have a reason to help Daerim-dong.”

“What?”

Park Do-joon drew a clear line.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m a police officer, but I’m a police officer who catches criminals, not a police officer in charge of the security of Daerim-dong.”

“What?”

“As the team leader said, it would require at least a police special forces team. To do it properly, you’d need to deploy the military. But my job isn’t to save Daerim-dong or secure its safety. I just need to catch the murderer.”

“That’s true.”

“And I’m sure of it after seeing this. They did it on purpose.”

“On purpose?”

“Yes.”

They started their act almost immediately after the police passed by.

“Isn’t that a coincidence?”

“It’s not a coincidence. They probably planned it. Otherwise, there’s no reason to drag the shop owner outside.”

Criminals instinctively commit crimes in secret. They want to hide their actions and ensure their safety.

“But breaking down the door and dragging the victim out doesn’t make sense. This isn’t a movie, and doors don’t break that easily in the first place.”

In movies, doors fall off with a single kick, but in reality, they’re much sturdier. Especially Korean doors, which are even less likely to break unless they’re cheaply made.”

“Then they deliberately broke the door.”

By dragging the victim onto the main street, they made the scene visible to everyone, forcing them to witness the event.

“You can see that they did this with the clear intention of threatening the community.”

“Threatening? I guess so.”

The timing after the police passed, the sudden attack, the excessive violence….

“They suppress and intimidate their targets, establishing their dominance by flaunting their power.”

The team leader, after considering his words, frowned.

“Uh, wait. Does that mean…?”

“Yes, the scale of the incidents is different, but the style is the same.”

One was assault, and the other was murder, but the underlying tactic of intimidating the victim and preventing resistance was identical to the police murder case.

“Maybe the mastermind is in Korea. And the way they’re running the organization probably means the criminal is the boss of the Kangryong Clan.”

It was expected. But the investigation itself was impossible, making any approach equally impossible.

“Maybe we can catch him.”

# Finding the Boss

Just because Lee Ji-soo couldn’t work with Park Do-joon in Daerim-dong didn’t mean she was idle. She was assisting him by reviewing existing cases.

“You’re right, Senior. The case wasn’t trying to hide itself.”

There were two murdered police officers and two victimized family members. After the police officers were killed, their bodies were left in plain sight on the street.

And all the CCTV cameras that could have captured the incidents were destroyed.

The same went for the family. The raped wife and daughter of one of the officers were kidnapped in public, and their bodies were also left unhidden.

The bodies were all found in trash cans in Daerim-dong where there were no CCTV cameras.

“The warning is delivered through symbolism. There has to be symbolism for a warning to be effective.”

If there’s no symbolism, and the perpetrator remains unknown, the warning is meaningless.

“Like using radiation instead of poison in Russia?”

“That’s right. The Kangryong Clan boss is using a similar method.”

He consolidates his power by intimidating others and eliminating resistance.

It’s a strategy of ‘one punishment for one hundred warnings,’ designed to instill fear and solidify his control.

“The problem is that the modern legal system struggles to effectively respond to a criminal who operates in this way.”

The modern legal system is designed to limit attacks on groups, making it difficult to address this type of organized crime.

Profiler by trade