My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 229

If someone suddenly runs away from a specific area, that’s practically an admission of guilt. And realistically, in South Korea, once a suspect is identified, tracking them down becomes relatively straightforward.

With the resident registration system and CCTV cameras everywhere, it’s nearly impossible to live without revealing your location.

“If they try to flee or hide, at least there won’t be any more victims.”

But if they surrender, there’s a higher chance of more victims being created.

“So, ideally, from the police’s perspective, the best situation is to arrest them quietly. Though, the public might not necessarily want that.”

“Is that so?”

While Park Do-joon was explaining this to Lee Ji-soo, the team leader was briefing the other team members on the current situation.

“I don’t want to either. But a family member of the victim is a reporter.”

“A reporter?”

“Yeah, the victim’s uncle works for Starlight.”

“We’re screwed.”

“Of all people…”

Everyone shook their heads at the news.

“Isn’t Starlight an entertainment magazine? Why are we screwed? They can’t even publish this news, can they?”

Lee Ji-soo looked bewildered.

“Starlight reporters have incredible connections.”

“Connections? Ah, I guess so. I didn’t think of that.”

Starlight reporters are known for being relentless in gathering rumors and information. It’s said that the most troublesome entity for celebrities to antagonize isn’t a large newspaper like Aeguk Ilbo or Younggwang Ilbo, but Starlight.

Starlight is the most persistent media outlet in Korea.

“If the case is delayed even a little, they’ll do whatever it takes to make it a hot topic.”

A Starlight reporter would definitely know social affairs reporters. And they would almost certainly know at least one celebrity.

If they ask them to publish an article or even just post a single line expressing their anger about this case, the news will spread nationwide instantly.

“There’s no way an embargo on the victim’s family will hold.”

Their judgment is already clouded by anger, so would the police’s request to ‘please respect the embargo since you’re a reporter’ even work?

“We can’t just create a culprit and bring them in.”

It’s safe to say that the police would be heavily criticized by the entire nation.

“Isn’t there at least some time, though?”

“What are you talking about? We’re the Metropolitan Profiling Team.”

“Ah…”

That meant the local police and profilers investigated and gave up because they couldn’t find an answer. The victim’s family’s anger must be through the roof.

“Do-joon is right. The incident happened ten days ago, and nothing has come out.”

The team leader said with a serious expression.

“It happened in Ansan City.”

“Ten days ago…”

For the victims, ten days is more than enough time to lose patience. It’s not just about identifying and tracking the culprit; they haven’t even identified the culprit yet.

“As you all know, this is a case that needs to be resolved quickly.”

It can’t be helped. Child sex offenders generally can’t change their nature. It takes superhuman patience for a man to eliminate sexual desire. Even religious figures like monks and priests, who are guided by religious doctrines, spend their entire lives enduring it, and some commit crimes or break their vows because they can’t resist sexual desire. And the common trait among criminals is a lack of patience.

“Especially in this case, there’s a high possibility they’ll act again.”

It’s just one case, but the punishment will be severe because of the heinous nature of the crime and the fact that it targeted children.

“So, put aside other cases for now and focus on this one.”

“Then how do we operate?”

“We’ll operate in teams.”

“What? Not a joint investigation?”

Usually, when investigating such cases, a joint investigation headquarters is formed. The direction of the case is determined by that headquarters, and the case is investigated accordingly.

But by teams? This is quite unusual.

“It’s already been ten days. The higher-ups think that if we take the wrong direction, it could really end up as an unsolved case for months, or even years in the worst-case scenario. You all know what the problem with joint investigations is, right?”

“Ah, yes, we know.”

When investigating with a joint investigation, a huge number of personnel, funds, and support are received. In most cases, that’s enough to solve the case. But in rare cases, it still doesn’t get solved, and that usually happens when the joint investigation takes the wrong direction from the start.

“The Ansan local police have already wasted ten days by taking the wrong direction. A joint investigation will be established, but it’s undecided which direction it will take.”

In other words, everyone should do their own profiling and bring what they think is most likely. Or, since there are enough people, they might assign people to each case.

“Take the case files as you leave. The victim’s photos aren’t included due to the possibility of leaks, so come to me if you need them.”

“Understood.”

“What the hell is this bastard?”

The profilers frowned as they left. Park Do-joon also came out with a grim face. And Lee Ji-soo approached Park Do-joon.

“This is a dangerous situation, right?”

“It is.”

The cases that the police prioritize after recognizing an incident are those with a high possibility of additional victims.

“As you know, child sex offenders basically can’t control their sexual desires.”

“That…”

“So, the higher-ups are in an uproar. Moreover, the child died so brutally.”

In the worst-case scenario, the perpetrator’s restraint might have broken, and other children could be in danger.

“Let’s go to the scene first.”

“To the scene?”

“There are things you can’t see just from documents.”

While everyone was poring over the documents, Park Do-joon urged Lee Ji-soo.

“You can analyze the documents on the way anyway. And realistically, the analysis by the local police is unlikely to be helpful.”

Of course, it might not be wrong. But if it were right, the culprit would have been caught already.

“Yes, Senior.”

“And maybe…”

Park Do-joon hesitated, touching his chin.

“Let’s talk about it after we go.”

The crime scene was an unfinished building with a large banner that read ‘Exercising Lien Rights’ [a legal claim against a property]. And Park Do-joon cursed involuntarily when he saw it.

“It’s almost impossible to find evidence in this state.”

“How many years has construction been halted?”

“I don’t know. It’s not in the documents, but… four? Five years?”

The old building was extremely dirty. There was dust and traces of construction everywhere, and there were also signs of people eating and sleeping here and there.

“The door wasn’t locked, right?”

“Yes.”

Originally, the door to such a building should be locked, but the door was open because the entity exercising the lien rights wasn’t managing it properly.

Of course, it would have been locked at first. But such an unfinished building, even with windows installed, is a great shelter for the homeless or runaway teenagers.

Someone would have broken a window and started living there, and since the managing side didn’t secure it with a chain but simply with a door lock, they would have opened it and gone in and out later.

“It’s hard to find evidence in this state.”

Most of the evidence would have been contaminated, and it would have been impossible to even know which evidence belonged to which case.

“They would have tried to handle it as meticulously as possible.”

Park Do-joon said, scratching his head. But since that failed, tracking would be impossible.

“Well, the inside of this building isn’t important anyway.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around.

“What? This scene isn’t important?”

“Yeah. At least in this case, it’s not very important. This building is definitely the scene where the incident occurred. But that doesn’t mean it’s crucial.”

“What? Why? I clearly learned that the crime scene is very important for profiling?”

“That’s right. But what we need to look at here depends on whether it’s the ending location of the crime scene or the starting location of the crime scene.”

“Ending? Starting?”

Lee Ji-soo looked slightly confused. Seeing that, Park Do-joon scratched his head as if he was in trouble. Well, they don’t teach this in detail at school, so it can’t be helped.

“You know that terrain is important in a crime, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Then you haven’t heard about the weighting when the incident occurs simultaneously or sequentially in two places, have you?”

“Ah, um…”

Lee Ji-soo was embarrassed because she had never actually heard of it.

“Of course, not all cases are the same. The weighting is different depending on the case.”

For example, in the case of planned murder, the most important weighting is held by the scene where the murder finally occurs. This is because you also have to think about handling the situation at the scene to avoid being discovered after killing someone.

“But in cases like kidnapping, it’s different. The starting point has a higher weighting when judging than the ending point.”

“Kidnapping cases? This is a murder case, isn’t it?”

“Resulting in that, yes.”

That’s right. This is clearly a murder case. But if you think about the purpose of that murder case, you have to consider whether this is really a murder case at its core.

“But is murder the primary purpose? You have to clearly distinguish between cases where murder is the purpose and cases where it’s an incidental harm.”

Lee Ji-soo bit her lip. There are definitely such aspects to consider. Everyone is angry about the crime of child rape and murder, but that doesn’t mean there’s evidence to see this as planned murder.

“But there was serious injury to the point where organs were removed!”

“That’s right. But usually, if you’re trying to kill someone, you stab them with a knife, hit them on the head, or strangle them. You don’t pull out a child’s genitals through their anus.”

This is an extremely specific and unusual situation.

“From that point of view, there’s a very high possibility that the perpetrator wasn’t primarily aiming for murder.”

Lee Ji-soo, flustered, asked back.

“Not murder?”

“Not primarily aiming for murder. A brutal murder isn’t necessarily a planned murder. Rather, accidental murders are often brutal.”

“But what grudge would you have against an eight-year-old child to commit an accidental murder?”

“There’s a high possibility that’s not all they were aiming for.”

Park Do-joon said with a bitter smile.

“Would a sex offender really approach with the intention of killing?”

Perhaps the perpetrator committed the crime while accepting the possibility of killing, but they didn’t approach with the intention of actually killing.

Trying to kill and acting while considering that you might die are completely different in terms of cause and effect.

“Ah…”

“I understand that you’re angry after seeing that photo. It’s a case that makes me angry too. And anger makes your heart hot. But we need to keep our heads cool.”

“I understand what you mean. Then where is the starting point?”

“First of all, it’s certain that the perpetrator is a sex offender.”

According to the evidence, there are clear signs of rape, even though there is no DNA. In other words, the perpetrator is a sex offender.

“Rapists. Or, in psychological terms, they are sometimes referred to as sexual predators. That aspect is the core of this case.”

Sexual predator. Generally referred to as rapists, but sexual predator is a more refined concept.

Rapists use all sorts of methods when committing crimes. Among them, those who show violent tendencies are called sexual predators, or sexual hunters in Korean.

“Even if they are the same rapist, the methods are all different, such as rape for hierarchy, rape by power, and constructive rape, and the analysis is also different. And in this case, we have to see it as a sexual predator. Analyzing the appearance shown at the crime scene shows an extremely aggressive form.”

“I’ve heard of it.”

“Yeah. Of course, that guy would have kidnapped the child in a violent way. So, we need to check where they brought that child from first.”

No matter how open this place is, it’s not a space where eight-year-old children would come and go.

“According to the parents, the victim went out to play with friends. Did they come here with friends?”

“Using it as a kind of hideout?”

“Yes, you know, kids use a space they like as a kind of hideout and hang out with their friends.”

“That’s true, but I don’t think it’s here.”

“What? Why?”

“The concept of a hideout has various meanings: a space where peers or friends gather, a personal space for themselves. But above all, the prerequisite is safety.”

No child uses a place that makes them feel psychologically uneasy as a hideout. Generally, the places that children use as hideouts are more open than you think. In addition, it’s easy to look around, and there are many spaces where they can get help from adults if necessary.

They think it’s a secret space, but very few children actually use a place that adults wouldn’t know about as a hideout and run around.

“Look at this place. This place is dangerous.”

There are unfinished waste materials scattered everywhere, and the windows are broken, letting in an eerie wind.

The cloth that was blocking the outside is mostly torn by the wind and rain.

“It’s not very likely that children would feel stable here. Moreover, there are traces that this place also serves as a space where runaway teenagers of poor quality hide and live.”

Traces of fire. Bottles of alcohol and cigarettes scattered everywhere. And blankets that are so dirty they’re about to tear.