My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 231

“So, do you happen to know his contact information…?”

“Why would I want to know that bastard’s contact information?”

Of course, he didn’t know such a thing.

“Has he not been around for the past few days, by any chance?”

“Now that you mention it, he hasn’t been around.”

He used to come almost every other day, but he hasn’t been near here for the past few days.

“…Guess he’s dead.”

The old man said it nonchalantly, but Lee Ji-soo’s face hardened at those words. Criminals, especially those who commit crimes by mistake, tend to avoid the scene.

Of course, there’s the saying that criminals return to the scene. But that’s with some time having passed. Once they come and confirm that there are no traces of them, they distance themselves from the crime scene. And in the current situation, quite a bit of time has passed.

He probably believes there are no traces of him, so he won’t approach here for the time being.

“Detective, how do we track him down?”

Lee Ji-soo asked worriedly, as there was a high possibility that he might not come here again. But Park Do-joon wasn’t worried.

“So, who is this person you call ‘Hwang’s family’?”

“Kim from the rice shop down there.”

“Kim from the rice shop?”

“Yeah, oh, I know that guy’s phone number. Want it?”

“If you could give it to me, I’d appreciate it.”

Park Do-joon smiled at those words.

#Those Who Cannot Be Fixed

“Detective, how did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That those people would know.”

“Ah, that? You said you heard him called ‘Hwang’s family.’ Then it’s obvious. Someone knows him.”

If he had introduced him directly, he would know his name, but the old man didn’t know his name. That means someone knows him.

“And the person who calls him ‘Hwang’s family’ probably knows him quite well.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s a cultural difference. In foreign countries, you call people you’re close to by their first name, but Korea is the opposite.”

If you’re not close, you don’t call them by their first name. For example, if you’re calling ‘Kim Cheol-soo,’ in a business relationship, it would be ‘Cheol-soo ssi’ or ‘Kim Cheol-soo ssi,’ but if you’re personally close, it would be a title like ‘Kim-ga’ or ‘Kim ssi.’ [These are honorific titles used to show respect or familiarity].

“Moreover, the choice of words ‘Hwang’s family,’ not just ‘Hwang ssi,’ means they are very close personally.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know. It’s not a vocabulary that people use these days. But a profiler needs to know a lot.”

Because a profiler’s job is to grasp the meaning behind every small action and word and analyze it.

“In other words, that Kim from the rice shop knows who he is very well.”

Park Do-joon said that as he arrived at the rice shop. Inside, an old man was cooling off while waiting.

“Welcome. Are you the people who called earlier?”

“That’s right.”

“So, you want to know about that Hwang’s family bastard?”

“Yes.”

“But… why are you looking for him?”

The old man asked back with a curious look on his face. Kim Choo-geun’s face held a strange anticipation.

“Ah, it’s related to a case, so it’s a bit difficult to say…”

“Ah… well, it’s not surprising if it’s about that bastard.”

Kim Choo-geun nodded.

“Do you know him well?”

“Well, if you mean do I know him, yeah. He’s a rotten seed.”

Kim Choo-geun replied to Park Do-joon’s words with an expression that wasn’t very surprised.

“A rotten seed?”

“Yeah, he’s a seven-time convict.”

At those words, Park Do-joon smiled faintly inside. Having many convictions means there’s a high possibility that he has a strong sense of inferiority.

“Could you tell me more details?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to get involved, but I can’t help but know him.”

The man called Hwang’s family is Hwang In-chul. He was a typical failed criminal type with seven convictions for violence, assault, and freeloading.

“Honestly, if he wasn’t my brother-in-law, I wouldn’t want to be involved…”

“Brother-in-law?”

“He’s my wife’s younger brother. That son of a bitch.”

Looking at Kim Choo-geun sighing, I could feel his worries.

“You seem to be having a hard time.”

“My sister tells that son of a bitch to get a divorce, but she won’t.”

“That’s right. Others are worried, but if they don’t realize it and can’t come to their senses, it burns those around them.”

“Exactly. I want to kill that bastard myself.”

Park Do-joon began to chime in subtly. It was a way to get him to talk about his inner thoughts.

As Park Do-joon expected, Kim Choo-geun began to complain.

“That crazy bastard has spent more time in prison than he has in his married life.”

He was introduced by his father to marry her, but he wasn’t a normal guy. When he gets drunk, he beats people, and he constantly flirts with women without knowing his place. He’s never worked a day in his life and lives off the money his sister earns.

So, he told his sister to get a divorce several times, but his sister didn’t seem to want to get a divorce.

‘She seems to be mentally enslaved.’

If she’s mentally enslaved, regardless of the rational situation, she can’t even think about getting a divorce, even if the person is in prison.

“Anyway, that crazy bastard got out of prison about two years ago and crawled back in.”

He couldn’t beat him to death, and he couldn’t cut ties with his sister, so he just pretended not to know and accepted him, but that didn’t mean he liked it, that’s what he said.

“How has he been doing lately?”

“Don’t even get me started. These days, he’s addicted to that ‘Sea Story’ game… Crazy bastard.”

He usually gets money from his wife to drink, but now he’s addicted to gambling and can’t come to his senses.

‘A typical psychological escape mechanism?’

An effort to avoid reality and turn his attention elsewhere by any means. And highly addictive gambling is the most suitable tool for such behavior.

“Has there been anything strange recently?”

“Recently?”

“Yes. It seems like it’s been a while since you went to that dive bar up there together.”

“Ah, that’s definitely true.”

He used to come naturally and ask him to buy him drinks, and that’s where they would go. The prices were cheap, and most of the customers were regulars, so even if something happened, they would just let it go because of their relationship. In the first place, if he went to another bar and got drunk, he would flirt with female customers or female staff, so other places wouldn’t even accept him as a customer.

“But he hasn’t been asking me to go with him lately.”

Kim Choo-geun tilted his head, wondering if that was strange.

“Thank you.”

“Thanks for what… Oh, by any chance, if you can put that bastard away, put him away for a long time.”

Park Do-joon nodded at Kim Choo-geun’s words, who seemed to be shuddering.

“I’ll try.”

***

“Hmm. A sexual predator…”

The team leader nodded at Park Do-joon’s report. If he’s that kind of person, he’s quite likely to be the culprit in the case.

“If he’s that kind of guy, it’s suspicious. Typically low self-esteem…”

“Yes.”

“And no prior convictions for sexual assault.”

“A trap of stereotypes.”

When something happens, the police unconditionally target the guy who caused the related incident first. Of course, that’s actually effective sometimes.

Especially in the case of child sex offenders, it’s quite effective. But in these special situations, such stereotypes hinder the investigation of the case.

“What are the other teams saying?”

“They’re currently investigating existing rapists. But they don’t seem to be finding any matching conditions.”

Of course, some suspects came up. But most of the suspects had solid alibis. It can’t be helped because sex offenders, especially those who commit sex crimes against minors, wear electronic anklets [ankle monitors] 100% of the time, so they can’t hide their location unless they cut it off.

“Since he’s not young, the targets he can subdue would also be limited.”

“Probably.”

If someone tries to drag them away to rape them, any woman would scream and resist.

Even if there aren’t many people, it’s still an alley where people walk and live, so if they scream, someone will come out.

As a result, the rape will fail.

“Opportunistic murder of children who can be subdued…”

The team leader also thought that possibility was the most likely at the moment.

“But no evidence came out at the scene?”

“Yes, I saw it too. But when I looked at it, semen came out of the child’s body, but there was no sperm.”

“Yeah, that’s what they said.”

“Then the man either had a vasectomy to prevent pregnancy, or he has azoospermia [a condition where there is no sperm in the semen], but Hwang In-chul doesn’t have any children.”

In fact, the part where genes are found in semen is the sperm part. In the case of azoospermia or vasectomy to prevent pregnancy, sperm is not mixed in the semen, so the police cannot investigate for sure.

If sperm had come out in the first place, things wouldn’t have become so complicated. Since he’s a criminal, it would have been easy to compare and confirm.

“This is troublesome.”

The team leader frowned as he looked at Park Do-joon’s case records. It can’t be helped because finding the culprit without genetic test records is not an easy task.

“It seems difficult to arrest him without other genetic evidence.”

“Exactly. But we can’t just follow that bastard around.”

The team leader scratched his head.

“Team leader, about this case. Let’s just turn it into a public investigation.”

“What?”

But what Park Do-joon suggested was an unexpected method.

“What are you talking about? A public investigation? How are you going to handle the mess if you turn this into a public investigation?”

“Didn’t you say it’s already hard to stop?”

“Ugh, I did.”

The victim’s family, who is a reporter, has already stated that if they don’t solve it within a week, they will hold a press conference to criticize the police’s incompetence.

Since the family is a reporter, if he holds a press conference, all the newspaper reporters from all over the country will come running, and the police will probably be torn to shreds.

That’s because the fact that they haven’t solved the crime means that the culprit is still walking around outside, so the parents of the girls will be in an uproar.

They’ll think that the police have been neglecting other children to become victims of crime during the past time because they haven’t even identified the culprit, let alone solved it.

“As you know, we have to prevent additional crimes.”

In the case of opportunistic sex offenders, there is a very high possibility that they will commit crimes again if the opportunity arises. Especially if he’s a guy who has committed so many crimes.

“Hwang In-chul hasn’t quit drinking yet.”

“Well, it’s almost impossible for this type to quit drinking.”

Not going to that bar to drink makgeolli [Korean rice wine] doesn’t mean he’s quitting drinking. If he was the type to quit drinking after reflecting on his actions after drinking and causing an accident, he should have quit drinking a long time ago.

In fact, it’s impossible for those who live on alcohol to quit drinking. One drunk driver killed his own father in a car in his third drunk driving incident, but he was still caught driving without a license while drunk again.

“Moreover, he’s a seven-time convict and in his 50s?”

“Yes.”

“Then he’s practically given up on life.”

In this case, the possibility of additional crimes is bound to increase even more.

“It would be nice if we could monitor him, but realistically, that’s impossible.”

The team leader seemed to be seriously considering Park Do-joon’s words. Certainly, what’s important in this case is preventing additional crimes, not the reputation of the police.