My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 242

A Problem of Adults, Not Children

Park Do-joon naturally tried to call the residents upstairs. But it wasn’t easy.

“Wow, I’d believe you if you said my skin was burning.”

Jung Yi-yeon squinted, noticing the police officers glaring at her.

“We came to help, so why are they acting like this?”

“Because we didn’t come to help, we came to screw them over.”

Park Do-joon shrugged and said.

“From their perspective, they want to cover up the case, but they can’t, so they’re upset.”

“Senior, aren’t you tired?”

“Not really?”

‘These people live in a different world from him anyway. Not all police officers are like family,’ he thought.

“Rather than clumsily bringing up family and creating victims, I’d rather get cursed at and catch the culprit.”

“Still, their glares are intense.”

When Park Do-joon asked to borrow the interrogation room, the local police officers showed their discomfort but couldn’t refuse.

They couldn’t because they already had the weakness of a poor initial investigation. If they added refusing to cooperate with the investigation, it would be a real problem.

A poor initial investigation could be a mistake, but refusing to cooperate with the investigation couldn’t be a mistake.

“But Senior, do you really think that child is the culprit?”

“I don’t know. First, we need to check because they might know something.”

In reality, the local police hadn’t even investigated the house or met the people. They were planning to frame the victims as the culprits from the start, so it was natural.

“And depending on the situation……”

At that moment, Lee Ji-soo came in and shouted.

“Senior, they’ve arrived!”

Lee Ji-soo rushed inside. Park Do-joon turned his gaze in the direction she came from. And five people emerged from within.

“Five?”

Park Do-joon frowned as he looked at them.

“For now, the possibility of them being the culprit has greatly increased, hasn’t it?”

“Why?”

“Two of them must be the parents.”

The adults were coming forward, protecting the child. A man and a woman. Anyone could tell they were the parents.

“The other two are following behind. They’re wearing suits and carrying briefcases neatly. So who would they be?”

“Lawyers. I see why now.”

‘It’s just a matter of asking an eight-year-old a question. But lawyers…… not just one, but two? Unless they’re overflowing with money, there’s only one answer,’ he mused.

“This won’t be easy.”

“We refuse to answer.”

“Mom.”

“Shh, don’t answer! Don’t say anything!”

As expected, Park Do-joon frowned as he watched the lawyer firmly draw the line as soon as the questioning began.

“I don’t think we asked anything wrong?”

“My child wasn’t there that day.”

“How do you know that? You said you were at work?”

“We already asked! The child said they weren’t there.”

“Can we ask the child directly?”

“I won’t allow it! Don’t try to intimidate my child.”

“It is illegal to question a minor without parental consent.”

The four people were completely blocking the questions. The child was looking at Park Do-joon, seemingly gauging the situation.

“Then where was the child that day?”

“They were playing outside.”

“Were they alone? Weren’t there any other children with them?”

“There were no other children. They played alone.”

‘That can’t be right,’ Park Do-joon thought.

An eight-year-old playing alone outside? Children are friendly. So, unless they are particularly introverted, it’s not difficult for them to play with others.

“Then where were they playing?”

“Why do you need to know that?”

“To check around the area.”

“I can’t tell you.”

Park Do-joon smiled bitterly as he watched the woman unknowingly take the bait he had offered.

“You have no intention of testifying about the case.”

“My child wasn’t there, so why are you saying so much? Do you have anything else to say?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, Mom.”

The child followed their mother and got up, and the five people left the police station without looking back. Jung Yi-yeon and Lee Ji-soo approached Park Do-joon, who was standing there watching them leave.

“What do you think?”

In response to Park Do-joon’s question, Lee Ji-soo said in a somewhat dejected voice.

“I think they’re the culprit.”

“Right?”

If they weren’t the culprit, there would be no reason to react so sensitively. The direction of Park Do-joon’s questions wasn’t ‘Did you kill someone?’ but ‘Did you see anything then?’

But they didn’t respond at all and remained completely silent… no, they only gave proxy answers and left.

“Senior, are they really the culprit?”

“Probably. The bond between parents and children is special.”

That’s natural when the child is young. That bond is manifested even if the child has mental problems such as being a psychopath, sociopath, or sadist.

“So children don’t tell their parents many things.”

Especially when they are young, there are no secrets. By the age of eight, they start to create minor secrets, but children continue to chatter about their daily lives.

“As a result, parents become aware of abnormal signs.”

Naturally, in such cases, they have two choices.

First, report it to the police.

Second, cover up the incident.

“And if they have a bad personality, they usually choose the second option.”

If there were no problems, they probably would have just brought the child. And they would have just let them answer the questions. But because there is a problem, they are silencing the child and preventing them from approaching the child while they speak.

“Besides, these kinds of cases tend to become complicated later on.”

The reality is that they have to pay huge damages if the incident is revealed immediately. Considering the human nature of being obsessed with money, it’s not particularly strange to hide criminal acts.

“Of course, they probably don’t care about the innocent victims in the process.”

Park Do-joon glanced back and looked at the police officers watching them.

“Wait and see. They can’t escape anyway.”

“What? The culprit?”

“Yes, it seems that child is the culprit.”

“What nonsense? An eight-year-old beat a child to death?”

“Yes, there’s a possibility……”

“Possibility?”

“Well…… here are the autopsy records for the child……”

The police officer, who was fidgeting, handed over the autopsy records of the dead child. The chief snatched them and began to read them. Then, without realizing it, he frowned.

“The whole body is bruised, but the intensity of the impact isn’t high?”

“Yes, the child’s bruises were caused by the child being weak, and the intensity of the impact is not high enough to be considered a typical adult’s blow. If the intensity of the impact was high, a child around the age of 8 should have had fractures……”

The autopsy records stated that the bruises could have been caused by someone with very little strength hitting them with an object such as a wooden stick.

“What? What happens now?”

“According to what that Park Do-joon from Seoul is saying, there is a high possibility that the 8-year-old committed the murder.”

“What?”

“And what our profiler is saying is the same. The parents are behaving abnormally…… They are showing behavior that suggests they are trying to cover up the incident……”

“This is bullshit!”

At those words, the chief’s eyes shook.

It was already a case where he could be criticized for a completely botched initial investigation. So, he planned to silence the bereaved family first, then later release them with a suitable acquittal and cover up the case.

But the case was completely messed up, and he was about to become an incompetent police officer who not only conducted a poor initial investigation but also unfairly blamed the bereaved family.

‘I’m screwed.’

In a situation where the police’s incompetence is being criticized due to the recent child rape and murder case, his path to promotion will be completely blocked if this is revealed.

‘How much money did I spend to get promoted!’

But no matter how much money he spends, there is a limit to being a chief. Thanks to the money he spent, he was able to rise quickly to the position of chief, but if this kind of problem arises, it’s easy to get fired.

Because there are so many guys who want to take this position by spending as much or even more money.

He needs to go higher, but he can’t get caught here.

‘But I can’t just sit still.’

Judging by the looks of things, they have already found the culprit. In this situation, if he just stays stupid, he will have to take responsibility for the initial investigation.

Unlike before, people are sensitive to these kinds of crimes because of the recent child rape and murder case.

“Get out.”

“Yes?”

“I said get out.”

“Chief?”

The detectives were bewildered when the chief, who would have told them to solve it at all costs and begged them on their knees to make sure nothing happened, spoke so easily.

So, when they couldn’t easily leave, the chief shouted.

“You bastards! I told you to get out! Can’t you hear me? Are you already treating me like I’m washed up?”

“Ah, no. We’ll leave right away.”

Everyone rushed out at the chief’s anger, and the chief, left alone, hissed and opened the bottom of the drawer. There, he found an old cell phone that was rarely used anymore.

It was a burner phone [a prepaid cell phone used for illicit activities] that the chief used when doing illegal things. He couldn’t use his own phone for all actions related to bribery, so the chief always prepared one of these burner phones and periodically changed the number.

He gripped it tightly.

“I didn’t want to contact that bastard.”

To become the chief, he had to stab the former chief in the back, and there was one person he used at that time. He didn’t want to get involved with him if possible because he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t end up well if he got involved, but there was no other way if the situation was like this.

“Hey, Kim, it’s me. Who am I? Don’t pretend you don’t know. What? You’re upset. Hey, don’t think like that. You know my situation. I want you to write an article this time. What? A big one? No, that’s a bit…… How about five small ones…… Okay. Okay. One big one, okay.”

The chief, who finished the call, slammed the phone shut and frowned.

“……Shit.”

He was about to lose as much as 10 million won, but what could he do? It was a much better choice than losing this position.

“God damn it!”

The chief could only make a face like he had eaten shit [looked extremely displeased].

***

-Child abuse murder by a single mother. Parents with ugly masks.

“What crazy bastard!”

Park Do-joon received the documents from Kang Soo-won and raged.

“What should we do? Senior, what should we do? If we protest right now and ask them to take it down……”

“No. It’s already too late.”

As expected, as soon as the news came out, ‘Urakkai articles’ [copycat articles], that is, articles copied from it, began to be uploaded like crazy and quickly occupied the Internet.

Avocation is Profiler