My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 245

“They came to the police station with a lawyer. They’ve already put their house up for sale. It’s a classic defense and escape strategy.”

Reporter Seo Ju-ran was intrigued by those words. Even though countless duplicate articles were popping up like crazy, there was no additional evidence or testimony.

“What if I publish a rebuttal article in this situation?”

“It’s mostly a do-or-die situation.”

But this side has the advantage. Because the other side has no evidence that they are the culprits, just claims of internal police testimony, while this side already has dozens of witnesses and is actually preparing to flee.

“So, if I publish this… No, no matter how I think about it, it’s going to be difficult.”

Seo Ju-ran, who had been contemplating, said, drooping.

“I guess the problem is the higher-ups.”

“How did you know?”

“The organizations are different, but the way humans think within them is all similar. I already know that the media is going crazy with ‘urakkai’ [a Japanese term for copying or plagiarizing articles].”

Naturally, it’s not easy for a company to say the opposite in such cases.

For example, if Seo Ju-ran publishes an article refuting the claims now, it would be like flipping the bird to the existing reporters who have been diligently creating duplicate articles.

“Honestly, I can upload it, but there’s a high chance it won’t even go up.”

“Isn’t uploading to the internet something you can do as you please these days?”

Before, the desk checked everything from A to Z before uploading, but now articles are pouring out on the internet every second, so usually, they set guidelines and let people act within them, rather than checking everything from A to Z.

“You know it well. But this will probably be taken down as soon as it’s uploaded. And you’ll get a lot of flak right away.”

Seo Ju-ran shrugged, half giving up. Although she is a passionate reporter who risks her life to write articles, getting it out to the public is a completely different matter.

“So, I’ll tell you a way.”

“A way?”

“Yes, there’s always a deal in the world, hohoho.”

“Hey! Are you crazy? You’re calling this an article?”

As expected, the editor-in-chief was furious. That’s because it was a piece written from the opposite perspective of the Park Ho-yeon case, which was currently sucking up views.

“But there’s evidence here. There are plenty of police officers who saw the unusual signs with their own eyes when they attended that day.”

“Ugh, that’s true, but…”

The editor-in-chief looked troubled. The only reason was that everyone was hell-bent on driving a family to their death. In that situation, if they rebelled, the arrows could be directed at them.

Even though they were a media company that lived off views, they didn’t want to be criticized by the public.

“This is dangerous. I can’t upload this.”

As expected, the editor-in-chief drew a firm line with a worried face.

“Editor-in-chief, at this rate, the real criminals will escape to China.”

“Hey, why would the criminals escape to China?”

But Seo Ju-ran slipped those words to him. And the editor-in-chief swallowed the bait whole.

“Because they’re Chinese, they’ll naturally escape to China.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“The criminals, no, the suspects are Chinese.”

The editor-in-chief’s eyes widened at those words. Of course, he didn’t want to be criticized. But if there was enough of an issue, the story would be different. Especially if the suspect was Chinese, the situation would naturally change 180 degrees.

Instead of protecting the Park Ho-yeon family, they could take a position of attacking a suspicious criminal who was Chinese, and in fact, few Koreans have good feelings towards Chinese people.

“What? They’re Chinese?”

“Yes, they’ve already cleared out their house and are preparing to leave.”

“Why did you leave that out of here?”

“Because I was worried about accusations of racism.”

“Hey, you crazy bitch! Is that important? It’s a different story if they’re Chinese!”

Then it becomes a structure of criminals versus the people, not a structure of Chinese versus Koreans. Naturally, they would have enough support, and they could suck up a huge amount of attention.

Of course, some media outlets would do ‘urakkai’ [copy the story], but they could still have the honor of being the first to break the story.

“Didn’t you know?”

“How would I know, you idiot.”

“No, I thought you knew since everyone was working so hard on the articles.”

“Ugh!”

The editor-in-chief groaned at those words. Because none of the guys actually did any reporting. They were all just copying existing news. Several reporters went to the police in charge to investigate, but the police were holding out without making any announcements, so there was no new information at all.

Naturally, since no additional content was coming out, people were slowly getting tired of it and looking for other news.

“Then I’ll tell them to give up. It can’t be helped even if we do an exclusive with another place.”

“What? Exclusive? What are you talking about?”

“If they tell their side of the story about how they were wronged, they said they’d give us an exclusive interview later when the truth comes out, that family.”

“Exclusive?”

The editor-in-chief’s eyes shook at those words. A do-or-die situation. If this hit the jackpot, the benefits that his media company could get were endless.

‘I might get some flak for a while, but…’

This changes the story. Overturning something that’s losing its flavor and instead monopolizing the flavor later?

Of course, the ‘urakkai’ [copycat] reporters would be a little dissatisfied, but what could he do?

Seo Ju-ran was the only one who did a proper investigation and brought evidence.

“It’s exclusive, right?”

“Yes, that’s right, an exclusive interview.”

“Okay. Upload it.”

Seo Ju-ran grinned at those words.

‘Wow, Detective Park was right.’

If you give them everything from the start, they’ll hesitate, but if you give them a little more profit, they’ll definitely accept it. That was Park Do-joon’s explanation, and she actually revealed it little by little after hearing it.

And it worked perfectly, and finally, an opportunity to fight back opened up.

#Run Away If You Can

-According to testimony from inside the police, the suspect is not the bereaved family but a Chinese person living in the area. According to internal testimony, the Chinese people in question not only overreacted by being excessively wary and hiring a number of lawyers during the initial investigation, but they also appeared to be trying to flee, as they had put the building they were currently residing in up for sale as a quick sale, which was confirmed by the testimony of local real estate agents…….

Seo Ju-ran’s article confused people. In fact, if she had claimed that Park Ho-yeon’s family was innocent without any basis, she would have been cursed at all sorts of ways.

But instead of that, she mentioned evidence and a different target, so people had no choice but to take it seriously.

“So, the criminal is Chinese? Suddenly? A 180-degree turn? Isn’t this a rigged game?”

Of course, not everyone thought it was strange that the story suddenly changed. But as Park Do-joon said, there were plenty of people who were suspicious of the first news.

“No. It’s not that they’re suspicious because they’re Chinese, but they’re suspicious because they acted strangely in the case.”

“But the first article clearly said that Park Ho-yeon’s family was the murderer?”

“Was there any basis for that? Honestly, the first article said they were being investigated for murder, but it didn’t say they were murderers.”

“Was it?”

“It was. And it’s true that a strong suspect has emerged.”

The two friends were having a heated debate over the current situation.

“Honestly, is there a fact fight between an article that just says ‘I heard it like that’ and an article full of people who saw strange behavior?”

“Ugh, but…”

Naturally, the weight was bound to lean towards Seo Ju-ran.

“Furthermore, they’re suspected of spreading false information to help with the escape.”

“Well, if they escape to China, we won’t be able to catch them.”

“How are you going to catch them?”

“It’s suspicious.”

At that time, when public opinion was gradually leaning to one side, the head of the violent crimes team in that area felt like his head was breaking.

“This is bullshit. At this rate, I’m going to end up taking the blame alone.”

“What should we do, team leader?”

“What should we do? We have to deny it!”

“There’s nothing to deny, though? It’s true that we investigated…….”

“Then? What are we supposed to do now?”

As the team leader became tearful, someone came in urgently and shouted.

“Team leader, we’re screwed!”

“What is it this time? Huh? What, did the suspect run away or something?”

“How did you know? We visited their house just now, and it was completely empty. They’ve already taken everything and run away.”

“What!”

At those words, the team leader shouted and stood up from his seat.

“You’re not talking about the child murder case suspect, are you? Please, please tell me it’s not!”

“Th, th, those kids are the ones…….”

“This is bullshit!”

As expected, they had already run away as expected. They had been confidently saying that they would cooperate with the investigation, but as soon as the media said that the criminal was suspected of being Chinese, they ran away like lightning.

In this situation, you can be sure who the criminal is.

“What to do? This is bullshit.”

It was a mistake. If they had investigated the upstairs neighbors properly even once, just once, this wouldn’t have happened.

‘This is all because of that stupid chief……!’

The chief told him to hide the police’s poor initial investigation for his own achievements and future. So, he had no choice but to do as he was told and harass the bereaved family.

Naturally, he couldn’t properly investigate other people. Because that would prevent the investigation of the bereaved family from being focused.

In the end, the police’s choice was just to go and ask if they had seen anything strange, and at that time, the Chinese family’s words…… no, the testimony ‘The child often cried as if someone was hitting them’ became evidence.

But when you think about it, it was natural for the child to cry often, and that couldn’t be evidence. But now those guys are the criminals?

“What to do? This is bullshit, what to do? We can’t say ‘The criminal has escaped’ now, can we?”

“That’s…….”

As everyone was speechless, someone came into the violent crimes unit office and offered him advice.

“How about issuing a travel ban first?”

“Who are you?”

As soon as they saw Park Do-joon, everyone frowned. Everyone knew that Park Do-joon was the cause of this situation. Of course, they didn’t know that Park Do-joon had released the article through Seo Ju-ran, but they were feeling that the investigation had been going strangely ever since he came.

“What are you trying to do now? Did you come to interfere?”

As one of the investigators said bluntly, Park Do-joon shrugged and said.

“I came to help, but you’re being too unwelcoming.”

“Help? What are you going to help with! You’re the one who caused all this……!”

As one of the police officers flared up and tried to tackle him, the head of the violent crimes team raised his hand to stop him and said.

Profiler by trade