My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 281

“Yes, that’s generally the case. That’s why the police are looking at skid marks to determine if it was a hit-and-run.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around.

“There are no CCTVs here. So, from the police’s perspective, it’s realistically impossible to track [the vehicle].”

Moreover, there are so many side roads around the main road that it’s impossible to track the vehicle involved in the accident.

“But I don’t think it was an accident.”

“Why?”

“There’s nothing left after the accident.”

“Pardon?”

“This is a traffic accident—a sudden one at that. But looking at the case records here, there are no remnants after the accident.”

“Remnants?”

“Yes, like broken headlights or shattered glass.”

“Ah!”

When a person is hit by a car, the impact usually leaves remnants, especially in an incident where someone dies.

But there’s nothing?

“Look at this road. There’s no sidewalk, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then where would the victims have been?”

“Well, they would naturally be on the right side.”

For safety, they would likely be standing outside the lane.

“Yet the accident happened. So, what would be the predicted point of impact on the vehicle at the time of the accident?”

“The right headlight area, I suppose.”

And the headlight and side mirror areas are among the most easily damaged parts of a vehicle. In fact, in such hit-and-run accidents, these vehicle parts are important elements in identifying the vehicle because vehicle parts have serial numbers inside, and you can identify which number went into which vehicle.

“Right, you can definitely identify it. But that’s missing.”

“Hmm, it’s certainly possible, I suppose.”

Of course, miraculously, the vehicle might not have had its headlights or side mirrors broken.

“But even so, there’s something that doesn’t make sense.”

“What is it?”

“What were the victims doing here?”

“Pardon?”

“The victims, I mean. What would the victims be doing here? What’s here?”

“Nothing, right?”

This isn’t downtown. It’s in the middle of a quiet road on the outskirts of the city. It’s certainly more likely to have an accident with a careless vehicle if you walk in such a place. It’s also impossible to walk outside the guardrail because it’s completely overgrown with grass.

In the end, the victims have to walk inside, as close to the guardrail as possible. Why were two people walking in such a place?

“If they were running away, they wouldn’t be walking in a place like this.”

Even just taking a city bus would make it impossible to know where they went.

At Park Do-joon’s words, Lee Ji-soo looked around.

“You’re telling me to profile the victims too.”

“Yes.”

“It wouldn’t be a chore or anything like that.”

“There’s no reason for the Fam [a local gang] to send them all the way here for that.”

“Did they come to meet someone?”

“That’s highly likely.”

“But who do you meet here?”

All that’s visible around are rice paddies and fields. There’s really nothing.

“Well? Wouldn’t the police know?”

Park Do-joon headed to the police station. But the police said, as if annoyed.

“We wouldn’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes, isn’t it a traffic accident? It’s a hit-and-run, so there’s no way to know what they were doing there.”

“Did you meet with those Fam guys?”

“They said they don’t know either.”

“They don’t know?”

“Yes, so what do you want them to say?”

“Hmm, what happened after that?”

“‘After that’? Are you talking about the investigation?”

“No, I mean what happened to those Fam guys after that.”

“Oh? They ran away after that. They’re not good guys in the first place, are they?”

Park Do-joon sighed at those words.

“No, how can you just let key witnesses go like that?”

“Well, they’re just runaway kids. It’s not like they have a car.”

In other words, since there’s no possibility that they’re the culprits, they just didn’t care.

“Still, even so.”

“Hey, don’t be so sensitive. They’re just useless bastards who are no help to the world anyway.”

One of the police officers next to him said, as if annoyed.

“That’s right. They’re just kids who keep causing problems. The dead guy had three prior convictions, right?”

“So, a guy who just became an adult has three prior convictions, so he’s rotten to the core.”

Park Do-joon frowned at their dismissive attitude, and the police officer said leisurely.

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch the hit-and-run driver.”

But they don’t seem to care much.

‘Well, I roughly understand the situation.’

Of course, just because the victim is a criminal and a social nuisance doesn’t mean the police don’t investigate the case. But realistically, investigations into socially vulnerable people tend to be postponed.

“Do you know what’s along that road?”

“There’s nothing much. Just a few factories or something.”

“Factories?”

“Yes, what else would there be in such an outer area? Just factories and stuff like that.”

At his shrug, Park Do-joon thought he would have to move himself.

“This is the terminus of bus 8-23.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around. Fortunately, the police hadn’t done anything completely stupid, so they knew the approximate location of the inn where the Fam was staying and their general living area, and Park Do-joon checked the bus route from there to the area.

“Why the bus all of a sudden?”

“It’s too far to take a taxi. It would cost at least 30,000 won [approximately $25 USD] to get here by taxi. But they’re not the kind of guys who would pay that much to come here, right?”

“Hmm? You say ‘guys’?”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around at the last bus stop.

“Maybe something happened, so they sent a girl and a guy as a supervisor. And that place is too far to walk.”

“But why didn’t they say that?”

“The police said it earlier. A guy who just became an adult has three prior convictions.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“These kinds of organizations operate strictly by force.”

“What? But you said before that violent organizations operate for profit?”

“That’s when there’s profit.”

The so-called Fam doesn’t have much profit. At best, they deceive girls into prostitution, and it’s meaningless to talk about the organization’s system or infighting with that.

“Moreover, most of the kids in these Fams have low intelligence.”

“Low intelligence? Isn’t it because of family problems?”

At those words, Park Do-joon shook his head from side to side.

“Intelligence isn’t just about studying. Adaptability to society is also part of intelligence. Why, there’s even a saying that conscience is also a form of intelligence.”

“Ah, I’ve heard that.”

“Yes, if a highly intelligent child is in a situation where they’re trying to run away due to family problems, they’ll try to find a place that can help them.”

They might ask other relatives for help, or if domestic violence is the problem, they might report it to the police. At the very least, they could seek counseling at school.

“But running away and becoming a pimp in what is, in some ways, an obvious process of corruption means they’re not very intelligent.”

Living that way is easy for them. They can comfortably play games at PC cafes [internet cafes] with the money they make from selling girls.

“And the hierarchy of such guys is usually determined by fists. Even runaway teenagers are still kids. They can’t escape playing the role of bullies.”

“Ah……”

There are two things that create the ranks of bullies.

First, grade level. Second, fists.

Such kids still determine the hierarchy by the strength of their fists and think it’s great to be the so-called boss.

In fact, there are cases where the hierarchy is overturned through one-on-one fights.

“But if you do that in society, you die right away.”

Most high-ranking bosses are a bit older. They’ll always lose if they fight with energetic 20-year-olds.

In that situation, would the boss use the ignorant method of organizing the hierarchy with fists?

“The more backward a civilization is, the more it divides the ranks of warriors only by strong force. Because only a fight of strength against strength is needed, they can’t use high-dimensional tactics like strategic tactics. The so-called Fam is stuck right there. Then what kind of guy would send a guy with three prior convictions?”

“Aha!”

Of course, it would be a guy who is stronger and more violent than him. If a guy who just became an adult has three prior convictions, then a stronger guy must be in power to send him as a supervisor.

“Even in the military, the most troublesome tasks are ultimately in order of rank.”

“So, he’s a guy with a lot of priors and is dangerous.”

“That’s right. And the missing kid is a minor. If they threaten a minor into prostitution, how much prison time would they get?”

“Ah~ I understand.”

With prior convictions already, the gang is now creating a Fam with runaway girls and engaging in prostitution.

And under Korean law, not only is this prostitution illegal, but the punishment is incredibly severe if they threaten minors to do such things.

“The stupid police thought it was just a traffic accident and sent them away.”

If the police had approached it from the point of view of underage prostitution, they probably would have caught the whole gang.

“Knowing that, they’re running away because it seems like there’s a problem.”

That’s how they become safe.

“Then what about sending them here?”

“Obviously, prostitution.”

“But what’s here? What kind of prostitution is there when there’s nothing?”

“Why is there nothing? There’s something like that, right?”

“A motel?”

A motel located in an unexpected location.

It was located about 20 minutes from the terminus.

“No, why is there a motel here?”

“You said there’s a factory.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“It’s a kind of accommodation used by people working in those factories.”

It’s hard to find a proper house nearby, and it costs a lot in fixed costs. And sometimes the location is too far to commute.

Or, in the case of temporary jobs, a motel is the perfect accommodation.

“When large-scale construction takes place somewhere, the prices of small motels and studio apartments around it increase. Why would that be?”

“It’s temporary accommodation.”

“That’s right.”

And if they called the kid to that motel? What would it have been like?

“About a 20-minute walk. It’s too expensive to take a taxi.”

“Wow.”

Lee Ji-soo clicked her tongue at Park Do-joon’s words.

“Are you saying they deliberately called them out?”

“Maybe?”

Park Do-joon went into the motel and called the owner.

“Excuse me.”

“Who is it?”

“I’m a police officer, and I was wondering if you know anything about the traffic accident that happened near here.”

“Ah, that incident? I don’t know. It’s a bit far from here.”

That’s probably true. The location of the traffic accident is about a 10-minute walk from here, so it’s right in the middle. There’s no way to know from here.

“Were there any people staying here that day?”

“There are many guests. Mostly people working at the factories around here.”

“Besides that… anyone who only stayed that day?”

“There wasn’t? The rooms were all full in the first place.”

“Ah, is that so? Thank you.”

Park Do-joon gave his thanks and came outside.

A Natural-Born Profiler