My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 282

“Looks like this was just a trap after all.”

“Still, to send us this far?”

“If they pay well, they will.”

“Pardon?”

“The missing kid is a minor. Sixteen years old. And in Korea, sexual relations with a minor are illegal. So, even if they charge a lot, pedophiles will pay.”

In reality, targeting young children for prostitution is incredibly expensive.

Of course, the prostitution industry itself is quite costly, but as it operates in an illegal realm, the costs inevitably rise.

“What if they asked for around three million won [approximately $2,200 USD]?”

“Ah…!”

They’d probably send her. Three million won is enough to eat and drink lavishly for an entire month.

“So, do you understand what they’re doing here? But there’s no evidence of kidnapping, is there?”

Park Do-joon is investigating this as a kidnapping. But Lee Ji-soo thinks there’s a clear possibility this was an escape.

From the perspective of a child caught by those kinds of guys, an accident would naturally look like an opportunity to escape.

“Isn’t it possible a guest at the inn called them?”

Of course, if you ask them now, they’ll definitely say they didn’t.

“Ah, that’s possible. But I think differently.”

“Why?”

“How would these guys advertise?”

“……?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head at the word ‘advertise.’ Women are bound to know less about this kind of thing. Of course, seasoned detectives know to some extent.

“They can’t hand out flyers for prostitution involving minors. Moreover, prostitution is illegal. If they actually handed out those flyers, they’d be fined accordingly.”

In some areas, they even actively use spam calls as a form of harassment. If a prostitution flyer is found, they continuously call the number through a spam call service.

Because of that, those kinds of prostitution flyers have been largely eradicated.

“Oh, I didn’t know.”

“Usually, they approach directly.”

The target is men wearing good suits and driving nice cars. They approach them and subtly advertise that they have young girls. And among them, the guys who get excited by the idea of young girls jump at the opportunity.

In fact, when they caught a criminal who committed such a crime, they even found a current prosecutor involved.

“But could they really access such numbers at a factory?”

“Hmm. I guess not.”

“Usually, those kinds of inns are where you call from so-called ‘ticket dabang’ [a type of Korean cafe that facilitates prostitution].”

As such, the possibility of calling a young girl for millions of won is not high.

“So, what’s the most likely scenario here?”

“Someone called them, an accident happened, and then they kidnapped the girl.”

Lee Ji-soo frowned at Park Do-joon’s words.

“But is it possible to track them down when there’s nothing to go on?”

“We have to make it possible.”

Park Do-joon said worriedly.

At that moment, the team leader was getting an earful inside the police station.

“Hey! Cha Dae-hoon! Are you going to keep causing trouble?”

The team leader frowned at those words.

He wanted to become a profiler himself, and to erase his past, he asked to be called ‘Team Leader’ instead of his name.

So, it had been a long time since someone had called him by his name.

“Chief, I’d appreciate it if you called me Team Leader Cha. I don’t like being called by my name.”

“Oh, really, you little punk? Why do you keep causing problems? And instead of reflecting, you want me to call you Team Leader?”

“What problems have I caused?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? You little shit, a complaint came in that you treated the Juvenile Affairs Department like crap!”

“No, I’m just checking for unusual signs.”

“Don’t give me that crap. Are you ignoring me because I’m the new chief?”

The chief glared. After the previous chief was ousted, the new chief had already heard that Park Do-joon and the team leader were troublemakers.

And in reality, Park Do-joon had caused the chief to have many heart-stopping moments. Furthermore, the team leader showed favoritism towards Park Do-joon, so the chief, who wanted to get rid of Park Do-joon, couldn’t help but dislike him.

“I’m just checking for unusual signs. That’s the job of the police, isn’t it?”

“Don’t give me that crap. I’ve checked with all the other teams. This isn’t a serial killing.”

“Pardon?”

“Hey, if it’s a serial killing, there has to be a psychological cooling-off period or something, right?”

“Well, that’s generally the case.”

“But there’s none of that, and no missing person reports! It’s just two runaway kids who disappeared!”

“Just two? It’s two people!”

“They’re just whores who run away like it’s nothing! Right? Do we really need to turn the Juvenile Affairs Department upside down for those kids?”

“I didn’t turn the Juvenile Affairs Department upside down. I just asked them to check if there were any suspicious cases.”

“That’s overstepping, you little shit! What gives you, just a team leader, the right to tell other teams what to do?”

“Chief!”

“Shut your mouth and back off!”

The team leader frowned as he looked at the chief, who was grinding his teeth.

“I can’t do that.”

“Then take off your uniform, you little shit!”

“Pardon?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I can’t get rid of Park Do-joon, but getting rid of you is nothing. You can’t even do your job properly and you’re still stuck as a team leader. What the hell are you doing?”

The team leader was dumbfounded. He just wanted to save as many people as possible in the field, and he didn’t rise in the ranks because he didn’t fight in internal factional struggles.

“Back off. If the Juvenile Affairs Department complains again, I’ll refer you to the disciplinary committee for overstepping your authority.”

The team leader gritted his teeth, but he couldn’t say anything.

# Not Just Murder

“Pardon?”

Park Do-joon doubted his ears at the words the team leader conveyed after returning to the office.

“He said to back off.”

“Back off?”

“Yeah.”

“But why?”

“Hmph, he said not to waste police force on finding runaway whores.”

“But, does that make sense?”

“Hoo, moreover, it seems they’ve already received advice from elsewhere. Since it’s not a serial killing, just leave it alone.”

“I never said it was murder, though?”

He said it was a missing person case, not a murder case. And the consequences of a missing person case aren’t just murder.

“But what can we do if they say there are no special circumstances?”

“No special circumstances?”

“Yeah, I already went and yelled at the head of the Women and Juvenile Affairs Department.”

However, the head of the Women and Juvenile Affairs Department retorted, asking why he kept creating issues and making her position difficult when there were no special circumstances.

“Aren’t they crazy?”

Of course, the Women and Juvenile Affairs Department doesn’t want it known that they haven’t identified a major criminal for a long time. The department would inevitably be criticized if they hadn’t known about it for so long.

Internal power struggles within the police are common, and due to performance or other reasons, some of them are reluctant to reveal crimes or actively try to hide them.

“So, the Women and Juvenile Affairs Department has no intention of finding the missing victims?”

“To be precise, there are no officially missing people. Because no one has gone missing.”

“Are you serious?”

“That’s the limit of the police.”

The team leader sighed deeply.

“And this time, I don’t think I can shield you guys anymore.”

“Are they going to discipline you for overstepping your authority?”

“How did you know that? You’re incredibly quick-witted.”

‘Well, you’ve done it before, Team Leader.’

The team leader isn’t an easy person to deal with from above. In the first place, he’s the type to just charge headfirst if necessary.

In fact, he was later disciplined for overstepping his authority, and at that time, he was eventually targeted by the higher-ups and forced to retire.

And at that time, he used all his remaining strength to promote Park Do-joon to team leader. He said that if incompetent people without skill or conviction became team leaders, the profiler team would become a frame-up factory, not a profiler team.

Back then, Park Do-joon wasn’t yet targeted by the higher-ups, so he was able to become team leader without difficulty.

‘It’s happening faster this time. Is it because of me?’

That’s probably it. In this life, Park Do-joon charged headfirst without looking back, and the team leader jumped into the fire himself to protect a capable person.

‘What should I do?’

This is a more serious problem than I thought. From the point of view of openly exerting pressure, there is virtually no way to turn back. The higher-ups can’t openly fire Park Do-joon, so they’ll try to fire the team leader who protects him, but the team leader isn’t the type to do as the higher-ups tell him.

‘He’ll probably do the same this time.’

If he really intended to cover it up, he wouldn’t have gone to the Women and Juvenile Affairs Department to cause trouble. That kind of behavior would only worsen the situation.

He’s probably going to try to investigate without Park Do-joon.

‘I can’t just stand by.’

Park Do-joon frowned as he looked at the team leader, who was smiling nonchalantly. The team leader seemed to sense his gaze and chuckled.

“Don’t worry so much. I’m not going anywhere.”

Of course, he wouldn’t want to go anywhere at all. But the reality is that he has no choice but to leave if they try to send him away from the outside.

‘Should I ask Hyunseong Group to protect the team leader?’

Of course, that’s possible. But the team leader isn’t the type of person who would like that kind of protection.

‘In the first place, he’s not really suited to be a police officer.’

His unique sense of justice wasn’t suited to the current police system, where everyone is only focused on promotions.

‘Hmm? Wait a minute? It doesn’t have to be the police, does it?’

Park Do-joon remembered what Jung I-yeon had told him recently. That the company was thinking of hiring a professional profiler.

‘I should meet with her.’

He had a feeling there might be a way.

“Team Leader?”

“Yeah, he’s a skilled person.”

“I know that. But would someone like that want to quit the police?”

“He’ll probably have no choice but to quit soon.”

“Pardon? What’s going on?”

“Actually…”

Park Do-joon told her about the current situation. Jung I-yeon frowned at those words.

“Seriously, why are they cutting off capable people because of power struggles?”

“Because it’s the police.”

“Still, even so.”

“Wolkwang Law Firm would be against it because the more capable people there are, the higher the win rate, but in some organizations, being skilled can actually lead to attacks. The saying ‘a sharp awl in a bag’ [meaning a talented person will inevitably stand out and attract attention, sometimes negative] didn’t come about for no reason.”

No matter how well you put it in a bag, a sharp awl is bound to stick out. Especially if someone knows too much about the organization and has no intention of participating in its corruption, they’re bound to stick out.

“Isn’t it ridiculous that the team leader is ending his career as a team leader at his age? Even if it’s a special position, it doesn’t make sense, does it?”

If he had been formally promoted, he should have been a chief by his age. But the fact that he’s still a team leader means that the police don’t really value profilers.

“Come to think of it, the profilers who come out of the police aren’t that high in rank.”

“That’s probably it. The police don’t like profilers.”

They’re useful idiots who bring in results, but they also think they can read their dark secrets, so they’re doing everything they can to prevent profilers from accessing corruption-related crimes.”