My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 284

It’s true that I’m tempted to switch jobs because of that offer. Moreover, Moonlight’s conditions include a salary twice my current one, and the bonus is separate, depending on the case’s outcome. I wouldn’t have to risk my life chasing criminals in the field as I do now.

“Let’s think about it after we solve this case.”

The team leader clutched his head and groaned.

“Let’s investigate quietly among ourselves for now.”

“While the media gleefully bashes the Women and Youth Division?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

If we solve it afterward, the higher-ups can’t say anything. It’s like saving them right before they become completely useless.

“Did you ask for help knowing that?”

“Well, there’s that too.”

“Ugh, what are we going to do? If it’s just a simple runaway case, we’re going to get a lot of flak.”

“I had a feeling about something.”

“A feeling?”

“Those ‘팸 [Paem]’ guys. Wouldn’t they have sent the kid for the purpose of prostitution?” (팸 (Paem) is a Korean slang term for groups of delinquent teenagers or young adults, often associated with petty crime and risky behavior.)

“That’s right.”

“And the culprit targeted that and caused the accident.”

“That’s right?”

“But isn’t it unusual for someone to commit a crime against a man and woman walking by, who they have no connection to, not even a casual acquaintance?”

“You can say there are virtually no such cases.”

Kidnapping is a crime with a very clear purpose. The profiler who determined there was no possibility of murder probably made that judgment based on limited information.

However, from Park Do-joon’s perspective, knowing who those 팸 guys are and how they make money, there were many reasons to be suspicious about this case.

“I see. It’s hard to see it as a coincidence.”

You might happen to see a man and woman walking along the road. But no one suddenly decides to kidnap the woman the moment they see them.

“If it was an accident due to an unusual cause, it should have led to murder, not kidnapping.”

Murder due to an unusual cause, so-called random killing, is often caused by extreme anger towards the world. In such cases, the perpetrator usually tries to kill the target, not kidnap them.

As the team leader said, kidnapping is a very purposeful act.

“Hmm…”

At Park Do-joon’s words, the team leader also looked worried.

“If it’s someone who kidnaps women, is it a serial killer?”

A serial killer targeting women. Of course, it might not be considered a true serial killing because of the lack of a cooling-off period [the time between murders], but a skilled killer knows how to hide a body.

It’s very common for serial killings to go unrecognized because the police haven’t found the bodies, not because there’s no cooling-off period.

“It might not be.”

But Park Do-joon was thinking differently.

“This looks similar to a serial killing, but if it were a serial killing, they wouldn’t prefer to run someone over with a car.”

“Then?”

“I think it’s a sex kidnapping case.”

“A sex kidnapping case?”

“Should I say sex slave? It’s a type of case that has never been discovered in Korea.”

“A sex slave case. I know what you mean. Certainly, there has never been a sex slave case discovered in Korea.”

A sex slave case is a completely different crime from rape. Rape is aimed at a one-time, temporary sexual exploitation, while a sex slave case is aimed at continuous sexual exploitation.

Rape offenders focus on concealing their crime because of that purpose, and they don’t pay much attention to the location.

In other words, the weighting of crime occurrence is much more skewed towards opportunity than location.

However, in a sex slave case, the location is more important than opportunity because the goal is to continuously oppress the other person, prevent them from going outside, and sexually exploit them.

Around the world, there have been several cases where perpetrators kidnapped victims and confined them in basements, continuously raping them.

And some of them escaped and reported to the police, revealing the facts to the outside world.

“If it’s a sex slave case…”

“There will be no domestic profiling available.”

“Ugh, that’s a case that’s not easy to track down even worldwide.”

“That’s true.”

A sex slave case is one of the most difficult cases to track down compared to other crimes. The reason is that you have to enter private property to track it down.

The problem is that private property is not a place you can enter at will unless it’s a dictatorship.

To go to someone’s private property, you have to have a reason and request a warrant, but in a democratic country, the statement ‘Your house is suspicious, so I’m going to search your house’ doesn’t work.

In other words, you have to go in with evidence that he committed a kidnapping or that he committed another crime, but that’s almost impossible.

“Usually, kidnappers live ordinary lives, right?”

“That’s what they say.”

People think that the guys who kidnap women and make them sex slaves are losers who are addicted to alcohol or drugs and can’t meet people properly, but rather, those types of criminals can’t commit such crimes.

It’s not because they are kind or because people around them are wary of them, but because that type doesn’t have private property to keep people locked up. In reality, most private properties boast considerable high prices.

Even if it’s an outer area where people don’t live, the act of building a house there requires a considerable amount of money.

Moreover, in order to create a place in your house to confine people, you inevitably have to create a space in the basement, and the cost of creating a space in the basement is more expensive than you think.

In most cases, the kidnapping target’s living environment is limited to a confined space, usually a space created in the basement.

In other words, you have to create a space for washing and sleeping in the basement, and to do that, you have to install separate plumbing.

To confine someone in a place like a prison, like in the movies, and then throw them a bucket and rape them like an animal… modern people’s hygiene standards have become too high for that.

“And in that case, there is no psychological cooling-off period, as they said.”

Because as long as the target they want is alive, they don’t need to bring anyone else.

“A large number of unrevealed murders or a sex slave case.”

The team leader’s face became serious at that. Either way, the investigation is quite difficult.

“The bigger problem is that the two possibilities have completely different psychological bases.”

Instead of flowing in one direction and then splitting, the purpose is different from the beginning, so the investigation method must be different, and the tracking direction is also different.

“I’ll dig into the murder side for now. You and Ji-soo dig into the sex slave side.”

“Understood.”

Park Do-joon nodded.

“And be careful. As you know, the higher-ups really don’t like us.”

“Are they going to put a lead bullet in the back of my head?”

“Maybe. There are guys who would do that.”

The team leader smiled bitterly, and Park Do-joon had no choice but to nod, knowing that fact.

Park Do-joon decided to move towards the kidnapping side first. As expected, the police were moving in the direction of murder and started searching the surrounding CCTV, but there was nothing particularly useful.

“So you don’t know anything?”

Park Do-joon called the head of the 팸 organization, which has now disappeared.

‘I knew it.’

With six previous convictions, three of which were for violent crimes, he was a typical gangster who had given up on life. At the age of twenty-six, having six previous convictions means your life is truly ruined.

Fortunately, his parents tried to cover it up with money, so he only spent a short time in prison. At first, they paid fines, but later it was probation, and eventually, the last two times, he received a real sentence and lived in prison.

“Hey, mister, I have nothing to say?”

Park Do-joon stared at him as he leaned back in his chair and shook his legs.

“There must be someone who called you to send the kids there?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie.”

Sending people to a place where there are no people?

Even with someone watching them?

It doesn’t make sense.

“I know what you did.”

“Do you have evidence?”

“Evidence? I have it.”

Park Do-joon chuckled. Those guys know their power. They also know how to use their power.

Twenty-six years old. Violent offender. Why doesn’t that guy become a gangster? It’s simple. He already has powerless guys as his subordinates.

If he joins a gang now, he’ll end up crawling at the bottom, and due to the nature of the gang, there’s not even a high chance of moving up.

But here, he can live like a king. He can act like a pimp, exploit the girls, and live the way he wants with the money he exploits from them. If he needs a woman, he can sleep with a suitable girl from 팸.

He thinks he achieved it all with his own fists.

‘What a stupid thing to do. The police are stupid too.’

Many police officers simply dismiss this situation as runaway teenagers or bad kids’ gangs like 팸 for their own safety.

But in reality, most 팸 are led by adults, and the biggest reason they maintain 팸 is to earn profits through exploitation.

Unfortunately, the form of 팸 created by runaway teenagers for their own safety is rare these days. Even if they exist, they are usually attacked and absorbed by 팸 with these adults.

“But you only think about one thing and can’t think about two things.”

“What? Are you pretending to be smart because you’re a cop? Whoo~ I’m sorry, but I’m smarter than you.”

“Is that so?”

Park Do-joon looked at the smiling guy and said leisurely.

‘Those guys usually believe in their dominance and act like that.’

But how far will that dominance go?

And how far can it go?

“Dominance is weaker than you think. Especially if it’s power made with fists.”

“What, mister? Are you going to hit me?”

But the leader sneered. Then he pointed to the camera on the ceiling and smirked.

“Oh, I’m scared. You know it’s illegal to interrogate without a lawyer, right?”

Park Do-joon shook his head, looking at the guy who was pretending to tremble and acting recklessly.

“There’s no way around it. I admit what I have to admit. Fists are closer than the law.”

“The cop knows well.”

“But just because it’s far doesn’t mean it can’t reach.”

“What?”

At that moment, Lee Ji-soo entered. After entering, she stared at the leader for a while and then said to Park Do-joon.

“I confirmed it. It’s true that they forced them into prostitution.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell are you talking about! I never did that.”

“Really? I’m sorry. The statements are already out?”

“Huh? Who?”

“Who else? The girls you were with.”

At those words, the guy’s eyes started to shake violently.