My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 285

“You probably thought that if you disappeared, your underlings would handle the kids, right? But why would you think we couldn’t catch them when we caught you?”

The men working for him already had extensive criminal records. Arresting them wasn’t exactly rocket science.

Even if they were innocent, an emergency arrest is legally permissible for 24 hours.

“And in 24 hours, it’s not hard to get statements from the girls you were holding, right?”

“Huh? Huh?”

He seemed bewildered, as if he hadn’t anticipated this turn of events.

“There were three of them. One was sixteen, and two were fifteen. Including the dead child, you were holding a total of four.”

“D, dead child?”

At those words, the boss looked momentarily confused. Then, Park Do-joon subtly fed him false information.

“The evidence is already surfacing. We even got testimony from the father. He said the boy escaped with the girl and was coming home.”

“N, no.”

“What do you mean, no! You knew about it and were afraid your crimes would be revealed, so you murdered the two children.”

“No! That’s not true!”

“The hell it isn’t. Your guys have already been emergency arrested for kidnapping and unlawful confinement. Plus, we have the testimony of the girls who were held captive. Who would believe you if you said otherwise?”

“No. No, I……”

But instead of listening to him, Park Do-joon got up from his seat.

“Let’s wrap it up here.”

“What?”

“We already have our answer, so there’s no need to investigate further, right?”

“I didn’t do it!”

“Is that even important?”

“What… did you say?”

“What’s important is that we caught the culprit.”

Park Do-joon grinned and left the interrogation room. Lee Ji-soo followed him, looking dissatisfied.

“Detective Park, shouldn’t we get a statement now?”

“No, we won’t get a statement now. Did you see how he was acting?”

“Yes.”

He was swaggering, mocking the police, and showing no remorse.

“Do you think he’s acting like that simply because he thinks his crimes won’t be discovered?”

“Isn’t that it?”

“No. He has six prior convictions. At that point, you tend to pick up a certain amount of… information.”

Not from studying law books, but from the school of hard knocks.

“Of course, he might think his guys are keeping their mouths shut, so he doesn’t need to talk, but he wouldn’t act *that* cocky just based on that. Usually, people act like that when they believe they are above the law.”

“How could someone like him be above the law?”

“He might not be above the law himself, but someone else is probably pulling strings for him.”

“Someone else?”

“Yes, getting rid of that person first is the priority.”

Park Do-joon was waiting for that. If he didn’t cut off the head of the snake now, the investigation would be constantly obstructed.

“If that were the case, he wouldn’t have six prior convictions in the first place, would he?”

“He could have met them afterward.”

“You can meet someone like that later in life?”

“Yeah, I think I know roughly how he met them.”

Park Do-joon smiled bitterly. Reality was always dirty and miserable.

That evening, Park Do-joon was having dinner with Jung Yi-yeon.

“Hmm, the team leader seems to have a lot on his mind.”

“Why? Is he not coming?”

“No, it’s not an easy decision to make. He’s been working in the police force for over a decade.”

“I know.”

“But would switching jobs suddenly be easy for him?”

“He’ll end up going.”

“Why?”

“He’s extremely fed up with this job.”

Even before the regression [time travel], he was. He wanted to do his job properly, but the police organization was obsessed with maintaining a spotless image rather than pursuing truth and justice, and the team leader constantly clashed with that.

He didn’t back down until he was forced out.

Even though other colleagues were promoted beyond chief and to even higher positions, he remained a team leader because of his principles.

“A lawyer’s office might be a better fit for a team leader with that kind of disposition.”

What a lawyer’s office wants isn’t to bury the truth but to uncover it. If the client lied, they can adjust their strategy accordingly, and if they’re wrongly accused, they can clear their name.

A lawyer’s office is a perfect fit for the team leader’s pursuit of truth, more so than the police.

“But this case seems very complicated, doesn’t it? I heard from a reporter friend that the police are claiming it’s a simple missing person case?”

“Even if it’s a simple missing person case, it’s still a problem.”

A simple missing person case doesn’t mean the police’s work is done. Missing persons are clearly within the police’s jurisdiction. But currently, the police don’t investigate runaways or missing persons with the same diligence.

They say there’s no murder without a body, which is a basic principle of law, but the current police are going beyond that and not even trying to do the bare minimum.

“And from what I see, this case doesn’t seem like a simple runaway.”

At that moment, Park Do-joon’s phone rang. He checked the number and smirked.

“Just a moment.”

“Is it another urgent matter? You seem too busy, Detective Park.”

“It’s not an urgent matter, but it will be an… enlightening call.”

“Huh?”

Park Do-joon held up a finger to tell her to be quiet and answered the phone.

-Hey. Are you Park Do-joon?

“Who is this?”

-I’m Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang from the Seoul Prosecutor’s Office. I heard you’re trying to frame an innocent kid?

“What are you talking about?”

-You think I wouldn’t know, you bastard? You’re trying to pin a crime on someone because a whore ran away? Huh? You got a death wish? Want to ruin your career?

“What did you say your name was?”

-Woo Gi-gang from the Seoul Prosecutor’s Office!

“Ah, Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang.”

Park Do-joon said that and gestured to Jung Yi-yeon, who quickly searched for the name Woo Gi-gang. The search results showed a Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang from the Seoul Prosecutor’s Office.

It was none other than the chief prosecutor.

“You’re Chief Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang?”

-Yeah, you bastard. Are the police running wild these days? You think it’ll be easy to fabricate a crime and pin it on someone? Should I make sure you’re stuck behind a desk for the rest of your life?

Woo Gi-gang raised his voice and tried to intimidate him. At that moment, Park Do-joon subtly changed the subject.

“Excuse me? Reporter Jung, what was that? Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang is the prosecutor being investigated for child prostitution?”

At those words, Jung Yi-yeon looked confused for a moment, but she quickly realized what he was trying to do and deliberately spoke loudly so that her voice could be heard on Park Do-joon’s phone.

“We received a tip about Chief Prosecutor Woo Gi-gang, that he’s involved in child prostitution.”

-What? Hey, who is that? Who are you meeting right now?

“Oh, it’s a reporter I know, but it’s a bit difficult to say. If what the reporter is saying is true, it’s a bit… awkward for us to be talking to the prosecutor.”

-Hey, who is it! Tell me now!

“I’m sorry.”

“Would you mind if I asked for a quick interview? Did you really engage in underage sex trafficking? How did you even think of prostituting runaway teenagers? Is that tip true?”

Jung Yi-yeon spoke very loudly, as if she wanted him to hear everything, and Woo Gi-gang’s voice on the other end began to tremble.

-Hey. You know this… is a lie, right?

“Oh, the reporter keeps asking questions, so it’s hard for me to talk right now. I’ll hang up.”

Park Do-joon said that and hung up the phone. Then, he chuckled, imagining Woo Gi-gang’s pale face on the other end of the line.

“He’s probably scared stiff. But he figured out what we were doing?”

“Have I only worked with you once or twice? Besides, it seemed like he was calling to exert external pressure, and we get so many calls like that.”

“That’s true.”

“But how did you know Woo Gi-gang would call?”

“I didn’t specifically think it would be Woo Gi-gang. But the way the suspect was acting, it seemed like he knew someone important.”

Otherwise, he couldn’t have acted so brazenly in front of the police. Seeing the boss’s behavior, he naturally suspected someone would call and was waiting for it.

“By the way, you said Woo Gi-gang, right? I’ll leak it to a reporter.”

“Okay.”

Woo Gi-gang must have been engaging in child prostitution through those guys. And he probably thought that with the power of a prosecutor, he could crush the police. But Park Do-joon wasn’t someone who would back down easily.

“Now I can properly mess with him.”

# The One with the Desire for Domination

-Seoul ○ Chief Prosecutor, Received Underage Sexual Favors from Runaway Teen Groups and Coerced the Toleration of Underage Prostitution.

The exclusive news report ignited public outrage.

-The country is going to the dogs.

-The prosecution is just being the prosecution, why are you so surprised?

-Didn’t the police try to brush off the minor prostitution ring as a simple runaway case? Isn’t this related?

Watching people’s surprisingly accurate analysis, Park Do-joon leisurely headed to the interrogation room. And Lee Ji-soo, who was watching the news on her phone next to him, shuddered.

“Wow, that’s disgusting.”

“What is?”

“I mean, why would a chief prosecutor need to receive underage sexual favors?”

“Because when you have everything, you crave even more.”

“Yes?”

“The cause of crime isn’t always need or desire. Sometimes boredom is also a factor.”

“Yes?”

Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened at those words. It was the first time she had heard that perspective.

“Schools teach that a kind of thirst, lack, or hatred is the cause of crime, but sometimes boredom is the cause. However, the proportion is very low, and realistically, those in that position are the ones with money, so a proper investigation isn’t conducted.”

“Is that so?”

“To put it bluntly, there are many people from wealthy families who are addicted to drugs, right? Is it because they lack something? No.”

They’ve simply experienced all the common pleasures, so they’re looking for something new. In fact, the tendency for those in power to seek out perverse thrills has existed since ancient times.

“A prosecutor’s job, as you said, lacks nothing. Moreover, because they wield the law, it’s easy to mistakenly believe they are untouchable.”

“That’s true.”

“And realistically, even if this is proven to be true, there’s almost no chance that the prosecution will indict that person.”

The prosecution rarely prosecutes crimes committed by their own. Unless it’s a violent crime like murder, they tend to look the other way, and even if they do prosecute, they minimize the charges.

“Knowing that makes it easy to cross the line.”

If there’s no indictment, there’s no punishment. So he’s trying to receive underage sexual favors without consequence. Of course, he’ll have to resign if he gets caught.

“However, it won’t be easy for him now.”

If it hadn’t been reported, it would have ended with just a slap on the wrist. But now that it’s public, he’ll have to step down. He wouldn’t have resigned before, but from the prosecution’s point of view, they can protect him to a certain extent, but they can’t keep him in the organization with this hanging over his head.