My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 294

“But the lodging will probably be under security, right?”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

The lodging fee is essentially a cost for security measures. It’s money spent without verifying the user’s identity. So, did Jo Gang-hwa really secure the lodging with his own money?

“Can I see the usage history?”

To confirm that, they would inevitably have to get a warrant through the court. But what if it were Jo Gang-so, who could just hand it over, practically the sole successor and de facto representative now?

“I’ll pull it out right away.”

As expected, he said, grinding his teeth.

“Just catch that bastard. Even if it means putting a hole in his head.”

“That’s asking too much of the police.”

Park Do-joon just smiled wryly.

“This is such a haphazard approach.”

The team leader grumbled.

“Vietnam at the end of my career… Vietnam at the end of my career!”

“So, you’ve finally decided to change jobs?”

“I figured I wouldn’t see anything good here anyway.”

Even though special positions don’t guarantee promotions, the fact that he’s still a team leader when other colleagues are at the superintendent level means he’s at a considerable disadvantage.

“You’ll find out later, but being competent doesn’t mean you’ll be recognized by those above. Do you know the curse of Cassandra?”

“I know it.”

“If we get on their wrong side, that’s exactly what will happen to us.”

“I think I understand.”

‘I know. I know very well.’

The curse of Cassandra is a story from ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

Cassandra was a prophetess.

Apollo courted Cassandra, but she rejected him. So, Apollo cursed her so that no one would believe her prophecies.

Because of that, Cassandra couldn’t save anyone, couldn’t prepare for the future, and was treated like a madwoman spouting ominous nonsense her whole life.

“If we get targeted, that’s exactly what we’ll become.”

Profiling is science, not politics. That’s why investigations should be based on the profiles they create. But if a profiler is targeted by those above, the police won’t believe anything he says.

Even if they have a gut feeling that it’s right, they avoid investigating in that way. Because the important thing isn’t catching the criminal, but not giving him credit.

An average person might say that’s nonsense, but in reality, it happens a lot. Because unless it’s a serial killer, additional murders rarely occur.

So, the reality is that many people think it’s okay to track them down slowly without using a profile, even if it takes a little longer.

To put it accurately, they listen to the direction and then approach it in a different way to avoid giving credit.

As a result, something that could be caught in a week takes a month, and additional victims occur in the process, but the higher-ups don’t care. Because it’s not them dying anyway.

“Sometimes I think I know why Han Seong-gi ran away.”

Han Seong-gi, who was a bit incompetent but colluded with the higher-ups, was more trusted than a clean team leader. However, that line was cut off because of Park Do-joon, and he went somewhere else.

“So, you’re planning to leave after this case?”

“I need to take care of my family soon.”

One of the hardest things about being a police officer is family. Especially for those who do dangerous work. Cybercrime and women and youth divisions don’t have much need to go outside or risk their lives. But violent crimes or economic crimes have surprisingly many dangerous situations. Violent crimes often involve dealing with extreme people like gangsters or murderers, and economic crimes, while generally not dangerous, can sometimes lead to ‘disposal’ if you touch the real higher-ups or those with power.

If violent crimes have external dangers, economic crimes, which investigate fraud and financial crimes, have internal dangers.

“My wife told me, ‘Money is important, but don’t make her heart race.'”

“I understand.”

Park Do-joon had never been married before his regression, so he had never heard such words from his family. He had lived estranged from his only brother.

However, he had seen many fellow police officers avoid dangerous work due to their families’ objections.

‘It’s okay now, but later the violent crimes division will be a mess. As a result, the gangs will rise again. It’s ridiculous.’

Because there won’t be anyone to fill the violent crimes division. The government keeps increasing the proportion of female police officers in the name of gender equality, but the violent crimes division is a place where female police officers can’t go.

To be precise, it wasn’t just once or twice that internal female police organizations protested when female police officers were assigned there. But if they only put men in, the newly arrived men weren’t a generation that took it for granted like in the past.

Female police officers left shortly after joining, and when they were assigned, they filed lawsuits claiming gender discrimination, and young police officers took it for granted that they would change jobs if they were assigned to the violent crimes division.

As a result, in the future, the average age of the violent crimes division, which is supposed to fight gangsters, will be 45, and the gangsters will be rampant, while the violent crimes division will only watch while protecting themselves.

“Well, it’s better to leave than to suffer such a fate. Besides, they say the salary is double.”

If he leaves, he won’t have to worry about being stabbed by a criminal or chasing a serial killer at the risk of his life. It would be easier to just check and investigate cases.

“Aren’t you sad?”

“If I’m sad, I’m sad. But what can I do? It doesn’t seem like those above will listen to what I say anymore. At this point, me staying here is having a negative impact. You know that.”

“I know.”

That’s how it was in the original history. The team leader didn’t quit because he was happy to quit. It wasn’t because he was afraid of fighting with the higher-ups either. He wasn’t afraid of the higher-ups.

What he feared was that additional damage would occur because the higher-ups wouldn’t listen to him.

In fact, a murder case occurred at the end, and the team leader thought it was a serial murder and insisted that they should be arrested as soon as possible.

However, the police higher-ups ignored the team leader’s opinion and judged it as a simple murder due to resentment, a one-time murder. It was understandable. The victim had so many enemies.

Serial murder and murder due to resentment had completely different directions, and naturally, the direction of the investigation went wrong.

The reason was the simple stubbornness of the higher-ups who didn’t want to give credit to the team leader, and as a result, three victims were killed before the serial killer died.

Even that wasn’t because the police arrested or killed him, but because the fifth victim managed to escape and ran away, and the criminal chased after him, but the victim took the criminal’s car keys and pushed him away using the car, so they were able to catch the criminal.

Ironically, it was possible because the car the criminal was driving was an old model without automatic brakes.

At that time, the team leader had to quit the police because he thought that if he stayed inside the police, they wouldn’t believe what he said, and then additional victims would come out.

“You made a good decision. You should spend your retirement comfortably now.”

“Retirement? I’m not that old.”

“You’re sweating, so you’re old.”

“What can I do? Vietnam is a tropical region.”

Vietnam is already hot. And now it’s late summer, the hottest time.

So, Vietnam is bound to be crazy hot.

“It won’t be easy to track in this heat.”

“I suppose not.”

Park Do-joon nodded at the team leader’s words. It’s not like they came for sightseeing, and the chances of a guy who came to hide wandering around in this hot summer aren’t high, and if he doesn’t wander around, he won’t be seen by anyone, so it won’t be easy to track him.

“This is crazy. Where do I even start tracking from?”

The Korean police sent the two of them without even securing proper national cooperation. Originally, Lee Ji-soo, who is on Park Do-joon’s team, should have come, but the team leader came because of the danger of the case and the special nature of Vietnam.

No matter how hard Park Do-joon tries, it’s almost impossible to send only two people who have almost no experience in overseas operations.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Park Do-joon lacks skills, but from the police’s point of view, Park Do-joon is just a profiler who is showing potential, not a profiler with a lot of experience.

“So, didn’t I check the list of suspicious places?”

“That’s true, but…”

Park Do-joon had already used Jo Gang-so to check several suspicious places.

“The problem is that there’s no way to arrest that bastard. This isn’t Korea.”

“That’s true.”

“That’s why it’s a haphazard approach.”

After the four children were rescued, the police sent Park Do-joon and the team leader because the public’s anger flared up like wildfire.

But the problem is that they only sent them and didn’t make any negotiations with Vietnam. They just told them to go and check the location, but isn’t checking the location a problem that takes more than a day or two in the first place?

“We can’t arrest this guy.”

Realistically, arresting him would be a clear issue of intervention in sovereignty. Then the court here would release Jo Gang-hwa, and Jo Gang-hwa would hide in a place that can no longer be found.

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Yes, and I also know that realistically, Vietnam won’t catch him either. Vietnamese people have a strong sense of pride.”

“Ugh. That’s true.”

Vietnamese people have a stronger sense of pride than you might think. Usually, Koreans think that because it’s a poor country, they’ll do anything if you give them money. That’s half right and half wrong. If necessary, there are guys who will do anything if you give them money. But that’s the same in Korea.

It’s not that all citizens in that country do that, but the proportion of such people is a bit higher than in Korea.

“You know that well? Other guys don’t know and do stupid things.”

“Who am I? I’ve already studied it.”

“Yeah, who else would study that but you?”

One of the mistakes the Korean police make is this: their high pride. Vietnam is a country that has defeated the world’s great powers in the past. Long ago, they defeated China, France, and the United States.

Vietnam’s other nickname is the graveyard of great powers. That’s how strong this country’s pride is, and they hate giving in to external pressure.

A prime example is the issue of civilian massacres committed by Korea during the Vietnam War.

In Korea, every time the cool time comes around [a period when a topic becomes popular again], the media foams at the mouth and says that Korea should apologize for the massacre of Vietnamese civilians, but the journalist doesn’t even know that Korea has already apologized to Vietnam for the massacre. Because they don’t study.

And at that time, the Vietnamese government’s answer was simple.

“As the victorious country, we will no longer mention such issues.”