My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 295

That’s how strong Vietnamese pride is, stronger than you might think.

But for Korean police to arrest a criminal there without permission? The Vietnamese authorities would likely be more than just furious; they’d release him immediately without pressing charges.

“Don’t worry. I came here with that in mind.”

“You know? You do?”

The team leader looked at Park Do-joon with a suspicious expression, wondering if he truly had a solution.

“It’s simple. Do you think a bucket that leaks on the inside won’t leak on the outside?” (Meaning, someone who commits crimes will continue to do so regardless of location.)

“Ah! I guess so.”

“Now that he’s here, the places he can hide are limited. And when this guy came here before, he wasn’t here for golf or scuba diving, was he?”

He’s a guy who kidnapped a girl and used her as a sex slave. Could such a guy really hide and live a normal life in a place like this?

“Expulsion will be difficult. Of course, it’s a crime, but still…”

Unfortunately, Vietnam is one of the countries where prostitution is quite organized. Just like Korea once earned money through sex tourism, Vietnam has a similar aspect.

So, although they claim to punish it severely, in reality, the punishment for the buyer is often just a fine.

For a first offense, the maximum fine is around 50,000 won [approximately $40 USD]. For multiple offenses, the maximum fine is about 250,000 won [approximately $200 USD], and there’s no expulsion.

In a way, it’s similar to Korea. They say it’s illegal, but the punishment isn’t very severe.

“But we don’t know if this guy will only target prostitutes.”

“That’s true.”

“Moreover, this guy has a strong desire to dominate. The behavior of someone with a typical desire to dominate usually shows violent tendencies.”

If he doesn’t just buy sex but also assaults Vietnamese people, then he will be punished for assault, and if we’re lucky, we can get him deported.

“Good idea, except for one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Do you know where this bastard is?”

The team leader said, squinting. Well, that’s a valid point.

“I saw the documents you brought, too. There were almost twenty hotels listed?”

Since Jo Kang-hwa had come to Vietnam often, finding the specific hotel he was staying in wouldn’t be easy.

Jo Kang-hwa wouldn’t stay at a hotel that would give information to just anyone.

Besides, Park Do-joon and the team leader are Korean police, not Vietnamese police. If they approached the hotel to check his stay, the hotel would likely inform Jo Kang-hwa to protect its guests instead of reporting or cooperating.

“So, it’s all guesswork. Haa!”

The team leader frowned, as if they’d come all this way for nothing.

“Ah, I’ve thought about that, too.”

“What? You have another way?”

“Yeah, not exactly another way, but we need to ‘buy’ a woman.”

“‘Buy’ a woman? Why? Are you going to have her approach him? Aside from it being illegal, we don’t even know where Jo Kang-hwa is, you idiot.”

“No, I need to install an app, but I don’t know if this can be expensed.”

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

First of all, the biggest problem—’buying’ a woman’s cooperation—was solved more easily than expected.

“This can’t be expensed.”

“It’s okay. I have plenty of money.”

“Why is a rich bastard like you a cop?”

“Cop? We’re fellow police officers, aren’t we?”

“I’m a civilian (Jin) [a sarcastic term for someone who acts like a cop but isn’t], you idiot.”

The method Park Do-joon chose was none other than visiting a karaoke bar. Karaoke bars often have women who engage in prostitution, and if you give one of them enough money, you can borrow their identity. Of course, that woman didn’t ask for a cheap price.

“No, 1 million won [approximately $800 USD] just to open a phone account? Are you crazy? And buying an Apple phone? That’s too much of a rip-off, isn’t it?”

“What I need in the first place isn’t the phone but her identity. I need to install an app.”

The woman’s condition was simple: if she received 1 million won in cash and had an Apple phone opened in her name, she would lend her name. So, after opening a new phone and using it, she would give it to him under the condition of an additional 1 million won.

But Park Do-joon accepted it.

‘If I tell Jo Kang-so, he’ll give it to me anyway.’

He, who is thirsty for revenge, would gladly pay that much money. However, it was a problem he couldn’t tell the team leader. Fortunately, the team leader was more interested in the app than the money.

“App?”

“‘Zalo.’ It’s an app used in Vietnam.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a prostitution app. Well, the original purpose of development wasn’t prostitution, but now its image is almost entirely that of a prostitution app.”

“Ah, like Nuri Chat?”

“What’s Nuri Chat?”

“It exists. Originally, it was a national chat, but after perverts flocked to it, it became a place full of beasts. There’s no normal chat, just guys who want to hook up with women.”

“Chatting? What year are we in?”

“It exists, you idiot. But I think I know what it is. The one that shows people by distance?”

“That’s right.”

Zalo is, to be exact, a dating app. It shows who is nearby based on the registered person. And currently, most of Zalo’s usage revolves around prostitution.

“The difference from Korea is that there is no cost for conversation.”

“Those dating apps in Korea are fake anyway.”

Korean distance-based dating apps are basically all scams. It seems like there are people nearby, but it’s not really someone nearby but an employee hired by the app operator.

They act like women who want to meet and induce payment within the dating app.

Such dating apps not only require you to install them but also charge you hundreds of won per line when talking to the other person.

And the employee acting like a woman maintains the relationship and continues to encourage deposits, maintaining revenue by eating away at the user’s money.

“But not Zalo.”

Vietnam is a poor country, and if they did that, no one would use it. So, Zalo actually shows nearby people relatively honestly.

“Humans are something. Even if you make something good, they find a way to use it like crap.”

The team leader shook his head.

“But we can really find him.”

“That’s right. Jo Kang-hwa will have a hard time without a woman. Especially with the gang he came with.”

They won’t be able to walk around outside. Because they’ll know by now that Korea is in an uproar. The media is talking about it every day, so they can’t not know.

Of course, the name hasn’t been released yet because it’s still under investigation, but since all the victims survived, it’s natural that they will be identified, and then it’s natural for criminals to want to avoid Koreans or people who know them.

The clubs or karaoke bars they used to go to would have been places where Koreans often come to play, and they can’t ignore the possibility of meeting someone who knows them there, so from their point of view, now is the time to maintain a psychological distance and avoid such places.

“If they can’t go out, they have to call someone from outside.”

“I guess so. Hehehe!”

The reason Park Do-joon borrowed a phone from a woman he met at a karaoke bar is that. If you set it up, you can specify who appears to the chat partner. And would Jo Kang-hwa be crazy enough to talk to a man?

Of course, he would have set it up to only see women, so Park Do-joon or the team leader’s phones wouldn’t connect. That’s why they needed the help of a woman living locally, especially one working in the prostitution industry.

As expected, she skillfully installed Zalo on her phone, configured it, and handed it over.

“Wow, there are so many perverts. This… looks like a Korean bastard?”

“Looking at the clothes, it’s not Korean but Chinese…”

“Chinese? Well, he does look a bit cheap.”

As they started to enter areas frequently visited by tourists, faces appeared on the screen. At the same time, the app started ringing like crazy.

“It’s so noisy.”

“There’s a reason why she asked for 1 million won.”

There are many women in karaoke bars, but they had to choose a woman of the type that people from Northeast Asia—that is, Korea, China, and Japan—like, so they paid a lot of money.

She was actually a woman with white skin who didn’t look like a typical Southeast Asian, and she was only 21 years old, so there were too many guys interested. So many that it was a problem.

“It’s so hot, you crazy bastards.”

“It’s too noisy, so let’s turn off the notification sound.”

“Let’s do that. But which way do we go?”

“Let’s exclude Edin Hotel for now.”

“Why?”

“Ah, mixed-gender stays are prohibited there unless they are a couple. In fact, in Vietnam, there are quite a few places that prevent mixed-gender stays unless they are a couple. Especially luxury hotels. Because adultery is taken very seriously.”

“Is there an adultery law in Vietnam?”

“Yes.”

“When women’s groups abolished the adultery law [in South Korea], didn’t they say that Korea was the only one in the world that had it?”

“Do those bitches even do their research? They just say whatever comes out of their mouths.”

In fact, Vietnam has an adultery law, and it is one of the countries with quite strong punishments. Adultery is taken seriously in Vietnamese society, so in some luxury hotels, mixed-gender stays are impossible unless they are a couple.

“The important thing is that such hotels have strict access control.”

“Then we can choose a place where women can enter freely?”

“That’s right.”

Fortunately, Jo Kang-hwa used to choose such luxury accommodations a lot in the past. Because they could meet outside and stay in other places.

But not now. In a psychologically weakened situation, there is a high possibility that they will not be able to go out, and in such a situation, they will not want a place where they cannot bring women in.

“Those bastards are so annoying.”

While Park Do-joon was driving, the team leader constantly closed the incoming chat windows, constantly scanning the screen in case a familiar face appeared.

Since it appears in order of distance, there is no other option but to keep circling around the possible locations.

“Huh?”

How long had they been circling like that?

Finally, a familiar face appeared, and the team leader made a strange noise.

“Did you find him?”

“I found him! I found him! Hey, you pretty bastard! Should I give you a kiss?”

“He’s with someone. Who is it?”

“Kim Mu-gang.”

“That’s the bastard who ran away with Jo Kang-hwa, right?”

“Yeah.”

A major investigation was conducted on Jo Kang-hwa’s house, and suspicious people were identified by investigating call records.

As a result, it was found that six people, including Jo Kang-hwa himself, had left the country. They bought tickets separately, but they all took the same plane at the same time. That means they ran away together to avoid tracking.

In particular, Kim Mu-gang had a history of probation for assault, and his fingerprints were found in the house, so identification was very easy.

“I found him, I found him!”

As Park Do-joon celebrated, the team leader’s expression became strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I just feel old.”

“Yes?”

“A profiler has to study constantly. But I can’t do it anymore.”

The world is developing, and thoughts and cultures are changing. Scientific investigation techniques are developing. So, the investigation is the same, but the results are more accurate or come out faster. But profiling changes. The times change, thoughts change, and the goals pursued change.

The methods of crime and the approaches also change. That’s why a profiler is a job that must be studied forever.

My Calling is Profiler