My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 333

The fact that the culprit used a vehicle to discard the pot suggests that only a truck would have enough space for it.

“That’s what others have said, but they all think it’s a lunatic with cannibalistic fantasies?”

The head of the special investigation team spoke with disbelief. Park Do-joon nodded.

“That’s right. Generally, criminals who commit cannibalism show significant signs of mental instability. They often have elaborate fantasies about cannibalistic acts.”

He continued, “For example, in France, a Japanese man killed and cannibalized a woman. But the culprit fled to Japan, was diagnosed with a mental disorder, received no punishment, and even later published a book and lived comfortably.”

“Then, do you know what a common trait among cannibals is?”

“Huh? That’s….”

He realized he didn’t actually know; he was just repeating what the profilers had said. Anticipating this, Park Do-joon looked at the chief and then calmly addressed the others.

“Cannibalism almost always involves the desecration of the corpse.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“But that’s not what we’re seeing here.”

“Not it? But the culprit is clearly….”

“To be precise, the desecration I’m referring to means directly damaging the body, not the act of cooking it.”

The police officers looked bewildered, unsure of the distinction.

‘Well, it would be strange if they did know.’

This type of cannibalism case is rare, even on a global scale.

“To put it simply, what do you do when you get meat?”

“Well, I keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.”

“Right? Don’t you think the culprit would do the same?”

Everyone stared blankly at Park Do-joon, as if asking if he was serious. But Park Do-joon said firmly, “It’s the same.”

“The same?”

“Just as we keep pork in the freezer, the culprit would likely store the body for later consumption.”

“That’s….”

The police officers exchanged confused glances, still not understanding.

“Let me be clear. If the culprit was truly obsessed with the act of eating, they wouldn’t have put the whole body in the pot in the first place. That act is a form of deception or self-promotion.”

“Self-promotion?”

“Yes, that’s right. There’s a strong possibility this is a revenge play, an expression of dissatisfaction with some other issue.”

“So, it’s about desecrating the corpse to make a statement?”

“Yes.”

Everyone seemed taken aback by his words.

“If the profiling was accurate, we would have already identified the culprit. But realistically, we haven’t been able to track him down, have we?”

“That’s….”

In fact, the police had followed the advice of other profilers and searched the entire neighborhood for people with mental disorders who owned one-ton trucks. However, the police can’t arbitrarily investigate someone’s mental health status, and even from the list obtained through cooperation with mental health facilities, there were almost no people who owned a one-ton truck.

So, all of that was a waste of time? It was a frustrating and absurd situation.

“That can’t be….”

“Of course, I could be wrong. But are you going to keep going in the same direction without admitting you might be wrong?”

“…….”

Everyone was silent. They had exhausted all leads related to mental disorders, even requesting cooperation from police in surrounding areas, but nothing had turned up.

“But didn’t you say earlier that he has a paranoid personality disorder? Then he should have been caught already, right?”

“That’s why I suspect he has no close family or friends. Almost no one readily admits they are mentally ill.”

If someone were close to him, they would have noticed the signs of mental disorder and either forced him to go to a mental hospital or at least seek psychiatric treatment. But there’s no indication of that? Then it’s unlikely anyone knows about his mental state.

“And the same goes for not having people around.”

“If you’re mentally unstable, people will distance themselves.”

“That’s right.”

Paranoia is a mental illness characterized by the belief that others are attacking you. It’s a type of persecutory delusion, and those who suffer from it are often hostile to those around them.

“If you have paranoia, you suspect everything.”

From suspecting your spouse of cheating to believing they are trying to kill you.

“There was also a woman wearing a gas mask who appeared on TV in the past, right? That’s a typical symptom of paranoia.”

She claimed on TV that someone was spraying poison gas into her apartment from the floor above to kill her, and she was running ten air purifiers in her house.

“The problem is that if schizophrenia is also present, the aggressiveness increases dramatically. In fact, the two often occur together.”

“You mean they think women are trying to kill them?”

“Not exactly. Such people tend to make one of two choices.”

“First, they become aggressive towards others. They harass those around them, trying to drive them away in ways that are difficult for others to understand.”

“For example, they might collect their own feces and urine and spray them on the vehicles of nearby residents or in common areas to antagonize them. To others, it seems nonsensical, but in their mind, they believe such actions are an effective way to deter people who are trying to harm them.”

“In other words, they mistakenly believe that the reason they are not being attacked is not because the people around them have no intention of harming them, but because their absurd behavior is working. Since their brain is no longer able to make normal judgments, if a normal person protests against this behavior, the paranoid patient interprets it as further proof of an attack and becomes even more deeply entrenched in their abnormal behavior to protect themselves.”

“The other choice is to live a life completely isolated from people.”

“By choosing such an isolated life, they feel safe because there is no one around them to pose a threat.”

“Looking at the current situation, there’s a high probability that the culprit is living an isolated life, perhaps in a secluded space like a greenhouse.”

“Hmm….”

“And since he’s unaware of his illness, he may still desire to get married or have a relationship with the opposite sex.”

However, no woman would likely want to date someone who is isolated and displays obvious signs of mental instability.

“And in such cases, it often develops into a delusion of persecution. And if there’s a trigger, it can all explode.”

“Trigger?”

“Yes, an event that could pull the trigger.”

Park Do-joon paused, giving the detectives time to consider what that trigger might be. But instead of brainstorming, the police officers simply stared at him, so Park Do-joon sighed and continued.

“First of all, we’re operating under the assumption that the culprit hates and despises women. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what could be related to both women and the police?”

“Well?”

Park Do-joon smiled wryly at the blank looks on the officers’ faces. Fortunately, Lee Ji-soo thought for a moment and then cautiously spoke up.

“Is it perhaps related to sexual offenses?”

“That’s right. There’s a strong possibility.”

“Sexual offense?”

“Currently, the Republic of Korea is perceived to apply the principle of presumption of guilt in relation to sexual offenses.”

“Who does that! The laws of the Republic of Korea are strict…!”

“No, no, don’t play with words. Frankly speaking, isn’t everyone aware that Korea effectively applies the principle of presumption of guilt in sexual offense cases? If you disrupt the core of the case with political remarks, the culprit will escape.”

The head of the special investigation team sighed, and everyone nodded in agreement. In reality, in Korea, the principle of presumption of guilt is often applied to sexual offenses. Of course, it’s not legally recognized, but in practice, investigating sexual offenses with the principle of presumption of innocence [the legal principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty] often brings pressure from various sources.

“He suffered in relation to sexual offenses, and at the same time, he believes he was targeted or falsely accused in relation to sexual offenses.”

“That’s right. If that’s the case, you can understand why he’s hostile to the police and acts so aggressively towards us.”

“Aggressive towards the police?”

“If it were purely about cannibalism, he would try to hide his crime.”

If his primary focus was the act of eating, he would have kept the victim’s body hidden. It’s natural for a criminal with clear evidence of cannibalism to try to conceal their actions.

“But in this case, the culprit is drawing attention to himself.”

“Drawing attention?”

“Yes, he’s abandoning the body in a place where it will inevitably be found. It shows a completely different motive from the general desire to hide the crime. It suggests he wants the police to suffer through these actions.”

“By killing others?”

It’s an incomprehensible act. Of course, I feel sorry for the dead, but will the police really suffer because of that?

The possibility seems low.

Of course, it will be difficult and annoying in terms of workload, but can that truly be called suffering? Realistically, it’s hard to see it that way.

“This is….”

Park Do-joon frowned.

“In the worst-case scenario, the culprit may reveal his involvement himself.”

“What?”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

“No, what are you talking about? Why would the culprit do that?”

“The culprit is abandoning the body in a place where it will eventually be discovered. What does that imply?”

It means the culprit wants someone to find it and report it to the police. Logically, if someone leaves a large pot next to the road, someone will be curious and open it.

“In other words, he has no intention of keeping it a secret.”

“What does that have to do with revealing it to the outside world?”

“Perhaps the culprit believes that the police will suffer because the case is reported in the media, and he thinks that his revenge will be complete by doing so.”

“Revenge? On us?”

“The police don’t exactly have a good reputation among criminals, do they?”

If the culprit is seeking revenge on the police, it provides a possible explanation for why the crimes are continuing without pause.

“It’s progressing so quickly because the revenge hasn’t been fully realized. The defining characteristic of this case is the absence of a cooling-off period.”

For any criminal, the cooling-off period [the time between criminal acts] is an important factor in assessing their behavior. Especially in cannibalism cases, the cooling-off period tends to be long, as the killers kill, store, cook, and consume their victims, savoring the act of killing.

Therefore, this type of case should typically involve a fairly long cooling-off period.

But this culprit has no intention of storing or hiding the body.

“The desecration of the corpse isn’t for the purpose of cannibalism, but a way to create social chaos and inflict psychological distress on the police.”