My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 353

“That’s why the guys who dump bodies go to great lengths to make sure they don’t float.”

They tie bricks to them or secure them with heavy objects. The term ‘concrete shoes’ didn’t just come out of nowhere in the organized crime world.

It’s a term that arose because encasing feet in concrete and throwing the person into the water prevents them from floating.

“If they don’t have anything else, they’ll put stones in a bag or fill their pockets with something to weigh them down.”

But the victim, Kwon Kang-won, had none of that.

“Maybe they were in a hurry?”

“Well, that doesn’t excuse a lapse in common sense. Oh Bang-hwan is a former teacher—a science teacher, no less. Would someone like that make such a mistake?”

“Are you saying he wanted someone to find the body?”

“That’s how it seems.”

Just a little further away, there’s a huge reservoir, a place where you could dump a body and likely never have it found.

Oh Bang-hwan, having lived here for so long, couldn’t possibly be unaware of such a place. Yet, dumping it in a place where someone is likely to find it doesn’t make sense.

“And there’s another reason.”

“Another reason?”

“This driver is good at driving.”

“Pardon?”

Kim Man-hyuk couldn’t help but repeat the statement, surprised by the sudden remark. Why would he suddenly say he’s good at driving? But he understood the reasoning with the next words.

“If you watch this video, he comes back out after abandoning the body. And looking at the time, it takes about 13 minutes.”

“Yes.”

“If we estimate about 5 minutes to abandon the body, that leaves about 8 minutes. So, it takes 4 minutes to go in and 4 minutes to come out.”

“4 minutes?”

Jung Yi-yeon tilted her head at those words. The reason was that the small path leading to that small reservoir was an unpaved road.

Not even an agricultural road, just bare dirt.

“4 minutes in this darkness? I don’t think I could make it in that time.”

Moreover, the 5 minutes allotted for abandoning the body is also a fairly tight estimate. Assuming there are no other accomplices, getting the body out of the car and throwing it into the lake alone is by no means an easy task.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m even more suspicious.”

He simply dumped the body. There was no effort to hide it. It’s not the typical behavior pattern of a criminal.

“Well, someone who knows this place might be able to navigate it a bit more skillfully.”

At Kim Man-hyuk’s words, Park Do-joon asked.

“Would Oh Bang-hwan know this road? Of course, it’s the city he lives in, but still, it’s too different from his usual behavior pattern, isn’t it?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, even if it’s the same city, individuals don’t usually have a reason to go into these agricultural roads.”

Moreover, Oh Bang-hwan is the chairman of a foundation that runs four schools. Naturally, he usually has a driver.

“Knowing a road isn’t just about knowing it.”

Mastering a road is about more than just memorizing a map; it’s about remembering it with your body. And you can never get used to these small roads unless you actually drive on them.

The reason why racing drivers walk the track and practice dozens of times before a race is not just because they are bored. It’s to memorize the road and let their body remember the direction. That way, the body moves before they even think.

“To go and come back in such a short amount of time, there are two possibilities: either he practiced many times, or he has great athletic ability. Oh Bang-hwan doesn’t have time for the former, and he’s too old for the latter.”

At those words, Kim Man-hyuk’s face turned serious.

“Are you saying the culprit dumped the body here hoping someone would find it? Wanting Oh Bang-hwan to be framed as the culprit?”

“Probably. The culprit likely knows that Oh Bang-hwan and Kwon Kang-won had a strained relationship, and it seems they’re trying to use that to pin the crime on Oh Bang-hwan.”

Kim Man-hyuk frowned at Park Do-joon’s unexpected point.

The reason was that Oh Bang-hwan was too different from Kwon Kang-won. Kwon Kang-won was known as a righteous person who tried to protect students, but Oh Bang-hwan was a man with enemies all around him.

“There must be so many guys who want to kill him.”

“The culprit is probably someone with some power. Rather than a personal grudge, it’s probably a social relationship or a political motive.”

“Why?”

“Most people prefer a direct method when seeking revenge.”

They would have just run him over with a car, rather than killing a third party and trying to pin the blame on him. There’s also the pang of conscience, and there are many cases where it doesn’t reliably achieve revenge.

If they set up a trap like that and he gets out of it, they’ve only done a useless thing.

“A conspiracy is basically using deception with the aim of harming the other party, and most people who plot such conspiracies are third parties.”

Ultimately, they deceive the other party for their own benefit and try to exploit them in doing so.

“A third party?”

Kim Man-hyuk’s head ached at the thought that it was a third party who had nothing to do with it, even though there were quite a few guys who wanted revenge.

“Then what should we do? I don’t think we can say Oh Bang-hwan didn’t kill him by tracking it down like this.”

We can’t shield him by saying it’s someone’s conspiracy because, in a situation where a so-called people’s trial [trial by media and public opinion] is taking place, if someone inside the police claims that he is not the culprit, the media and public opinion will inevitably say, ‘They’re licking his boots for money.’

The problem is that Oh Bang-hwan is also ambiguously rich, so it’s hard to deny such claims.

“This is ridiculous, really.”

Kim Man-hyuk was dumbfounded because until recently, he was thinking that way and attacking Oh Bang-hwan, but now he had to prove his innocence.

“The best way is to find an alibi.”

If we have an alibi found on our side, we can confidently present it.

“But Oh Bang-hwan isn’t providing his alibi, is he?”

“Yeah, so we should treat this as another case and investigate it.”

“Another case?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head at those words. It was completely unexpected. Park Do-joon calmly explained to Lee Ji-soo.

“It means the approach changes. You know that too. If the crime changes, the analysis also changes.”

“So, to prove his innocence, we have to prove another crime?”

“That’s right. If Oh Bang-hwan’s alibi has no legal problems, there’s no reason not to provide it. Perhaps that action is something he can’t tell the police.”

Of course, things might change if the situation becomes urgent, but for now, there’s a psychological resistance to hiding it.

“Maybe it’s a criminal act, and the punishment won’t be light.”

“Stronger than murder?”

“Not exactly. There’s no punishment stronger than murder, but Oh Bang-hwan thinks that at least his wrongdoing won’t be revealed by the police.”

So, rather than hastily admitting his crime, he’s thinking of keeping his mouth shut and hiding it once the murder charge is dropped.

“Another crime……”

Kim Man-hyuk frowned because he hadn’t thought of that. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out what crime he was hiding.

“How are you going to track that down? I don’t think he’ll tell us if we ask?”

“I know, but we can ask other people.”

“Other people?”

“Yes, didn’t I say earlier? He usually has someone else drive him.”

And he was likely to know everything.

# Let’s Find the Real Crime

“I don’t know anything?”

From the driver’s point of view, with his job on the line, he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

“It’s news to me that the chairman is doing bad things. The chairman is not that kind of person.”

“Tell me the truth. You could become an accomplice.”

“Are the police threatening an innocent victim now? I said I don’t know. Oh, come on, this is ridiculous.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue at the driver’s refusal to cooperate.

“Sir, this is the way to save an innocent victim.”

“Am I not innocent? It’s funny to hear that?”

Park Do-joon, watching the driver raise his voice, eventually stepped forward, tapped Kim Man-hyuk, who was trying to persuade him, to calm him down, and told him to step back.

“I’ll do it.”

“Yes?”

“I will.”

“Ah, yes.”

Fortunately, Kim Man-hyuk stepped back and nodded. He didn’t necessarily believe in profilers, but at least Park Do-joon, whom he had seen, was good at talking.

“So, how many years have you worked as Oh Bang-hwan’s driver, sir?”

“I’ve worked for 12 years.”

‘12 years… Then the relationship isn’t bad. At least they’re of the same kind.’

People with bad personalities rarely have people working under them for long. So, sometimes, the length of service of people working under them is used to judge their personality.

‘But sometimes, they still work for a long time despite that.’

Is it because he’s kind? No. Kind people can’t last long in corrupt companies. In such cases, it’s usually one of two things.

‘Either they’re stupid, or they’re of a similar type.’

And Oh Ban-hwan doesn’t seem like the type to use stupid people for long. Then the only thing left is that they are of a similar type.

‘That’s easier too.’

The closest aides are the ones who show the most dirty corruption, and it’s easy to exploit someone who knows how to hide such things.

‘Then it’s not easy to break that.’

Because they’re similar, they know what their methods are.

“Really? You’ve been driving that car for 12 years?”

“Yes.”

“Then who drove that car that day?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then who manages the keys?”

“Of course, I manage……”

The driver’s eyes wavered as if he was embarrassed.

“Then where is the spare key?”

“Huh? So, it’s at the chairman’s house.”

“So, the only people who could drive that day are you or Oh Bang-hwan, right?”

“No, the chairman is not the kind of person who would kill someone!”

“Of course, he would. But I don’t know much about you.”

Park Do-joon said that and asked Kim Man-hyuk.

“Did you find out who drove that day?”

“No, not at all. The tint on the car is so strong that it’s impossible to identify.”

Detective Kim Man-hyuk quickly answered, realizing what Park Do-joon was aiming for. And based on that, Park Do-joon attacked the driver even more fiercely.

“What did you do that day?”

“No, I was off that day……”

“You were off? Can you prove it?”

“No, that’s…….”