My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 36

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Nothing. Looks like we’re almost there.”

Park Do-joon slowly headed towards the village chief’s house. The house was dark and eerie.

“The family isn’t coming?”

“They said they’ll come to sort things out after the investigation is over.”

“That’s it?”

“Would such a selfish person be any different as a family member?”

Perhaps the children also learned that selfish nature. Or maybe they were just tired of their selfish parents.

Selfish parents can’t have a close relationship with their children.

“And his wife died in this incident too?”

“Yes, they died together.”

Park Do-joon shook the door, but as expected, it didn’t open.

“What should we do?”

“Well? We need to get inside somehow.”

The problem is that even though they are police officers, opening the door and entering without a warrant is illegal.

‘Is there anything else I can look into?’

Park Do-joon looked around while thinking that, and then he saw a light on in the house next door.

“Excuse me.”

“Who is it? Oh, it’s you?”

The farmer he met on the first day of the investigation in the village was there.

“What brings you here at this hour? What time is it?”

“I have something urgent to investigate.”

“The police are busy too. Our town’s police are always busy drinking. Is it because you’re from the Seoul police? But is there anything I can help you with?”

“Is the house next door the village chief’s house?”

“It *used* to be the village chief’s house.”

But since he died, no one has gone inside. In the first place, there’s nothing to steal, and there’s no one who would steal from a dead person.

“Then where’s the key?”

“The police took it.”

“I guess there’s no way to get in.”

“If you’re thinking of climbing over the wall, I can lend you a ladder?”

“I can’t do that. I’m a police officer.”

Evidence found by the police must be used as evidence in court. But illegally obtained evidence loses its validity.

Even if he climbed over the wall and found evidence favorable to Kim Woo-chang, if it loses its validity, his life could collapse.

“Then there’s no way. Even if you call now, the police won’t come. By the way, have you eaten?”

“Yes? No, not yet.”

He ran all the way to Gangwon-do as soon as he came out of the Egyptian embassy. Thanks to passing through the packed city and taking the highway, there was no time to eat.

“Let’s have a meal together.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Just come in. That’s how country hospitality is. It’s not that hard to put out a couple of spoons.”

The man dragged Park Do-joon and Jung Yi-yeon inside, and soon a warm soup and neatly prepared side dishes were placed in front of them.

“We’re also grateful.”

“It’s nothing to be grateful for.”

“No, that’s not true. To be honest, I feel relieved that the chief’s gang is dead, but on the other hand, I’m worried that the murderer is still out there.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“But the police haven’t shown their faces since that day. They say Woo-chang is the culprit, but the Woo-chang I know wouldn’t do that.”

Park Do-joon listened to those words and put a spoonful of warm soup in his mouth.

“How does it taste?”

“It’s delicious.”

“My wife makes the best *siraegi guk* [dried radish greens soup].”

“Ah. Is it *siraegi guk*?”

“It’s definitely clean. You can be proud of it.”

Park Do-joon smiled and looked down at the soup, then flinched. Dried radish greens floating in the soup.

“This is dried radish greens, right?”

“Haven’t you ever had dried radish greens?”

“No, that’s not it… Dried radish greens are dried for a long time, right?”

“They’re dried for a very long time.”

“Dried radish greens are dried outside, right?”

“That’s right.”

Dried radish greens are a traditional Korean food ingredient. The leaves of a large radish called radish greens are cut and dried, then boiled in porridge or soup, or seasoned as a side dish. In short, it is a dried food made by drying vegetables.

And those dried radish greens are usually dried under the eaves in the countryside.

“When were these dried radish greens dried?”

“They were dried last year?”

Once dried, dried radish greens don’t rot easily, so you can keep them for about a year.

“One year, one year… Dried radish greens dried last year… There’s no one in the countryside who doesn’t eat dried radish greens, right?”

“No one. Radishes are everywhere.”

Radishes are sold as products, but mostly only the well-selling roots are sold, and the radish greens are not sold well.

Therefore, it was common in the countryside to dry the remaining radish greens and eat them as side dishes.

“Maybe… I might have figured out the method of murder?”

“Yes? Out of the blue?”

Jung Yi-yeon, who was eating the soup, was surprised by Park Do-joon’s words.

“This, you know. Once it’s dried, you can eat it for a long time, right?”

“That’s right. Ah…!”

Some pesticides are colorless and odorless. And what happens if you soak dried radish greens in it and dry them?

“If I remember correctly, there were definitely dried radish greens in the spicy fish stew that day.”

He only glanced at it while passing by, but it was certain.

“Oh? Then?”

“If they boiled it, it would be possible.”

Dried radish greens that have been dried to some extent don’t come back to life just by soaking them in pesticide.

Of course, because there is no moisture, it would have absorbed a lot of pesticide, and if you dry it again, it won’t show.

“Wait a minute, you said you investigated all the food!”

“They must have investigated the spicy fish stew itself.”

Moreover, since it was leached out while boiling, it is impossible to know whether the spicy fish stew was contaminated by the dried radish greens or the dried radish greens contaminated the spicy fish stew.

“Did the village chief also dry radish greens?”

“He probably did? I haven’t been there.”

“Hmm.”

Park Do-joon hesitated and picked up the phone.

“No. I can’t… trust the police.”

He can’t trust the police to investigate. Of course, they wouldn’t fabricate it, but you never know.

“I need to call the National Forensic Service first.”

Park Do-joon smiled as he called the National Forensic Service in charge of the Gangwon-do area.

***

The scene of the murder is not only there. Of course, other places must also be investigated. In particular, all the food that went into it must be investigated.

But the police in this area didn’t do that.

‘They probably didn’t want to.’

Anyway, the perpetrator is Kim Woo-chang, and the investigation was conducted accordingly.

Of course, there was no reason to examine the surrounding area.

Park Do-joon called the National Forensic Service first, and then called the police to arrive around the time they arrived.

“× 팔! Hey, what evidence are you finding? You’re talking nonsense.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue as he watched Han Seong-gi staggering over.

‘He’s drunk….’

It’s hard to tell whether he came to work or to drink.

Of course, he understands. If he didn’t exist, he probably would have done the work. Of course, he wouldn’t have done it with a sense of justice like him, but he would have done the work anyway.

The answer is wrong, though.

‘It’s the same as before the regression, really.’

Even before the regression, when he realized that he was inferior to him in skill, he acted exactly like that.

However, at that time, he was a junior, so he was a little considerate of him, but this time he had no intention of doing so.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? What?”

“You’re drunk right now, right?”

“I drank. So?”

“Are you crazy?”

“C, crazy? You son of a bitch…!”

“Drunk driving, really.”

“No, I didn’t drive, you son of a bitch.”

“Don’t you know that passengers are also punished?”

Park Do-joon said that and turned his head to look at the police officer who had been driving.

He flinched slightly at Park Do-joon’s words.

“No, I just had a little bit of wine….”

“A little bit of wine… What are you talking about… What are you going to do if a police officer drives drunk?”

“……”

“Someone bring a breathalyzer.”

But not a single person moves.

‘I knew it.’

Because they are police officers. Because they are his family. So they are trying to protect him.

That’s how they can be protected later.

‘This is how the organization becomes corrupt.’

Park Do-joon narrowed his eyes and glared at them. Fortunately, Jung Yi-yeon quickly noticed Park Do-joon’s expression and stepped forward.

Even if Park Do-joon fights openly, the police organization will just bury his opinion because of its characteristics.

But Jung Yi-yeon is a lawyer. She is an outsider and is originally at odds with the police.

“I am Jung Yi-yeon, the lawyer in charge of Kim Woo-chang’s defense. Are you hiding drunk driving right now? I will formally report this to the prosecution.”

“No, that’s… not hiding….”

“Then why aren’t you measuring the alcohol concentration? You’re not going to tell me that there’s no breathalyzer in the police car, are you?”

That’s something you have to carry with you. It is used for intensive crackdowns, but it is also used to check whether someone is driving under the influence of alcohol on the spot when they are caught driving strangely or have an accident.

“……”

“Still not doing it? Should I really post it on the Blue House bulletin board?”

At those words, the police finally brought the breathalyzer as if they had no choice.

“Hoo~ Blow. More, more, more~!”

Park Do-joon received it and checked the driver himself, then clicked his tongue.

“0.048… You drank quite a bit for a little bit of wine.”

At those words, the police officer couldn’t raise his head. And seeing that, Han Seong-gi raised his voice.

“You son of a bitch, are you going to keep causing trouble?”

“It’s not me who caused the problem, it’s Detective Han. You come on a business trip and drink and sit with a drunk driver? Don’t you know the punishment for passengers?”

“You called me!”

“I called the police, not Detective Han. And if you drank, you should have taken a taxi or taken another vehicle that was dispatched.”

The three people who came in the same car drank, but the others didn’t.

“One month of suspension wasn’t enough, was it?”

“You son of a bitch!”

Enraged, Han Seong-gi tried to throw a punch again, but fortunately, the surrounding police officers sensed the strange atmosphere and stopped them.

“J… Just a moment. Detective Han, calm down.”

“Profiler Han, calm down.”

Park Do-joon ignored Han Seong-gi and turned his body.

“Did you bring the key?”

“Yes.”

“Please open it.”

When he opened the door with the key, he saw the dark inside. There were about thirty bunches of dried radish greens hanging inside the eaves.

“He hung a lot.”

“The chief was greedy.”

The farmer who was watching from a distance answered, and Park Do-joon turned his head and said to the National Forensic Service researcher.

“Is it possible to check?”

“Yes.”

He headed for the dried radish greens bundle. Then he cut it, put it in a small bottle, and shook it for a while. After that, he dropped it one drop at a time into a small analyzer that checks the sample.

It took less than 5 minutes to do all that, but everyone watched the scene in silence.

If Park Do-joon was right, they really didn’t investigate properly.

“Um….”

“How is it?”

The words Park Do-joon expected came out of the National Forensic Service agent’s mouth.

“There’s something in it.”

“This is a simple test, so I can’t know the exact result. I need to take it to the headquarters and do a detailed test to know the exact ingredients, but there’s definitely something in it.”

“It’s not something that comes out like this with its own ingredients, right?”

“This reaction can’t come out with ingredients that naturally leach from dried radish greens.”

Park Do-joon nodded at those words, and Jung Yi-yeon cheered.

“Hooray! Nice!”

“Oh…? Then?”

“First, we need to extract the ingredients and compare them, but if they are the same ingredients, we should see that the ingredients leached from the dried radish greens, not that someone put pesticide in it, right?”

The National Forensic Service agent packing the samples and luggage.

“I’ll go and do a proper test and tell you.”

“Please. And this… just in case, let’s collect them all.”

Park Do-joon said, looking at the full dried radish greens.