My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 378

“What the fuck!”

Everyone couldn’t hide their embarrassment at those words.

“Were the cops on to us?”

“Maybe.”

An older man quietly asked the two younger ones.

“Didn’t you notice anything strange?”

“The police raided an adult goods store a while ago. Baek Man-yeon told us about it, so we closed for a bit.”

“Is that when we got caught?”

“Maybe.”

Of course, they couldn’t imagine they were caught due to a surprise crackdown. But everyone thought Baek Man-yeon must have said something in that situation.

“Damn it, we shouldn’t have trusted that bitch.”

“Fuck.”

“Well, I never liked her anyway.”

“I was planning to rip out her guts someday.”

In fact, Baek Man-yeon was an outlier among them. And Park Do-joon had anticipated that. That’s because Baek Man-yeon is a cop and calls herself justice.

In other words, she believes she is justice and is punishing criminals.

But they couldn’t like Baek Man-yeon. Because they don’t operate with their own sense of justice like Baek Man-yeon. To be precise, they were also criminals.

They knew they were the criminals Baek Man-yeon was cursing, so they couldn’t think well of her.

“Baek Man-yeon deliberately cut us off, right?”

“Looks like it.”

She abandoned them while escaping. But Joo Gwang-dae was the main culprit, so he would be in trouble if caught, so they escaped together.

“Damn it.”

“What should we do?”

“What else? We erase everything and lay low for a while.”

The options they could choose were not many. So they decided to hide.

“Delete contact information for the time being too.”

But there was no time for that. There were already eyes watching them.

“Mr. Kang In-sal?”

Kim Si-deok confidently took other officers and presented him with a warrant.

“Police?”

“We need you to come with us. Oh, and the other three too.”

Everyone’s face turned sour at those words.

“As expected, nothing deviates from the prediction.”

Looking at Park Do-joon, Kim Si-deok had to admit it. As Park Do-joon said, they were claiming they had only bought snuff films.

“Do you have a warrant?”

“Of course. We’ve already searched everything. And we found snuff films at your house.”

The problem is they are saying the same thing. They only bought the videos from Joo Gwang-dae.

And Joo Gwang-dae is admitting that he sold them.

In this situation, Joo Gwang-dae can only end up paying a small fine.

“Detective, I guess it’s hard to track down guys who prepare like this?”

“Yeah, it will be.”

“Then there’s no way to catch them? Damn it, this is frustrating.”

“No, there is. First, since the criminals have been identified, we need to analyze them. And then apply geographical analysis based on them.”

That space was either informed or provided by one of them. But the warrant didn’t have any information about a place that could be called that space. If it was a space they owned or rented, it should have come out, but there was nothing.

That means it’s not a place they got under their names.

“But geographically, there will be a connection. Maybe it’s a place one of them knows.”

“But where…”

“We need to analyze it first.”

Park Do-joon received the records and started reading. Of course, they haven’t been properly investigated, and their lawyers are only claiming they bought snuff films, just like Baek Man-yeon and Joo Gwang-dae.

“First, Kang In-sal is probably a murderer. To be exact, he’s one of the men in the video.”

His physique and tendencies are just that style. He doesn’t say a word in the video, but you can identify him enough by his body language.

“The other one will be this guy, Lee Ja-won.”

His physique is similar, but the details are a bit different. Lee Ja-won is a health trainer and the youngest one in there. He’s twenty-nine years old.

“The other two will be in charge of filming. And So Sin-oh is the owner of the cell phone ringtone that briefly appeared.”

In fact, So Sin-oh’s cell phone ringtone was ‘Let’s Have a Cup of Coffee.’ Everyone else had the default ringtone.

“So Sin-oh definitely knows a lot about the video.”

He runs a small filming studio and has been in the business for 30 years. And 30 years means he has handled everything from VHS and 8mm to modern videos. In fact, he also has editing software.

“And Lee Hang-bal, this guy used to run a video store.”

According to the profiling, some of the criminals have extensive knowledge of videos. And Lee Hang-bal’s job was running a video store, and his hobby was collecting old videos.

“But these four people… they live in completely different places?”

Lee Ji-soo frowned and said. Of course, it’s certain that they are within a certain distance based on Joo Gwang-dae’s store. But apart from that, they are divided evenly in all directions.

Moreover, their jobs and activity ranges are completely different, so if they saw that place somewhere and recommended it, the search area becomes too large.

“So we need to analyze them. To be exact, we need to analyze the place.”

“There was nothing there?”

“There’s something. It’s just not visible.”

Park Do-joon said that and took out a screenshot printed from the video. Can’t we watch the video every time we analyze it?

“It really looks like there’s nothing here.”

All there is is kimchi-making vinyl surrounding all sides and a blurry wall beyond that. And a steel table and a steel bed frame to tie the victim to, which can be seen anywhere. Torture devices are laid out on the steel table.

“It’s hard to track the table and bed frame.”

The table is a common item that can be seen anywhere, and it’s even old. The bed is also the same, old and unusable now.

“I don’t think so.”

Park Do-joon shook his head at those words.

“Yes? Why? This is a commonly used item, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s an item that’s not used anymore.”

“I know that too.”

“And it’s not new either. That means the criminal didn’t buy it used.”

“Well, I don’t think anyone would sell something like that. Would it even be scrap metal?”

Kim Si-deok nodded as if he understood. In the first place, they don’t even use frames like that these days. Isn’t it a crude and even brutal design that would only appear in movies from the 80s, especially thrillers?

“It’s a product made cheaply and sturdily, only considering the unit price. This was usually used in places like mental hospitals.”

“Mental hospitals?”

“Yes.”

A space where people from the outside can’t come and there’s no chance of going out. Even if it was decades ago, a normal hospital wouldn’t use this level of equipment. For the patient’s treatment, there should be height adjustment and backrest functions.

“They didn’t buy it, they got it.”

“That’s right. They probably just used something that was thrown away.”

“A place where things like this are thrown away…”

There wouldn’t be many such places.

“Moreover, there’s nothing beyond this.”

“We know that?”

“That’s why I’m saying this. It’s surrounded by walls. But where are buildings like that these days?”

“Hmm?”

“If it’s a normal building, there should be windows.”

Of course, it’s blurry because it’s covered with vinyl for kimchi-making. But according to the analysis of the video, there is no light in that space at all.

That means there are no windows either. Even if it’s an old building, it doesn’t make sense to have no windows. Of course, there are businesses that operate with the windows completely covered depending on the situation. Places like bars or PC rooms [internet cafes]. Even department stores don’t show windows well inside. Because that way, the sense of time becomes blurred, so people play longer and shop longer. Or it’s to avoid outside attention.

“But there’s no interior material here.”

Basically, it’s just a gray concrete space. There’s no reason to cover the walls again if it’s an unused space. That means this space is underground.

“We can get old steel frames, and it’s underground.”

“Yes, and we just need to find that building.”

“But there are hundreds of basements?”

Kim Si-deok said worriedly. Park Do-joon said leisurely to Kim Si-deok.

“But it will be hard to get that bed frame.”

It’s not an item that can be sold used. But it’s not an item that can be thrown away either. Because that’s real old-fashioned steel.

“If it was thrown away, a scrap metal dealer would have taken it a long time ago.”

“Ah!”

That means the location of this item has two meanings. First, a space with an old basement. A space that anyone can’t enter.

“Like an old, failed mental hospital?”

“That’s right. It must be in a fairly remote place.”

“The number has definitely decreased a lot.”

Nevertheless, it was not easy to specify. Because there are more than one or two such places nationwide.

“Kang In-sal and Lee Ja-won probably don’t know.”

The two have too obvious activity ranges. Kang In-sal is unemployed. He has a car, but he gets the gas money from home. Lee Ja-won is a health trainer, but he has to find a fixed commute course. Besides, the two are too young. They are too young to know about an old, failed mental hospital.

“Then it’s only So Sin-oh and Lee Hang-bal. But Lee Hang-bal is also unlikely.”

He knows a lot about videos, but he is a typical city dweller who has been active in a fixed place.

“On the other hand, So Sin-oh is a cameraman.”

He goes around here and there and takes pictures while receiving many requests. So it’s easy to go to various places.

“And most cameramen keep videos.”

“Aha!”

If So Sin-oh saw that place somewhere and marked it as the scene of the murder, there is a high possibility that he went there.

“Could it be that he saw it on the internet? You know, like abandoned house exploration.”

“It will be difficult. They don’t like people approaching.”

In other words, a place that is so famous for abandoned house exploration cannot be used as a place of murder. Because such places are called spiritual spots and everyone crawls in.

Of course, such places are clearly private property and are locked to prevent people from entering, but those who suck up views don’t care about that in the first place.

If the door is locked, they break it, if there is a lock, they cut it off, and if neither works, they break the window and enter.

“In that respect, this place is probably not that big.”

If it’s a big place, it would have already become a so-called spiritual spot and would be attracting attention on the internet.

“Let’s search the video once.”

Park Do-joon thought that something would come out.