My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 38

“It’s rare to send a case as unsolved, isn’t it?”

The very fact that it’s unsolved means the case is incredibly difficult. Otherwise, it would have been solved already.

And most unsolved cases are left unattended. So, unless a detective specifically takes it on, most unsolved cases just end there.

“But I don’t remember seeing this… Ah, right. I didn’t review all the cases back then, did I?”

Before the regression, we didn’t analyze the cases together. Han Sung-gi would just throw me a few to improve my skills, and he handled the rest himself.

The reason a team exists is to compensate for each other’s shortcomings or mistakes, but Han Sung-gi was extremely wary of Park Do-joon, so he tried not to assign him cases.

“If it’s unsolved, Han Sung-gi would have just passed it over.”

Looking at the case, it’s a murder. To be precise, it’s about women who were drugged with ‘mulppong’ [a date rape drug], left on the streets, and subsequently froze to death.

Three fatalities.

After the case became a hot topic, it suddenly stopped.

“With this, Han Sung-gi wouldn’t have done it.”

Because in such cases, the local profiler team would have investigated. But they would have failed, and it’s unlikely that Han Sung-gi would have stepped in to solve it.

Failure would be embarrassing.

“Unsolved, huh.”

Park Do-joon confirmed it once again. The incident occurred in Seongnam. Three women froze to death in the middle of winter, initially thought to have just fallen asleep on the street after drinking.

However, an autopsy revealed the presence of ‘mulppong’ [a date rape drug] in their systems, leading to the conclusion that they were raped and then abandoned on the streets while incapacitated.

When someone is under the influence of ‘mulppong,’ they can’t do anything.

And it happened to be winter, and investigations into each separate incident began, but nothing came of it, so it was passed on as an unsolved case.

“But Seongnam, huh.”

Park Do-joon tilted his head. Seongnam is a big city. CCTV cameras are everywhere. Moreover, ‘mulppong’ is generally used in bars, where there are likely to be cameras and witnesses. But no one knows anything.

“Hmm.”

Park Do-joon decided to review the case records in more detail. The brief records alone couldn’t provide enough detail.

“The car is a ghost car [a vehicle with falsified or untraceable registration].”

There are cases where the police are incompetent and don’t do their job, but this wasn’t one of them. The police were quite active.

The car was a B company import. But a ghost car. Even that disappeared after it was converted into a murder case. And the owner of the ghost car committed suicide in Gangwon Land [a region in South Korea known for its casinos]. In fact, this part isn’t special at all.

Most ghost cars in Korea originate from Gangwon Land.

“And the places where the victims were found were deserted. The victims were all naked. But there’s no evidence of rape….”

Of course, the evidence of rape was washed away and gone.

“The time of disappearance is the day before. The locations are all different, and the time of disappearance is roughly between 3 and 4 a.m.….”

Park Do-joon fell deep in thought. Then he frowned.

“I think this bastard is a repeat offender?”

3 to 4 a.m.

It’s a time when bars are almost certainly closing up.

“They wouldn’t use ‘mulppong’ at a samgyeopsal restaurant [Korean BBQ] or a potato stew place.”

It’s obvious they’d use it in a club or somewhere where it’s hard to avoid people’s attention. But at this hour in a club? Is it even possible to remember people’s faces there?

“There’s nothing caught on the internal CCTV either….”

To be exact, there is. But it’s impossible to identify them. There are two perpetrators. They were both wearing hats pulled down low.

Just in case, I also checked the CCTV at the entrance, but similar people weren’t found. Only the appearance of them leaving the entrance was captured, and their faces were covered. There was no genetic information at all, and the payment was in cash.

“I see.”

Park Do-joon pondered for a long time and then looked at it. What was the investigator who sent this feeling? In fact, once a case is passed on as unsolved, it usually just gets buried somewhere and no one ever sees it again. In Korea, there’s no special investigation team that specializes in unsolved cases like in dramas.

However, some investigators become obsessed with certain cases as if they’re possessed by something.

‘Then this must have been sent by that investigator.’

Park Do-joon checked the name of the 담당 수사관 [officer in charge] and picked up the phone. Then he immediately called the 담당 수사관 [officer in charge].

-Yes, this is the Seongnam Eastern Police Station, Violent Crimes Unit.

“Hello? This is the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Profiler Team. Is Detective Kang Chang-soo there?”

-Detective Kang Chang-soo? Hold on a moment.

A brief hold music was heard, and then an elderly man’s voice was heard over the phone.

-Yes, this is Detective Kang Chang-soo.

“This is Park Do-joon from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Profiling Team. Did you send the documents for the hypothermia case?”

-…….

‘What is it?’

I called to confirm, but the other person didn’t say anything, so Park Do-joon wondered if he had called the wrong number. But the other person quickly answered.

-Ah, so you’ve decided to take on the case?

“It’s a bit lacking in data to say I’m taking it on. Can we meet and talk?”

-Of course, that’s possible. Should I come over?

“No. I’ll go there. I’ll be there right away.”

-Thank you. I’ll be waiting.

“Yes, I understand.”

Park Do-joon got up from his seat and went to the team leader to report on the case.

“A hypothermia case in Seongnam? That came again?”

“Again?”

“Yeah. They send it periodically, but we’re not short on work, and honestly, it’s hard to put personnel into a case that has no answers. Moreover, it’s not an official request.”

It’s not an official request for support from the police station, and one investigator is just sending copied investigation records asking for help, so it’s hard to help.

“Didn’t you deploy profilers?”

“We did. Woo Joo-wan’s team went.”

Woo Joo-wan is Park Do-joon’s senior. He’s currently on a business trip and away from his seat.

“And?”

“What should we do with nothing? There’s really nothing there.”

The car is a ghost car, and the evidence ends there.

“’Mulppong’ is under the jurisdiction of the narcotics department, but there’s nothing particularly suspicious coming from the narcotics department either.”

“Geez.”

Park Do-joon frowned.

“Everyone avoids it because there’s no answer. Why do you want to do it?”

“Can’t I try?”

“Is it possible? I don’t see an answer.”

“That’s for other people.”

“Ugh, that’s true.”

He’s only handled two cases, but the team leader already felt that Park Do-joon’s skills were outstanding, like a hidden gem.

Unlike other guys, he sees the inner workings of the case much more.

“Okay, go ahead. It’s an unofficial dispatch anyway.”

“I guess it’s impossible as a team.”

“Is it possible? If you were him, would you work with a guy who gave you two disciplinary actions? My head is already splitting.”

It’s impossible to supplement, and if you don’t supplement, it’s like losing a team.

Official dispatch is impossible because it’s a team that goes on official dispatch.

“This is an unofficial case, so there’s no business trip expenses. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I don’t mind.”

It’s not like I’m short on money anyway. The company is doing so well with the flood of work that we really need to expand the company, and they’re making sure I get my share.

“Go and come back. Anyway, if you stay here, either you’ll suffocate to death or those guys will die of frustration, one of the two.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

Park Do-joon, who had received permission, headed straight to Seongnam.

***

When he arrived in Seongnam, a man who looked to be in his 50s came out.

“That’s… a really nice car.”

Kang Chang-soo clicked his tongue as he looked at Park Do-joon’s shiny car. Usually, police officers don’t drive cars like this.

“Well, it just happened to come my way.”

“Happened to?”

“It’s not like a bribe. I just received it in lieu of bonds.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Anyway, can I hear the details?”

“Um? Ah… Can we talk somewhere else?”

“Why?”

“The higher-ups say it’s a waste of time.”

“Ah, I understand what you mean. Let’s go somewhere else.”

Some superiors like it when some police officers get hooked on a specific case and pursue it, but others don’t. Because as much as they’re stuck on a case that’s difficult to solve, the cases pile up, which causes big problems for their promotion.

‘Moreover, the team leader said he kept asking.’

Other profiler teams may have complained about it. Then the superior wouldn’t like it.

Shortly after, the two sat facing each other with coffee at a nearby cafe.

“It was a hypothermia case, but it was four years ago.”

“Yes, that winter was terribly cold, wasn’t it?”

“That’s true. But can I ask why you’re sticking to this case?”

“How did you know?”

“There aren’t many detectives who stick to cold cases.”

At those words, he scratched his head and said.

“It’s nothing special, but I had colleagues who froze to death when I was in the military.”

“Why?”

“It was when I went to winter training. It’s already been 30 years.”

Winter training requires thorough preparation. Nevertheless, there are times when you have to give up training if it’s too cold.

“But the battalion commander went crazy and talked about training like it was a real battle. At that time, the temperature at night was almost below -20 degrees Celsius.”

Moreover, the training preparation wasn’t perfect either. Originally, when doing winter training, you need to have enough hot packs. But at that time, there was a sudden cold wave, and there was a shortage of hot packs, so they couldn’t get hot packs until right before the training.

As a result, they had to do training in -20 degrees Celsius during the day and -30 degrees Celsius at night without a single hot pack.

“I think I fell asleep after training, but when I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“Yes, in the early morning, I suddenly said I was hot and started taking off my clothes.”

“That happens when it’s too cold.”

The body’s nervous system gets confused because it’s too cold. In fact, many people who have frozen to death take off their clothes in that way.

“I found out later that three of my colleagues froze to death because of that training.”

“I see. But what does that incident have to do with your obsession?”

“I was almost the one who buried the case.”

At first, the police were also confused. A woman died naked in the middle of winter, and this was like evidence of a sex crime, but the realistic problem was, what crazy bastard would do that outside on such a cold night?

It was a night so cold that your genitals would shrink.

“That’s when I said it. When it’s too cold, people feel hot and take off their clothes.”

“Really?”

“Then they tried to handle the case as an accident.”

Certainly, there were no signs of rape, and she took off her own clothes, so the police would have called it an accident.

In fact, that’s scientifically possible.