My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 381

Kang In-sal and Lee Ja-won? Those bastards tortured, tore apart, and killed people directly. And no matter how much Soh Shin-oh is part of their gang, he can’t completely shake his fear of them. In the end, the only one left is Lee Hang-bal.

“Lee Hang-bal did as Soh Shin-oh told him. That means Lee Hang-bal is likely to be timid and quite submissive.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes, and Lee Hang-bal used to run a video store. Of course, that job isn’t bad in itself. But the time he ran the video store wasn’t exactly a golden age for video stores.”

Despite that, he held onto it until it failed.

“He lacks adaptability and fears change.”

In fact, during that time, many video stores partnered with book rental shops or convenience stores to boost their declining sales. However, Lee Hang-bal’s video store remained solely a video store until its closure.

“So, he’s timid.”

“A typical attribute of an accomplice, fearing the ringleader.”

And who is guiding him in the current situation?

“Obviously, the lawyer. And in the police report, we deliberately included a phrase suggesting Lee Hang-bal might be an accomplice. Wouldn’t that lawyer take the bait?”

“Aha!”

The lawyer will try to minimize his client’s crime by any means possible, and that will inevitably lead to him claiming Lee Hang-bal was merely an accomplice.

Outwardly, it looks like a lawyer protecting his client, but inwardly, it’s the lawyer who is leading Lee Hang-bal and dictating his actions.

The lawyer probably thinks he has a cooperative client.

“And from Soh Shin-oh’s perspective, he’ll feel like everyone except him has betrayed him.”

Baek Man-yeon, Joo Gwang-dae, Kang In-sal, and Lee Ja-won were all released right before his eyes, and now Lee Hang-bal is trying to pin the blame on him.

“But why target Soh Shin-oh in particular?”

Kim Si-deok tilted his head. In fact, it seemed like any of the others could have been targeted.

“It’s simple. Soh Shin-oh is the one holding the evidence.”

“That bastard has the evidence?”

“I told you before that the videos we saw were neatly edited, right?”

“You did.”

Even the composition was professional.

“Who would have that kind of skill?”

“That’s true…”

The quality isn’t something you can achieve with a clumsy, free internet editing program. Moreover, it’s not even a digital video; it’s an 8mm [a type of film format] video converted to digital. Who would have the equipment to re-edit it?

“Soh Shin-oh definitely has the original.”

It’s very likely that the original contains their voices and faces.

“And he’ll actually prefer that.”

The raw, unedited video will excite him even more than the edited version.

“If Soh Shin-oh opens his mouth, it’s game over.”

“Ughhhhh!”

Soh Shin-oh was almost going crazy and ranting. Lee Hang-bal was claiming that he was the principal offender, and he was just an accomplice who had no choice but to act under duress.

And all the police investigations were pointing to him as the principal offender.

“These goddamn bastards!”

If they had died together, or if they had tried to clear their names together, he wouldn’t be so angry or feel so wronged. But the fact that those bastards slipped away and he was taking all the blame made him unable to contain his anger.

“Can’t I get out of this?”

“Well…”

“Tell me the truth! Can’t I get out of this?!”

Soh Shin-oh gritted his teeth. And the lawyer told Soh Shin-oh the truth. No matter how much he advocates for his client, there’s no point in giving him false hope.

No, he has a duty to inform him of the exact situation.

“It’s impossible.”

“Impossible…?”

“The fingerprints, the testimony, and the circumstances all point to Soh Shin-oh as the principal offender. The others are simply not guilty.”

“Not guilty?”

“Yes, Lee Hang-bal is likely an accomplice, and Joo Gwang-dae will only get a small fine for distributing obscene materials and be done with it.”

“These goddamn bastards.”

Soh Shin-oh, remembering Kang In-sal and Lee Ja-won ignoring him and walking past, was filled with rage.

Now, all that’s left is revenge.

“What if those bastards are all accomplices?”

“Pardon?”

“What if there’s evidence that those bastards are accomplices?”

“Then the trial would have to start all over again. If you’re lucky, Soh Shin-oh’s sentence might be reduced.”

At those words, Soh Shin-oh gritted his teeth.

“Call the police. I’ll cut off all those bastards’ heads.”

As Park Do-joon expected, Soh Shin-oh had evidence. In preparation for a possible police search, he wiped his computer clean and only put the edited videos on it, but instead, he bought an external hard drive and transferred the entire video from the 8mm tape onto it.

However, he hid it well, so no one could find it.

“He really used his head a lot.”

“A spare tire, huh? Do cars even have spare tires these days?”

“They’ve decreased a lot.”

In the past, a spare tire was a mandatory item for vehicle inspections, but the law has changed, and now it’s no longer required. As a result, car companies are gradually not providing spare tires these days for the purpose of cost reduction.

No, in the first place, Korea has a well-established insurance company emergency dispatch service, so when a problem occurs, most people don’t bother struggling to change the spare tire but just call the insurance company’s emergency dispatch. Therefore, most people don’t care about spare tires, and young drivers don’t even know they exist.

“Since he put it in that space, we wouldn’t have known.”

Kim Si-deok had no choice but to admit it. He got a warrant and searched Soh Shin-oh’s house, but he didn’t pay attention to the car, and even if he had investigated it, he wouldn’t have noticed the space where the spare tire was hidden. And hiding a thin external hard drive under it would have been easy.

“By the way, how’s the video?”

At Lee Ji-soo’s question, who didn’t want to watch any more disgusting videos now that the criminals had been caught, Kim Si-deok shook his head.

“They’re out of their minds.”

The video contained the appearances of all six bastards. They laughed and mocked the victims writhing in pain as they died, and they enjoyed it. Some of them even masturbated on the spot while watching the victims die.

“Now those bastards are finished.”

The prosecutor and judge who reviewed the video didn’t hesitate and immediately issued arrest warrants, and they were all arrested just a moment ago.

“They didn’t try to escape?”

“They did. They tried to escape. But they had nowhere to go.”

Because the police were already following them.

“Baek Man-yeon was caught trying to leave the country.”

She was dragged away at the airport, screaming and yelling at the other police officers to let her go.

“That’s probably it. In her mind, she probably thinks she did the right thing.”

Of course, separately from that, she probably tried to flee overseas because she was worried about the investigation.

“Thanks to you, we caught them well.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But, is something going on with the profiling team?”

“Pardon?”

Park Do-joon tilted his head at those words. Although it’s the same building, he hardly paid attention to the team’s internal affairs because of this case.

“The team leader’s condition is really off?”

“Off?”

“Yeah, he’s completely lost it.”

Park Do-joon couldn’t help but tilt his head at those words.

# Not my case, damn it

‘I’m going to die like this, really.’

Park Do-joon thought so. Of course, it’s not his story. The human who seems like he’s about to die right now isn’t him, but Team Leader Lee Chang-man.

‘Look at those dark circles.’

Dark circles that went down past his eyes and almost reached his chin, and anxious eyes. On top of that, a gaze that couldn’t concentrate properly.

“Team Leader.”

“Huh? Ah, what did you say?”

“About the report on the last case. All the criminals have been arrested.”

“Yeah, good job. Good job.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Huh? What’s a good job?”

Watching Lee Chang-man, who had completely lost his mind, Park Do-joon felt something was wrong.

‘What is it?’

Of course, he knows that Lee Chang-man’s situation isn’t good. There’s the backlash from the female police officers, and Wolgwang Law Firm is putting pressure on him, so it can’t be good.

‘But still, the symptoms are too severe?’

If it was just a matter of taking off his clothes [referring to the initial incident], it wouldn’t be to this extent. But to this extent, it seems like he’s receiving stress to the level of a life-or-death problem.

‘Something’s strange.’

People have a reaction to stress. If you step on a Lego at home, you might swear for a moment, but it doesn’t last long.

The same goes for now. Lee Chang-man is in a disadvantageous situation, but it’s not to the point where he’s losing his mind and just blankly spending the day.

‘Ji-soo says she doesn’t know anything.’

In the first place, Lee Ji-soo doesn’t know anything because she went on a dispatch with him. She looked around here and there, but nothing has changed. That means the external factors have changed.

‘I guess I should meet Lee Yeon after a long time.’

“Lee Chang-man? He’s probably losing his mind these days.”

“How much pressure has been applied?”

“The Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family.”

“Huh?”

Park Do-joon was horrified at those words. That’s because the Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family is not someone an ordinary police officer can handle.

“Did you snitch that far?”

“I didn’t snitch. My mom just said a graceful word while having dinner together.”

“I don’t even need to see it to know.”

Her mother probably said something like, ‘I heard there’s a police officer who’s committing sexual harassment while being protected by those above these days. The world is so scary,’ and the Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family took action from above.

“But still, it’s too severe, isn’t it?”

Park Do-joon tilted his head at those words. Of course, it’s a burden in itself, but it’s not to the point where he feels his life is threatened. At most, he’ll only feel the threat to his position.

“The victims aren’t suing him or anything, are they?”

“You know that’s impossible.”

“Well, that’s true too.”

It’s impossible for the victims to sue. Because if a female police officer sues in that way, those above will retaliate by any means possible.

Because of that, even if action is taken from above, all they can do is find fault and dismiss him.

But the stress level that Lee Chang-man is showing now is beyond that, almost showing a life-threatening level. This is a very unusual case.

“Well? We don’t go that far, do we? It’s true that he’s bad, but it’s not like we’re going to kill him.”

Wolgwang Law Firm is a law firm, not a killer group. If there’s a problem, they can apply some pressure to it, but not to the point of killing someone.

“Is there something internal?”

Park Do-joon tilted his head at those words.

“Should I find out?”

“Huh? Is that possible?”

“It’s not impossible. If it’s to the point where it’s that obvious, other people will know too, right?”