My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 404

The Job of a Profiler

“Why?”

“There are too many doing it in such small quantities, and frankly, they know it too.”

In a battlefield, where someone dies, someone else dies, a comrade dies next to you, and massacred corpses roll around, a person who maintains their sanity is insane.

“Then do all the American soldiers do it too?”

“No. Usually, they endure it with psychiatric medication. Those who are lucky enough to be stationed in places like Korea or Japan don’t really do it. But those who have been to Iraq or Afghanistan do it a bit.”

“Don’t they get caught?”

“The U.S. military has strict human rights concepts.”

If it were the Korean army, they would just lock them up and conduct group drug tests to catch them all, but in the case of the United States, they are extremely sensitive about punishing someone without any suspicion or evidence, considering it a serious violation of human rights, so they can’t do that.

“Anyway, we’ve come this far, but should we still check out the clubs? There are still a few hours until the clubs open.”

“Frankly, the possibility of it being a club is not high.”

“Why?”

“There’s only one type of employment permit that comes out of clubs: a performance visa.”

“I see.”

“But I don’t think drug dealers would have the talent to dance and sing.”

You can’t just apply for a performance visa and get it right away. You need to have a relevant work history or achievements to be recognized and issued one.

“I think it’s just a regular company.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but there are more than a few American-run companies here.”

Of course, he doesn’t know all of them, nor can he approach them all.

“You shouldn’t think of Americans like Koreans. These guys are really sensitive about personal privacy.”

In Korea, if the police come and ask if they can take a look around, people often let them in if they don’t have anything to hide.

But in the United States, that’s not the case. They need a warrant no matter what. Even if it’s a restaurant, customers can just go in and eat, but the police need a search warrant to enter. Of course, eating and searching are different, but the concept of protecting one’s own space is a very important core idea for Americans.

“In fact, in the United States, even entering someone else’s home armed, not just fighting, is grounds for self-defense.”

In Korea, if you beat up a thief who was trying to rape your family and send him to the hospital, they hardly recognize it as self-defense and punish you for excessive defense, but in the United States, they are in a mood to recognize shooting someone if the other party enters your home with threatening behavior or weapons.

“It won’t be as strict as you think.”

“Yes?”

“Ah, it will be a place that other people can easily access. A place where that’s not strange.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around. So many stores. There were so many stores that it was ambiguous.

“Why?”

Lee Ji-soo also asked back, not understanding the words.

“If anyone can go in, they’ll get caught with drugs, right?”

Park Do-joon shook his head at those words.

“They have to deliver it.”

“Deliver? Aha!”

“Yeah, some guys got caught while delivering.”

However, they didn’t reveal where they received it from, so they couldn’t find the base.

“One thing is for sure, those guys are of East Asian descent, like Koreans or Chinese.”

There were no Americans at all. If there were Americans, wouldn’t the police have noticed and raided them a long time ago?

“Think about their territory. It’s the Seoul and Gyeonggi area [the province surrounding Seoul]. Seoul alone is big, so how can they cover the Gyeonggi area?”

“That’s true.”

Whatever it is, many people have to come to deliver it. If people keep going in and out of a shady and strange place, it’s natural for people to think it’s strange.

“But on the other hand, if people go to a very obvious place, they don’t think it’s strange.”

“But then won’t they get caught with drugs?”

“No. From the beginning, the space that ordinary people can enter and the space that employees can enter are completely separated.”

Even in a restaurant, many people go there to eat, but no one says they’re going to go into the kitchen.

“It probably isn’t a typical office. To be exact, there’s an office or a place that other people don’t go up to on the upper floor, and on the lower floor, there’s a business where it’s not strange for people to come into contact with it.”

“That’s all of them, though?”

There are plenty of restaurants all over Itaewon. But Park Do-joon corrected Joo Gwang-won’s misunderstanding.

“No. It probably isn’t a place where the upper floor is a restaurant. Most of the buildings here are either entire restaurants or bars.”

“Because it’s a entertainment district.”

“That’s why it isn’t.”

Even if they’re hiding their appearance, they need a space to be in.

“The criminals probably don’t cook or provide food themselves. Also, they need to keep the drugs nearby to keep supplying them, but keeping them in the kitchen isn’t a good idea.”

There’s a possibility that other people will come in, and Korea often conducts sudden searches related to hygiene.

“The best thing is to create a separate office on the upper floor and supply it only when needed.”

In that sense, it’s safe to say that the main streets where buildings are entirely restaurants have no possibility.

“And whatever that restaurant sells, it will be possible to deliver it.”

“Deliver?”

“Yes, if delivery isn’t possible, they have to pack it up every time they come, and isn’t that strange? If the same person keeps packing it up, people around them might think it’s strange.”

“Ah!”

“But no one thinks delivery people are strange.”

“Delivery, huh…….”

“It’s a common method in the United States.”

That kind of method hasn’t spread widely in Korea yet, but in the United States, it’s not strange to supply drugs through delivery by disguising it as a restaurant.

“Hmm, but there are too many, though?”

Joo Gwang-won frowned at those words.

“Even if you get off the main street. The number of restaurants isn’t small. No, you should see that there are more. There are a lot of buildings of the type you just mentioned, too.”

Because Itaewon is such an old downtown area, there aren’t many places to park if you get off the main street.

So, there are quite a few cases where buildings in the back alleys have the first floor as a restaurant and the second floor as an office or living space so that customers can come.

“Still, there must be hundreds of places.”

“There will be quite a few customers.”

“Many customers?”

“Yes, it’s likely to be a place where the prices are cheaper than other places.”

“Why?”

“What’s important to them isn’t customers, but a disguise.”

It would be strange if the business was terribly bad but only delivery people kept coming in and out. If it’s obviously not tasty or too expensive, they won’t order from there.

‘In fact, the stores that sold drugs had pretty good taste and quality, but the prices weren’t high.’

Because that’s how more people come and that’s how they can hide it.

“Their main source of income isn’t the restaurant, it’s drugs. So, they probably don’t think much about the cost to attract customers.”

In fact, there was a similar business in Korea where the upper floor was a prostitution business and the lower floor was a salad shop. They set up a salad shop on the lower floor to hide the prostitution business on the upper floor and launder money, but the funny thing is that they didn’t skimp on the ingredients and made it properly, so it was known as a salad 맛집 [mat-jib, meaning “delicious restaurant”] in the area.

“Money laundering and disguise…….”

Joo Gwang-won grabbed his head at those words.

“Ugh, but there are too many, no, I don’t know the prices of the stores here in the first place.”

He worked around here, but he hadn’t eaten at every store, and there was no reason to memorize the prices there.

“I can’t help it. I have to ask people who know well.”

“Is there anyone who would know?”

“Yes, they probably know more about this field than I do. But it will take some time to meet them.”

“Are they busy?”

“Because it’s work hours.”

He muttered, looking at his watch.

“I hope they come out soon.”

“Yo~ Sergeant Maxwell!”

“Oh, Mr. Joo! Long time no see. What’s going on? I haven’t seen you lately.”

“I’ve been transferred to the drug team.”

“Ah, you went to headquarters?”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations. Hahaha.”

The person Joo Gwang-won called was none other than an American soldier. Wearing a sergeant’s rank, he laughed loudly and patted Joo Gwang-won on the shoulder.

“Who are these people?”

“Ah, these are the detectives who are working with me on drug-related matters.”

“I’m Maxwell. Nice to meet you.”

“You speak Korean…… well?”

Lee Ji-soo looked at him with amazement at his clumsy but understandable words.

“It’s my third time working in Korea.”

“Third time working here?”

“Yes, I’m thinking of retiring here.”

“Ah ah~!”

Well, if you’re a sergeant in the United States, you’re the highest rank among non-commissioned officers. Of course, he would be old enough to talk about retirement.

“Are you saying you’re going to live in Korea after you retire?”

“Yes, I have to for my wife.”

“Wife?”

“Actually, my wife is Korean. She’s been traveling around the world with her husband all her life, so I have to make her comfortable in the end.”

According to Sergeant Maxwell, he met his wife during his first assignment in Korea and got married, and then moved around with her while on assignment around the world.

He lived in the United States for a while, and also lived in Europe and Japan.

“But what do you need help with?”

“I was wondering if you knew any restaurants that fit the conditions.”

“Do you know a lot about restaurants?”

“Ah, I have a bit of a foodie tendency.”

Going to unfamiliar places and eating unfamiliar food. That was how he relieved stress while being deployed around the world, so he knew more about the surrounding restaurants than he thought.

“It’s my third time working in Korea, so I know it well.”

“Then that will be helpful.”

“What are the conditions?”

“First of all, cheap, large portions, and good business.”

Park Do-joon told him the information he knew. Then Maxwell thought for a moment and said.

“There are about seven restaurants that fit those conditions.”

“More than I thought.”

“Well, selling cheap in bulk works everywhere.”

Of course, Itaewon is such an expensive neighborhood, so there aren’t many such stores, but it wasn’t impossible to run such a store if you owned the building.

“I don’t know if there’s an office upstairs.”

I don’t know if the upper floor is an office or a house. Either way, you can use it.

“Do we have to go to all seven places?”

“That’s one way, but going to the restaurants won’t be much different.”

Since they’re doing business to hide themselves, you’ll find that going to those restaurants won’t be much different from other restaurants.

“Hmm, drugs, huh. Drugs are a headache.”

Maxwell frowned at the word drug investigation.

My Calling Is Profiler [EN]

My Calling Is Profiler [EN]

천직이 프로파일러
Status: Completed Author: Native Language: Korean
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[English Translation] Delve into the captivating world of criminal psychology with 'My Calling Is Profiler.' He may not measure the ocean's depths, but he possesses an extraordinary gift: the ability to fathom the human heart. Witness the rise of a profiler who can dissect the minds of criminals with unnerving accuracy. But his talents extend beyond the realm of lawbreakers. Prepare to see the world through his eyes as he deciphers the hidden motives and intricate patterns that shape our reality. A thrilling journey into the depths of the human psyche awaits!

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