My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 456

People who don’t understand psychology often see empathy as just another form of interaction, but in the mental realm, it’s considered a form of intelligence.

In fact, people who are empathetic and conscientious tend to have quite high intelligence.

“Rather, it’s those who demand empathy from others who tend to have lower intelligence.”

They can’t empathize with others because their own empathy intelligence is low, so they force others to empathize with them.

Empathy falls under social intelligence, not the kind of practical intelligence measured by IQ, and this is an area that’s not well understood by non-experts.

“That’s right. But in such extremely female-scarce and male-dominated spaces, drinking is a culture and a way of communicating. I told you about why so many industrial specialized zones in Korea aren’t growing properly.”

“That’s true.”

“The rougher and tougher the work environment, the more people tend to turn to alcohol. Especially men, who are more likely to find themselves in such environments.”

In the past, there was a culture where men who couldn’t drink weren’t even treated as men, and dozens died each year from acute alcohol poisoning due to forced drinking.

“Moreover, such work environments are often quite oppressive and closed off. But as long as they’re part of society, they need a way to relieve that stress.”

And that method is alcohol. The problem is that simply buying them alcohol isn’t enough to relieve all the stress.

“It’s socially common for areas with tough jobs to have a lot of young men.”

They need a way to release that sexual desire.

“So, you’re saying they get them drunk and then engage in a kind of sex trade. Alcohol, huh….”

Yu Gi-tae made a strange expression at that. He hadn’t thought of that. Park Do-joon calmly said to Yu Gi-tae.

“And no matter how much they try to be clever, they’re clearly limited in the realm of distribution.”

“Distribution?”

“Actually, the most systematic thing in Korea is the tax system. It has a much more efficient and systematic tracking function than criminal or civil law issues. Basically, all entertainment bars are required to receive alcohol through the distribution lines established by law. But do you think these guys doing this are getting their alcohol from there?”

“Ah!”

Of course not. They can’t get it that way. First of all, they’re afraid of getting caught, and at the same time, realistically, alcohol delivery companies don’t deliver to remote, mountainous areas.

“They’ll buy it in bulk from outside, 100%.”

“I guess so.”

No matter how much alcohol is bought in remote, mountainous areas, the amount someone buys for personal consumption is bound to be different from the amount bought to run a bar.

“Moreover, the fact that they buy and bring it themselves means they can also evade taxes.”

Since there’s no corporation involved, they can’t accept credit or debit cards, so they can only accept cash.

“Preventing the tracking of funds is a common desire for all criminals. Why else would drug dealers only accept cash? In fact, even if they set up a ghost company and accept credit cards, it’s almost impossible for the police to recognize it.”

Moreover, if they accept credit card payments instead of cash, they can get money even if the other party doesn’t have it, so drug dealers could potentially make additional profits. Nevertheless, drug dealers only want cash.

That’s to avoid having their profits tracked.

“I understand what you mean. There are only a limited number of places where you can buy that much alcohol.”

Lee Ji-soo said as if she had realized something. Buying alcohol in bulk wouldn’t be just ten or twenty bottles.

“That’s right. They have to buy dozens of boxes at a time, and in cash.”

Because it’s not easy to get logistics into remote, mountainous areas. They can’t buy alcohol and take it in by boat every day, so they have to buy dozens of boxes at a time.

If that’s the case, it’s difficult to do at a regular mart [convenience store]. If they buy that much alcohol at a mart, the mart will become suspicious.

“According to the liquor tax law, all purchases of alcohol above a certain amount must be reported.”

Large marts may have a sufficient quantity of alcohol, but if you try to buy that quantity, they will try to get you to fill out a report.

“But they wouldn’t want to file a report.”

It’s illegal to put alcohol purchased that way up for sale, but there’s a sales record, and if they consume dozens of boxes a month, the National Tax Service will investigate.

“Is it impossible to buy without reporting?”

“It’s relative.”

Large marts wouldn’t bother taking the risk of selling alcohol without a report. It’s not a big profit for them, so they wouldn’t bother taking the risk.

“But if you find a place where the profit is so big that they can just turn a blind eye…”

For example, let’s say a small store sells thirty boxes of beer a month. The profit from that would be a significant portion of the store’s income.

“Moreover, reporting is voluntary in the first place.”

Whether one person buys thirty boxes, or thirty people buy one box each, or one person buys one box a day, whether to report that depends on the conscience of the business owner.

“In other words, there will be places where the consumption of alcohol is abnormally high compared to the size of the business?”

“That’s right. Especially places where the consumption of soju [Korean rice liquor] and beer is abnormally high. And most of those places probably don’t know much about the law.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Lee Ji-soo nodded. Realistically, most stores run by young people have been converted into convenience stores. Therefore, the headquarters that supply that amount cannot be unaware of the signs.

“But there are still places that have the form of individual stores.”

There is a very high possibility that such places don’t even know that they have to report if they buy a lot of alcohol at once.

Such small stores are subject to a reporting system, not a licensing system, and there are no tax officials who go around educating businesses.

“Especially if they’re transporting it by vehicle, you can almost say it’s 100% certain.”

The reporting standard for alcohol purchased at marts, etc., requires a report for purchases of sixty or more bottles of beer and soju, and ten or more bottles of Western liquor. This is called the Liquor Actual Consumer Certification System.

“Is it that much?”

“Yes, it’s very rare to buy that much alcohol.”

This is usually used at banquets. Even then, 경조사 [special events like weddings and funerals] are often held in restaurants these days.

“That won’t be difficult.”

In the case of alcohol, it is often involved in crime, so most companies that supply alcohol are cooperative with the police. In particular, such alcohol supply companies are subject to a licensing system, not a reporting system, so if the license is revoked due to crime concealment, there is no way to revive it, so they usually provide data.

“Ask them. Tell them to let you know about small stores where alcohol sales are extremely high compared to the size, vehicles can easily access, and they regularly purchase alcohol.”

Yu Gi-tae nodded at that.

As Park Do-joon thought, the data came out faster than expected.

“There’s a place like that. It’s called 상아점방 [Sang-ah Store].”

“점방 [Jeom-bang]?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head at the unfamiliar word. But Park Do-joon seemed to know what kind of store it was.

“It must be at least 30 years old.”

“It’s exactly 45 years old.”

“What is 점방 [Jeom-bang]?”

“It’s a word that’s hardly used anymore, but it literally means store.”

“A store called 점방 [Jeom-bang]?”

“No, no, we call it a store now, but in the past, it was called 점방 [Jeom-bang]. In other words, it’s an old word for store.”

Of course, there are places that deliberately use the name 점방 [Jeom-bang] to give a classic feel these days, but it’s almost a dead word.

“People these days don’t know the word 점방 [Jeom-bang]. You don’t even know it.”

“I guess not.”

“So, that store is very old. The owners must be quite old too.”

It’s a place that has the conditions that fit the profiler. Park Do-joon immediately checked it online. A small store located around the beach. In fact, it was in a rather unexpected place for a store.

“What kind of store is in a place like this?”

Even though the road view hadn’t been updated for quite some time, 상아점방 [Sang-ah Store] was located in a really unexpected place.

“It’s not unexpected; it’s probably located there because it’s that kind of place.”

“Yes?”

“In the past, salt farms were quite a lucrative business in Korea.”

Salt is essential for people, and the production volume wasn’t so insufficient that it had to be imported from overseas. In fact, in the past, owning a salt farm meant you were recognized as a local leader, so salt farms in Korea were a very lucrative business.

“The reason why the salt farm business is in this state now is because cheap Chinese salt came in.”

“Ah!”

In the past, it wasn’t difficult to find workers for salt farms. The work was hard, but they paid well. However, as Chinese salt began to flood in, they couldn’t raise the unit price, and labor costs began to stagnate.

Of course, Korean salt is of good quality. However, factories that consume large quantities of salt prefer cheap Chinese salt to expensive Korean salt, and Korean salt is consumed mainly by households that want to use better salt, losing large consumption points.

“Of course, many places will go bankrupt.”

Park Do-joon said sadly while looking at the road view.

“Look at this place. There are mostly building traces. Most of this place was probably a salt farm in the past.”

Of course, this 상아점방 [Sang-ah Store] would have been doing business with those people in the past. In the past, many people didn’t have cars, so people working at salt farms in those days had no choice but to use 상아점방 [Sang-ah Store].

“But now it’s almost gone because it’s ruined.”

So it seems like there’s only one small store in an unexpected place.

“But now it’s probably too late for the store owner to move to another place and continue living, and they’re probably old.”

In fact, in the past, there were many places where old people ran small stores as a hobby. It’s called a store, but it’s just a few popular ramen and snacks, and a few drinks.

“But because there used to be a road there.”

Now it’s a fallen area, so there are hardly any people, but at one time, they had to carry salt, so of course there’s a road, and people can still use that road.

“The sales volume is huge.”

Yu Gi-tae also clicked his tongue while handing over the data.

“The average monthly alcohol sales are over a hundred boxes.”

To be exact, it’s mainly beer and soju [Korean rice liquor] that go out. But no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t make sense to sell a hundred boxes of alcohol in that location. Even stores in the middle of real entertainment districts can’t sell a hundred boxes of alcohol.