My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 461

“Take them all into custody.”

Park Do-joon instructed the other conscripted policemen to verify their identities. Anyone causing this much trouble here was likely hiding something.

“Let’s go.”

Park Do-joon led the people who had entered the island and one company toward the crime scene. Not long after they set off, a gunshot echoed from inside.

Bang!

The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the small island.

“Run!”

The police officers urgently ran toward the sound. It wasn’t hard to tell where the gunshot had come from. When they arrived, they found police officers pointing guns at four men holding hostages.

“Shit.”

The look of bewilderment in their eyes suggested they had been caught trying to smuggle the women out.

“What happened?”

“We caught them trying to sneak the victims away.”

At least seven women were trembling in fear. Park Do-joon frowned as he watched them.

“Ugh….”

They were in a situation where they couldn’t even beg for their lives.

‘They have intellectual disabilities.’

It was as he expected. They were sexually exploiting women with disabilities and were desperately trying to move them when they realized the police were coming.

“Damn it, get lost! Get out of here!”

The man holding a knife to one of the women’s throats was shouting at the top of his lungs, while the other three kept a close watch on the police with the remaining six women.

“Get lost! You bastards!”

The man watching the police brandished the knife at them.

“If you don’t leave, this bitch dies!”

“You son of a bitch, you can’t escape anyway…!”

Just as someone was about to say something, Park Do-joon urgently stopped him.

“Don’t say anything.”

“Pardon?”

“I said don’t say anything. Are you going to take responsibility if he actually kills her?”

“……”

At those words, the police officer quickly shut his mouth.

‘What is he trying to do?’

Now that the situation had escalated into a hostage situation, they couldn’t afford to provoke the other side. Intimidating them to surrender, thinking they had the upper hand, had less than a 50% chance of success.

‘Especially with heinous criminals.’

The more severe the crime, the more likely they were to give up and kill the victim when they heard such threats.

“Okay, okay, calm down.”

The man brandished the knife again. Park Do-joon watched him and quietly approached Lee Ji-soo, whispering to her.

“Do as I say.”

Lee Ji-soo was startled by his words.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure there won’t be any problems?”

“What if there are? What can they do?”

There was no one in charge here, and no one to take responsibility. Bringing someone from outside the island would take too long.

“In situations like this, you have to be prepared to see blood.”

“Yes.”

Lee Ji-soo nodded slightly and disappeared into the crowd amidst the chaos. Park Do-joon then approached the man.

“Okay, okay, don’t get too worked up. What do you want?”

“Get lost! No, a boat to escape from here! Give me a boat!”

Since the police couldn’t just disappear even if he told them to get lost, Park Do-joon nodded, knowing that what he wanted was a boat to escape.

“Alright, we’ll give you a boat.”

“What?”

“We’ll give you a boat. Is there a specific boat you want?”

“Pier 4! Give me Pier 4!”

Pier 4.

He knew that boat. The one that came to get alcohol every time.

“Alright. We’ll prepare it.”

That was probably their boat. It would be easier to control a familiar boat.

“Clear the way!”

“What?”

“Are you crazy?”

Some of the police officers spoke as if they were dumbfounded. However, Yoo Gi-tae, who had been listening quietly, decided to trust Park Do-joon. Everything that had happened so far had been possible thanks to Park Do-joon’s help.

“Clear the way.”

“But….”

“Clear it. What else can we do right now?”

Indeed, with a knife to the hostage’s throat, there was nothing the police could do.

“Damn it.”

“Son of a bitch!”

They grudgingly cleared the way, and the gang slowly began to descend with the women.

“You bastards, don’t follow us! If you do, we’ll kill you all!”

‘As if you weren’t going to kill them anyway.’

It was obvious that they would throw the women into the sea first, as they were nothing but baggage once they got on the boat.

Of course, there was a higher chance they would kill one each time they were pursued.

‘This is the only chance to catch them.’

In the meantime, the criminals slowly descended along the path cleared by the police. After a while, Park Do-joon, who had been following slowly, suddenly sped up and approached them.

“You bastard, I told you not to follow us!”

As Park Do-joon sped up, the man with the knife swung it at Park Do-joon again. At that moment, a gunshot rang out.

“Argh!”

The man grabbed his shoulder, dropped the knife, and collapsed to the ground. Instantly, the hidden police officers rushed out like lightning and pointed their guns at the remaining three men.

“Don’t move. We’ll shoot!”

“If you move even an inch, I’ll blow your head off!”

“Please, move, you bastards. I want to fire my gun.”

At those words, the men froze. Then, they dropped the knives they were holding to the ground.

“My shoulder! My shoulder!”

Only the screams of the man who had been shot echoed throughout the island.

“The search is complete. It was as expected.”

The abandoned house was immediately searched to find evidence. And in the process, they were able to learn a lot.

The women generally lived in a warehouse built underground. Due to the nature of the island, it was difficult to bring in supplies frequently, so the homeowner had built a fairly large basement to store enough food and supplies.

“It seems they used the first floor as a bar and the second floor as a place for prostitution.”

The house had four rooms downstairs and five rooms upstairs.

“And the women, as expected….”

Yoo Gi-tae sighed deeply after saying that.

“They are missing people with disabilities.”

“Those sons of bitches.”

Park Do-joon clenched his teeth at those words. The news was already breaking on the mainland, causing an uproar.

“We are questioning them about their other crimes, but they are not talking.”

“They won’t. They couldn’t have kidnapped just one or two people.”

According to the old woman at the store, they had been buying alcohol for at least 20 years, meaning they had been doing this for at least 20 years. No, since the full-scale investigation hasn’t even started yet, it will take a long time for them to open their mouths.

“If we go back to the mainland and investigate properly, we’ll find something.”

Yoo Gi-tae, who was saying that to Park Do-joon, suddenly asked as if he had remembered something.

“But how did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That they would show a weakness there.”

“There? Oh, you mean the shooting earlier?”

“Yes.”

The guy who got shot in the shoulder was screaming in pain and thrashing around, threatening to kill everyone, instead of confessing his crimes.

“I didn’t expect them to show a weakness; I made them show it.”

“You made them?”

“Yes, it’s a simple method. It was obvious that these guys would run away.”

They didn’t have the option of fighting to the death here. So, the only answer was to escape.

“So, from their perspective, they had to avoid the police and get down to the pier at all costs.”

“And?”

“But they only grabbed one hostage, and the other three were surrounding the hostages, remember?”

“Yes.”

“The guy who grabbed the hostage is probably the leader.”

“We’ve already confirmed it. He’s the main culprit.”

Park Do-joon nodded at those words.

“That’s probably right. Generally, grabbing a hostage means they want to take control of the negotiations.”

But they don’t let their subordinates grab the hostage. Because if the subordinate has the decision-making power, they don’t know how things will turn out. In the worst case, the subordinate holding the hostage could surrender, and they could get caught.

“So, they have no choice but to grab the hostage themselves.”

“I see. But what about the shooting?”

“It’s obvious.”

To get on the boat, they had to go to the port on the island. But the island is shaped like a high mountain in the middle.

That means they had to go down the mountain.

“In that situation, they wouldn’t want to show their backs to check us.”

Naturally, they would have to look at the police following them and slowly descend.

“Even a gentle slope is dangerous.”

Their attention is divided, and they also have to watch the hostages, so their concentration is reduced.

“And in that situation, there is usually a leader. Naturally, that leader would be the gang holding the hostages.”

That way, they can emphasize their danger and prevent anyone from approaching.

“But there’s only one hostage-taker, not several.”

“What? Aren’t all four of them hostage-takers?”

“Well, legally, that’s probably the case since they’re accomplices. But psychologically, it’s not.”

The boss holding the knife to the throat is psychologically a hostage-taker, but the three men dragging the other six women are not directly involved in the hostage situation.

“Besides, there are more women than them. All they can do is control the group, not take individuals hostage.”

If they are not holding onto each individual, their reaction will inevitably be slower.

“Besides, they were holding their weapons awkwardly.”

If they really felt danger and tried to approach the hostage they were holding, a skilled police officer would have had enough time to shoot them with a gun.

“Of course, we had to remove the blanks [remove the blank bullets].”

“So, you sent Lee Ji-soo down?”

“Yes.”

Park Do-joon quietly sent Lee Ji-soo down and told the skilled police officers to seize the opportunity and shoot, after removing the blanks.

And he told them to tie a cloth to the place where they were hiding to confirm their location.

“And the main culprit habitually swung his knife at us.”

That is a subconscious act to psychologically prevent the police from approaching.

In fact, what is really dangerous is not pointing the knife at the police but holding the knife to the hostage’s throat.

“But pointing the knife at the police from a distance is essentially aimed at checking us.”

“Um, what if he actually stabbed the hostage?”

“Of course, that might have happened if I had gotten very close.”

But Park Do-joon only increased his speed after following slowly, he didn’t suddenly get close. The actual distance he approached was less than 4 meters [approximately 13 feet].

“First, a warning as a habit. After that, it becomes a threat to the hostage.”

And the moment he points the knife at Park Do-joon, the hostage is safely secured.

“Besides, in that situation, all eyes are on me.”

That’s exactly what happened. Because of that, the criminals’ eyes were all directed at Park Do-joon.

“And naturally, their backs face downwards.”

And the police are hiding below that.

Professional Profiler