My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 462

“In hostage situations, the police can’t shoot because of the risk of hitting the hostage.”

But in this situation, it’s the opposite. The men in front don’t have time to grab the hostage, and the one grabbing the hostage and pulling them down ends up using them as a shield from below, so there’s almost no chance of hitting the hostage.

“Plus, the bullets police use have terrible penetration.”

So there’s much less pressure regarding shooting.

“If there’s a knife to the throat, you can’t shoot because of the reflexive action.”

Being shot might cause their hand to shake and cut the throat, but as Park Do-joon approached, they extended the knife towards him as a threat.

“Even if their hand shakes from being shot, it’s not a problem.”

In other words, they were unknowingly being completely controlled by Park Do-joon.

“You’ve really worked hard.”

“It’s nothing. We’ve caught the criminals, but…”

Park Do-joon turned his head and looked at the criminals being dragged onto the Coast Guard ship with their heads bowed.

“Their crimes haven’t all been revealed yet.”

Not everything was over yet.

# Proving the Hidden Crimes

Mokpo Police Station was in chaos. The personnel directly involved came from the South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency, but the suspects had to be processed at the nearest police station, which was Mokpo.

And no matter how much the Mokpo Police Station secretly condoned the slave system under the guise of custom, this transgression was too blatant for the police to ignore.

Of course, that didn’t mean the investigation was running smoothly either.

“Damn it, isn’t this too much? This is our jurisdiction.”

“How can they exclude us from a case in our jurisdiction?”

“This sucks, seriously!”

The police were furious. It was understandable that they’d be frustrated since such a huge case broke out in their jurisdiction, yet they weren’t allowed to participate. But the other police agencies had a point.

“Well, if you had been proactive from the start, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“That’s right.”

In the beginning, Yoo Gi-tae recognized the potential for this situation and alerted the Mokpo Police Station, but they ignored it, saying it was a hassle to create unnecessary work, and didn’t cooperate.

But then the incident finally broke, and with media companies gathering from all over the country, could they really announce that the Mokpo Police Station would be in charge of the case? The media would inevitably suspect a cover-up, since the Mokpo Police Station knew about the situation but didn’t investigate.

So, the South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency had no choice but to dispatch police from other regions to prevent any possible future controversies.

“So, has anything come up?”

“No, nothing at all.”

Yoo Gi-tae shook his head, looking exhausted. He had been digging into the case from the beginning to the end, so he was currently in charge of the investigation.

“These bastards won’t open their mouths.”

“They wouldn’t.”

But no matter how much he dug into it from the beginning, he couldn’t create evidence out of thin air.

“The National Forensic Service has already searched the house inside and out, but nothing came out.”

They found the women’s bare necessities, but that was it.

“The DNA test will take a bit longer.”

The problem is that even if they do a DNA test, there will be too much DNA.

“And you know, right? You can’t indict someone based on the victim’s DNA alone.”

“That’s right.”

No body, no case. That’s the basics of modern investigation. If the perpetrator’s DNA is found at the crime scene, that would be the most solid evidence that the perpetrator was there, but the victim’s DNA only proves that the victim was there, not that they were victimized.

“But looking at it, it seems like these bastards have been doing this for more than a year or two.”

The youngest victim was eighteen years old, and the oldest was thirty-two. Of course, even that was barely gleaned from missing persons reports, and four out of the seven victims still haven’t been identified.

“I can’t just kill these bastards.”

As Yoo Gi-tae gritted his teeth, Lee Ji-soo, who had escorted the victims to the hospital, came in with a gloomy face.

“The victims?”

“They’re hospitalized for now. I’ve called in professional psychological counselors, but…”

“I know what you mean. There’s not much hope.”

The standard for professional psychological counselors is generally female victims who are capable of social communication. But these victims mostly have disabilities. So, while they mostly show abnormal symptoms, they can’t communicate, so the possibility of psychological counseling being effective is extremely low.

“And most of the victims showed signs of assault.”

“They would.”

These are victims who have been continuously showing abnormal symptoms since coming to the police – harming themselves or screaming, things like that.

Even the police and experts don’t know what to do, so would the criminals have understood and comforted them? Of course, they would have tried to solve it by beating them.

“And…”

Lee Ji-soo paused for a moment and said with a pitiful expression.

“Four of them have signs of childbirth…”

“Signs of childbirth?”

“Yes, according to the obstetrician…”

“Goddamn it!”

The worst-case scenario they had anticipated: infanticide. What would the criminals do when the babies were born? There was nothing at the scene to raise a child. Not even a diaper or a baby bottle.

In that situation, would they have raised the child?

‘If they have at least a minimum of conscience as humans, they would send the children to an orphanage.’

If not…

“We should have killed them back then.”

It wasn’t difficult to predict the aftermath, to the point where even Yoo Gi-tae gritted his teeth and said that.

“I would have shot them if they had resisted.”

But these bastards valued their own lives and threw away their weapons.

“They’re probably not talking because of that. Frankly, if this gets out, it’s a 100% death sentence.”

Lenience? Lenience is for people, not for monsters who devour people. Moreover, since they’ve probably killed more than one or two people like this, these guys will never open their mouths.

“Plus, judging by their situation, they’ve been working together for a long time.”

If there was someone who recently joined, they could stimulate that person to get a statement, but without someone like that, they can’t induce betrayal among those who have worked together for a long time.

If they betray, the other guys will spill the beans about their crimes, and then, no matter how much they talked first, they’ll end up getting the same death sentence.

“Especially if it’s infanticide.”

Admitting guilt and lenience? That’s only acknowledged when the crime is somewhat minor. If they sentence them to life imprisonment for at least dozens of murders and an unknown level of infanticide, the public will rise up.

“Even though South Korea is practically an abolitionist country.”

Because of that, whether it’s a death sentence or life imprisonment, it’s essentially keeping them locked up in prison for life, but people perceive it very differently.

Moreover, if there’s a commutation later, reducing the death sentence doesn’t change anything, but in the case of life imprisonment, it can be reduced to about 30 years, so there’s definitely a possibility of getting out later.

“Then…”

“They probably won’t open their mouths at all.”

Because no matter what they say, they only have losses. The worst losses.

“Can’t we try persuading them like in the movies?”

“No. That’s also about calculating the scale of losses and persuading the guy who has an advantage.”

But these guys only have losses. The worst losses.

“Damn it!”

Yoo Gi-tae gritted his teeth at that.

“Of course, the important thing is the punishment of these guys, but…”

Park Do-joon paused while speaking. A profiler has to see a lot and see more broadly. That’s why, unlike Yoo Gi-tae and the other detectives, Park Do-joon was looking in a different direction.

“The real core is not these guys.”

“Not these guys?”

“In the end, these guys are the ones who ultimately detain the victims. Human trafficking, like everything else, has distributors.”

Yoo Gi-tae’s face showed realization at those words.

“It’s true that these guys are bad guys and deserve to die. But if we don’t catch the suppliers, these crimes will continue to occur all over the country.”

And these guys won’t say anything about them. To do so, they have to admit their crimes, but if they admit their crimes, it’s a 100% death sentence.

“Even judicial deals are useless at this level.”

Because they’ll be spending their whole lives in prison anyway.

“I guess so. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve been running around trying to take down the suppliers every time, but I forgot.”

“This case is so shocking.”

So, unknowingly being buried in that shock happens more often than you think.

“Certainly…”

If they catch these guys, it’ll be noisy for a while and then quiet down, but the reality is that victims will continue to be created as long as there are suppliers.

“The salt farm owners don’t talk about the suppliers either, right?”

“Yes, they hardly ever do.”

There are hardly any people who reveal the salt farm slave suppliers. A very few talk, but most of the information is either non-existent or fake.

“That’s obvious.”

Even the courts don’t punish it, saying it’s customary. It’s fortunate if they even indict. A significant number of salt farm slave cases are not even indicted by the prosecution due to insufficient evidence.

“The salt farm owners know that better than anyone else.”

So, from their perspective, they need a supplier who can continuously provide slaves. In fact, there was a person who used a salt farm slave once and was caught again, but the funny thing is that even though it was clearly a suspended sentence, he was a person who had already used a salt farm slave and was caught doing it again, but the court did not give a proper punishment again, citing custom.

So, they don’t snitch on the suppliers who supply them with slaves.

“Actually, finding and punishing the suppliers is the hardest thing to do.”

Of course, these guys won’t reveal the suppliers in order to get women supplied to them later. But since they’re already in a hopeless situation, there’s no reason to reveal the suppliers.

“So, I think it’s better to pressure them in other ways for now.”

“I don’t think they’ll talk even if we pressure them?”

The police have already tried coaxing, appeasing, and threatening them, but the four guys haven’t budged.

“Let’s talk after we prove additional crimes.”

“Isn’t that impossible?”

“Of course, it’s impossible with these guys.”

Park Do-joon shrugged and said.

“But there are also accessories in the world.”

People simply call criminals accomplices when they’re involved, but the law distinguishes them all.

For example, if they commit a crime together, they’re called joint principals, and if they do as they’re told, they’re called accessories [those who aid in the commission of a crime], and if they know a crime is being committed but don’t report it and pretend not to know, they’re called accessories after the fact [those who assist criminals after a crime].”