My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 47

It’s not one lawyer per person, but one per case. Of course, if the suspect wants, they can call one separately, but most are unaware of that option.

So, the police subtly assign a single lawyer to cover all three suspects.

“So, two of them are left unattended without legal counsel.”

And they get them to talk in the meantime. It’s a method the police use quite often.

“But there’s no way three high school dropouts from the countryside would know about such a police strategy.”

That means someone advised them.

“That means the story has already reached Jeon Gu-man.”

Jeon Gu-man is probably pulling strings in every direction by now, so of course, the arrest warrant won’t be issued.

“Seriously, should I be impressed?”

Kang Chang-soo clicked his tongue. Profiling is about reading and predicting people’s minds, but Park Do-joon’s judgment and interpretation were faster and more *naengcheol* [Korean for ‘cold-blooded’ or ‘impartial’] than anyone he had seen in his entire career as a police officer.

“So, what do we do now? We can’t just let these guys go……”

The lawyers will probably tell them to keep their mouths shut no matter what.

“Are these three court-appointed lawyers? Or external hires?”

“Court-appointed.”

“Is that so?”

Park Do-joon fell into deep thought at those words.

‘That means they weren’t sent from the outside, right? Well, in the current situation, sending someone from the outside would be like admitting that Jeon Gu-man is involved with them.’

Moreover, for Jeon Gu-man, these three are just tools, not real friends. As such, he wouldn’t bother spending his own money to hire a lawyer for them.

“It’s an opportunity.”

“Yes?”

“The lawyers probably haven’t figured out the situation yet.”

Do court-appointed lawyers go and assess the situation and make a judgment right away?

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

What’s the first thing lawyers do when they arrive in a hurry?

That’s to tell them to exercise their right to remain silent.

They don’t know the case details themselves, and the suspects won’t tell them everything.

Of course, recording or filming is prohibited when accompanied by a lawyer, but even so, the police station is clearly a space with definite limitations for two people to have a detailed conversation.

‘So, most court-appointed lawyers will tell them to exercise their right to remain silent first.’

This isn’t a matter of power or pressure, but legal common sense.

‘That means the lawyers don’t know about each other’s cases either.’

And that was the opportunity.

The lawyers who don’t know about the case will do their best to protect their clients.

“I should meet them individually.”

“You, Do-joon?”

“They won’t open their mouths easily. But once one of them does, the situation will change.”

Park Do-joon smiled.

***

Park Do-joon slowly observed the three men. They were clearly anxious. In fact, the appearance of the criminals doesn’t matter. What he’s looking at isn’t the criminals themselves, but their lawyers.

And he picked one of them.

“Let’s go with that one.”

“Take him to room number 2.”

Kang Chang-soo escorted Park Do-joon to interrogation room number 2. Park Do-joon went in alone, leaving the others behind.

The criminal and the lawyer are visibly nervous as Park Do-joon enters.

‘Definitely a newbie.’

The reason Park Do-joon chose this room is simple: the opposing lawyer is a rookie. At first glance, he is the youngest and most nervous. Also, the suspect seems more intimidated than the others.

‘He’s probably the least important in the organization compared to the other four.’

These violent organizations don’t assign equal importance to each member.

They don’t write contracts, and they don’t do business together in a formal sense.

‘Even among friends, someone plays the leader role and someone plays the follower role.’

And judging by appearances, this suspect is playing the follower role.

He is also the smallest and has the cheapest clothes.

In particular, he is the most cautious.

In other words, he is weak-hearted and easily frightened.

“Kang Dae-hwang?”

“Yes.”

Kang Dae-hwang answered Park Do-joon’s question.

“A car key has been found. Do you know anything about that?”

“I will exercise my right to remain silent.”

The lawyer next to him cut him off as soon as Park Do-joon started talking.

‘He doesn’t seem to know the situation yet. Well, is that surprising?’

The most important thing between a lawyer and a suspect is trust: the belief that the lawyer will protect them.

But there hasn’t been time for that trust to be established between the two of them yet.

Of course, the criminal Kang Dae-hwang wouldn’t have said anything about his crime, and of course, the lawyer wouldn’t know anything, so the only thing he can do to defend himself is to exercise his right to remain silent and not say anything at all.

“Hmm, I see.”

Park Do-joon said that and looked at the lawyer. Then he asked.

“I understand. Then I should assume that further interrogation is impossible.”

“Yes, it is impossible.”

The moment you exercise your right to remain silent, you don’t have to say anything.

“But it’s a shame. You look young, lawyer… Can you defend a murder charge?”

“Murder charge?”

“Yes, three murders.”

It’s not illegal to talk about the case, even if you can’t interrogate the other party. As expected, the lawyer’s eyes started to shake at the words ‘three murders’.

“You look young… no, you look very young. Looking at you, it doesn’t seem like you’ve had your lawyer’s license for very long…”

Saying someone looks young is a subtle way of implying a lack of experience and trustworthiness.

Kang Dae-hwang, who was surprised by those words, shook his eyes. Suddenly, he was accused of murder and his lawyer was implied to be incompetent.

“Murder? Murder! I have never killed anyone!”

“Um, I’m sorry, but the evidence has already been secured. The others have also admitted it…”

“What? The others admitted it too?”

“Who is killing whom? I’m telling you I haven’t killed anyone!”

“I can’t tell you that. However, according to the others… no, let’s stop. It doesn’t seem like I can interrogate you anyway. I think it would be better to go and get statements from the others.”

As Park Do-joon tried to get up, Kang Dae-hwang desperately clung to the lawyer.

“Say something! I’m about to become a murderer! It’s not me!”

“Wait a minute. Is there any evidence that the suspect committed murder?”

“It’s more accurate to say it’s testimony, not evidence.”

“Testimony?”

“Yes, well, it’s unfortunate. It seems like you’re taking the blame… Tsk tsk, that’s why you shouldn’t use inexperienced lawyers…”

Park Do-joon looked at Kang Dae-hwang as if he felt sorry for him.

And distrust settled in Kang Dae-hwang’s eyes.

‘I’ve been caught.’

If you can’t trust your lawyer, the suspect will start acting on their own. Moreover, Park Do-joon has been subtly undermining the lawyer by emphasizing his youth and inexperience.

The other lawyers are experienced, but only your lawyer is inexperienced and doesn’t know anything.

That instills fear in the suspect.

“What are you talking about? Talk to me for a second.”

“Calm down… calm down. First, the right to remain silent…!”

“Ah, damn it! I’m about to become a murderer, what right to remain silent!”

Kang Dae-hwan burst into anger. Park Do-joon looked at the two with a pitiful expression and said.

“Didn’t your lawyer tell you about the prisoner’s dilemma?”

“What?”

“Didn’t he even tell you that?”

Park Do-joon spoke as if he was dumbfounded, and the lawyer bit his lip at those words.

Because it’s a concept he doesn’t know.

‘Young lawyers probably don’t know.’

They majored in law, not criminal psychology. Of course, it’s one of the first things that comes up when you take it as a liberal arts course, but in fact, there are very few lawyers who properly remember liberal arts.

“Haa, this is real… That’s why young lawyers are…”

Park Do-joon shook his head as if there was no hope.

“Damn it! What is that? No, lawyer, you said everything would be over if I just kept my mouth shut!”

“It’s not over, it’s just time to assess the situation…”

“What situation assessment?”

“Wait a minute. It seems like you haven’t even been told the basics. Haa…”

Park Do-joon turned his body, which he was about to leave, and plopped back down on the chair.

“I’ll briefly explain the prisoner’s dilemma. If there are multiple people who have committed a crime, the person who speaks first has the advantage.”

“Speak first?”

“Like this case. The two of them are now saying that Kang Dae-hwan is the ringleader. They said Kang Dae-hwan got the *mulppeong* [date rape drug, often GHB] too, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s as it sounds. That day, Kang Dae-hwan said that if he left the three women he had kidnapped and raped outside, they would freeze to death, so he had no choice but to abandon them.”

“Who is killing whom?”

Kang Dae-hwan said as if he was dumbfounded.

“This is the prisoner’s dilemma.”

If someone admits to a crime first, that statement becomes testimony.

And the statement that has become testimony ties up the other party and makes it impossible for them to move.

“Of course, you can be unfairly implicated. But what can you do? There’s testimony. Moreover, there are two witnesses.”

“What the hell…!”

In fact, the prisoner’s dilemma is a psychological pressure tactic that uses such traps.

The person who speaks first has the advantage.

The other party will deny that, but denying their crime is a natural thing for criminals.

In this case, testimony takes precedence in court.

“You didn’t even tell me that and just told me to keep my mouth shut… Tsk tsk! It seems like the other lawyers have already told you everything. Are you just doing your job half-heartedly because you’re a court-appointed lawyer and it’s not worth the money? Don’t do that, these people’s lives are at stake.”

If all three keep their mouths shut, they will be released.

But there’s no way criminals have loyalty or trust.

‘Moreover, the criminals themselves have blurry memories.’

Originally, the person who committed the crime forgets, but the person who was victimized remembers. Moreover, these guys have kidnapped and raped people using *mulppeong* several times.

So, if you talk vaguely without specifying the date, confusion is inevitable in your head.

“As a result… well, it seems like the four of you won’t be able to avoid the death penalty.”

“The four of us?”

“Yes. The four of you.”

Kang Dae-hwang’s eyes shook at those words.

There are three people here. It’s obvious who the other person means.

“Umm…”

The young lawyer, who remembered what the prisoner’s dilemma was, groaned.

Because it’s actually possible.

“You… you told me to remain silent first?”

“Wait a minute, this could be a trap!”

‘Unexpected. He must have studied hard.’

Can’t the police lie during the investigation process?

That’s wrong. To be exact, it’s illegal to set a trap for someone who has no intention of committing a crime and make them commit a crime, but it’s legal to lie during the process of committing a crime or interrogating them.

For example, it’s illegal to call a driver who parked his car with a designated driver after drinking and catch him for drunk driving the moment he drives the car.

That person had no intention of driving and may have called a designated driver to come.

It was an actual incident, and at that time, the driver, who didn’t know the other party was a police officer, asked him to move his car for him, saying that he had been drinking, but the police even refused in order to fill his performance by implicating him in drunk driving.

Genius Profiler