My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 480

“Who?”

“Hwairen. Ah, I guess you don’t know her real name.”

Park Do-joon said, tossing a photo to Sang Am-doo. It was a picture of the woman Sang Am-doo had met, secured by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) after scouring CCTV footage in the area.

Sang Am-doo’s eyes wavered as he looked at the photo.

“Who is this? I don’t know her.”

Despite this, Sang Am-doo desperately tried to deny it. But Park Do-joon had anticipated this, so he wasn’t particularly surprised or angry.

“Is that so? Too bad. It’s a pity that someone who’s been used and discarded is still acting like this.”

Park Do-joon said, pulling out another photo. It was a picture of Jo Seung-dang and Hwairen walking out of a motel, arm in arm.

“This is…?”

“Hwairen probably told you she loved you, right? That’s why you leaked the data and planned to run away to China together. Am I wrong?”

Indeed, that woman had said that. And Sang Am-doo had fallen for her words, doing everything she asked.

“But what value do you have?”

“What?”

“I admit you’re skilled. But China invests the most in IT-related programmers and their technology worldwide. You should know how many hacking attempts this research center faces daily. Surely you, as a programmer, are aware of that.”

Park Do-joon said with a sneer.

“On the other hand, Jo Seung-dang is a skilled metal expert. In fact, China’s metal processing technology is significantly inferior to that of Korea or the United States.”

That wasn’t actually wrong. Because of that, even if they made the same thing, the inherent strength and elasticity were often lacking. Especially for weapons like tanks, where self-defense is crucial, it was a more serious issue than one might think.

“From the Chinese government’s perspective, Jo Seung-dang is much more appealing than you.”

From China’s perspective, a metal-related scientist who is hard to find is more valuable than a programmer who is easily accessible.

“No, that’s not true!”

Looking at the photo he received, Sang Am-doo trembled. No matter how he thought about it, this couldn’t be happening.

He thought she was his woman. He risked his life. But betrayal?

“That can’t be! It can’t be!”

“Denying it won’t make reality disappear. You didn’t even know Hwairen’s real name from the start, did you?”

At those words, Sang Am-doo’s eyes shook violently.

“It seems Jo Seung-dang already knew…”

“He knew?”

“Jo Seung-dang has already fled to China with that woman.”

“What… did you say?”

“Did you really think the Chinese would just sit still after the data was leaked and discovered?”

Of course, it was only natural to assume they would destroy the data and run.

“We’ve already secured all the evidence. The NIS is already raiding Tokyo Sushi.”

Park Do-joon said, showing a small object.

“Do you know what this is?”

“That’s…?”

“A bug found in Tokyo Sushi and your house.”

“A bug…?”

“From the start, you were just meant to be discarded.”

“T-that can’t be. That can’t be…!”

“Think about it. You erased all of Jo Seung-dang’s access records. Who do you think that protects?”

Obviously, Jo Seung-dang.

And Jo Seung-dang had already fled with Hwairen.

“That can’t be…”

“You’ve been abandoned.”

Park Do-joon smiled cruelly and got up from his seat. “Now, think carefully about how you’re going to survive. What could it be, heh heh heh.”

Park Do-joon left Sang Am-doo, who was half out of his mind, and went outside. As soon as he left, Yoo In-hye, who had been waiting, asked urgently.

“How did you know?”

“About what?”

“About the woman named Hwairen!”

They hadn’t found out anything. They didn’t even know the woman’s real name or age. The only thing they had was this photo.

“We don’t even know who that woman is. How did you know? Hwairen? Is that her real name?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“What?”

Yoo In-hye was taken aback by the response and couldn’t help but ask again.

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“But you acted like you knew everything…”

“Well, I said that. But is there any way Sang Am-doo can prove or verify what I said?”

No. He was already in custody. In that situation, he couldn’t find any evidence to disprove that the woman he thought he knew had lied to him.

“Everyone in the world lives with anxiety and worry in their hearts.”

Complete trust and 100% pure love? That probably only exists between parents and their children.

“Especially if the other person is Chinese and you know they used you, would that trust be 100% solid?”

Of course not. No matter how much they say they love you, there’s definitely anxiety and worry deep down.

“In that situation, what if you hear that the other person betrayed you?”

In fact, the photos Park Do-joon gave Sang Am-doo were fake, created with Photoshop. It’s not like the Chinese spies are short on personnel, and there’s no reason to assign the same woman to both Sang Am-doo and Jo Seung-dang.

They might run into each other, and to win someone over, you need to meet them consistently when they want, and managing two people could lead to scheduling conflicts and failure.

“But Sang Am-doo doesn’t know that.”

He doesn’t know at all, and he’ll have anxiety in the back of his mind.

“I just stimulated that.”

Moreover, there’s truth in Park Do-joon’s words. There are many programming experts in China. There’s almost no place in the world that hasn’t been hacked by China.

The reason they haven’t been able to breach the National Defense Research Institute is because they have the handicap of having to come from the outside in, not because they’re less skilled than Sang Am-doo.

“Furthermore, being a protected target is also surprisingly problematic.”

“Being a protected target?”

“Sang Am-doo must have been erasing Jo Seung-dang’s access records and information leaks.”

And if he successfully erases them, only his own access records will remain. Naturally, he’d have to go through double the trouble to erase those again, because he’d have to erase them again.

“In other words, if an investigation proceeds, he’s the one who’ll get caught, not Jo Seung-dang.”

Sang Am-doo knows that. And because of that, he’ll always have a sense of unease in his heart.

“I just stimulated that unease.”

The unease of not being able to trust. The unease of being chased by the police. I just stimulated that and made him imagine what Park Do-joon wanted him to imagine.

“Furthermore, Sang Am-doo can’t know whether Jo Seung-dang will come to work or not.”

“Why? Accessing attendance records isn’t difficult, is it?”

“Because he’s scared.”

The situation has already blown up. There must be a massive investigation going on in the system right now. But in that situation, he suddenly searches the attendance record of Jo Seung-dang, whom he doesn’t even know?

“Then he’s likely to be caught by the NIS agents who are monitoring him. So he’ll have to keep a low profile.”

Naturally, he may have been unable to track him any further in the process.

“Moreover, surveillance inside has become even stricter since that incident.”

Of course, from Sang Am-doo’s perspective, there’s no way to know whether Jo Seung-dang is coming to work or not. He just thinks he’s still in Korea, since the investigation is still ongoing.

“But now, all that trust has collapsed.”

I don’t know how much money he received, but what kind of shock will the betrayal of the woman he loved the most, or thought he loved, give him?

Especially if she had an affair with the guy he risked his life to protect? And if the woman was the one who asked him to protect him?

“Usually, they go crazy with excitement and almost go berserk…”

“Ughhhhh!”

At that moment, Sang Am-doo seemed to come to his senses and started going berserk. Because he was tied to the chair, he couldn’t get up, but he twisted his body, shed tears, punched the desk with his fists, and kicked the desk legs, unable to control his emotions and almost going half-crazy.

“That’s what happens.”

Park Do-joon smirked as he watched Sang Am-doo go crazy.

“And by the time the frenzy ends, all that’s left is anger.”

Anger towards Jo Seung-dang and Hwairen, whom he had been tricked into protecting.

But now, there’s only one way to punish them.

“Go in later when he’s calmed down a bit. He’ll spit out some useful information. Heh heh heh.”

Yoo In-hye could only stare at Sang Am-doo, who was going crazy, with a stiff expression, at Park Do-joon’s words, who had predicted everything.

Several hours later, Sang Am-doo began to tell everything as if he had given up on everything. How the Chinese spy approached him, and how they won him over, etc.

Listening to those words, Yoo In-hye couldn’t help but become serious. Because they approached him in exactly the same way Park Do-joon had said. And the National Defense Research Institute was in chaos. It turned out that he wasn’t the only one who had been approached in that way.

Some kept their distance because they felt uneasy, some kept their distance because they felt like someone was after something from them, and when reports came in that some had actually gone as far as dating, the National Defense Science Research Institute was turned upside down.

But it wasn’t just the National Defense Science Research Institute that was turned upside down.

“You son of a bitch, what have you done!”

Just as Park Do-joon was about to wrap up the case, a balding man led a group of men in suits and barged in. He grabbed Park Do-joon by the collar as soon as he saw him.

“Who are you?”

“You? You? Did you just say ‘you’? Where does some cop get off…!”

Yoo In-hye, who was just entering the police station, was horrified when she saw that.

“C-Chief! Just a moment, Chief! Calm down!”

“Calm down? Shit? Calm down? How can I calm down when this son of a bitch ruined an operation I’ve been working on for months! Huh?”

Park Do-joon smirked at those words. He roughly understood the situation.

“Ah!”

“Ah? Ah? Is this bastard crazy?”

Park Do-joon slapped the man’s hand away at those words.

“I was going to look for you anyway.”

“What?”

“That operation, was it approved?”

“What?”

“That operation I’m talking about. From what I can see, you were planning to leave the spy here and use him to take down other organizations, right…?”

“That’s… I can’t say.”

‘Can’t say my ass.’

Of course, he knows about that kind of operation. That’s why Park Do-joon had no intention of moving according to their plan.

“Is that so? So you’re saying it wasn’t approved?”

“I can’t say. That’s a matter of national security.”

“A matter of national security… Well, that’s not wrong.”

Park Do-joon smirked, then grabbed the man’s arm and twisted it.

Profiler by Trade