My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 499

Telling a child, out of the blue, that their mother is actually a kidnapper and suggesting a DNA test won’t make them accept it. It’s more likely to provoke anger and disbelief. To a child who has been raised by a kidnapper, that person *is* their mother.

“So, we need to convince the court to see at least a minimal level of suspicion, no matter what.”

If there isn’t even a hint of suspicion that would make the court say, ‘A DNA test is necessary to uncover the truth,’ then obtaining the DNA test itself will be impossible.

“If we’re wrong, this is a problem that can’t be easily fixed with a simple apology.”

“That’s right.”

Imagine: they’ve accused an innocent person of being a child kidnapper and forced her daughter to undergo a DNA test, only to find out she’s not the culprit?

The police department would likely face severe backlash.

“I was just starting to get some praise and feeling a little smug.”

It’s almost ironic. They apprehended a serial rapist, but they didn’t actually prevent his crimes. He had already committed dozens of offenses.

“So, it seems like we need to establish the crime first, no matter what.”

The problem is, there’s no clear way to prove it.

“Let’s go back to the scene and discuss it.”

Reconstructing the crime is crucial for a profiler. A proper reconstruction helps in understanding the psychology and methods of the perpetrator.

“Though I’m not sure if we’ll find an answer easily.”

There was no other option but to try.

“Hmm.”

Park Do-joon stood quietly in the apartment hallway, looking in both directions.

“The child was kidnapped from here…”

He retraced the route from the scene of the incident with the child, moving slowly toward the elevator.

“Was there no CCTV [closed-circuit television] in the elevator at that time?”

“I don’t know.”

Even that was uncertain.

But Park Do-joon didn’t head for the elevator.

“It doesn’t matter, though.”

“Huh? Why?”

“People usually take the elevator. A criminal would naturally want to avoid being seen.”

“Ah.”

“Of course, he’d use the stairs.”

The emergency stairs were right next to the elevator. To avoid people, the stairs are the obvious choice.

“Since this is the 8th floor, he’d avoid people’s eyes while going down.”

Since he was going down, not up, the height of the 8th floor wouldn’t be a significant burden.

“And after coming out of the stairs…”

It’s the first floor. Since it’s an old apartment, there’s no underground parking lot.

“It’s the ground-level parking lot. He must have left by car from here.”

“It’s all so ambiguous.”

“I know.”

There is no evidence and no witnesses.

“The time of the incident is 2:10 PM.”

Moreover, the incident occurred during a hot summer afternoon.

People were avoiding the heat and staying indoors.

“The time it takes to get to the car is about 30 seconds.”

Even if the victim’s family had looked down from their window, it would have been impossible to confirm that it was their child.

“Realistically, there will be no witnesses or evidence. Finding the reason why he came here is the priority…”

Only then can we understand why he was there at that time. Even proving his presence at that time could potentially identify the culprit.

“Did he come to chat with someone?”

“I don’t think so. Psychologically, it doesn’t fit the situation.”

Judging from his psychological state at the time, he was likely suffering from severe depression due to the death of his child and his divorce.

“Talking to people requires a certain level of psychological capacity.”

“I guess so. People with depression often find it hard to interact with others.”

“That’s right.”

People often tell depressed individuals to go out and socialize. But that’s rarely easy. In a state of depression, even self-preservation is difficult, let alone engaging in conversation or caring about others.

“Moreover, if he drove here to talk, it implies a very close relationship, right?”

A severely depressed person who avoids talking to others drives himself to visit someone?

“The possibility is low. Usually, the person who cares for the depressed patient goes to them.”

“It wouldn’t be a doctor, would it?”

“Absolutely not.”

What is the cardinal rule for psychiatrists? To maintain distance from their patients.

Because almost all psychiatric patients develop some form of dependence on their doctor.

There have been cases where unethical doctors exploited this dependency to enslave or even abuse patients.

That only happens when the doctor is a bad person, and in some cases, the patient’s obsession becomes twisted and harms the doctor.

Like a female patient obsessed with a married doctor attacking his wife.

“So, doctors never give patients personal information. Besides, this isn’t the kind of location where a psychiatric clinic would be.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Lee Jung-yeon looked around and said. If you opened a psychiatric clinic in the middle of a 복도식 [corridor-style] apartment building, who would go there?

Of course, no one would.

“What about her parents’ house? She could go to her parents’ house.”

“Well, psychologically, that’s the most likely possibility.”

The parents’ house is where she grew up. So, it’s a place where she can find psychological comfort. So, even if she doesn’t go to other places voluntarily, she might go to her parents’ house.

“Ah, then her parents might not report it to the police!”

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Based on normal people, they wouldn’t want their daughter to become a criminal, so they might not report it. But would they want their daughter’s life to be ruined because of someone else’s child? Even if she’s not a criminal, having a child is fatal to a woman’s future.”

The child died within two years of age, so the possibility of having a child older than that is low.

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have gotten divorced.

“So, the woman’s age would be, based on that era, at most in her early 30s.”

“Ah~!”

The parents will know that their daughter might be able to remarry if she can overcome this pain. But in that situation, are they going to let their daughter raise a kidnapped child for the rest of her life, sacrificing everything for it?

“No parents would do that.”

Even if they can’t bring themselves to report it, they’ll at least persuade their daughter to return the child.

“There are hardly any people who can refuse their parents’ persuasion in a psychologically weakened state.”

“So, it’s not her parents’ house either.”

“Right.”

“It’s definitely not her ex-husband, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

They are people who chose divorce because they were in pain just by seeing each other. Is she going to visit that person directly?

“Moreover, at this time, men are usually working at the company.”

“He could be a 폐인 [hikikomori, shut-in] and just drinking, right?”

“That’s true. But in that state, would the husband open the door?”

“I guess not.”

If the woman demanded a divorce, there’s no reason to visit. If she did visit, there’s a high probability that the husband demanded a divorce, and even if the husband is a 폐인 in that situation, he won’t open the door.

“Then why did she come here?”

Park Do-joon couldn’t answer that either. If he doesn’t know that, it’s impossible to persuade the court.

“The reason to come here…”

Park Do-joon thought for a long time, and suddenly a possibility came to mind. It’s a possibility that he hadn’t considered at all until now, but it’s not impossible.

“She might not have come to visit.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“She might not have come to visit, but just passed by.”

“Passed by this apartment hallway? That doesn’t make sense, does it?”

Passing by means that you’re passing by while doing something, but passing by inside an apartment doesn’t make sense. Because there’s no reason to do that.

“It means she didn’t visit someone. If that’s the case, the residents there might not remember it at all.”

In the meantime, Park Do-joon thought that people were silent even though they knew, or ignored it thinking it was unlikely. So, he thought no one would have said anything.

But if you think about it, you can’t ignore the possibility that people didn’t recognize someone’s visit at all.

“Is that possible?”

Lee Jung-yeon tilted her head as if she didn’t understand Park Do-joon’s words.

“No, just wandering around the inside of the apartment without any purpose? Is that a mental illness?”

“There are always people who exist, but that’s why there are always people who don’t care.”

“What do you mean, Detective Park?”

Park Do-joon turned his gaze and pointed to something standing in front of the apartment.

“What’s that?”

“That’s a Yakult lady’s cart.”

“That’s right.”

“So what?”

“Do you think the Yakult lady’s cart came here alone?”

At those words, Lee Jung-yeon and Lee Ji-soo flinched.

Come to think of it, they couldn’t see the person.

“Maybe at this time… she’s making deliveries.”

“Yes, but we only recognized the cart, not the person.”

“Ah…!”

“People personify many things. But at the same time, they objectify many people.”

There are often people like this. They cherish their dogs as if they were gold and jade, but they don’t care if their subordinates commit suicide or not, and only exploit them.

“Humans personify objects with whom they share emotions.”

Humans clearly have a tendency to solidify their emotions with objects they interact with by personifying dogs, cats, and even animated characters that are not living creatures.

“But people don’t know the side effects of that very well. Or should I say they want to deny it?”

Sharing emotions is treated as a good act, but on the other hand, objectifying the other person is never recognized as a good act.

As a result, most people unknowingly ignore it and try not to admit that such a thing is happening.

“There’s something like that?”

Lee Jung-yeon even said with a bewildered expression as if there was such a thing.

“Uh, what is it?”

Of course, Lee Ji-soo also tilted her head because she had never learned about it at school.

“You just saw it. We saw the cart, but we didn’t recognize the person who brought it.”

Is that all there is?

“It’s incredibly relevant in real life.”

Right now, graduate students at universities are said to be groaning. They say they are not treated like people. In fact, some bad professors recognize graduate students not as students seeking to learn from them, but as objects of their exploitation, and call them to their homes to make kimchi or prepare 제사 [jesa, ancestral rites] food.

“Is that all? Men experience that objectification at least once when they go to the military.”

There are hardly any men who have not been subjected to unfair orders from officers who recognize them not as people, but as soldiers and slaves.

“In the military, soldiers are not people. They are just numbers.”

So, when people ask, ‘Did anyone visit your house?’ they answer, ‘No.’