My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 501

#Dead Mother and Missing Child

Most cases don’t make it to public broadcast. The police try to prevent leaks, and the media also tries to cut them off.

However, there are times when the media reveals a case before the police can even react. And this case was one of them.

Park Do-joon, having returned to headquarters, initially wanted to rest.

He had been running non-stop and longed to escape the relentless pace of his life.

But the incident that broke out upon his return didn’t allow Park Do-joon to take a vacation. Rather, it was an incident that required even those on vacation to be urgently called back.

“Is this true?”

Even Lee Ji-soo, who had gained a lot of experience as a profiler and was starting to be recognized for her skills beyond just a beginner, could only ask with a haggard face.

“It must be true, or else there wouldn’t be such a commotion. The media wouldn’t have reported such a big case without verifying it.”

Park Do-joon frowned as he reviewed the case file he received upon arrival. He had actually been aware of the case while coming in and knew he would be assigned to it as soon as he arrived.

Due to the nature of the case, not only Park Do-joon but all profilers would be analyzing it.

“But how can something like this actually happen?”

“Humans are cruel.”

Park Do-joon bit his lip and said,

“Reality sometimes surpasses imagination.”

The details of the case were very simple, but extremely cruel.

A pregnant woman was kidnapped and murdered. Actually, murder cases happen several times a day, so that alone isn’t particularly cruel. What’s truly cruel is that they cut open the dead mother’s stomach and took the baby.

An unprecedented situation where a mother’s stomach was cut open and the baby was kidnapped, even though the baby wasn’t born yet.

And the police, experiencing such a cruel case for the first time, were bound to be confused.

“I’m going crazy.”

Jo Sang-gyu, who had just finished a meeting, said with a frantic expression.

“Did you find anything?”

“No, nothing at all. I don’t even know who these crazy bastards are.”

A terribly cruel and inhumane crime. The husband and father of the child was almost half-insane, and the parents of the mother and husband were passed out and unable to get up properly.

“We searched every nook and cranny, but there’s nothing.”

“I heard there’s video footage?”

“The vehicle is stolen, and the perpetrators can’t be identified.”

The reason this case became so big was because there was footage of the kidnapping. The pregnant woman was suddenly kidnapped while walking down the street with a friend.

The scene was captured on the dashcam of the car following behind. The perpetrators pushed away the friend who tried to protect her, kidnapped the pregnant woman, and sped away.

The car with the dashcam tried to follow urgently, but it was impossible for an ordinary person to keep up with a vehicle that completely ignored traffic signals, and the mother was later found dead.

Even though the perpetrators’ faces were captured in the vehicle, there was nothing to identify them, so the investigation completely stalled.

“What do the local police say?”

“They couldn’t find the vehicle either.”

The vehicle was originally a delivery van from a supermarket, but they couldn’t find it.

“What does the supermarket say?”

“They’re going crazy.”

The vehicle was parked in the parking lot as usual, but it disappeared and was used in a heinous crime. Moreover, the store’s name was printed on the side of the delivery van, so the shock was even greater.

“Hmm.”

“Did you find anything?”

“I just received it. There must be people who started before me, right?”

“Nothing significant.”

‘That’s probably right.’

Due to the nature of Korean profiling, which is accustomed to standardized cases, it often doesn’t work if there are too many variables. And because this case was so big, an unprecedented event, there was a lot of talk among profilers.

“Some say it’s revenge, some say it’s a mental disorder, and some say it’s for religious purposes.”

Park Do-joon recalled his memories as he listened to those words.

‘I definitely remember.’

He was also involved in this case. No, there weren’t just one or two people involved at the time. Almost all profilers were directly or indirectly involved in the case.

‘I was involved too.’

To be precise, Han Sung-gi led the investigation, with him as the assistant.

‘And in the end… I remember it wasn’t resolved.’

The details are still unclear. But one thing is certain: they never caught the culprit, and the police received all sorts of criticism.

‘Hmm.’

Park Do-joon tried to recall his memories from that time but eventually gave up. It’s a memory that doesn’t fully resurface after the regression [referring to a time travel or reincarnation event].

‘But one thing is certain.’

They couldn’t find them, neither the culprit nor the child.

It was a failure.

‘This time will be the same.’

That’s why Park Do-joon couldn’t speak easily.

‘The police wouldn’t just let a case that’s been reported so widely in the media go.’

However, since this isn’t a crime involving powerful figures, there’s no reason for anyone to interfere with the investigation.

That means the culprit was truly untraceable.

“I don’t have any particular thoughts.”

“Report anything that comes to mind. It seems like the higher-ups will fully support us.”

“Understood.”

Park Do-joon nodded, but Lee Ji-soo tilted her head and asked.

“Senior, don’t you really know anything?”

“For now… not really. But we have to rule out the possibilities one by one.”

Park Do-joon said that as he checked the documents again.

The time from kidnapping to discovery wasn’t long. So, it can be assumed that the culprit kidnapped with the intention of murder.

“Let’s start by figuring out if it’s revenge. Do you think it’s revenge?”

“Um…”

Lee Ji-soo thought for a while and nodded.

“It’s possible if someone has tremendous resentment, right?”

“I don’t think it’s revenge.”

“Why?”

“Revenge usually shows two behavioral patterns.”

First, impulsive revenge.

Suppressing emotions usually and then suddenly exploding and attacking the other person.

“It’s like bottling it up and then it bursts out.”

“That’s right. The other is planned revenge.”

Revenge that is carried out systematically to resolve emotions held against the other person for a long time.

“So, in this case, if it’s revenge, it would be planned revenge?”

“Probably. But that’s why it doesn’t look like revenge.”

“Why?”

“As I said before, the intensity of revenge is deeply related to the degree of resentment a person has.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, in this case, who is the target of revenge?”

“Huh?”

“Let’s think from the root. Who is the target of revenge?”

“Uh, um…”

Lee Ji-soo pondered for a moment at those words. She was sure that revenge was highly likely, but she hadn’t thought about who it would be.

“First, the man. That is, the husband and father. But if you’re taking revenge, what did I usually say?”

“They prefer to take revenge directly. Ah, that’s right. Then the husband can’t be the target of revenge.”

The kidnapped vehicle.

And there are at least three men to carry out the kidnapping. In that video, two men forcibly put the victim in the car and left immediately, which means there are at least three perpetrators.

“At that level, if the target of revenge is the husband, they can inflict direct harm.”

Killing a family member to inflict pain on the other person?

That could happen. But such cases are very rare.

“However, that’s possible if the perpetrator is a woman.”

Men prefer direct harm, while women prefer to inflict pain in indirect ways.

Even if there’s a conflict of opinion, men resort to fists, while women gather their forces and try to suppress the other person.

“But there’s a problem with that.”

“The victim is not the target of revenge.”

The victim, that is, the deceased mother and the missing fetus, are not the targets of revenge. They can kidnap a family member to inflict pain on the man. So, killing them? Of course, it’s possible.

“But in that case, the cruelty is generally reduced.”

Because it’s not a direct target. There’s no need to cruelly cut open the stomach and take out the fetus.

“Umm…”

“And if that was the purpose, where would the missing fetus be?”

It’s shocking that the wife died, but it’s also shocking that the child disappeared. But if it’s to inflict pain on the other person?

“Of course, it would be more painful if the fetus was there.”

“That’s right.”

But the fetus was not there. Even if childbirth had taken place, the fetus’s body should have been at the scene, but it’s not there.

“Then the only thing left is that the woman is the target of revenge?”

“That could be. But if the woman was the target of revenge, other actions would have taken place.”

“Like what?”

“Assault.”

“Ah.”

Of course, cutting open the stomach and taking out the baby is an extremely cruel act. If you take revenge in that way, it’s not a person, it’s a demon.

“But if the target of revenge is right in front of you, you usually throw a punch first. Simply put, the reason it becomes cruel is because emotions surge up. Not because revenge has to be cruel.”

Taking revenge cruelly and revenge becoming cruel are completely different issues.

“Emotions surge up and it becomes cruel.”

You decide to kill someone for revenge. Then the important thing is not efficiency but your own emotions. So, you keep stabbing with a knife until those emotions are resolved, or you prevent the other person from dying easily.

That’s why revenge is bound to become cruel.

“But this case is different.”

It’s an extremely cruel case, but the time itself didn’t take long.

“The doctor said that the deceased was strangled before the child was taken out.”

“Oh, then…”

“If it was for revenge, they would have done something while she was alive.”

They would have beaten her, strangled her, or tried to torment her in some other way. But there was none of that.

“Then it’s not revenge on the woman.”

Because the act of murder itself was carried out very cleanly.

“If neither the man nor the woman is the target of revenge, then who would be the target of revenge?”

“Um, the grandparents, but if that’s the case, they would attack directly, just like the husband.”

“Probably.”

Moreover, it’s not easy for someone with that level of revenge to hold back until now. Furthermore, it’s easy to attack grandparents at their age. They won’t have the strength to resist anymore.

“Then it’s for another purpose… Is it a mental disorder?”

“That’s difficult too.”

It’s a task that involved as many as three people. Even if one of them is the culprit himself, you still need two more people.

“But it’s not easy to find people for this kind of thing.”

Where do you find guys who do such extremely cruel things? Besides, those people aren’t fools either.