My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 502

They have their limits, and if a colleague or employee turns out to be unstable, they try to cut ties and distance themselves. Having an unpredictable person within the organization is a risk for everyone.

“So, the possibility of a mentally unstable person being involved is extremely low?”

“Probably.”

No matter how good the money is, how many people would accept payment from someone unstable and participate in a crime?

“Wait, then?”

Only then did Lee Ji-soo, realizing the implication of Park Do-joon’s words, turn pale. A variable she hadn’t considered had emerged.

“Are you saying the person who hired those three is a sane individual?”

“You catch on quick. That’s likely.”

If the client is unstable, they might not pay, and can’t even keep the crime they committed a secret… who would do dirty work for them?

That’s unlikely. Doing dirty work presupposes a level of trust between the parties.

“I hadn’t considered that possibility.”

“Korean profilers lack experience with indirect murder or assault cases where killers are hired.”

It happens quite often, and the damage is enormous, but because of the readily available supply of killers right next door in China, investigations are difficult, and there are few ways to investigate properly.

Other countries might request extradition, but China isn’t likely to extradite its citizens for killing Koreans, so the investigation inevitably stalls.

Perhaps that’s why Korean police and profilers are surprisingly inexperienced in contract killings using external personnel.

“The perpetrators are outwardly not just sane but very normal. Most people would see them as ordinary citizens.”

“Those crazy people?”

“If they’re not mentally ill, they’re usually good at hiding it. Especially someone who can commit such brutal crimes so casually.”

Park Do-joon said, continuing to organize the case in his mind.

“But the motive is suspicious…”

“There’s no motive.”

“Exactly.”

If revenge against the parents isn’t the motive, what could it be?

‘Is it simply a murder caused by an inexplicable reason?’

Park Do-joon shook his head at that thought. People automatically think of mental illness when they hear ‘inexplicable reason,’ but that’s not necessarily the case. A sane person could be the culprit. But even aside from that, even if it’s not mental illness, the murder itself is often the purpose of the inexplicable reason.

‘But the fetus disappeared.’

The most crucial element in murder is the motive. There’s no such thing as a motiveless murder. So-called random killings are ultimately expressions of one’s despair through the act of murder.

“The key to this case isn’t the murder. It’s the missing child.”

“The missing child?”

“Yes, the perpetrator cut open the victim’s abdomen and took the child. If the goal was simply a brutal murder, they could have killed it too.”

“That alone would be a huge shock to the victim’s family.”

“Exactly, even seemingly senseless acts are done with a clear purpose.”

It’s not a murder motivated by resentment. Nor is it a murder due to mental illness.

“Then is that minority opinion correct?”

“A murder for religious purposes?”

“Yes.”

A murder for religious purposes. A religion that some call devil worship. But Park Do-joon shook his head, expressing a negative opinion.

“That’s unlikely.”

“Why?”

“First, most devil-worshipping traditions forbid human sacrifice.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Devil worship is what they call it, but…”

Park Do-joon scratched his head. This is a religious issue, so it’s hard to explain. But there are things that a profiler needs to know, so Park Do-joon decided to explain it properly this time.

“Devil worship is a religious concept with roots all over the world.”

“Huh?”

Lee Ji-soo was startled and widened her eyes at that. But Park Do-joon calmly said, as if to say she shouldn’t be so surprised.

“It’s just a difference in perspective.”

“A difference in perspective?”

“Yes, first, where does the word ‘devil’ come from?”

“Huh? Isn’t it a commonly used word?”

“No. Words also have a sense of origin. They express that origin based on where they’re first used. Of course, they can spread and become commonly used, but there’s always an initial group that used it.”

For example, the word ‘jjapssae’ [a derogatory term for police]. It was once used as slang within criminal groups, but nowadays it’s used by ordinary people to denigrate the police.

“Even if it’s used as a general term from slang, the purpose of denigrating the police doesn’t change.”

“That’s right.”

“So, where did the word ‘devil’ come from?”

“That’s… Christianity, no, Catholicism?”

“Yes, more precisely, it comes from the two major religions that worship a single god [Abrahamic religions].”

Park Do-joon said, sighing deeply.

“One of the characteristics of religions that believe in a single god is that they define all divine beings other than their own as devils. For example, there are countless fortune-telling houses in Korea, right?”

“Ah…”

Lee Ji-soo realized. In that situation, those fortune-telling houses would be considered demonic from a Christian perspective. But with very few exceptions, few people attack them as such.

“Even Catholics or Christians sometimes visit such places. It violates doctrine, but the church or cathedral doesn’t specifically label them as devils. The reason why monotheistic religions don’t designate those fortune-telling houses as devils and leave them alone is not because they recognize them as gods, but because they don’t pose a threat to them. Any religion that threatens a major religion becomes heretical or demonized.”

“That’s true. The religions called cults are quite powerful.”

“The devil-worshipping side argues that.”

It’s not a devil but a polytheistic religion. Is it right to recognize a cruel being who drags the souls of people who have lived good lives to hell just because they believe in a different god, just because that religion isn’t mainstream, as the only god? That’s the argument of some who are labeled as devil worshippers.

Of course, there are some who believe in truly malevolent entities, but that’s a tiny minority, and even from the perspective of those trying to create a legitimate religion, those who sacrifice people in the name of devil worship are simply considered insane.

“Historians say that the Catholic Church demonized the gods of past religions as it became mainstream. Any religion tends to demonize local beliefs as it expands its power.”

That’s not just true of monotheistic religions like Catholicism or Christianity. Many other religions also have those aspects. In some areas, including the United States, certain forms of devil worship are classified as a religion.

“However, there’s a significant stigma in Korea, and Christianity and Catholicism are so strong that people can’t openly practice it.”

Christianity and Catholicism are unlikely to acknowledge devil worship.

“Catholicism recognizes Buddhism as a religion, but some Christians still denigrate Buddhism as demonic. Would they tolerate genuine devil worship?”

That’s why there’s almost no open devil worship in Korea.

“In any case, religions in the devil-worshipping tradition generally prohibit human sacrifice.”

“Some people misinterpret it, though.”

“That’s true.”

Just as all sorts of cults run rampant under the name of Christianity, there are those who go to extremes from the perspective of devil worshippers.

“But then there should be some kind of religious symbol or relic at the scene.”

“Religious symbol or relic?”

“Yes, for example… um, what comes to mind when you think of devil worship?”

“That’s the pentagram or… Ah, there’s nothing like that.”

“Yes, what’s important to them is the act of sacrificing a life.”

Through such religious acts, they appeal to their god, the devil. That’s their distorted religious view.

“Wherever you go, when you hold a memorial service or offer sacrifices, symbolic instruments are used.”

In Korea, ancestral tablets are placed during memorial services, Christians and Catholics use the cross as a standard, and Islam uses the Quran.

“But there’s no religious symbolism at all.”

“They could have taken it with them, right?”

“If so, they would have sacrificed the fetus at the scene in the first place.”

“If they’re only sacrificing that child, it’s not religious or…”

“If that’s the case, they would have kidnapped the child, not the mother.”

The possibility of a strange religion being involved is too low.

“So, the purpose is the child, but why? Are they trying to raise it themselves, like in that case last time?”

Park Do-joon said that in the last Song Won-nam case as well. The reason for kidnapping the child was to raise it.

“Probably.”

“But this is a completely different story from then, isn’t it?”

In the Song Won-nam case, the child was taken accidentally in a state of mental abnormality, but this involves murder and taking the child.

“Then what kind of person would take the child?”

“Huh?”

“We’re profilers. We need to be precise. What we analyze isn’t the case. It’s the perpetrator. There’s a big difference.”

“Ah…”

Lee Ji-soo nodded as if acknowledging those words. As Park Do-joon said, a profiler analyzes the perpetrator behind the case, not the case itself. The case itself is analyzed by general police officers and the forensic team.

“So, we need to look at the perpetrator.”

“That’s right. And in this case, the perpetrator is…”

Park Do-joon took out the profile of the perpetrator he had organized in his mind.

“Probably an extremely selfish person. Someone who doesn’t care about the well-being of others. And what’s important here is this. Why a newborn?”

It might have been a fetus at the kidnapping stage, but it’s a newborn at the time of birth.

“That’s right? Why a newborn?”

Newborns are so vulnerable. No matter how much affection has been formed, killing someone else and stealing the child for that purpose is unimaginable for ordinary people.

“They need a child, so…”

Park Do-joon stroked his chin at those words.

‘I don’t know the reason.’

It’s too predatory, inhumane, and irrational to see it as raising it. It’s not revenge either.