My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 504

Working from 7 AM to 9 PM, those were the hours. The man couldn’t even imagine revealing that he was a caring husband going to the OB/GYN with his wife.

“If you even hinted at that at work? They’d tell you to quit right away.”

“Crazy.”

“You know it too. Crime is heavily influenced by the times and the social climate.”

“I learned that way, but… wow, it really hits differently hearing it like this.”

Even though it’s influenced by the times and the social climate, in the end, the underlying methods remain similar.

But this crime was different.

“Back then, it was so bad that if your wife went to the OB/GYN to give birth, your superior might slap you across the face, saying, ‘Is your wife giving birth, or are you?’ Of course, that was in the case of some really nasty superiors.”

Lee Ji-soo frowned at that.

“Even now, some old-school senior soldiers or just plain crazy people do that.”

“Is that so?”

“Anyway, the important thing is this. The core of the problem is that they deceived the other person.”

She lied about being pregnant, but there was no child. And there was no way for her to have a child. As the supposed due date approached, the woman, afraid of being exposed as a liar, went to the hospital pretending to be a mother and kidnapped a baby.

“But how did they catch her? There were no CCTVs back then, right?”

“The police couldn’t catch her.”

There were no CCTVs or witnesses. So it was almost impossible for the police to track her down. Back then, there were no electronic bus cards [prepaid transit cards], either, so even if she used public transportation, there was no way to trace her movements.

“Then how?”

“The man’s family reported it.”

“The man’s family?”

“Yeah.”

She claimed she had given birth to a child and brought him home, presenting him as their son, but they couldn’t understand why she had suddenly produced a baby. And the woman, who was supposed to be the mother, looked far too healthy.

“That woman forgot a very simple fact: that all mothers experience childbirth.”

From the man’s mother’s perspective, she was dumbfounded that they had brought home a grandchild, and the behavior of this so-called daughter-in-law was strange. The person who supposedly gave birth was walking around too healthily, and she wasn’t even lactating.

“In the meantime, she saw it on the news.”

The article was about a baby being kidnapped from the OB/GYN.

“I mean, even now, if that kind of news breaks, it’ll be a huge mess.”

“Yeah, it was even worse back then.”

So, with a glimmer of hope, she called the police.

In the end, the culprit was arrested, and the child was returned to his parents.

“It’s definitely a meaningless crime now that we have DNA testing.”

You bring a child? You can get a DNA test for a few hundred thousand won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to a few hundred US dollars]. And you can’t fake that.

“But newborns have weaker psychological defenses.”

“Ah…”

Who would suspect that someone who brought a baby that looked like it was just born had kidnapped it?

“Moreover, the only thing that was externally revealed about this case was that the mother was brutally murdered.”

They couldn’t report that the mother was murdered in such a brutal crime, her stomach cut open, and the baby taken. It was only reported that the mother was murdered.

“That means…”

“Yeah, there’s even less room for suspicion.”

In the past case, the news that a child was kidnapped was a big reason for the report. But this time, there’s nothing like that.

“Wait a minute.”

Lee Ji-soo, who was listening to the story, suddenly realized something, and her face turned pale.

“Detective Park, according to what you’re saying… then only one condition can be met, right? That the main culprit is a woman?”

If she’s going to take the child and deceive someone, as Park Do-joon thinks, then the prerequisite is that the person who demanded the child be brought is a woman.

“That’s right.”

“A woman would do that?”

“It’s not like women can’t commit violent crimes. The probability is low, but that’s completely different from them not committing them at all. Like the story of the Blonde Angel of Auschwitz.”

The Blonde Angel of Auschwitz. Her real name was Irma Grese. Of course, that was the title given to her by the guards and soldiers inside; the victims called her a devil or a beast.

She had blonde hair and a beautiful appearance, but she massacred Jews more cruelly than anyone else, and that’s how she rose to the position of female guard commander at Auschwitz [Nazi concentration camp].

“She was the woman who deliberately starved hunting dogs and then threw Jewish victims to them alive as prey.”

“Ugh, there was a woman like that?”

“Yeah.”

Women don’t commit violent crimes? No. Once they start becoming cruel, in some cases, women become even more cruel than men.

“But in that situation…”

Jo Sang-gyu frowned. That’s because the direction of the investigation changes too much.

“Then the guys we’re tracking down were hired to kill… and we have to track down the main culprit separately.”

“That’s probably right.”

If they had just investigated normally, they probably would have caught them even before the regression [referring to the protagonist’s time travel]. But even if he dredged up his memories from before the regression, even if he couldn’t remember anything else, he remembered one thing for sure: in this case, they didn’t catch the culprit, and they didn’t find the child.

“This is absurd, but honestly, it’s such an absurd possibility that it’s really ambiguous to add additional personnel.”

Park Do-joon was dumbfounded at that.

“Are you saying you can’t allocate personnel?”

“I can, but I can’t push it as a main focus.”

“No, why?”

Even Lee Ji-soo raised her voice as if she was dumbfounded.

“The higher-ups think this is a mental disorder or a religious issue.”

“What about the profilers’ opinions?”

“Most of them are leaning that way. Honestly, it’s a case I had forgotten about too. I’m more surprised that you remember a case from the 80s. You’re not even from that generation, are you?”

“Ah, I guess so.”

The profilers who are currently active in the field are not people from that era. Even if there are, they probably won’t remember, because it’s a case that disappeared decades ago.

“Well, I learned about it while studying.”

“That’s why the other guys don’t study like that. Ugh! I think I know why Team Leader Cha Dae-hoon kept you so close.”

There are hardly any profilers who study more than what they’ve learned and delve into cases from decades ago. Only Park Do-joon would uniquely study forgotten cases from the past. Besides, that case wasn’t a violent crime or a major case, and wasn’t it a case that would hardly happen anymore due to the development of science and technology?

“I’ll officially submit my opinion to the higher-ups. I’ll still be able to get at least one person assigned.”

“Just one person?”

There are three criminals who don’t hesitate to kill. But just one person.

“What can I do? There’s a direction of crime that they’re focusing on.”

Park Do-joon shook his head at that.

# Finding the Mastermind

“Hello! I’m Officer Lee Il-seop, who will be working with you this time.”

A person was assigned.

But it’s a police officer. So they assigned a complete newbie who just came in.

“Detective, it seems like the higher-ups still have a lot against you?”

“I probably have a lot stacked up against me. Plus, I got chewed out by the National Intelligence Service not too long ago.”

Park Do-joon thought that the National Intelligence Service’s act of concealing information was a violation of the National Security Law, so he arrested them on the spot. But the National Intelligence Service showed all sorts of discomfort with that action.

“Well, there’s no way the police would shield you.”

The higher-ups probably only thought, ‘Because of you, I have to get chewed out by the National Intelligence Service?’

“Still, a police officer…”

“You don’t have much experience either.”

“But I’m still a Sergeant.”

Profilers are specially appointed, so they basically start from the rank of Sergeant. But a police officer is the first rank you receive when you enter the police force.

“At least he looks like he can fight a bit.”

Looking at the sturdy-looking Lee Il-seop, Park Do-joon carefully asked.

“Officer Lee Il-seop, do you happen to be good at fighting?”

“Ah, yes, I have a 3rd-degree black belt in Judo and a 4th-degree black belt in Taekwondo.”

“Wow.”

Still, maybe they felt a little guilty about assigning only one person, so it seems like they assigned someone who is good at fighting.

“Is this the higher-ups’ way of saying to protect at least the minimum safety?”

“Would they? Obviously, it’s probably the result of Team Leader Jo Sang-gyu trying his best.”

Jo Sang-gyu isn’t as capable as Cha Dae-hoon, but he still knows what he has to do. In fact, he went and turned the office upside down when he heard that only one person was assigned, but he told the higher-ups not to say ridiculous things, so in the end, all he could do was assign someone who was good at fighting.

“What about real-life combat experience? As you know, the guys we’re tracking down are crazy.”

“Ah, I used to work at the Garibong-dong police station.”

“Then why are you still a police officer?”

At that, Lee Il-seop smiled awkwardly.

“Well… I broke the legs and arms of the criminals too much while arresting them…”

“Tsk tsk! The higher-ups’ thinking.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue at that. Garibong-dong is a concentrated area of Joseonjok [Korean-Chinese] people and one of the most dangerous places in Seoul. So usually, if you work there, you can’t help but accumulate personnel points [positive performance reviews].

That’s because instead of running away when the police come, there are tons of guys wielding Chinese-style kitchen knives.

“As you know…”

“I know.”

In a Chinese-populated area, a police officer’s life is that if I don’t subdue them, I die. As a result, things often get heated, and there are many cases where arms and legs are actually broken.

“But the higher-ups don’t really like that…”

“Were you demoted by any chance?”

“Yes…”

It’s already terribly dangerous, and when that kind of thing happens, complaints keep coming in, so the personnel evaluation is also stingy. They even took the opportunity to demote him from what he had managed to climb up to.

“Wow.”

Even Lee Ji-soo clicked her tongue after hearing that story.

“Well, that’s good. Since you say you’re good at fighting, let’s move with us.”

“But where should we go? I just heard that I should move with you.”

“That’s the problem.”

They haven’t even identified the criminals yet, let alone caught them.

“Let’s identify the mastermind first.”

“Detective, I really don’t know?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head. Well, this is a case she’s never learned about at all. Even the most similar case is the first time she’s heard of it this time.

“The culprit is probably a woman… Ah, have you heard anything?”

Lee Il-seop shook his head at Park Do-joon’s words, so Park Do-joon told him the results of the analysis so far. Then Lee Il-seop’s face turned yellow.

“A woman?”

“That’s right. The mastermind is probably a woman.”

“Then where is she…”

“Probably in Seoul, and the purpose is probably money.”

“Yes?”

“Detective, what do you mean by money? Didn’t you say that the cause of the last case was love?”

“I did. But in that case, they didn’t even kill anyone.”

“Ah, I guess…”

“If they’re going to kill someone and kidnap a child using people, you can’t just say they did it out of love. Moreover, it’s the 21st century now.”