My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 534

“Living environment, huh…”

“Right, that’s why this string is so important.”

If it signifies an environment where he can access string, we can infer his living environment.

“It would be great if we could trace it with the cut-out paper, but…”

Unfortunately, that’s difficult. Because the paper he used isn’t a magazine, but a newspaper.

Magazines don’t have high sales these days, and the arrangement of letters is different each issue, so tracing isn’t impossible. It just takes a lot of effort.

However, newspapers have massive distribution, and they’re often given away for free or treated as waste paper, making tracing practically impossible.

In the past, when criminals in movies or dramas deliberately cut out letters from magazines, it was a setup to create a tracing keyword. In reality, a smart guy would never use a magazine with low sales.

“But I know it’s a string, but what kind of string…”

It’s certain that it’s a traceable string. But at the same time, since he cut it off, there’s no way to trace it.

“The report says there are no remnants either, right?”

“Yes, but there’s something else.”

Even if a person can’t resist, if they were tied up so tightly that they couldn’t escape, there would inevitably be traces left.

If they were tied loosely enough to not leave traces, they would naturally break free from the string and try to survive by fighting back.

“And according to this report, the traces of being tied aren’t from something like a rope.”

Park Do-joon shook the report in his hand and said.

According to the report, the string used in the crime is thicker than expected. However, the thickness of commonly used rope is thin and tough.

“But the marks left on the victims’ bodies are much thicker than the thickness of a typical rope. And no residue was left.”

It could be a coincidence, but conversely, it also means that the string might be tougher than expected.

“If it’s made of natural fabric, there’s usually some residue left.”

Especially if the victim moves their body to escape, a string made of natural fabric will inevitably leave small fluff [tiny fibers].

“If not, it’s usually a string made of chemical fibers.”

Because it’s so durable that the string won’t fray that easily.

“Of course, if it’s old, there might be some left.”

“So, it’s a new string, made of chemical fibers, and has traces of being used by a specific brand.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Park Do-joon nodded.

“So, I looked into it a bit.”

Generally, there are very few places that use their own brand. Some large brands like chicken or pizza places use them, but they can’t leave the traces recorded here.

“Then the target being bound by that string is a large item.”

“Large as in?”

“A place that continuously consumes string and packages large items.”

“A moving company?”

“Wrong.”

A moving company is right in terms of being large. But one problem is that they just reuse the string repeatedly.

“Moving companies are subcontractors, you see.”

Only a few companies own their own trucks. Most people bring their own trucks and equipment—so-called ‘contract drivers’—and work under that brand.

That’s why there’s no reason for the company to make its own strings or equipment.

“Besides, moving is ultimately packing and moving, right?”

In other words, they collect all the used strings and reuse them next time.

“So, there’s no point in making strings. They’re not consumed.”

“Ah, consumption is important.”

“These strings are more expensive than you think. If they did it themselves, they would collect and reuse them.”

But the fact that they use it for packaging and don’t collect it afterward means that it goes through a third party in the shipping process.

“That definitely narrows it down a lot.”

“That’s right. In fact, companies that use external shipping don’t usually order strings with their own brand separately.”

The reason why companies buy and use strings separately is simple: It’s for their own promotion.

Even with chicken, the reason why places that promote their own brand use strings with their brand is to give a luxurious image.

Local chicken places use generic chicken cases, and of course, they don’t have the capacity to care about promotion in that process.

“It’s not a luxury strategy, but a promotion for their own products.”

“Yes, but how many such products are there?”

A target that packages in large quantities, uses external companies for delivery, and aims to promote their products at the same time.

“There are also regional restrictions.”

“Regional restrictions?”

“The criminal sent money to the quick service driver in a rural area or another city. But would they have gone down there to send money?”

“That… that’s unlikely.”

The places where people disappeared and the places where money was sent are far apart. There’s no reason to go all the way there. There are plenty of cities on the way.

“Criminals focus on not getting caught.”

Almost no criminals understand the value of geographical judgment.

“Then we should assume that the criminal stopped by that bank while working to send money?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Stopping by…!”

“Yes. One thing is solved.”

The criminal has a vehicle and is doing delivery work. And they travel around each region. In other words, they are a temporary worker employed by an external company.

“And shamans wouldn’t use something like a 2.5-ton truck.”

But there are hardly any people who do such delivery work with an SUV. Those large taxi types mainly operate around airports, not cargo transportation. It takes longer to clean the interior if it gets dirty.

“Then the person who can do that is…”

“Someone with a 1-ton truck.”

“A 1-ton truck, huh…”

“Then one more possibility is solved.”

“What is it?”

“How did the criminal kidnap the victims?”

“That’s right.”

It’s still an unknown method that hasn’t been solved.

“Do you know what the commonality of the victims is?”

“What is it?”

“They don’t have much luggage.”

The three people lived in different places: two students in studio apartments, and the working woman in a two-room apartment.

“So, there doesn’t seem to be a geographical commonality.”

But Park Do-joon had a feeling while looking at the case.

“Look at the pictures of the houses here.”

“They don’t have much luggage?”

“Right.”

In a studio apartment, the amount of luggage you keep there is too obvious. So, there can’t be much luggage. A two-room apartment might have a lot of luggage.

“But this working woman also lived in a studio apartment until recently.”

However, it was recorded that she moved to a two-room apartment at the beginning of this year.

“There are quite a few people who run moving companies with 1-ton trucks.”

“And sometimes moving companies know the password.”

“Yes, sometimes.”

There are cases where they change the password, or they have time to duplicate the key, so such crimes aren’t completely absent.

Of course, those guys are just petty criminals. People who go and steal things in their free time.

“But there’s no law saying they can’t kidnap people.”

All three places have one thing in common: there are no CCTVs [closed-circuit televisions] in the house.

“If you hold a knife to someone while they’re sleeping, no one can resist.”

“They don’t change the password?”

“You’d be surprised how many people are like that.”

Beyond simply not changing the password, almost no one changes the key.

“But you can still change the password relatively easily, right?”

“It depends on the company. Some places are quite complicated. Some landlords even prevent you from changing the password because they’re too lazy, and some people are too lazy to even use the easier locks.”

So, there are more cases of not changing the password than you think, and they don’t even realize it’s dangerous.

“But on average…”

“This is the problem, people think they are average.”

So, they think what they do is normal behavior. But there’s a saying called the ‘fallacy of averages.’ Someone might get 100 points, and someone might get 10 points, but if the average is 50 points, people unconsciously think they are at least 50 points.

“Think about it. Among the students living alone there, how many have ever changed the inquiry number key [digital door lock code]?”

“Ah, I see.”

None. Usually, their parents would change it and then tell them. So, even if they think they should change it, they would carelessly skip it because it’s a hassle.

“Try picking people on the street who know how to change the number key password. Do you think 10 people will come out?”

Probably less than 10%.

“But people easily think that they can just change it.”

Because it’s an easy task.

Of course, it’s not actually difficult to change it.

“But easy and annoying are two different things.”

In that situation, finding someone who doesn’t change the number is not difficult. You go and press it, and if it opens, they become the target, and if not, you give up.

“Then should we track the time of the move? Like card usage history or call history. You have to make a reservation to move, right?”

“There probably won’t be much.”

He’s not stupid enough to expose his cell phone number. The criminal probably uses a burner phone [disposable cell phone].

“The phone he called the quick service with was also a burner phone, right?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Besides, in the case of these moves, they often handle it with cash.”

It’s illegal, but in the case of moving, there’s a significant difference in the amount between card payment and cash payment. Because they add a 10% value-added tax [VAT].

If a 2 million won move has a 10% value-added tax added, there’s a difference of 200,000 won, so they usually just pay in cash.

“Then tracking will be difficult.”

“Yes, if it’s for the purpose of crime from the beginning, it’s impossible to track with that.”

“Then the other method is still the string…”

“So, I looked into it a bit. Where would they specialize in making and supplying such things? What industry needs string?”

“Can you find out by region?”

“You can tell by looking at what’s around.”

If there’s a factory nearby, it’ll be raw materials, and if there’s a farm nearby, it’ll be feed.

“And there are many farms around here.”

“Farms?”

“Yes.”

“Then is it feed?”

“That’s right.”

“But feed is usually carried in sacks, right?”

“That’s for small feed places.”

Really big farms don’t use those sack feeds. It’s hard to store and expensive.

Just like how selling snacks in bulk is cheaper than selling them individually.

“Really big places deliver in tons, huge feed sacks.”

“Ah!”