My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 545

It’s not just about needing power, but also about experience and social connections, which is why the leader of such an organization is often an older person.

“But this isn’t some kind of intelligent or planned crime. If we were to classify it, it’s a crime that relies on brute force.”

Because they need to forcibly put people in cars.

“But you said they used psychological traps?”

“Yeah, but what would an old man do with a kidnapped woman? And the person who looked like an old man was a woman.”

“Pardon?”

“Why is the mastermind the mastermind? Because they profit from the crime. But what profit can an elderly person gain from kidnapping a young woman in her early twenties?”

“Well….”

“None.”

Jo Sang-gyu nodded as if he understood. There is no logical benefit for an old person to kidnap a young woman.

If the criminal were male, even if he were old, sexual exploitation could be a motive. They say even men who can barely lift a spoon still have desires.

Even if they are old, there are many stamina boosters available, so many men take them and pursue women.

“But why would a grandmother need that?”

“True.”

“At best, it would be for money. But there are two guys who can overpower an old person. Of course, the old person could be using their brain. But would criminals, especially men who can use force, just stand by and let them take a bigger cut?”

A criminal who uses their brain might be a key figure in a criminal organization, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are treated well within the organization.

“So, the only option is to eat what those guys give them and leave.”

“Right, that’s right. Then what’s left are the other two… Both are old enough to target young women. The problem is that they only target one type.”

Everyone has their own preferences, but they only target one specific type?

“Maybe they have the same taste?”

“Maybe.”

Park Do-joon said, biting his lip.

“But it doesn’t feel like that.”

“Why?”

“You said there were seven victims. Team Leader, give me the documents.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Jo Sang-gyu handed over the documents he was holding. Looking at them, Park Do-joon said with a reluctant expression.

“All seven cases happened recently. As short as two weeks, as long as a month.”

“So?”

“If they kidnapped and confined only one woman during this period, they could satisfy their sexual desires more safely.”

It’s a bit cruel to say, but there are actually many criminals like that.

“Wait, then…?”

Jo Sang-gyu’s face showed realization at those words. He had been so focused on this kidnapping that he hadn’t considered the previous possibilities.

“Yes, there will probably be a process of killing the victims.”

Jo Sang-gyu’s face hardened at Park Do-joon’s words.

“Someone will systematically dispose of the bodies as well.”

“Those men?”

“I don’t know.”

It’s actually uncertain whether the criminals they saw at the time would really commit murder.

“But what is certain is that the criminals will continue to commit crimes.”

There’s no way guys who created this system would stop now.

“Looks like we’ll have to do some serious work in the special investigation unit.”

Park Do-joon muttered, handing over the documents.

When a special investigation unit is formed, so-called top dogs all flock to it. And they try to solve the case by any means possible… That’s what people mistakenly believe.

“But the first part is right, and the second part is wrong.”

“…The second part is wrong.”

Lee Ji-soo nodded as if she agreed, as she also had experience in special investigation units.

“It’s always the same.”

“Isn’t it stranger to expect things to go well when you put people who have never met together in the first place? Why do people hate group projects so much?”

Moreover, the special investigation unit is a place where talented people are gathered. And there is something that Koreans never leave out….

“These guys are serial child kidnappers.”

“No. Children are just tools, so they must be female rapists.”

“They’ll kidnap the child first. We have to stop that first.”

“You can kidnap a woman even without a child. So, we need to shift the direction of the investigation towards female victims.”

A situation where they raise their voices and shout at the top of their lungs.

“What a mess.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue as he watched.

“Senior, aren’t you being a bit too much?”

“What?”

“I know that profiling can be different depending on the perspective, but this… the conclusions are too different.”

Lee Ji-soo said this because the situation unfolding now was happening among profilers, not ordinary police officers.

Once profiling comes out, frontline police officers start the investigation according to that direction, so the first thing to do is to analyze the criminals and determine the direction.

“But um, their skills seem to be similar to yours, Senior.”

“I guess so.”

Park Do-joon participated as the discoverer of the case, but the profilers raising their voices there were all top-notch profilers.

“No, the analysis results are the same as yours, Senior, but why are the directions all different?”

Some prioritize children, some prioritize women, and some prioritize vehicles, so the direction of the investigation is all different.

“This is a misogynistic crime. This case is an attack on women!”

In a situation where everything is going haywire, even nonsensical nonsense. And Lee Ji-soo tilted her head as if she didn’t understand, watching that.

“This doesn’t seem like a misogynistic crime.”

One profiler had been constantly getting angry, claiming it was misogyny, so Lee Ji-soo couldn’t help but tilt her head.

“Ah, that person? They’re going to enter politics soon, so that’s why.”

“Pardon?”

“They’re going to resign from a certain party soon and run for office. The rumors are already widespread.”

“Ah, the election isn’t far away. But why….”

“That party’s tone is a bit… that way.”

“They’re already following that even before they start?”

“This time it’s proportional representation [a system where parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them]. Usually, they don’t give proportional representation twice, so if they want to receive a nomination for a local constituency next time, they have to suck up to them from now on.”

“Do they abandon their beliefs like that?”

“Rather than abandoning their beliefs, they don’t realize that their beliefs are being tainted.”

Park Do-joon scratched his head. Profilers must maintain their own center well. If they lean, the results will also lean.

“The same goes for that person.”

They certainly have a lot of experience and have accumulated achievements to the point where they can be respected as a profiler, but their own standards are leaning, and in the future, they will end up being nothing.

In the end, they couldn’t get a nomination for a local constituency as a politician and couldn’t return to the police force. Only then did they realize it and try to find a professor position, but each university was extremely reluctant to hire them because they had been actively involved with a specific party.

In fact, there wouldn’t have been a problem if they had just worked as a member of the National Assembly. But they claimed to be a profiler and arbitrarily analyzed the opposing party’s members, and even those analyses were all wrong, so everyone had no choice but to refuse.

“Let’s start by searching for the vehicle.”

“Why search for that! It’ll be a stolen car anyway.”

“Shouldn’t we at least check the route? Where they’re setting up.”

“Aren’t those guys not even the main culprits anyway? They’re working for someone, so does it matter?”

“No, then what are we supposed to do?”

“Since it’s a misogynistic crime, we should investigate the female victims first. Those guys wouldn’t just kidnap anyone off the street, would they? We need to find the commonalities!”

“It’s probably true that they’re picking targets off the street. Geographically, places with women in their early to mid-twenties are either universities or business complexes. So, they probably chose from there. So, we need to check around universities or companies.”

“No, how many places like that are there!”

“We need to find out where the kidnappings are taking place first!”

A literal dogfight continued. Jo Sang-gyu, who had been watching that spectacle, couldn’t stand it any longer and raised his voice.

“Stop it. When are we going to decide on a direction if we keep fighting like this?”

“You’re just a young punk!”

“Just a mere police officer!”

Even Jo Sang-gyu, who had plenty of experience, was dismissed because of his rank. In the end, that situation continued throughout the morning… and after lunch, Park Do-joon went to Jo Sang-gyu.

“Team Leader, we’re going somewhere else.”

“You know you’re assigned to this special investigation unit, right?”

“That’s true. But honestly, we’re not getting anywhere. This will take two or three days.”

“Ugh, the media got a hold of it…”

After the media got a hold of it, too many guys are showing interest as if it’s becoming a hot issue. In other words, if they do well here, they might get a nomination, so they are unconsciously focusing on self-promotion rather than the direction of the investigation.

“What do you think? Do you know where the criminal is?”

“I don’t know. The whole country is the area of the crime.”

“I see. Then I don’t know where to start.”

We need to know where the criminals are located to start the investigation in that area, but that’s the problem. But Park Do-joon said something unexpected to Jo Sang-gyu.

“Even if we track the victims, nothing will come out. It’s probably true that they picked targets off the street.”

What they demand from the target is a suitable appearance, not intellectual ability or genetic information. So, it’s probably true that they chose the appearance off the street.

“I guess so. That’s something everyone agrees on.”

“But no one is thinking about the witness.”

“Witness?”

“Senior, why the witness?”

“Of course. They have to prevent reporting.”

“What?”

“No, well… it is a bit special.”

Park Do-joon scratched his head without realizing it. Certainly, most profiling techniques are developed for criminals. It’s only at the point where Park Do-joon and some others are applying profiling to victims.

But a witness, not even a person involved in the case?

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple. If something goes wrong and the surroundings become noisy, people try to solve it. But what’s the best way?”

They are fighting over a personal issue, adultery, but you can’t just jump in and tell them not to fight. And in that case, they can just put the frame of an adulterous man on him, like they did with Park Do-joon.

“Certainly, women don’t get involved in that fight.”

First of all, women’s personalities tend to avoid such disputes, and it feels bad to jump into a fight and side with a woman when a child is crying and looking for their mother.

Because the child catches their eye.

“So, they can’t get involved… then what do they do next?”

“Do you think they’ll call the police?”

“That’s right, usually.”

“No, they dug a trap like that?”

“That’s right. They dug a trap. But what we must not forget is that even if there is a fight over adultery, if that fight continues, customers will eventually stop coming.”