My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 55

“However, I don’t think these guys are enough.”

“That’s right. These small fries are just….”

They may be the ones in charge of employee evaluations or able to give recommendations, but in the end, they are just cogs in the machine.

The information they can bring is extremely limited.

“But the Secretary’s Office is a different story.”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi tends to use young people as his chief of staff, knowing that he himself is not young. He sees it as a way to keep the company modern and adaptable.

In fact, if that weren’t the case, it would be impossible for Kang Do-wook, who is relatively young, to have attained the position of chief of staff.

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? Don’t you know that even a hundred of these guys are less valuable than one person in the Secretary’s Office? And it’s not just any employee, it’s the chief of staff. And you’re telling me to give that up? Are you serious?”

That’s impossible. The information that managers and department heads bring is predictable.

Information should be judged by quality, not quantity. This is a chance to climb the ladder, even if it’s a risky one. I can’t miss this.

“So, just focus on climbing up.”

“But….”

To do that, sacrifices are necessary. Not only the sacrifices of those who pushed him, but also the sacrifice of the spy within. But the man said firmly.

“You don’t have to worry about that. All you need to worry about is how to become the chief of staff. We can always bring the fired guys back to our company anyway.”

“I understand.”

“Do whatever it takes. Just become the chief of staff.”

If that happens, all of Hyunseong’s information will be ours. And if that happens, it’s an opportunity to devour Hyunseong.

The man didn’t want to miss that opportunity.

***

“Huh? Is this true?”

“Since the evidence is attached, I don’t think we can deny it.”

“There were this many? Unbelievable.”

Chairman Bae Deok-gi received the report shortly after. The report contained evidence of irregularities committed by high-ranking executives, as well as a list of people suspected of being spies.

“Chief Choi, since when have we become so easy to take advantage of?”

“I’m sorry. It’s my lack of ability that caused this.”

“No, it’s my fault for relying too much on the former chief of staff.”

The former chief of staff was a very capable person.

He could make things happen, even if they seemed impossible.

“But after he died… Haa!”

Of course, it’s not that Bae Deok-gi’s abilities are lacking. But no matter how good the engine is, it won’t work if the gears that transmit the power to the wheels are faulty.

“Still, it took you some time to fix it.”

It’s no wonder that all sorts of shady dealings happened in the meantime.

“Detective Park Do-joon told me, ‘Corruption is not something to be eliminated, but something to be prevented.’”

“Prevented… That’s not wrong.”

Bae Deok-gi bit his lip. If there are this many spies among the lower and upper ranks, there must be quite a few spies who have risen to the real core.

“Bring Detective Park Do-joon here.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Chief Choi immediately contacted Park Do-joon.

Park Do-joon headed to Hyunseong Group as soon as his working hours were over.

Chairman Bae Deok-gi handed him the report without saying a word, and Park Do-joon smiled as he examined it.

“More than I thought.”

“Yes, more than I thought.”

“So, this is the data that Kang Do-wook brought?”

“Yes.”

“Then the credibility is certain.”

Jin Do Group must have provided the victims to Kang Do-wook in order to help him move up.

“But they’re probably small fries. Well, there may be some fairly big guys mixed in, but most of them probably don’t have access to much key information, even within the spy network.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Human thinking is predictable.”

They try to minimize losses, and if losses are unavoidable, they try to get rid of the guys who are not helpful.

“Maybe these people are spies, but also not spies.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“They are spies not voluntarily, but by coercion. In other words, they are people who are spying under duress.”

“So, what’s the difference? They’re still traitors.”

Park Do-joon shook his head at Bae Deok-gi’s words.

“Of course, that’s how the victims see it. But I’m a profiler, and I have to think from the perpetrator’s point of view. And that difference is very big.”

“What do you mean?”

“The information they provide is very unsatisfactory.”

When you’re blackmailed into providing information, will you sincerely provide key information? Of course not.

“In most cases, they only provide information to save face.”

It’s strange to call it saving face, but in reality, they are likely to provide information that is not very valuable.

“And this type has no possibility of betrayal.”

“No possibility of betrayal? They’re already traitors, aren’t they?”

Bae Deok-gi asked back as if he didn’t understand.

Park Do-joon smiled at Bae Deok-gi and said.

“Chairman, what would these guys know even if they found out the truth? Would they know other spies? Or would they know that Kang Do-wook is a spy? Would they even know that the information Kang Do-wook gave was provided by Jin Do Group? No organization provides information like that to someone they forced to betray them.”

“Ah… um… I see.”

They wouldn’t know. They just provided information as they were told from above. And the value of that information must have been unsatisfactory from Jin Do Group’s point of view.

“If we punish them, they will probably think that Kang Do-wook caught them by bad luck during the investigation.”

That’s all they’ll think.

“So, you think there are core spies who are not on this list.”

“Yes, they would have come in with the purpose of being spies from the beginning, like Kang Do-wook.”

Real people dispatched from Jin Do Group. It wouldn’t have been a bad deal for them either. Hyunseong Group is also a large company at a similar level to Jin Do Group, and they must have offered a considerable amount of money as a condition for being a spy.

“So, you’re saying we should just leave these guys alone? Because they’re pitiful?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m just saying that we can ask for leniency. The fact that they were caught with a weakness in the first place is not normal.”

Simply having an affair or committing school violence probably won’t be a significant weakness in this context. A company organization has no reason to say anything about that.

“In the end, the only thing that can be used as a weakness is something that harms the company.”

Like embezzlement or receiving bribes.

“Isn’t receiving bribes common?”

“Of course. Hyunseong is the primary contractor anyway.”

In fact, Haneul Industries doesn’t offer bribes because of the chairman’s help, but other subcontractors have to bow down and take them to hostess bars [establishments where businessmen are entertained by female hosts] even if only a deputy manager from the head office comes.

“But it’s a completely different matter if that’s made public. As you know, there’s a saying, ‘public secret’ [a secret that is widely known but not officially acknowledged].”

“Well… I understand.”

This is a common occurrence, but it’s not something to be proud of. If this is exposed to the outside, Hyunseong’s choice is clear: cut them off and deny knowing anything.

“In fact, the guys who tried to take away Haneul Industries weren’t doing it for the first time, were they?”

Bae Deok-gi smiled bitterly at those words. That was actually the case.

He and Haneul Industries have a personal relationship, so he doesn’t allow it, but it’s common for retirees from the main office to try to swallow up subcontractors.

“From the moment they’re caught with a weakness, their retirement is certain.”

“Well, I understand, but does that mean we haven’t properly eradicated them?”

Bae Deok-gi frowned. Well, he understood. He would have done the same.

“So, I think differently.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who found these people?”

“Wasn’t it Kang Do-wook?”

“Yes, that’s right. But Kang Do-wook didn’t find them alone, did he?”

“That’s… right. Chief Choi, did you assign someone to help him with this?”

“No, I gave him full authority, but I didn’t assign anyone separately.”

Park Do-joon smiled at those words.

“When humans need a scapegoat, they try to maximize their gains. And exposing these large-scale spy suspects brings enormous benefits.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t imagine that Kang Do-wook received this information directly from Jin Do Group. In the end, there’s someone inside who worked with him. And they will naturally be on the fast track for promotion because Kang Do-wook will likely become the chief of staff.”

“Could it be?”

“Yes, from the beginning, I was aiming not for the information they provided, but for the guys who worked with them.”

Does a group like Hyunseong really not have an internal audit team?

Of course, they do. So, the corruption that they didn’t know about for years suddenly pops up because Kang Do-wook investigates?

“That can’t be. No matter how much authority Kang Do-wook has.”

That being said, Kang Do-wook digs up information and provides it alone?

That makes even less sense.

“In the end, someone trustworthy, someone who can help, has to help him.”

Who would help Kang Do-wook in the current situation? Those who extracted information through blackmail have already become targets of betrayal.

So, he must have asked for help from within?

“As you know, internal whistleblowers are viewed very negatively in Korea.”

In the end, even if they knew the secret, the number of people who would report it or help with the investigation is limited.

“So, you’re saying that the people who helped with this are the unknown spies?”

“Yes, that’s right. In the first place, helping with this means that the report goes directly to the chairman. The chairman knowing the name of an employee in an organization is not a simple matter, as the chairman knows.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The chairman remembers an employee’s name.

Then there are two possibilities: either keep them close and use them importantly, or keep them close and screw them over.

“And if their name is on this report and the chairman knows them directly, it can be a huge opportunity for the spies.”

In that situation, Jin Do will probably sacrifice the mediocre spies and try to elevate the real spies they have planted.

Because quality is more important than quantity in this case.

“You were aiming for this from the beginning?”

“Yes, from the beginning, the guys Kang Do-wook would bring would be small fries.”

Moreover, they don’t know that Kang Do-wook is a spy, so there’s no possibility that they will report, ‘Kang Do-wook is actually a spy’.

“Huh?”

Bae Deok-gi had no choice but to be impressed. When he first heard about the possibility of spies from Chief Choi, his first thought was to get rid of Kang Do-wook and punish all the people who gave Kang Do-wook a good performance review.

But Park Do-joon went one step further and made him reveal his informants himself.

The Heavenly Profession is Profiler