My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 550

‘Peninsula Hero’ had a very simple plot: gangsters from the neighborhood repented and found redemption as heroes of national salvation. It was a ridiculous concept from 20 years ago, and it wasn’t even an original work or a Korean original. It was based on a Chinese work called ‘Continent Hero.’

“Right, I remember. I heard they mobilized a lot of real gangsters to bring it to life.”

Jo Sang-gyu seemed to remember something and then flinched.

“There must have been a lot of makeup work involved in that film.”

Since they couldn’t actually stage real fights and injuries between gangsters, the makeup artists had to spend dozens of hours applying makeup to them.

I heard that Korea’s representative zombie movie had dozens of makeup artists working on the zombies’ makeup for countless hours.

Makeup takes longer than you think.

“But why would a makeup artist help a criminal?”

“Because it’s hard to make a living. Look at the movies that are being released these days. How many Korean movies are there?”

“Not many, I guess.”

There aren’t many Korean movies being released these days.

“And the investment has decreased a lot.”

There was a time when blockbuster movies were pouring out in Korea. But as the economy worsened and investment shrank, many of those movies naturally disappeared.

Competing with a massive American blockbuster made with 100 billion won [approximately $75 million USD] with a budget of 30 billion won [approximately $22.5 million USD] was not a fair game.

As a result, investment in blockbusters has decreased, and most of the investment in Korean movies is now focused on comedy or romance.

The reason why they made ‘Continent Hero,’ a Chinese original, was because China didn’t have the ability to make the work themselves. So, they made it in Korea with investment from China and aimed to make a profit by selling it in China.

However, apart from China, there were a lot of complaints, so it flopped in Korea.

“Anyway, people will start looking for ways to survive in order to make a living.”

“You don’t mean…?”

“Right. Is it illegal to ask for necessary makeup when needed, if you’re not asking them to kill someone?”

Of course, it’s not illegal. Of course, they could really become accomplices and commit crimes.

‘But if I remember correctly, that wasn’t the case.’

The makeup artist who did the makeup received 1 million won [approximately $750 USD] per session. Of course, he didn’t know where the makeup was being used.

It would be an irresistible offer for a makeup artist who needs money. It’s hard to imagine that they would use the makeup to commit fraud or kidnapping.

‘Fortunately, I remember that.’

Of course, I don’t know who the makeup artist is because it wasn’t my case. But I know that the reason why that person was involved with the criminal organization was because they met through the movie ‘Peninsula Hero.’

“So, shouldn’t we ask about ‘Peninsula Hero’?”

‘Peninsula Hero’ didn’t hire many makeup artists, and if Park Do-joon’s memory is correct, it was a man. So, the odds are even lower.

“That’s not difficult. Can we find the culprit that way?”

“At least they’ll tell them to come to a place close to them, right?”

“I guess so.”

Lee Ji-soo also nodded. They’re not nice enough to go and do makeup for them.

“We’ll get something out of looking into that.”

And that was the starting point of the chase.

The film company hasn’t gone bankrupt yet. It’s true that ‘Peninsula Hero’ flopped miserably in Korea, but it was originally made for China, and they actually succeeded in making a lot of money there.

And they didn’t refuse when the police asked for cooperation.

“No matter how I listen to it, it sounds like Mr. Im Mu-tae.”

The staff member in charge of filming at the time answered the police’s question.

“Mr. Im Mu-tae?”

“Yes, he’s a makeup artist, but well, his skills are just so-so.”

“Is there a reason why you think it’s him? Didn’t you use other people?”

“We did.”

You can’t make a movie without a makeup artist.

“Then what about Mr. Im Tae-mu?”

“He’s a temporary hire.”

When a large-scale violence scene is filmed, the three or four makeup artists who usually cover only some of the actors can never handle the workload. Furthermore, due to the nature of the movie, which requires not only simple makeup but also realistic blood splattering and stabbing effects, the collaboration between makeup artists and special effects experts is absolutely necessary at that point, and it takes more time.

“Mr. Im Tae-mu is a person who was hired only for that day. As I said just now, his skills are a bit so-so.”

He doesn’t have great skills, but he’s not so bad that we don’t avoid using him.

“But why?”

“Well… actresses don’t usually like male makeup artists.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

Male actors won’t care if the makeup artist is male or female. But some actresses care if the makeup artist is male.

‘The film company has to save money.’

There’s no reason to spend money to hire male and female makeup artists separately. If their skills are similar, it’s better to hire only female makeup artists to cover other actors in case of emergency.

“Honestly, makeup artists aren’t cheap.”

It’s not just simple makeup; they have to disguise them so that people around them can’t recognize them. Furthermore, they have to make sure that they don’t look strange. But people will never work for a low price.

“So, from our point of view, it’s better to just use female makeup artists.”

“But Im Tae-mu did the makeup for the gangsters.”

“Yes.”

Anyway, the gangsters are all men, and they don’t care if a man does their makeup.

“And honestly, other female makeup artists refused.”

“I understand.”

From a woman’s point of view, it’s not comfortable for them to do makeup for rough, active gangsters.

They’ll definitely try to make fun of the other person by saying all sorts of dirty words, threats, and obscene jokes.

Professionalism? Would a guy with that kind of thing be wasting his life as a gangster?

“Anyway, I haven’t seen him since then.”

The staff member said that he hadn’t seen Im Tae-mu since then.

‘It’s as I remember.’

He met the gangsters because of the movie, and after that, the gangsters seemed to like him and often called him to do their makeup.

That’s what Im Tae-mu said when he was arrested in my memory.

“Then do you know where Mr. Im Tae-mu is?”

“I don’t know the address, but I know his contact information. Shall I give it to you?”

“Yes, give it to me right away. I don’t have time.”

Park Do-joon was in a hurry.

Im Tae-mu looked quite surprised when he saw the picture.

“This… I did this makeup.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, well… they said it was for a play, but…”

“But?”

“No, the makeup fee is so expensive for that play…”

Im Tae-mu was looking around. He probably didn’t know that the makeup he did was used for a crime. The incident has been made public. However, the officially released information is that the crime was committed by one old man and two young men, and there is no information about makeup being used in the process.

Park Do-joon is the only one who is tracking the makeup, and the rest are convinced that there were guys watching around the victims and are searching.

Of course, they’ll be carrying pictures taken from CCTV, so no one will be able to find them.

“Then do you know anything about those people?”

“Uh, well…”

Im Tae-mu was flustered and couldn’t say anything. And Park Do-joon said to Im Tae-mu in a heavy voice.

“I’m at the point where I believe you don’t know now. You didn’t know it would be used for a crime, so it’s not illegal to do the makeup. But if you keep your mouth shut here, you’ll be an accessory.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Im Tae-mu hurriedly opened his mouth.

“I really didn’t know. They just asked me to do makeup for four people and said they’d give me some money.”

“Four people?”

“Yes. Two women and two men.”

At that, Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened. Two women and two men. Perhaps the other woman is the one who doesn’t play the role of the grandmother.

“The other woman doesn’t usually wear makeup, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. They just asked me to teach them how to do pretty makeup.”

‘I don’t even have to look.’

Her role is to get information, act as a speaker in the area, and control people. To do that, a handsome appearance is more effective than an alert, ugly appearance.

People say to treat them equally, but pursuing handsome people is an innate genetic trait, and that genetic trait doesn’t disappear just because you treat them equally.

So, there are a lot of ridiculous situations where people trust handsome scammers more than ugly, genuinely nice people.

“Then do you know any information about those four people?”

“That’s…”

Im Tae-mu was silent for a moment at those words. But in the end, he decided to tell the truth. If he stayed like this, he would end up taking all the blame.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes, I met them through an introduction, and they agreed to give me 1 million won [approximately $750 USD] at a time on the condition that I didn’t ask any questions…”

“You don’t even know what they’re going to do with it?”

“Yes, they just said they were preparing for a play.”

He probably didn’t ask any more questions. It’s not difficult to do that kind of makeup. He was already having a hard time making a living, and 1 million won was definitely not a small amount of money.

Of course, he would have reported it if he knew they were going to commit an inhumane crime, but since they said they were doing a play, he had no choice but to think so.

“You don’t know where they’re doing the play?”

“Not at all. They hired me on the condition that I didn’t ask about that in the first place.”

That was expected. So, I wasn’t particularly disappointed.

‘But they can’t help but make mistakes.’

The most typical example is getting makeup done somewhere. If they came here, it would be difficult to track them. But it’s unlikely that they came here.

“Then where do those guys get their makeup done?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think they came here to get makeup, did they?”

This place is deserted and difficult to get around. Because you can’t make a living with just makeup, you often do special effects as well.

But you can’t store the many pieces of equipment that go into special effects in the middle of an expensive city. So, those warehouses and offices are usually located in a quiet place.

Since they have to take it to the movie filming location later, there’s no reason to go to the city center while paying a lot of money.

“Anyway, there must be a place where they go to get makeup done for those four people?”

Of course, if he’s really smart, he’ll mislead us about that place to confuse the investigation.

‘But humans often make that mistake when they’re careless.’

What I think, others will think too. That kind of mistake happens often. In particular, there are many cases where a competent superior expects that from his subordinates and then is dumbfounded when things go wrong later.

“There’s a place I go to often.”

“Where is it?”

“Anju-dong.”

“Anju-dong?”

“Yes, I often did it there.”

“When you say often…?”

“Sometimes it’s once every two days, and sometimes it’s once every four days when it’s short.”

Park Do-joon’s face turned strange at those words.

Anju-dong, a familiar name. And makeup that was done much more often than they thought.

‘What is it?’

It meant that something they didn’t know was happening in Anju-dong, so Park Do-joon couldn’t take those words lightly.

“Tell me in detail.”