My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 566

“Was the money found in the motel?”

“Huh? Uh? Aha!”

Actually, the money wasn’t found in the motel.

“Where would they hide the money?”

“They’d have to keep it somewhere outside.”

You can’t just deposit a large sum of cash like that in a bank. It’s strong evidence of criminal activity. But if they left it at the motel, the Chinese guys would definitely want to steal it.

“Logically, those guys wouldn’t be following them just to push them around.”

They would have been following them for the money, and the Koreans would know that.

“Wait, then where’s the money?”

“It must be somewhere outside.”

The problem is figuring out where that money is.

“Could they have buried it?”

“Unlikely.”

They don’t have a vehicle, and they don’t have a shovel either.

“Besides, it’s ridiculous to think they’d each move separately and bury it in different places.”

Moreover, it’s not their land, and there’s always the chance someone might dig it up. And wouldn’t the Chinese gang members consider that? They’d probably dig up the whole area the very next day.

“It’s also hard to imagine they entrusted it to someone.”

“That’s true.”

They’ve been disowned by their families, and they’re not the type to trust their families enough to entrust them with this kind of money.

“So, we have to track it down.”

“Hmm, but we have no idea where it is.”

“A place accessible by bus. A place anyone can easily approach. But a place they can’t rashly approach.”

“That sounds contradictory.”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head, looking confused.

“If you think about it, there might be such a place. And it needs to have a certain amount of space. That’s necessary to store the money.”

“Cash wouldn’t take up much space, so space isn’t really an issue.”

“We even have to add the condition that it’s a place the Chinese can’t easily access.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Fortunately, the Chinese mobsters meticulously tracked where they went, probably because they wanted to seize the money by any means.

“Then we should exclude restaurants.”

“Yes, we should exclude those.”

Restaurants are meaningless. It’s not a place to store money, and there’s no reason to protect the money if it’s placed in such a location.

“It’s not like they went outside the city either.”

Lee Ji-soo continued to check the records.

“Check for places without addresses.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean places without an exact address or business name. I said it before, right? They’d use a place the Chinese crime organization can’t easily go.”

“Oh, then?”

With that, the list of investigation targets was greatly reduced. That’s because the Chinese mobsters were meticulously following them, as Park Do-joon said, with the aim of seizing the money.

“This place is strange.”

Inbong Town, an officetel [a building with both offices and residences] on the outskirts of the city.

“If you look here, Song An-nyeo regularly went there.”

However, it doesn’t say where she went in Inbong Town or why she went there.

“Inbong Town, huh……”

At those words, Park Do-joon went online and checked the location. The lower floors were shops, and the upper floors were officetels.

“It seems like just anyone can’t enter here.”

“That’s right.”

To enter, you have to go through the front door, and to enter the front door, you need a password or a key card.

“No matter how secretly they follow, there’s no way to get around that.”

Even if they somehow sneak in when someone else enters, there’s no way to know which floor they’re going to or where they’re going, so even if the mobsters enter, they can’t get to the money.

“They’d put the money in an apartment?”

“That happens more often than you think.”

If the security is tight, it’s impossible to enter from the outside.

“That’s even more true for officetels.”

These commercial-residential officetels generally have tighter security than regular officetels. This is because they share the lower part, so they pay more attention to safety.

“It’s not like you can climb the walls to get in.”

Therefore, no matter how skilled a thief you are, you can’t enter these officetels.

“If you properly block the entrance, it’s almost impossible to break in.”

“Aha!”

So, it’s not strange to use such a place as a safe.

“Besides, this place is cheap.”

“Cheap?”

“It’s a typical failed new city development.”

They built shops and buildings like crazy, so surprisingly, many officetels remain vacant. Especially these officetels on the outskirts.

“Look at the street view online.”

The first-floor shops are completely empty. If the first-floor shops are empty, not the second or third floors, it means the commercial district is completely dead. And to become such a dead space, there must be almost no one living there.

“If there are no people around, it’s easy to spot strangers.”

So, it’s a great place to hide money. Even if someone comes and asks to open the door, the security office won’t open it.

“Why wasn’t this caught?”

“Would they have rented it under their own name?”

Of course, there’s nothing in the computer records, so the police couldn’t track it.

“But then it would be impossible to track from here.”

It’s not like there’s only one or two apartments in Anbong Town, and the court won’t issue a warrant to search the entire Anbong Town.

“Don’t worry. There’s still a way.”

“How?”

“A unit that doesn’t pay electricity and water bills?”

“Yes.”

“There are quite a few of those.”

The management office of Anbong Town said with a reluctant face. They had no choice. It was like admitting that the building was mostly empty.

“It’s not just about not paying electricity and water bills, but a place that pays the minimum.”

“The minimum?”

“Yes, please exclude places that don’t pay at all or consume a certain amount.”

“Hmm.”

At those words, the manager nodded.

“Can it be specified like this?”

“It should be.”

If it’s a completely empty unit, they won’t pay the management fee. Even if they do, the owner will pay it. Conversely, if people live there, they can’t not pay at all. There’s a minimum amount of consumption.

“But if the criminals rented it, it’s a different story.”

It’s clear that rent is being paid, but since no one will be living there, the electricity and water bills will naturally be almost at the level of an empty unit.

“Ah, and that management fee won’t be an automatic transfer.”

They’ll have to pay only in cash, so of course, it won’t be a bank transfer but cash.

“And it’s likely to be on a high floor.”

For security, it’s good to have a high floor. That way, people can’t enter from the outside.

“Ah, and there won’t be any registered vehicles either.”

This is a more serious problem than you think. First of all, almost no one these days doesn’t have a car. Moreover, this place is on the outskirts of the city. So, public transportation is a bit inconvenient. There’s a difference between having a car and not using it and relying solely on public transportation. The criminals clearly didn’t have a car, so there’s no reason to register a vehicle.

“Oh, then……”

The manager checked the records on the computer and said, tilting his head.

“It seems like room 1005?”

“Room 1005?”

“Yes, that’s the only place that fits the conditions.”

There are many people who don’t do automatic transfers for management fees, but there are almost no people who haven’t even registered a vehicle, and among them, the only place where electricity and water bills are almost non-existent despite the rent being paid is that place.

“Can we open that unit?”

“Ehe. That’s difficult……”

No matter how much authority the management office has, as long as there’s a separate owner, they can’t open that unit.

“Then you know the contact information of the homeowner.”

“I know.”

“Can you contact them?”

“No, it’s hard. I manage buildings, so I know a bit about the law.”

Once you give a lease, from that moment on, the homeowner can’t enter the unit at will. Of course, even if the homeowner allows access, the police can’t just break down the door and enter.

“Ah, of course, I understand.”

Park Do-joon knew that too, so he didn’t expect to go in right away.

“But it’s possible to know the contact information of the contractor.”

Park Do-joon smiled slyly.

When writing a contract, you generally have to put in your phone number. Of course, you have to put in things like your resident registration number.

“I’ve confirmed it.”

Of course, the real estate agent checks it with a resident registration card or driver’s license. And in fact, it’s rumored that those can be easily forged.

Even kids order them online and use them to buy alcohol or cigarettes.

“It’s a dead person?”

“Yes.”

Fear settled on the homeowner’s face. The person they contracted with is a dead person.

“And here’s a warrant.”

Even if the criminals steal someone’s identity to sign a contract, they have no choice but to use their own phone number. They have to be able to receive calls when problems arise. And as expected, the phone number the owner had was Song An-nyeo’s phone number.

It wasn’t difficult to get a warrant based on that.

“Let’s go in.”

With a warrant issued, the procedure of opening the door is a matter of course. The homeowner nodded.

They called a locksmith and started breaking the locking device.

Creak~!

The sound of the door opening was heard… and when we went inside, all we saw was an empty space. And four safes in that space.

“A safe……”

It’s obvious that what’s inside is money.

“How much was the monthly rent here?”

“A deposit of 10 million won [approximately $7,500 USD] and a monthly rent of 700,000 won [approximately $525 USD].”

At that rate, it wouldn’t have been a burden for four people to pool their money.

“Can you open this?”

“Well, it takes a long time, but it’s not difficult.”

Fortunately, opening the safe wasn’t difficult. They have to break it to open it, but it doesn’t matter since the warrant has been issued.

Whirr, a sound was heard, and after a while, the door opened. And from inside came a huge wad of cash.

“This… it’s at least over 200 million won [approximately $150,000 USD]?”

Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened when she saw it. They were clearly estimating that nine people had been kidnapped and were receiving 10 million won per person. But the money found looked to be over 200 million won.

“There might be crimes we don’t know about, and there’s a high possibility they did other dirty work.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue as he looked at it.

“The important thing is that we now have evidence.”

Moreover, since it’s a high-security officetel, CCTV is installed, and it’s not impossible to prove the crime with that video.

Kidnapping and murder.

The media was shocked by the fact that it was led by a small number of Koreans and a large number of Chinese. Initially, China tried to claim that the wrong crime was being pinned on the Chinese, but after negotiating as Park Do-joon said, there were no more stories.

The criminals tried hard to deny it, but the Chinese, in turn, began to testify collectively that they were murderers, and when a large amount of cash was found, they couldn’t escape the crime.

And what was turned upside down when the crime was revealed was none other than Wang Woo-hwan.

“You have to help me.”

“What? Me? Are you crazy? You know what you’ve done!”

It was Hong Woo-jong who was supplied with women from Wang Woo-hwan. That’s why he didn’t care much about the kidnapping.

Profiler