My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 574

“So, how’s the case progressing?”

It’s the most recent dine-and-dash incident. Naturally, if there’s any progress, it should start here.

“Well, it’s just one bowl of ramen and a serving of rice…”

“That’s not the point. I’m saying there’s no information. We don’t even know where they went.”

“Weren’t there any CCTVs around?”

“Are we going to pull CCTV footage for a petty thief? Besides, there aren’t any CCTVs there. It’s a rural backwater.”

Park Do-joon sighed at the grimacing female officer.

‘Going there won’t be any help.’

There’s no point in asking for cooperation from people who don’t do their jobs and are just annoyed. If I take them along, they’ll just complain and won’t cooperate properly.

“Just give us the address. We’ll go find it ourselves.”

At those words, the female officer quickly wrote down the address as if she was annoyed, then took out her book and started studying again.

“This is too much.”

“That’s reality.”

Park Do-joon could only offer a bitter smile. This is the reality of the Korean police force, and the reason why there’s an absolute shortage of personnel.

“Still, this is too much.”

“It’s just a petty thief.”

A petty thief to the point where there’s no reason to investigate. Moreover, the damage is said to be 21,000 won, but that’s based on the retail price. Considering the cost price, ramen is about 1,000 won per bowl, and a serving of rice is about 300 won at best, so the damage is about 3,900 won based on cost price. So, from the police’s point of view, it’s a trivial case, and catching them won’t improve their performance evaluation.

“How can crimes be solved when the police are like this?”

“Reality is always painful.”

Park Do-joon smiled bitterly and headed to the vehicle, then went to the location where the incident occurred. He surveyed the area first. The first thing to do in profiling is to examine the terrain of the area. The criminal’s current state of mind changes depending on the terrain.

“What do you think?”

“It’s true that there are no CCTVs.”

A rather quiet road. There aren’t many houses around either. The place selling ramen is more like a simple diner than a proper restaurant.

“It’s definitely a location where they can easily hide themselves.”

“But something’s different. Subtly.”

“What is it?”

“It’s too quiet.”

“Too quiet?”

“Yeah.”

Park Do-joon looked around and said.

“The criminals have been mainly in urban areas, not these quiet places.”

“Wait a minute. Oh, come to think of it.”

That was true. They had been moving around and hiding, but it wasn’t in completely desolate places.

Usually, it was in city-level urban areas, or at least in towns the size of counties.

“But here, unlike before, it’s too desolate.”

It’s not even a small town, just a simple diner by the side of the road.

It’s more like a small convenience store that also serves ramen.

“And they came down here.”

“Why did they come down here?”

“I wonder? Why would they do that?”

To hide, urban areas are surprisingly safer than quiet places. Because in the city, people aren’t interested in others. Knowing that, they would have moved around in urban areas.

“And it’s easy to escape in the city.”

“That’s true.”

There are many customers and people around in the city. If you go to a restaurant, there are many customers, so there are many people to serve, and there’s a high possibility that the staff won’t pay attention to them, making it easy to escape.

Also, because there are many people, it’s virtually impossible to chase them if they blend in.

“But not here.”

According to the report, there were no other customers besides those three. And in a place like this, it’s not easy to escape because there are no other people around. Of course, the owner is an elderly woman, and it would be difficult for her to chase after them, but instead, it’s a sufficient location for someone to track them. It’s easy to identify them because there are no obstacles around.

“Do dine-and-dashers even think about that?”

“They have to, it depends on the situation. I told you, there are two types of dine-and-dashers: those with money and those without.”

“You did.”

“There’s no reason to think deeply about those without money.”

They’re just hungry, so they fill their stomachs. That’s their thought process. In this situation, instinct takes precedence over reason or judgment. So, there’s not much to profile about this type.

“It mostly happens around their homes, so it’s not easy to track them.”

In fact, the police or locals often know these people. So, they either don’t accept them as customers or give them food out of pity.

“On the other hand, the emotions of dine-and-dashers with money aren’t just about saving money. It’s about adventure.”

“Adventure?”

“Yeah, so-called bravado, adventure, and a condescending sense of superiority. And thrill.”

Some people enjoy thrills. And those guys want to enjoy that thrill in a limited space like a restaurant.

“In other words, for them, dine-and-dashing is like a game between themselves and the owner.”

If they win, they save money, and if they lose, they just cough up the bill they were supposed to pay anyway. It’s an unfair game.

“So, as you said, the targets of such dine-and-dashing change to expensive foods.”

“Hmm.”

“But the really expensive foods don’t get dine-and-dashed.”

“Why?”

“The possibility of the other party refusing to accept it increases dramatically.”

For example, the owners of Chinese restaurants or Korean stew restaurants are busy with their daily lives, so they don’t want to go back and forth to the police station, and they don’t want to lose business during that time. So, even if the police catch the dine-and-dasher, they just receive the money and drop the charges.

“Dine-and-dashers who enjoy thrills know that.”

That’s why they play around in such places. At most, it’s a seafood restaurant.

“On the other hand, what about really expensive restaurants?”

“They have the *余裕* [leeway/resources], so there’s no burden.”

“That’s right.”

Police station? They can go themselves or send a lawyer.

Money? They don’t have to accept that money.

They can sue and get it back later. For the rich, lawsuits are more about punishing those who have offended their pride than about getting money back.

“There’s a difference between someone running a 6,000 won *짜장면* [Jajangmyeon, black bean noodles] place and a famous chef running a 500,000 won per person restaurant.”

“So, this is just a matter of instinct because they were really hungry.”

“That’s right. So, what does that mean?”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Lee Ji-soo shook her head.

“I don’t know that far yet.”

“It’s simple. They were hiding around here.”

“Huh? Ah!”

They’re hungry. In other words, they ate out of instinct.

“And according to the testimony here, they ate very quickly and ran away.”

And the police just wrote that they were in a hurry and tried to run away. But surprisingly, the guys who really plan to run away are leisurely.

They don’t eat in a hurry, but slowly and leisurely to create a situation where they can eat and run. It’s not a survival game, but a psychological game.

“Eating in a hurry means one of two things, or maybe both.”

They were either desperately hungry or had to run away quickly.

“Both?”

“Yeah, why were they so hungry? There’s no such content in the previous reports.”

There was no mention of eating in a hurry before. It suddenly happened this time. In fact, looking at the scenes of them running away, they didn’t seem to be eating in a hurry, but rather watching for a chance to run away while eating moderately.

“It seems like their behavior pattern has completely changed. Why?”

Of course, there’s no video here, but that’s what the testimony says.

“Why would that be?”

“I think they’re being tracked.”

“Tracked?”

“Yeah, someone must be very close. So, they barely escaped.”

“So, they came down to the countryside? No, I understand that. But how do we track those people? We can’t even track them.”

“Isn’t that obvious? What did I say?”

At those words, Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened.

“The police might help. They don’t know what they did.”

“That’s right.”

“But how?”

Tracking is impossible. Generally speaking.

“They don’t have money, they’re using a ghost car [unregistered vehicle], and they won’t use a card, will they?”

Lee Ji-soo frowned. Park Do-joon also frowned at that thought. Tracking is impossible. Generally speaking.

“But there’s one more place where tracking is possible.”

“There’s one more place where tracking is possible?”

“Yeah, and then it makes sense why they’re moving around.”

The guys running away probably don’t know why they’re being tracked, so they’ll have no choice but to run away. It’ll be maddening if an organization member pops out when they’re about to settle down and rest.

“Then it makes sense why they eat in a hurry and sleep in the car.”

“There’s a way to track them that precisely?”

Lee Ji-soo was dumbfounded at those words. As far as she knew, even the police couldn’t do that easily.

“It wouldn’t work anywhere else. But the fire station can.”

“Fire station… Ah! Emergency cell phone tracking!”

Only then did Lee Ji-soo realize. Originally, the emergency cell phone tracking system was prioritized for the fire department over the police. In the past, in order for the police to use the system, they had to request cooperation from the fire department to the police agency, and then track them, which delayed the tracking, and there were many cases where victims died or suicides occurred in the meantime, which caused a lot of controversy.

“Now the police are tracking them too, but in fact, the fire department has priority.”

But surprisingly, many people are careless about the fire department tracking them. Because the fire department has a much better image than other professions, and people believe that they won’t do it unless it’s a really urgent situation.

“But there’s always a bastard everywhere.”

Depending on the workplace, there may be ten bastards or one, but there can’t be no bastards in society.

“But Daehan Glory is in the construction business, right? But how are gangsters and firefighters related?”

“There are a lot of connections between construction and fire fighting. Everyone just doesn’t know it.”

As soon as a building is newly built, a fire protection system must be installed, and fire-related equipment is expensive and strict. For example, even the wall interior materials must be non-combustible, and the price difference between combustible and non-combustible materials is three times.

“Recently, a building was turned upside down.”

Originally, there are prescribed rules and sizes for fire pipes, but as a result of investigating the building, the pipes were substandard, which caused a stir.

The problem is that it had already been legally permitted and people were living there. So, who gave that permission?

“A fire-related public official.”

“The fire-related public officials we know are clearly important and outstanding people.”

They jump into the fire to save people and prevent disasters while sacrificing themselves in dangerous moments. But the public officials who inspect or confirm behind them are just typical public officials.”