My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 595

“A woman going to a place like that alone usually has two purposes.”

First, she wants to meet a man. But in most cases, that’s rare. A woman has many opportunities to meet men, especially someone as pretty as Jo Ah-min.

“The other is to see if she can get a drink… But honestly, there’s not much reason to go there just to get a drink.”

Women who look like her can just make a phone call and have men buy them drinks.

“So, if there’s no reason to go alone, does that mean she has no friends?”

“It means Jo Ah-min has a reason to hide her friends.”

And with the thought that it might be evidence of her innocence, Park Do-joon got up from his seat.

“Let’s move right away. Christmas is coming soon. It’s better to move before they get too busy to deal with us.”

Park Do-joon took Jung Yi-yeon to the emotional pub [a type of bar where people go to meet others and potentially form relationships] where the incident occurred. As expected, the owner was annoyed with Park Do-joon from the start.

“No, we don’t know anything about that. We’ve already handed over all the data…”

“Did you delete the data from that time?”

“Not really…”

“Then we’ll have to check it again.”

“Ugh, really…! Fine.”

He reluctantly took Park Do-joon to the office and played the video. And there, Nam Ji-sung and Jo Ah-min were together. It was the same as the video they had received in advance.

“See? I didn’t manipulate anything. I gave it to the police as is.”

“I see. Then, can we see the entrance footage instead of the exit footage?”

“Entrance footage?”

“Yes.”

Since no police officer had asked for the entrance footage, the owner tilted his head but eventually said, annoyed.

“No, how can I show you when I don’t know when they came in?”

The exit time can be roughly matched because there is a time calculated by the card, but the entrance time is not. You have to check everything from beginning to end until the entrance footage comes out.

“If it’s okay, I’ll check it.”

“Ugh…!”

“If I apply for a warrant now, it might come out during the Christmas season.”

At those words, the owner’s face turned pale. Emotional pubs are busiest during Christmas and New Year’s. But if a warrant comes out, and the rumor spreads, he will lose all that business.

“Ugh, damn it…! Fine. I’m going to prepare for opening, so look for it here or don’t, do whatever you want.”

“Thank you.”

The owner left with a whoosh.

Jung Yi-yeon sat in the seat he had left and asked.

“How are you going to find out when they came in?”

“Well, there’s no other way.”

Park Do-joon shrugged and put his hand on the mouse.

“I have to watch until my eyes fall out.”

After that, Park Do-joon and Jung Yi-yeon stared intently at the monitor for two hours.

“No, didn’t the cops check this?”

“No. What the police need is evidence of guilt, not evidence of innocence.”

“Damn it! I’m a lawyer, but I hate them even more.”

“That’s the job, I guess.”

As Park Do-joon was flipping through the screen, he suddenly stopped.

“Wait. Rewind it.”

“Huh?”

“Just 40 seconds. Oh, yeah. Isn’t that her? Jo Ah-min?”

“Looks like it? The outfit is the same.”

There is a camera, but it’s only at the entrance, and the angle is not to capture people entering but to capture people leaving, so only the back of the head is visible for people entering, but the outfit was definitely Jo Ah-min’s.

“How many people are entering at once? One, two, three, four? Four people are entering at once?”

It wasn’t like standing in a subway and rushing in, but rather a group entering the store together, so it wasn’t difficult to distinguish that they were a group by the way they entered.

“Oppa [term used by a younger woman to address an older brother or close male friend] is right? She really had friends? But why did she hide them?”

“I don’t know.”

Park Do-joon frowned as he looked at it. Then he asked Jung Yi-yeon.

“Did that woman, Jo Ah-min, ever contact you for a settlement or anything after the lawsuit?”

“No.”

“What about her actions after that?”

“She’s going to a psychiatrist and avoiding our contact. She’s drawn a line that there will be no settlement.”

“Hmm, even though the incident has been going on for a while.”

“Yeah.”

Park Do-joon pondered for a while at those words and said.

“So, money isn’t the goal.”

If money was the goal, the settlement amount should have already been discussed in some form.

“But she’s firmly saying there will be no settlement?”

“Yeah.”

Park Do-joon pondered for a while at those words and glanced at the paused screen with her friends. Then he said quietly.

“Then there’s one possibility.”

“What is it?”

“It’s not that she’s not settling, but that she can’t settle.”

“What does that mean? Is someone threatening to kill her if she says she’ll settle?”

“That’s not it. That’s not it.”

Park Do-joon shook his head and said.

“It’s a situation where she shouldn’t settle.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know?”

Park Do-joon said quietly while looking at the screen.

“Now we have to ask those people, right?”

# Reason for the False Accusation

Why wasn’t there any testimony that she came with friends? Why did she have to hide the existence of friends?

Park Do-joon had a hunch about it to some extent.

That’s why he focused on tracking those friends. Fortunately, one of them paid with a card, and it wasn’t impossible to track who it was.

“I have nothing to say about Ah-min’s case.”

Park Do-joon, who went to the place where the friend worked, grabbed her and asked directly.

“It’s true that you went together that day, right?”

At those words, Choi Min-ji, who made the payment that day, didn’t say anything. But just because she didn’t say anything didn’t mean the truth disappeared.

“…….”

“I’ve already checked the account payment history. But why did you come out separately?”

“Sorry, I have nothing to say.”

Choi Min-ji, who was trying to ignore him by turning her head. Jung Yi-yeon said to her.

“That man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. At this rate, his future will be ruined.”

“That’s because he did something wrong…”

Choi Min-ji said that while slightly averting her gaze. Park Do-joon was convinced as he watched her.

‘She knows something.’

And she’s pretending not to know because she knows it’s difficult to say it.

‘Then I have to change my approach.’

Yi-yeon is trying to appeal by talking about Nam Ji-sung’s future, but there’s no reason for that woman, Choi Min-ji, to care about Nam Ji-sung’s future. If she cared about it, she would have made a conscience declaration a long time ago.

‘Then I have to threaten her with something else.’

Park Do-joon suddenly poked at the woman as he looked at her.

“Jo Ah-min must have asked you to keep your mouth shut…”

Choi Min-ji flinched at those words. Park Do-joon was convinced of it and said quietly.

“Don’t you think that’s the price for ruining your future?”

“Yes?”

“Yi-yeon, what’s the punishment for concealing a crime even if you know about it?”

“It’s up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million won [approximately $3,700 USD].”

“Did you hear that?”

Park Do-joon said that and looked at Choi Min-ji.

Choi Min-ji flinched at those words.

“It’s good to keep your mouth shut for your friend. But have you ever thought about whether that friend will be the one to take responsibility for your ruined life later?”

The woman couldn’t say anything at those words.

‘No matter how close you are, it’s still someone else’s life.’

The reason why Choi Min-ji is keeping her mouth shut now is not because she’s really worried about her friend’s life. That feeling is only a small part of it, and the real intention is mostly that she doesn’t want to get involved. That’s why if her life is ruined because of it, most people will open their mouths to save themselves.

“I’m arresting you for concealing a crime.”

Park Do-joon took out handcuffs and approached Choi Min-ji. And at those words, the woman’s face turned red and she looked around.

This is in front of the company. So there are a lot of company employees around right now. But if she’s dragged out of here in handcuffs, everyone will recognize her.

“You’re a lawyer! Stop him!”

Choi Min-ji shouted urgently to Jung Yi-yeon. At those words, Jung Yi-yeon shook her head.

“The right to make an emergency arrest is not illegal.”

“I really don’t know!”

“Well, it doesn’t look like it, so I’m arresting you.”

As Park Do-joon approached with the handcuffs, Choi Min-ji finally gave in.

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I’ll tell you the truth.”

“How can I believe that? Someone who’s trying to conceal a crime right now?”

“No, it’s not that I was trying to conceal it… Please, keep it a secret. Then I’ll tell you everything.”

At those words, Park Do-joon put the handcuffs back in his pocket. Then he asked coldly.

“You better not lie. The funny thing is, perjury is hardly punished in Korea, but concealing a crime is punished quite well.”

Choi Min-ji looked at Jung Yi-yeon without understanding those words.

Then Jung Yi-yeon smiled bitterly and said.

“In the case of perjury in sexual crimes, punishment is rarely given. At most, it’s a fine. But the person who covered it up is likely to get a prison sentence.”

“What?”

Choi Min-ji was dumbfounded at the thought that the perpetrator wouldn’t be properly punished, but only she would be punished.

“So it’s better to tell the truth.”

“I’m going crazy. Let’s go somewhere else and talk. Not here…”

Eventually, the three moved to a quiet cafe where there were no people and started talking.

“Ah-min is getting married soon.”

“As expected.”

“Yes?”

Park Do-joon nodded as if he had expected it, but Jung Yi-yeon didn’t understand and asked back.

“She has someone to marry?”

“Yes.”

What kind of situation is this again?

If this is true, the sentence of 10 years in prison is understandable. But Park Do-joon realized the situation right away when he heard that.

“Bachelorette party… something like that?”

“Yes, actually, it was a bachelorette party that day.”

Bachelorette party.

Depending on the situation, it is called a bachelor party or a bachelorette party, and it refers to having fun before getting married.

To put it nicely, it’s about relieving stress before marriage, but to put it badly, there are often parties in the way that there will be no chance to have fun after marriage, so let’s have fun once before marriage.

“So you’re saying she was playing around with another man before the wedding? What are you thinking? Are you crazy?”

“…….”

“There is such a culture these days. Well, not all of them are like that.”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue.

“Did you know, Oppa?”

“Roughly. I just suspected it.”

And that’s why he tenaciously investigated her friends. Because a bachelorette party wouldn’t be held alone.

“But what happened, anyway?”

“That’s…”

Jo Ah-min went out with Nam Ji-sung voluntarily after having a bachelorette party. She was trying to enjoy herself before the wedding. It’s true that Nam Ji-sung is handsome.

“And then?”

“But she got caught.”

If she had just come out in the morning, there would have been no problem, but while Nam Ji-min came out early in the morning to return to his unit, Jo Ah-min was dawdling and got caught by her boyfriend, no, her fiancé.

“I don’t understand?”

Park Do-joon tilted his head at those words. Of course, it’s natural to be worried if your fiancé doesn’t contact you for a day.

But apart from that, it’s not easy to track the target.

Unless you have a tracking app installed on your phone.