My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 597

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue. Becoming a local legal tycoon through marriage is incredibly difficult.

“I guess they were a fairly well-known family in that area to begin with.”

“Yes, as judges and prosecutors emerged from the family, they continued to establish themselves and grow in that region.”

“True.”

Although it’s called a rotational assignment, such extreme changes in postings are rare. It’s uncommon for someone to go from Gangwon-do to Jeolla-do, then to Seoul, and then to Jeju-do. Most judges and prosecutors tend to rotate within their own general areas.

In Seoul, they rotate within Seoul or the Gyeonggi area, and in the provinces, they tend to rotate within that specific region.

Ideally, the rotational assignment system should mean postings throughout the country, but since there are no legal regulations requiring them to work in every province, they often just go to the adjacent court or prosecutor’s office where they were originally working.

Otherwise, they either get promoted and establish themselves in the Seoul area, or they get demoted and effectively exiled to the provinces.

“But those two families have been voluntarily entrenched in the Daegu area for decades, since their fathers’ generation, so at least in that region, we can’t even touch them.”

“Are they that powerful?”

“In that area, you should consider them as powerful as the president.”

Park Do-joon frowned.

“But why are they getting married? I don’t understand.”

“You think that’s strange?”

“Well, aren’t they both in the legal profession? It could happen, right?”

“Half right, half wrong.”

Jung Yi-yeon and Jung Gwang-ho tilted their heads.

“What do you mean?”

“Marriage within a group is the most powerful means of consolidation to maximize profits.”

“That’s right.”

Of course, if two people in those groups truly loved each other, it might be different. But it’s clear from their actions that Jo Ah-min and Park Nam-sang aren’t marrying for love.

“The two groups are marrying without love. And Prosecutor Park Nam-sang—no, Park Woon-tae, the head of the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office—won’t be unaware of what kind of woman his daughter-in-law, Jo Ah-min, is.”

Would a woman who has lived modestly all her life suddenly enjoy a one-night stand, saying, ‘It’s the last chance for a fling!’ before getting married? That’s unlikely. She probably lived that way before and likely continued to do so afterward. She just got caught this time.

“If that’s not the case from the beginning, why would Park Nam-sang be tracking Jo Ah-min? Does Park Nam-sang have an obsessive personality? Unlikely. And Park Nam-sang’s workplace is Daegu, not Seoul.”

But Jo Ah-min got into trouble in Seoul, not Daegu.

“It’s right to assume he roughly knew the situation and went to get leverage [information that can be used to exert pressure].”

“Hmm?”

“That’s why I’m saying it’s strange.”

“Why?”

“Going back to the beginning, marriage is used as a means for expanding interests and consolidating relationships within a group.”

“Yes.”

“Then, what benefits can be gained when a judge’s family and a prosecutor’s family join hands?”

“That’s…”

“Hmm…”

Jung Yi-yeon and Jung Gwang-ho pondered for a while. After a long time, Jung Yi-yeon’s face turned strange.

“There’s nothing special?”

“That’s right.”

The bond between a judge’s family and a prosecutor’s family isn’t as special as you might think.

“The prosecutor indicts, and the judge hands down the desired verdict? Frankly, that’s not a strong enough reason to get married. Wouldn’t such cases rather make it impossible to hand down such a verdict? Isn’t that right?”

“Definitely. Since the marital relationship is officially revealed, it’s impossible to hand down a ruling that favors one side. The judge will be excluded from cases involving that family altogether.”

“Moreover, I would understand if the other party were a lawyer… but it’s a prosecutor, not a lawyer.”

So, they can’t create the benefit of winning the trial and collecting the winning fee.

“Judge and prosecutor. They are the most powerful figures in the law, but the combination they can create doesn’t have enough benefits to warrant marriage.”

Therefore, they have no reason to bind each other through marriage. Of course, there may be marriages between judge’s families and prosecutor’s families to find families of equal status.

However, in such marriages to match status, would they turn a blind eye to one person’s indiscretion and proceed with the marriage? That’s unlikely.

“Then, is there another reason?”

“Another reason…”

Park Do-joon frowned. In fact, there is another reason. And in the current situation, it’s definitely not a good one.

“It’s a very bad situation, but there is a reason.”

“A very bad situation?”

“What is it?”

“Profit doesn’t just mean revenue. Preventing losses is also a form of profit.”

“Preventing losses? Wait, does that mean…?”

As a lawyer, Jung Yi-yeon quickly understood.

“So, you’re saying there’s something they need to hide together?”

“That’s right. Something so serious that they have to become one and work together as a community.”

If they betray each other, they have to die together. So, they need to strengthen their bond that much.

And if that’s possible?

Of course, the best benefit in such cases is sharing each other’s secrets. And through that process, they can prevent the secrets from being leaked any further.

“But if that’s the case…”

“Yes, that’s the problem.”

Both families wield tremendous power in the judicial system. That means the incident is something dirty that happened within the judicial system, and it’s also a dangerous matter that even those who are called the presidents of the region in relation to the judicial system can’t easily talk about.

“It’s a completely different issue from overlooking a one-night stand for the sake of honor.”

Jung Yi-yeon and Jung Gwang-ho were speechless.

“What on earth happened?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t investigate it.”

Based on the situation, they must have a strong shared interest or secret that requires them to marry for consolidation.

“Then, is there no way out of this situation anymore?”

“Is there no legal way?”

“My father said that’s the case.”

In a situation where everyone is convinced of guilt, no, trying to make them guilty, even Yi-yeon’s father can’t overturn that to innocence.

“Then, we just need to bring them to the forefront.”

“What did you say?”

“Bring them out?”

“Yes, they’re moving in hiding. In fact, this is something that wouldn’t be strange to be angry about publicly.”

Moreover, since they decided to cover it up through a kind of deal, there’s no problem even if they come forward and talk about it from the fiancé’s point of view.

But they’re trying so hard to hide it.

“Variables always pop out when you create a situation that the other party doesn’t want.”

“That’s dangerous. There’s a higher chance of being criticized for secondary victimization [blaming the victim].”

Even if the other party is a powerful figure, in the case of secondary victimization, the sentence increases rather than decreases due to being seen as more offensive.

“Who told you to bring those people?”

“Then?”

“You have to bring those friends. The friends themselves said that. It’s a kind of bachelorette party.”

“But that friend said she won’t talk?”

“That friend said she doesn’t want to talk.”

Park Do-joon shook his head.

“Not wanting to talk and being forced to talk are completely different issues.”

“Huh?”

“Once you swear an oath as a witness in court, things change.”

“Ah!”

That’s right. Once you swear an oath as a witness in court, you have a kind of obligation to tell the truth from then on.

“Won’t they commit perjury [lying under oath]?”

Of course, they can lie.

“They might try to lie at first. But there’s one person on our side in there.”

“Who?”

“The person we met.”

“I don’t understand?”

“That person told us that what happened that day was a kind of bachelorette party.”

“That’s right.”

“And they’ll be afraid that we have the recording file, etc. And we actually have it.”

Park Do-joon tapped his cell phone.

“Wow, when did you record it?”

“This is basic. Ah, of course, I can’t reveal it. I promised not to reveal it that day, so I have to keep my promise unless it’s the worst situation.”

“But why is that person helping us?”

“Because we have evidence that they committed perjury, so they don’t want to be punished for perjury. Then they have to tell the truth, but if they tell the truth alone, they’ll think they’ll be attacked by that group.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“So, they’ll persuade the other friends.”

This side becomes a gang, and conversely, when Jo Ah-min becomes alone, they can protect themselves. When a group attacks one person, the rest tend to unite.

The most representative example of this is Japan’s bullying culture. In Japan, it is a unique culture that increases solidarity by attacking one weak person as a group.

“But is that possible?”

“It’s not impossible. In fact, if we help a little, it’s very likely to happen.”

“Why?”

“That woman paid the bill that day. Right?”

“She did.”

“And that day, Jo Ah-min went to the bar with other friends.”

“That’s right.”

“The concept of a bachelorette party is not good in the first place. That means they go with people they can trust, so people who will never cause problems.”

It’s a gathering in the concept of so-called birds of a feather flock together.

“What is the purpose of a bachelorette party in the first place? To have fun once before getting married, something like that?”

“That’s what she said.”

“There are many kinds of gatherings. And in human relationships, there are relationships where someone bites and someone accepts it [a dynamic of teasing and acceptance].”

Looking at the relationship between friends, there are many cases where someone subtly teases and someone accepts it.

“But in the case of a group that shares such secrets, they never take someone they recognize as a subordinate. For example, they never take kids who are treated as errand runners in a group without knowing it.”

“Why?”

Because they have committed a crime. If this becomes a weakness and the other party asks them to let them go or reveals it, they may get divorced, so these actions generally involve someone who is similar in rank in terms of hierarchy, so they can give each other trust.

“That means the four people who went that day are all best friends.”

“Yes. I understand that.”

“But Choi Min-ji paid the bill.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if they gave each other money back later, but in any case, paying the bill means there is a control dynamic.”

In a group, payment is a kind of power. In Korea, the fact that a superior buys a meal for a subordinate is seen as a kind of power.

“Even if they divide it later, one person controls the money, and that means they are responsible for managing the organization.”

Even in the women’s group, it is natural for one person to manage it, and that person’s influence becomes stronger to some extent.

“Considering all these various possibilities, the first in the hierarchy in that group is likely to be Jo Ah-min, and the second in the hierarchy is likely to be Choi Min-ji.”