My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 606

“How do you know that?”

“I can tell by observing Park Tae-woon’s current behavior. Why do you think I asked you about Park Tae-woon in the first place?”

“Because you don’t know?”

“Exactly. If he were causing trouble, wouldn’t I already be aware?”

“Ah, that’s true.”

In fact, Park Tae-woon was responding quite calmly, leading some to believe he might have been wrongly accused.

“The reason he’s so strangely calm is either because he anticipated this situation, or because he’s genuinely innocent and possesses evidence to prove it. You’re a lawyer, so you understand the typical reactions of someone falsely accused, right?”

“That’s true.”

“When someone is falsely accused, they initially become agitated, then vehemently protest their innocence and grow extremely angry. But Park Tae-woon isn’t exhibiting any of those behaviors.”

“Is Park Tae-woon calling someone for help or asserting his innocence?”

“No, not as far as I know. Is that significant?”

“It’s important. He’s a powerful figure, and in the world of the powerful, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Helping someone always comes with the expectation of reciprocation. This is a general rule, but it’s even more pronounced among the powerful.

Ordinary people can simply sever ties if this unspoken rule is broken, but among the powerful, retaliation is inevitable.

“There’s something called the ‘monkey’s paw trap’ [a metaphor for a deal where fulfilling the wish comes with unforeseen negative consequences].”

“Monkey’s paw trap?”

“Yes.”

“Imagine placing bait that monkeys love inside a container with a narrow opening. The monkey reaches in to grab a handful, but then can’t withdraw its hand because the opening is too small.

The monkey, driven by greed, refuses to release the food and remains trapped until a human arrives.

If it had taken only a little at a time, it could have eaten its fill and remained safe, but its greed prevents it from letting go.”

“It’s the same with humans. If Park Tae-woon is innocent, he’s focused solely on surviving this ordeal and isn’t concerned about the price he’ll have to pay later.”

“Because he’s clinging to something, he can’t ask for help, as he doesn’t want to have to relinquish it as compensation.”

“He’d go that far?”

“Do you think it was a coincidence that Park Nam-sang tracked down Jo Ah-min and raided the site? Park Nam-sang is Park Tae-woon’s son, the Daegu District Prosecutor, but would he really undertake such an investigation solely at his father’s request?”

That’s highly unlikely. Park Nam-sang is just an ordinary prosecutor.

“Park Tae-woon might actually be trying to minimize his eventual payment by exploiting such vulnerabilities from the outset.”

“Wow!”

“With that kind of personality, he wouldn’t be able to ask for help, driven by his own avarice.”

“Then where should we look for the money? This is driving me crazy!”

“It’s definitely not in a location directly linked to Park Tae-woon or Jo Han-seop. The primary culprit in the Unicorn Group case was Yoo Joon-seung, correct?”

“Yes, but all of his assets have already been seized.”

“His family is also impoverished, so it’s impossible it’s hidden with them.”

“Could it be in the prosecutor’s office evidence room?”

“That’s impossible. It wouldn’t be in such an easily accessible location.”

“If it were, someone could steal it without anyone noticing.”

“And the important thing isn’t the external hard drive itself.”

“Huh?”

Jung Yi-yeon tilted her head, puzzled.

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. What’s the biggest reason why virtual currency is traded worldwide and why criminal organizations utilize it?”

“It’s because of its security.”

“Right, but how did *he* know that?”

Jung Yi-yeon didn’t understand Park Do-joon’s point. Couldn’t he simply have known? But Park Do-joon had a different theory.

“You said the culprit, Yoo Joon-seung, is dead.”

“Yes.”

“Then what about his personal effects?”

“Could it be…?”

“Yoo Joon-seung was an old man.”

Yoo Joon-seung was 68 years old. And at that age, people often become forgetful.

“That’s why elderly people suffered significant losses at banks in the past.”

“There were numerous instances where they would write their PIN numbers on their bankbooks, leading to criminals targeting the homes of elderly individuals, stealing only their bankbooks.”

“Moreover, the password for virtual currency is far more complex than those bank PIN numbers.”

“Are you suggesting he took his belongings?”

“Yes.”

“When a body is discovered, the belongings are typically returned to the family. However, Yoo Joon-seung was a criminal involved in the massive Unicorn case, so the data would first go to the prosecution and then to the bereaved family.”

“Maybe the password was among his belongings. Perhaps Park Tae-woon saw it and planned to embezzle the funds.”

“Of course, virtual currency security isn’t foolproof. There have been several hacks. But those are usually carried out by expert groups with extensive preparation, and Park Tae-woon, who lacks computer expertise, couldn’t accomplish that.”

“Then did he already obtain the external hard drive containing the virtual currency?”

“I don’t think so. The key isn’t the external hard drive itself, but the password.”

“If he had the external hard drive from the beginning, there would be a paper trail. And you can’t simply access the external hard drive and use the money; you need the password.”

“If you only possess the external hard drive, it’s like owning a white elephant [a possession that is burdensome and useless].”

“A white elephant… You’re right.”

“You can’t open it, and you can’t hide it. You need assistance from various sources to unlock it.”

“The password transforms the white elephant into a treasure, is that it?”

“Yes, and once you obtain that, you have to locate the real treasure.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it?”

“We don’t know where it is. Yoo Joon-seung never revealed the hard drive’s location, and even his accomplices couldn’t find it, so they only managed to steal a small portion and flee to China.”

“Did he have a mistress or something?”

“I don’t think so either.”

“Even if he had a mistress, there’s no reason to entrust her with 850 billion won [approximately $640 million USD].”

“Having the password implies he knows the location of the external hard drive, or at least strongly suspects where it is.”

Park Do-joon pointed to Yoo Joon-seung’s dates and the dates the data disappeared, and said,

“The data was transferred to the prosecution almost immediately after his death, and then there are traces of the data disappearing almost immediately after that. That means the decision was made quite quickly.”

“So he had an idea of where the money was hidden?”

“To be precise, he had an idea of the hidden location.”

“So he raided it to find the data.”

“And based on that, the data is still in the country.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Without the data, we can’t definitively determine its location.”

“We can’t definitively know, but there are things that can’t be erased, even if you erase all the data.”

“Like what?”

“People.”

Park Do-joon shrugged and said,

“The prosecution directs the investigation, but the police handle the legwork.”

“Even if the prosecution erased what was sent, the police would still have records of what they transmitted.”

“Why don’t we just ask them?”

It wasn’t difficult for Park Do-joon to locate the police officer in charge. A special team had been formed and was active, and there was a list of its members.

“Ah, that case.”

The police officer waved his hand dismissively, as if annoyed.

“Well, it was a pointless endeavor. He died after all that effort.”

“I heard he died. How did that happen? It was listed as a cerebral hemorrhage?”

“He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while being interrogated by the prosecution.”

“So they urgently called an ambulance and rushed him to the hospital, but unfortunately, his heart had already stopped, so there was nothing they could do.”

“So it happened during the prosecution’s investigation.”

“Yes.”

‘If that’s the case, the possibility increases.’

“If his heart had already stopped, who would know if they searched his belongings?”

‘The belongings would eventually go to the hospital and then be returned.’

“The hospital inventories and returns the belongings, so they’re not responsible for any items that are missing upon arrival. And since the prosecutors investigating virtual currency would know that anything written down could be the password…”

“Do you know what they investigated that day?”

“Is that important?”

“It is important.”

“Cerebral hemorrhage can occur for various reasons.”

“Diet, health, and high blood pressure… but one of the most significant factors is stress.”

“In dramas, when people are stressed, they clutch the back of their necks and collapse, which is a depiction of the shock caused by increased pressure in the cerebral blood vessels due to stress.”

‘There hasn’t been anything like that before?’

“But he died of a cerebral hemorrhage that day?”

“It could simply be bad luck, but conversely, it could indicate that he was subjected to severe stress that triggered the cerebral hemorrhage.”

‘If the purpose collapses, it’s stressful.’

“What is the purpose of fraud? Money.”

“And if the prosecution tracked it down and cornered him, it would have been a tremendous source of stress for the suspect, Yoo Joon-seung.”

“And considering that the data disappeared right before that, the interrogation at that time is the key to the case. In other words, it likely contains information about the location where the money is hidden.”

“I don’t know. We don’t have access to that information.”

“The police investigated and handed it over to the prosecution, and the prosecution would have summoned the imprisoned Yoo Joon-seung and interrogated him relentlessly.”

“Of course. But Yoo Joon-seung wouldn’t have willingly revealed the crucial location himself.”

“The police provided something, and the prosecution noticed it and pressed on that location.”

“Then he collapsed, and after that, they became greedy and embezzled it.”

“A suspicious place?”

“It wouldn’t be a place that ordinary people can’t access and doesn’t have any particular value. There’s no reason for anyone to go there.”

“There are plenty of places with strong security…”

“Rather, the security will be weak.”

“Places with strong security that are related to Yoo Joon-seung would have been raided dozens of times already.”

“It would be a place that is suspected of being related?”

“A place suspected of being related?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no such place…”

The police officer still looked like he didn’t understand what Park Do-joon was saying.

In the meantime, a police officer who was listening nearby interjected,

“Isn’t it there? That country house.”

“What would we find there? It’s not even Yoo Joon-seung’s house in the first place, so why would he put anything there?”

“Country house?”

“Ah, yes. There’s something that came up during the investigation.”

“To be exact, it’s not Yoo Joon-seung’s house, but a house belonging to Yoo Joon-seung’s wife’s family, the house where his wife’s parents lived.”

“But Yoo Joon-seung’s wife passed away some time ago.”

“Why is that?”

“That place came up during the investigation, but the owner is someone else.”

“If there was anything there, they would have investigated it, but it seemed like there was nothing at all, so they simply filed a report.”

But Park Do-joon could sense that it was that place.

“Why isn’t that place important? No, in the first place, isn’t it subject to seizure?”

“It’s Yoo Joon-seung’s wife’s family’s property, but it’s not Yoo Joon-seung’s wife’s house either.”

“Yes?”

“It’s under her brother’s name. But that person has lost his mind.”

“Lost his mind?”

“He originally had a mental disability and now has dementia, so he’s in a nursing home and might die any day now.”