My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 613

“That’s right.”

As Park Do-joon said, there were talks that Hong Woo-jong would have a hard time getting nominated again, and to overcome that, he might have to run for election at his own expense.

“But humans are stingy with their money.”

Rather than spending my own money, I want to spend someone else’s. That thought is bound to dominate.

“Spend someone else’s money? What do you mean?”

“He is a current member of the National Assembly. And he is also the son of the Daeguk Group.”

“So?”

“How much condolence money will come in?”

“That’s…”

At those words, Hong Geun-jong’s face hardened. And Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected that part.

“Are you saying he did it to raise election funds?”

The father of a current member of the National Assembly has passed away. And he was the current chairman of the Daeguk Group. How much condolence money [money given to the bereaved family] would that bring in?

“Almost a billion won will come in.”

“That’s enough to run a local election.”

At those words, Hong Geun-jong’s face hardened. No matter what, he was his blood-related father. But to kill his father simply for election funds?

“Just a billion? You’d kill your father for that billion?”

“Ah. Of course, that’s just a secondary profit.”

“Secondary profit?”

“Hong Geun-jong’s approval rating has dropped a lot since the drug case, right?”

“That’s right.”

Even in a situation where Hong Geun-jong was suppressing Hong Woo-jong, his approval rating was slowly falling. But decisively, after the incident where he failed to stop drugs and they almost spread seriously in his district, his approval rating plummeted.

“What do you think will happen if he runs now?”

“That’s…”

Hong Geun-jong frowned without realizing it, and Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened.

“No way!”

“Yes, sympathy votes will pour in.”

A tremendous number of sympathy votes will pour in, and he will probably be able to become a member of the National Assembly without difficulty.

“That’s how it works?”

“Don’t you know how many sympathy votes poured in when the former president’s daughter ran for president again because people felt sorry for her? Surprisingly, that phenomenon happens all over the world.”

Moreover, his father, Hong Chang-sik, has not been dead for very long. How many sympathy votes will pour in under those circumstances?

“An enormous amount will pour in.”

“Psychologically, humans have evolved to empathize with and grieve over the misfortunes of others, and to embrace them.”

That was the part that distinguished humans from other beasts.

“Animals abandon their own offspring if they determine that there is no longer a possibility of survival. But looking at past records, there was clearly a culture of protecting colleagues with broken legs or supporting family members who were too old to hunt, even in the Stone Age.”

Protection for the weak.

That was more helpful than one might think in helping humans grow efficiently. Various genes that could be lost due to a momentary mistake were preserved and able to survive.

“If it weren’t for that culture, the only genes that would survive would be those related to muscle strength or physical ability.”

Strong muscles, strong endurance, etc. Only genes related to hunting would survive, and genes related to the development of intelligence, which were not immediately helpful, would be lost immediately.

In fact, it is common to see animals being kicked out of the group if they are judged to be incapable of hunting.

“It’s the same now.”

If his father was brutally bombed to death by someone, and he came out to the election crying for revenge, wouldn’t people vote for him?

“You’d go that far?”

“Instead of thinking he’d go that far, if Hong Woo-jong is a psychopath [a person with a mental disorder characterized by a lack of empathy], then it doesn’t really matter.”

Rather, a psychopath is someone who finds a way to use the person more efficiently and effectively since he’s going to kill him anyway.

“Psychopaths use people’s lives for their own purposes. That includes family members.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Hong Geun-jong’s face hardened.

“Then could he kill us?”

“Frankly speaking, the possibility is low for Hong Geun-jong. But Hong Min-young is no longer safe.”

“Why is that?”

“Hong Min-young has no heirs, does she?”

Hong Min-young is unmarried. If Hong Min-young dies, the first heir is Hong Chang-sik. On the other hand, Hong Geun-jong’s first heirs are his wife and daughter in the United States.

Even if it’s a fake marriage, it can’t be overturned.

“Does that mean?”

“Of course, he won’t lay a hand on Hong Min-young right away, but…”

“Why is that?”

“Elections don’t happen often.”

It’s a card that can be used when it’s disadvantageous, so there’s no reason to kill Hong Min-young now. Rather, if Hong Min-young dies in the current situation, all eyes may be on him.

“But, Senior, Hong Woo-jong must know that he’s being suspected, right?”

“Of course. That’s why he set it off.”

“What do you mean?”

“The election is just around the corner. But let’s say the police investigate Hong Woo-jong in connection with this bombing. Then it becomes an outright political investigation.”

“Huh? A political investigation?”

“Could you kill your family with your own hands?”

At those words, Lee Ji-soo shook her head. How could a person do that?

“Yes, that’s the important thing. Everyone thinks that way.”

But if the police investigate Hong Woo-jong on suspicion of murder, how will people see it? Will they really think Hong Woo-jong committed the murder?

“Hong Woo-jong must have used someone else to detonate the bomb.”

He never went near the scene, didn’t even go to the scene, and was even active in official events at that time. That means that unless the police find evidence that Hong Woo-jong commissioned a bomber who is likely to have fled overseas, it is impossible to link him to Hong Geun-jong.

“A political investigation, huh.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Without evidence, they can’t attack Hong Woo-jong or talk about suspicion. Even if it comes out, it will only be said to be a mean and abnormal political investigation that attacks the victim for political gain.

“No, maybe he’s already found a way to leak it.”

By doing so, he increases his political standing and challenges the National Assembly election again through sympathy votes.

“I just thought he killed him for money.”

“Hong Woo-jong is not a poor guy. There’s no way such a guy would commit murder simply for inheritance.”

Even if that were the case, if Hong Geun-jong and Hong Min-young filed a lawsuit related to the inheritance, Hong Woo-jong would not be able to run the election with his father’s assets.

“He’s not a guy who works that sloppily.”

At Park Do-joon’s words, Hong Geun-jong looked shocked. He couldn’t have imagined that there was a way to thoroughly read people’s minds and move them according to plan.

“Then, if I attack that Hong Woo-jong in this situation?”

“You will be socially criticized.”

As soon as his father dies, he attacks his brother to take away his father’s shares. He will play the media like that, and Hong Woo-jong will suddenly become an underdog.

“People want to see the weak defeat the strong and win.”

“So, you’re saying I’m the strong one who has to be defeated?”

“That’s right.”

The de facto successor of the Daeguk Group. And the strong man who leads the Daeguk Group.

“On the other hand, Hong Woo-jong has a strong image as a politician.”

He is not interested in the company, but just a politician who does politics.

“From the public’s point of view, it will seem that Hong Geun-jong, who has everything, is trying to step on Hong Woo-jong because he is afraid that he will threaten him later.”

“Huh?”

“In the worst case, there will be rumors that Hong Geun-jong killed his father for the money.”

“Me? No, me?”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue at those words. That’s because he seemed to not understand the situation at all.

“Terrorism is not just about murder.”

“Not about murder?”

“Senior, what do you mean?”

“Terrorism is just a process to show something through the tool of murder. People focus on the terror itself in the process, so they only think about the murder caused by it. They don’t think about the cause at all.”

“Isn’t that a bad thing? We don’t have any reason to understand the people who commit terrorism in the first place, do we?”

“That’s right. That’s where the difference lies.”

Terrorists think that if they give people a shock, people will be shocked and look at them, be afraid of their threats, and give in.

But people are angry at terrorists, but they don’t give in.

Of course, there are rare cases where people give in to terrorists. For example, in Korea, in the past, they gave billions of dollars to the Saemmul Church incident and rescued people.

“But that’s just a political decision.”

Even at that time, the majority of the public’s sentiment was, ‘Just leave them to die there.’

“Of course, the Saemmul Church side did something stupid, but.”

Apart from that, there is also the fact that you should not give in to terrorist groups.

“If the Taliban really wanted to stop missionary work at that time, they wouldn’t have done the stupid thing of letting them live and sending them back.”

They would have beheaded them all the moment they were caught and sent only their heads to Korea by international mail. In fact, the Saemmul Church insisted on going to Afghanistan for missionary work several times after that.

“The reason they can do that is simple. They learned that even if they go and get caught by terrorists, they will be rescued again with money.”

Of course, the government firmly refused, so they couldn’t go.

“The important thing is that the benefit that the Taliban wanted to show or gain through such terrorist acts was not murder.”

Murder is just a process.

“There are many ways to kill. You can shoot a gun, use poison, or break the brakes.”

“You’re saying that a bomb is not just a method of murder?”

“Yes, it’s also a means to show someone. Like Russian black tea.”

There was an incident in which some of the Russian president’s political rivals died after drinking black tea containing poison. But that poison was not potassium cyanide or arsenic, which is fatal but relatively easy to obtain, but a radioactive element, which is difficult to manage and even more difficult to obtain.

In other words, he didn’t die from poison, but from radiation exposure.

“That’s right. That’s definitely true.”

Even Lee Ji-soo remembered the incident. So, what was the reason for killing him with such poison? Because he couldn’t get arsenic or potassium cyanide? That can’t be. It’s a warning to the world and his political rivals. ‘I killed you. If you mess with me, I’ll kill you the same way.’ It’s a kind of warning.”