My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 615

“That’s right. Public opinion for a military buildup will likely intensify significantly. There will probably be renewed calls for nuclear armament.”

“If that’s the case, Daeguk Group is definitely involved.”

Daeguk Group is the largest defense company in Korea. And Daeguk Group would be the biggest beneficiary of this military buildup.

“But what does that have to do with Hong Woo-jong? Daeguk Group isn’t run by Hong Woo-jong in the first place, is it?”

“What happens once can happen twice.”

Everyone’s face hardened at those words. Hong Chang-sik died in a bombing. If Hong Geun-jong dies in another bombing, who will the arrows of suspicion point to?

“The arrows of suspicion will point to the China Unification Front.”

“That’s right. They probably won’t even need arrows.”

Because they’ll claim they committed the crime themselves.

“And then Hong Woo-jong will naturally take over.”

“That’s likely. Hong Min-young realistically has no ability to run a defense company.”

In the short term, it seems like there’s nothing beneficial for Hong Woo-jong, but in the long term, assuming Hong Geun-jong is 100% dead, Hong Woo-jong gains a huge advantage.

It means he can swallow an even larger company.

“But even so, there’s still a problem, right? You know that even if you create this atmosphere, the government ultimately makes the decision.”

“That’s right.”

“But how do you make that happen? And isn’t that too far into the future? Some psychopaths make long-term plans, but they rarely give up immediate gains.”

Jo Sang-gyu pointed out the weakness in Park Do-joon’s words. It’s certainly not like a psychopath to invest in the future based only on possibilities.

“There are immediate gains as well.”

“Immediate gains?”

“Yes, Hong Woo-jong’s biggest problem right now is the election.”

“Yes, that’s right. You said that Senior is trying to gain sympathy votes based on Hong Chang-sik’s death.”

“Right. But there’s something he needs to do in another area first.”

“Another area he needs to do first?”

“The nomination.”

“Nomination!”

Nomination is the process of deciding which representative from each party will run in a specific district before the election. Through this process, each National Assembly candidate runs under the name of their party in that district.

“Right. And Hong Woo-jong is excluded from the nomination for various reasons.”

He is suspected of being related to the death of the incumbent National Assembly member’s father, and there are rumors that he is related to the deceased National Assembly member.

These are things that shouldn’t have been revealed in the past, but Park Do-joon exposed them, and as rumors spread, the party is hesitant to nominate him.

In fact, until recently, it was thought to be 100% impossible to get the nomination, so Park Do-joon thought he would run as an independent.

“But what I realized while watching this incident is that the nomination is no longer a problem.”

“The nomination isn’t a problem?”

“Right, there’s a party that advocates anti-communism, anti-China military power, and even nuclear armament.”

“The New People’s Party, is it?”

New People’s Party.

It is the party to which Hong Woo-jong belongs, and the four things Park Do-joon mentioned are the core tasks. Nuclear armament is not openly mentioned due to the United States’ concerns, but at least anti-communism, anti-China, and military power are the core elements of the New People’s Party.

“And Hong Woo-jong lost his father to the Chinese Communist Party’s supporters and is the son of Korea’s most representative defense company. So what happens?”

“Huh?”

“In this situation, not nominating him means abandoning all their ideologies and core values.”

From Hong Woo-jong’s perspective, there is a high possibility that he will latch onto that point. In fact, the New People’s Party, which has that as its core value, cannot help but feel burdened by such attacks.

“Moreover, he’s not someone who hasn’t been involved in politics before.”

If he had no political experience at all, it would be possible to deny him a position for that reason. But Hong Woo-jong is a two-term National Assembly member. Therefore, in order to oust him, there must be conditions that justify it.

“But in the current situation, the conditions for him to be nominated are stronger than the conditions for him to be ousted.”

“That’s right.”

Park Do-joon nodded at Jo Sang-gyu’s words.

“In that case, Hong Woo-jong has nothing to lose.”

If he gets the nomination? He can just run and seize power. If he doesn’t get the nomination? He can run as an independent, claiming that the New People’s Party has been taken over by communists, and seize a position. At this point, Hong Woo-jong will never lose the election.

“And if Hong Woo-jong joins the New People’s Party, the New People’s Party is likely to be rapidly reorganized.”

“Why?”

“The number of three terms, you see, is not just a number of times you’ve become a National Assembly member.”

In Korea, a three-term member is a so-called senior member among National Assembly members. In other words, it is a symbolic number that allows them to occupy important positions in the party.

A first-term member is just a powerless National Assembly member who does errands, and a two-term member is someone who does their own work to some extent. The point at which you can truly influence those around you is three terms.

“It’s like a private, a private first class, a corporal, and a sergeant in the military.”

A three-term member is like a corporal, a point where you can be said to be an influential figure within the party.

“Then isn’t a four-term member a real sergeant?”

“They start aiming for the presidency.”

“The presidency?”

“Right. In Korea, a National Assembly member serves a four-year term.”

Having served four terms means that they have accumulated that much experience, career, and recognition.

“Wait, then.”

Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened at those words. Because that creates a certain flow.

“If he controls the Daeguk Group, he can shake the military and economic power, and then, as a politician, he can plant his faction in the political world. And if he runs for president based on those two things, the chances aren’t low.”

In fact, anti-China sentiment and anti-communist sentiment are spreading rapidly among people.

“And Hong Woo-jong is at the heart of that?”

“Isn’t he the victim whose father died?”

What could be a clearer symbol than that? And with that level of symbolism, he could certainly become president.

“Symbolism and representation, those are very important factors in an election.”

And if that succeeds?

“Hong Woo-jong can put everything in his hands, from politics and the economy to the Blue House [the executive office and official residence of the South Korean president].”

“That’s right. With that level of power, he might even be able to achieve consecutive terms or dictatorship through constitutional amendments.”

“Surely not……”

“Of course, it’s just a possibility.”

But Park Do-joon could intuitively feel it. Hong Woo-jong is not someone who will simply take a seat in the National Assembly.

“The military will also support Hong Woo-jong.”

From the military’s perspective, they will want to secure good weapons and increase their authority by any means possible. There is no reason to reject Hong Woo-jong, who will push for that.

“……”

Everyone was speechless at Park Do-joon’s words. Everyone had a sense of it to some extent. They all knew about the conflict between Hong Geun-jong and Hong Woo-jong, and the information about Hong Chang-sik.

Nevertheless, Park Do-joon was the only one who made predictions to this extent.

“Then what should we do? No, we can’t attack Hong Woo-jong right now, can we?”

That’s impossible. The criminals have already fled overseas.

“We need to investigate properly.”

“But if they prepared so meticulously, the criminal?”

“Yes, they’ve already fled overseas.”

Park Do-joon nodded. If things went as expected, the criminal has already gone abroad, and the investigation will naturally reveal traces of that.

“They probably intentionally left traces leading to China.”

“I guess that’s highly likely. That way, the feelings between the two countries will be even more damaged.”

“Yes. And from the moment they announce that the traces have been cut off in China, relations with China will be irreparably damaged.”

“Hmm……”

“That’s why we must continue to investigate.”

“That’s obvious.”

Jo Sang-gyu’s face looked uncomfortable at the fact that he was helping the criminal. As a profiler, he couldn’t help but feel troubled by the fact that their investigation was what the criminal wanted.

“Yes, but Hong Woo-jong made a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

“Yes, no, he made the mistake that almost all psychopaths make.”

“What is it?”

“That other politicians are also formidable people. In the first place, the biggest weakness of psychopaths is that they only think about themselves.”

They are smart, so they can think theoretically and plan, but they don’t think about the backlash from other people that results from that.

“For example, like the Coca-Cola incident in the past.”

“Coca-Cola?”

“Right. In the past, a professional manager at Coca-Cola suddenly raised the price of Coca-Cola by 50% in the summer.”

His plan was simple: Coca-Cola sells well in the summer, and people want to quench their thirst. So, according to market rules, we should sell Coca-Cola at a high price in the summer.

“And that year, Coca-Cola suffered record losses and restored the price, and that manager was immediately fired. Why do you think that was?”

“Backlash.”

“Right.”

Prices? You can raise them. But raising them by 50% when there are alternatives is clearly unreasonable. It’s not like there aren’t Pepsi or other carbonated drinks besides Coca-Cola.

That alone is unpleasant for people.

“But if you openly say in an interview, ‘It’s natural to raise the price because it sells well. So, are you not going to buy it?’ what do you think the public will think?”

Naturally, they will have extreme resentment and try to switch to alternatives, even for a short period. But that departure is actually a serious matter.

“That’s the inertia that Senior mentioned before.”

“Right.”

At first, they won’t buy Coca-Cola out of resentment, but later, more and more people will naturally not buy it because inertia sets in.

“Hong Woo-jong is the same.”

It’s a thoroughly planned, quite meticulously completed structure.

“But there is no understanding or judgment of others in this structure.”

He theoretically judges the other party and tries to dominate them through incitement, but there is no judgment of those who already hold power or those who are in charge of practical affairs.

“Does that mean we can stop him if we target that part?”

“We can try.”

However, no one knows what will happen to the country of Korea if that fails. The profilers’ faces hardened at Park Do-joon’s words.

They have lived by catching criminals. But suddenly, hearing that the future of Korea depends on them is bound to be shocking.

“For now, what we can do is to track down the criminal as planned.”

My vocation is profiler.