My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 618

The only country that would commit terrorism against South Korea is North Korea.

“Terrorism is a symbolic act.”

“A symbolic act?”

“Yes, committing an act of terror doesn’t actually force the other party to do what you want.”

Even if they committed an act of terror in the United States, the U.S. wouldn’t withdraw its troops or release criminals. Rather, terrorism often provokes a sensitive response.

The 9/11 attacks may have been considered a successful act of terror by the terrorists themselves, asserting their cause, but it ultimately provoked the United States, which had been passively responding to terrorism.

The whole world bowed to America’s anger, and even North Korea, while pretending to be crazy, was still just pretending and issued a statement denouncing it while being mindful of the U.S. No matter how well North Korea pretends to be crazy, they are just pretending, not actually crazy.

In fact, countries that hindered the U.S. were utterly destroyed under America’s wrath.

“Ultimately, the 9/11 attacks didn’t give any benefit to the terrorist groups. So why did they do it?”

“I wonder?”

“They wanted to show that they were resisting. Of course, it was a self-defeating move.”

They wanted to show that they were resisting, hoping other forces would sympathize with them. That was the initial plan, but instead of sympathizing, even other terrorist organizations hastily cut ties as the incident grew too large.

“The important thing is that symbolism. But South Korea is quite devalued in that symbolic aspect.”

Whether they are communist or Islamic terrorists, they often share the same goal of being anti-Western, and thus, often join hands.

“But South Korea’s position is ambiguous.”

“Ah, I think I know what you mean.”

South Korea is close to the West and works with the West, but it’s hard to see it as 100% Western. It is a democratic country and opposes the communist country of North Korea, but it is not perfectly recognized as a counterpart to the communist bloc.

“For terrorists, the main targets are the United States and Europe.”

In short, because the focus is on the United States and Europe, South Korea is relatively not a target.

“As you know, the purpose of the fake organization called the Sino-Unification Front is twofold: first, to confuse the investigation, and second, to antagonize China.”

“That’s right.”

“Yes, from their point of view, the counter is for China and South Korea to join hands.”

“But I don’t understand what that has to do with the communist bloc?”

“This criminal is probably a Western terrorist.”

“Western?”

“Yes, it can’t be communist or Islamic.”

Hong Woo-jong is basically a politician who trades with them. So if they try to find a suitable target among them, they will be able to find one.

“There are terrorists in the West too?”

Lee Ji-soo’s eyes widened at the unexpected words. It’s because when you think of terrorists, a certain image often comes to mind. Beyond that, terrorists often have a strong political motivation, expressing dissatisfaction with society or the system.

But why would the West commit terrorism in South Korea?

“That’s… actually, it’s not well known, but there are more ‘contractors’ from the West than you think.”

“Yes?”

“No, to be precise, I should call them contractors, not terrorists.”

“Contractors?”

“Yes, guys who do anything for money.”

Some of them use bombs to kill targets. Of course, most contractors don’t prefer bombs. This is because if you use bombs, the government investigating will pursue you much more tenaciously than if you use guns, knives, or poison.

“Moreover, bombs are, surprisingly, close-range weapons.”

“Bombs?”

“Yes, that’s what many people misunderstand.”

Bombs are often thought of as long-range weapons. Of course, that’s not wrong at first glance. It is possible to detonate them remotely from a very long distance. Or it is possible to detonate them even if you are not at the scene by using a timer or something.

“But installing it in the right place requires close proximity.”

Unless it is for political purposes, targeting a place with political symbolism, bombs require knowing and predicting the other party’s movements and attaching them up close.

“And Hong Chang-sik died when his car exploded. What does that mean?”

“Wait, does that mean?”

“Yes, it’s a close-range weapon.”

In movies and dramas, there are scenes where they crawl out of the sewer and attach it, but that is never easy. It is virtually impossible to stop the vehicle exactly where you want it.

“The analysis of contract killings targeting specific individuals and terrorists targeting indiscriminate areas is very different. Terrorists never approach a specific person and detonate a bomb.”

Why? Because there is no reason to do so. Unless it’s a suicide bombing, they can just detonate it from a distance, install it in a vehicle, or leave it in a specific place using a bag.

“Attaching a bomb to a vehicle means it’s in the realm of contract killing.”

“That’s right. And if you try to pass it off as a fake terror attack, the analysis will inevitably be different because it has the label of terror attached to it.”

Of course, the tracking will be messed up.

“However, if it’s a contract killing, several conditions must be met.”

Why target one person? Why are there no additional crimes after that? And why bother using Western-made C4 [a type of plastic explosive] ?

“And why wasn’t he a target of surveillance?”

If an Islamic or Chinese person was hanging around Daeguk Group, a defense company, it would be noticeable.

“Are you saying it’s a Western bomb-for-hire assassin who kills people for money?”

“That’s right. And if China catches him, they can attack the West in reverse.”

The West manipulated the incident to put a fake frame on China.

“Of course, the West won’t believe it.”

The important thing is that China has a case to argue that way.

“Is that why China agreed to the tracking?”

“Of course, they didn’t agree to the investigation in China.”

“It doesn’t matter. The criminal is probably from the West anyway.”

Of course, he would have fled to the West, not China.

“So, just a strong claim that they are not terrorists, or at least not the same as them, is enough political gain for them.”

If they are lucky enough to arrest the criminal, they can claim that the West manipulated it in reverse.

“But the criminal has already fled abroad, right?”

“That’s true. But he’s a bomber. If they can catch him, no country will refuse.”

“That’s right.”

They are the ones who can kill dozens or hundreds of people to kill one person. So if we can track him, any country will agree to the arrest.

“But how? We don’t even know who he is.”

“We have to go in reverse. How did he get access to the vehicle?”

“Well, that’s the problem.”

It’s not difficult to attach a bomb to a vehicle and detonate it.

“According to the investigation, it was detonated using a timer.”

The scientific investigation has already been completed to some extent. Even if a bomb explodes, not all evidence is lost. From the ingredients to some of the detonator, etc.

If you analyze it with that, you can scientifically know where, how, and in what way it exploded.

“But apart from that, we have to investigate the psychological aspect.”

“That’s true.”

“The criminal is probably an expert with knowledge of bombs. Judging from his skill in handling bombs, he probably served in the military. He is likely to have black hair.”

“You said he was Western?”

“Not everyone in the West has blonde hair, right?”

Rather, blonde hair is rare even in the West. It’s just that the typical beauty standard created by the media is blonde hair.

“He’s not just a simple bomber or bomb maniac. Rather, we should see him as a bomb-for-hire assassin who hasn’t been revealed yet.”

“Why?”

“Because he used a timer.”

“Timer?”

“In the end, a bomb is also a tool.”

Arsonists like to start fires and watch them. They think of it as a huge work of art that they have created.

The same goes for bomb maniacs. They want to show off their power and feel their presence through a huge explosion.

“Those guys are usually more proficient with pipe bombs than C4.”

The power itself is better with military-grade explosives, but humans use what they prefer.

“The biggest problem with timers is that you don’t know when, where, or how it will explode.”

If the criminal wants to see it, he has to follow it to the death until it explodes. This increases the possibility of suspicion or being caught exponentially.

“In fact, Hong Chang-sik’s car exploded underground. Considering the security situation at Daeguk Group’s headquarters, there is virtually no possibility that the criminal could enter.”

In other words, the fact that he has no reason to see it explode means that he is not particularly attracted to explosions.

“Not a bomb maniac?”

“That’s right.”

Apart from doing contract killings, he is not interested in watching the moment of death.

“He approached the bomb as an area of work.”

If he were an ordinary person, that would not be the case. If he were a born bomb maniac, he would try to explode it through remote control rather than a timer bomb and watch the moment.

“People who can access bombs as a job are extremely limited.”

Except for extreme occupations such as mining or building demolition, the only people who approach bombs as a job are soldiers.

“Even then, only soldiers handle C4.”

Since he learned the job as a job, he will not be interested in explosions.

“Rather, watching an explosion as a soldier is a stupid thing to do.”

There is no reason for a soldier to install and watch a bomb. Rather, it is safer to leave the place for safety because it is obvious that the enemy will rush in when it explodes.

“But there are more than one or two people who have been discharged from the military?”

In Korea alone, there are more than one or two people who have handled bombs, and there are thousands of people who are actually receiving and investigating the related data.

If you think about bomb experts worldwide, there could be tens of thousands of people.

“Of course, that’s right. But in the end, the criminal had a trigger.”

“Trigger?”

“He can make money using bombs. Where did he learn that?”

Not everyone becomes a bomber just because they know how to handle bombs. Moreover, a person who learned about bombs as an area of work. He doesn’t suddenly change his mind and kill people with bombs to make money.

“Did he actually kill people on the battlefield?”

“That’s the problem.”

You can kill people as a job. But you can’t see that as money. You may be able to kill people as a job, but the shock is also a shock, and you don’t think it will make money.

“Realistically speaking, there is not much chance that bomb experts in the military will kill people.”

“Yes? Why? Isn’t it a military branch that uses bombs?”

“Using bombs and demolishing are completely different.”

“I don’t understand?”

“In the past, there was a branch called grenadiers [soldiers specializing in throwing grenades].”

The old-fashioned grenades were incredibly heavy. So, in order to throw them far, they formed a branch called grenadiers and put in soldiers with good strength. But now there is no need to do that.

Job is Profiler