My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 631

As soon as the unusual symptoms appeared, the person who had eaten the snack urgently called 119 [the emergency services number in South Korea]. The 119 operators, upon hearing the situation, immediately suspected the snack as the cause and performed gastric lavages, resulting in more injured than fatalities.

“And if we consider the homes, construction sites, and senior centers, we can figure out what the culprit wants.”

“By going there, you mean.”

“Yes.”

In any case, geographical judgment is a crucial element that can’t be ignored, especially in profiling. That’s why we need to go to the scene.

“I guess we have to go by ourselves.”

Lee Ji-soo sighed, looking at the ongoing argument inside.

“What can we do? It’s not like they’ll listen even if we tell them.”

Park Do-joon said with a bitter smile.

“Let’s go to the senior center first. It’s the closest.”

Park Do-joon sighed and grabbed his car keys.

“We don’t have much time.”

The culprit committed the crimes continuously in a short period. A crime with a short cooling-off period, so to speak. Therefore, there was no time to hesitate.

“Let’s take a look here for a moment.”

Park Do-joon stopped as he entered the village where the incident occurred. Then, looking around, he said,

“It’s so peaceful. There aren’t even any stores around.”

“Yes, these kinds of towns are common.”

Not a downtown area, but a rural village. The nearest store is at least 10 kilometers away.

“It’s a typical picture of an aging rural community.”

“Everyone here is dead except for one person, right?”

“Yes, but they say even that person is unlikely to make it. They’re brain dead.”

Park Do-joon stood at the entrance of the village, staring blankly. Then, checking the surroundings, he said,

“No CCTV either.”

The village entrance is easily accessible to anyone.

“If someone dumped a box of snacks here, it would be impossible to track them.”

“That’s probably the case.”

There’s no other way. Although it’s a rural area, a considerable number of vehicles travel on the nearby national highway. Moreover, there are more agricultural roads leading from that highway than one might think, so there were plenty of ways to enter without being caught on CCTV [closed-circuit television, or security cameras].

“If they didn’t enter the village and just dumped it here…”

Park Do-joon looked around and, as if something came to mind, checked the case files. Then, he let out a long sigh.

“It seems like this person took the box.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Park Joong-dae.”

Age 54. Not a young age, but still considered relatively young in rural areas these days.

“Ah, that person. I heard he’s the head of the village youth association or something?”

“That’s the reality.”

An era where a 54-year-old becomes the head of the village youth association.

“But how do you know he took it?”

“Think about the ages of the elderly people living in the village, or rather, the deceased.”

Most are in their 70s, and one is in their 80s.

“It’s winter now. Realistically, there’s no reason to be farming outside. So, they would all meet at the senior center to chat.”

It’s called a senior center, but it probably also served as a village hall of sorts.

“Considering the time of death and the reaction time of cyanide, we should assume they died almost immediately after eating it.”

“Right?”

“Then there’s no reason for them to come out in this weather. Moreover, they’re all too old to carry the entire box.”

Of course, it’s not that they’re too weak to lift a light snack box. However, due to the nature of snack boxes, they are quite bulky, and it would be awkward to carry them because of their volume, not their weight.

“The elderly don’t come outside, and even if they found it, it would be hard for them to lift and move it.”

“Ah-ha!”

Then we should assume it was brought in by vehicle.

“This Park Joong-dae is able to drive and is also among the youngest in the village.”

In such cases, they often take responsibility for going out and coming back when there’s something going on in the village.

“So, we should assume he found the box while coming in.”

“Probably.”

“Where could it be?”

“Well… that’s the problem.”

We don’t know where he went that day, but in any case, there are too many roads to access this place. And in such cases, there are too many variables.

“But one thing is certain.”

“What is it?”

“The culprit is using a vehicle to move around.”

If that weren’t the case, it would be impossible to cover the entire country like this.

“Let’s go to another place for now.”

The second incident occurred in a relatively large city. And there, a family was brutally killed. While Park Do-joon was at the scene looking around, Lee Ji-soo, who suddenly received a text message, sighed deeply.

“Detective, the only survivor in the family just died.”

“Haa~!”

I expected it. From the start, cyanide was too dangerous a poison to survive with just a gastric lavage. Even if they survived, their whole body would have been ravaged.

“Now that’s fifteen murders.”

“Detective, where is this place?”

“Surprisingly, this place will be simple.”

“Why?”

“Because we can go in reverse.”

“Pardon?”

“The estimated time of death is around 10:30 PM.”

That’s certain because the survivor barely managed to call 119. However, they immediately fell into a coma afterward, so we couldn’t investigate.

“The problem is who brought the box at that time. And from what I see, it’s the father.”

“That’s cruel.”

Lee Ji-soo gritted her teeth at the fact that the existence of a father who cares for his family was used as a tool for murder. The person who survived until the end was also the father, and as a result, he died, but even if he had survived, could he have lived? Could he have accepted and lived with the fact that his actions killed his entire family?

Probably impossible.

“There’s no way he would have bought snacks at that time, so he probably found them on his way home from work. And when I see it, it wasn’t picked up in the city center.”

If it was picked up in the city center, the timing wouldn’t match. First of all, there are too many CCTVs in the city center. And as many people pass by, someone would either find someone leaving it or someone else would take it first.

“Could it be that he took it as the first finder?”

“No. The culprit is thoroughly trying to hide themselves.”

But they wouldn’t make it so that they could take it right away in the city center. If they did, they would search the surrounding area based on time and track them down.

“They’ll probably use a road without CCTV. The victim probably works on the outskirts of the city.”

At those words, Lee Ji-soo checked the documents and nodded.

“That’s right. They run a store in a shop on the outskirts of the city.”

Just because it’s a roadside doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. Rather, there are many people who buy things while driving, so there are also people who do business.

“They run a small cafe on the roadside 12 kilometers from here.”

“They used the commute course.”

Park Do-joon said that and immediately got into the car.

“Put it in the navigation.”

“Yes.”

Of course, they could use a different road, but even so, there wouldn’t be a big difference.

“Let’s just go straight.”

Park Do-joon drove down the road and glanced around. Then he clicked his tongue.

“It seems the culprit dumped the box late at night.”

“How do you know?”

“What do you see around?”

“Cars?”

“Yes, so it’s night. They wouldn’t want to reveal themselves. These days, all cars have black boxes [dashcams].”

“Ah-ha!”

“And as you can see, it’s extremely congested here at this time.”

The time to leave work from a workplace on the outskirts and enter the city center. Naturally, the road into the city center was blocked, making it difficult to move easily.

“But the victim died at 10:30 PM, which means someone else didn’t leave it there before that.”

“That’s right.”

If it was completely blocked like this, and if it was there before that, someone would have taken it sooner.

“Considering the situation at the deceased’s workplace, they probably found it and took it on their way home from work.”

Due to the nature of the road, there are almost no people passing by after a certain time, so the victim would have finished work late at night and headed home.

“But there’s still something I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“How did they find it and take it?”

Lee Ji-soo said, looking at the scenery flowing out of the window.

“Even if I’m not driving, it doesn’t seem easy to recognize a box from a moving vehicle, does it?”

“That’s right. Especially if you’re driving yourself.”

There are many things to pay attention to when driving. Traffic lights, watching the front, being aware of possible lane changes, and these days, even motorcycles driving recklessly.

Moreover, the winter night is dark. So, it’s not easy to find something dropped in the dark in that situation.

“That’s…”

Park Do-joon still didn’t understand that either. Of course, we can just say it was a coincidence. But if we handle everything with that word coincidence, we can’t track down the culprit.

‘The culprit is aiming for something.’

It’s not a simple indiscriminate murder. It’s a planned massacre. As such, they somehow made sure that the box of snacks containing poison ended up in the hands of their desired target.

‘How, how…? Huh?’

At that moment, something caught Park Do-joon’s eye, and he urgently stopped the car.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think I just found a way.”

“Pardon?”

Park Do-joon got out of the car and approached the place he had just passed. And Lee Ji-soo, who saw that place, also exclaimed.

“That’s right. If it’s here, or rather, a crosswalk? It’s definitely possible.”

“That’s right.”

This is not a highway but a national road. Naturally, there are villages and shops everywhere, and although rare, there are crosswalks. And those crosswalks are basically illuminated by bright streetlights.

This is to make it easier for drivers to spot pedestrians at night.

“Moreover, if it’s a good person who obeys the traffic lights?”

Some people might think it’s okay because there’s no one at night and speed happily, but most good people stop and check for people when a crosswalk appears.

“What if a box is placed here?”

Looking at the streetlights that were just starting to light up, Lee Ji-soo shook her head.

“It would be strange if you didn’t notice it.”

From the beginning, crosswalks are made for people to cross. Naturally, you have to stop and look around to see if there are people crossing. But if there’s only one box alone under a streetlight in front of a crosswalk in the dark of night, it would be strange if you didn’t find it.

“Besides, this is a road where delivery vehicles pass by a lot.”

Park Do-joon said, looking around. Of course, there is no evidence that the crosswalk where the crime took place is here. There were several crosswalks on the way here.

But most of the structures were similar. It’s a natural thing in a way. There’s no reason to build an underpass in such a place on the outskirts of the city.

A Profiler by Trade