My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 635

The man offered an awkward smile.

“My girlfriend is a graduate student. She’s really proving that the saying ‘graduate students aren’t human’ is more than just an internet joke.”

Graduate students, especially those in research fields with access to substances like potassium cyanide, are worked to the bone. This has led to a flood of memes about graduate students online.

It’s gotten to the point where if a graduate student falls into water, people shout, ‘Save the graduate student!’ instead of ‘Help!’ because they’re seen as objects to be exploited, not as people.

“That’s usually the case.”

“Usually?”

“Yes. And as I mentioned, researchers or graduate students don’t have time to get caught up in extreme ideologies from strange online posts. Considering that, the culprit is likely from a family with considerable power, where even if they express hostility towards the poor, no one stops them.”

Park Do-joon’s words made everyone frown. A terrorist act by a rich person was something they hadn’t even considered.

“Isn’t it possible that someone less fortunate might harbor resentment?”

“Not likely. Resentment and hatred usually stem from a sense of lack.”

If it were a researcher struggling financially, the target would likely be professors or wealthier graduate students, people who possess something they lack.

“Why is that?”

“What would be the top priority for someone in that situation?”

The pressure to quickly find a job and support their family.

“That narrows things down considerably. Is it easy to go to graduate school or become a researcher when your family needs you to get a job quickly?”

“Ah…”

To become a researcher, you need at least a master’s degree, and to be properly recognized, you need a doctorate.

That process could take anywhere from four to five years, or even longer. Some people take over a decade.

“Families with limited resources can’t afford that opportunity cost.”

Even middle-class families struggle, and for most people, graduating from college means getting a job. Is it easy for people from underprivileged backgrounds to become researchers?

“It might be possible for the middle class, but it’s nearly impossible for those facing significant financial hardship.”

Everyone nodded at Park Do-joon’s words.

“So, the culprit is someone from the upper class who is active on social media and lacks social skills.”

“And we should assume they have a hostile attitude towards those less fortunate.”

“Does that have to be…”

“Yes. There’s one place that comes to mind.”

Not a place, but an internet site that fits that description perfectly.

“Isn’t that Cobrian?”

Someone tilted their head, asking.

“What’s Cobrian?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head, seemingly not knowing what it was.

“Cobrian. It’s an extremely male-dominated site where guys who think they’re a new breed gather. Women don’t really know about it. Maybe 10% of the users are women, if that. More like 3%.”

“What do they do there?”

“They call themselves a ‘Korea Bourgeoisie’ group. They shortened it to Cobrian because they see themselves as a separate race.”

“Why does everyone seem to know about it?”

“Because it’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

A group that’s not just in the top 1%, but the top 0.1%. The atmosphere in Cobrian is one of despising the poor and treating them like vermin.

“No, it goes beyond that.”

They treat those who don’t earn money as socially obsolete, no better than pigs to be culled.

“Are there really that many wealthy individuals there?”

Park Do-joon chuckled at that.

“They claim anyone earning less than 1 billion won [approximately $750,000 USD] a year isn’t even human, but would someone earning over 1 billion won be hanging out in a place like that?”

Even someone earning 100 million won a year sees time as money. Over 300 million won? Unless they inherited a massive fortune, they’d be working themselves to the bone, sacrificing sleep.

“1 billion won a year, my ass.”

In Korea, earning 1 billion won a year puts you in the top 0.0001%.

“Would they be wasting their time in that cesspool?”

“Cesspool? Oh, like that ‘Sesang Manse’ place.”

“Sesang Manse. Well, it’s similar.”

Sesang Manse is a women’s-only internet site. The women there are 30% doctors, 30% judges or prosecutors, 30% celebrities, and 10% others.

“Every site has that kind of culture, doesn’t it?”

“True.”

While there are differences between sites, the culture of putting forth a fake persona and enjoying the unique culture is a kind of online masquerade that exists on almost every site.

Some people take it as a joke, while others believe it’s their true self and become extremely aggressive if you try to deny or verify it.

“But Cobrian is completely different from those places.”

On other sites, most people treat it as a joke and have conversations, but not on Cobrian. Under the banner of ‘it’s okay to beat the poor to death,’ they erase their real selves and claim to be rich, earning over 1 billion won or having assets of over 100 billion won, openly expressing their anger and dissatisfaction with the world and society.

“That place is completely aggressive.”

Some police officers shook their heads, as if they knew.

“Those crazy bastards are in a league of their own. We actually arrested one guy for a crime, and he was nowhere near earning 1 billion won. He was in the near-poverty bracket.”

He couldn’t even pay the fine and was clinging to the victim, crying and causing a scene.

“So, what happened?”

“I think that victim wasn’t in a normal situation either.”

“That’s right. He claimed to be an analyst earning 3 billion won, but he was a fraud with 14 prior convictions. He was screaming for a settlement… it was a complete mess.”

“I get what you mean. In short, it’s a site where social misfits gather.”

“Exactly. And the best way to hide your identity on such a site is to deny that you belong to that identity, even attacking it. It’s similar to sex offenders becoming engrossed in feminism.”

They are ardent feminists and have a strong interest in women’s rights. Therefore, they are not sex offenders.

There are actually sex offenders who claim that.

“The problem is that the culprit likely learned extreme aggression from the Cobrian site.”

It’s okay to kill the poor. The poor are parasites. They learned the ideology that they should be socially exterminated and acted on it.

“So, the culprit is also on Cobrian?”

“I don’t know, but it’s likely. Cobrian is the place with the strongest aggression towards the poor in Korea.”

Each site has a different atmosphere and, of course, different targets of hostility. Some hate the rich, some hate politics, and some hate regions. But Cobrian is practically the only place that hates the poor.

“The basic principle of a hate crime investigation is to search the place where that hatred is expressed.”

“But that won’t be easy.”

One of the police officers hesitantly raised his hand and said,

“The Cobrian guys don’t cooperate well with the police. Besides, there are a lot of members.”

“How many?”

“I think about 300,000 have signed up. I checked it in relation to another case.”

“300,000?”

Lee Ji-soo frowned at that. It was inevitable because a warrant wouldn’t be issued for that many people.

And if Cobrian is hostile to the police, they won’t be cooperative.

“Of course, an unofficial investigation is possible.”

“How?”

“Verification.”

“Huh?”

“That place is full of fake and idiotic posts. But humans want to show their presence.”

The culprit may not know who they are, but they have high social intelligence and don’t think all the posts are real, or believe they are all rich.

“What would they do to gain a higher position within that group?”

“Verification.”

“Right.”

A site where there are no rich people, but rich people gather. If you verify that you are rich there, then everyone is below you.

“The culprit is expected to have extremely poor community skills.”

The common trait of those who are aware of this is the desire to have the other person acknowledge them, even by force.

“It’s common to verify yourself with a false image and use it to reveal yourself.”

In China, there are even verification gatherings. They pool money to rent a Ferrari for a day and take turns taking pictures of each other and posting them on social media.

It’s not just Ferraris, but expensive cars, hotels, expensive food and drinks, and even luxury goods that they rent to post and verify themselves, flaunting their presence.

“That money is several months’ salary for some Chinese people.”

“They go that far?”

“There are plenty of people who are obsessed with decorating themselves in that world as online has become more active. Why did you bother spending money to decorate your avatar in Cyworld [a popular early social media platform in South Korea] in the past?”

What effect did that have? No. It represents you in that world, so you decorate it while spending money.

“There have always been many people who distinguish between me in this world and me in that world and are obsessed with showing it to people.”

The same goes for car-poor people who drive luxury sports cars even though they live in a rented room and have no rice.

“But verification is not that easy in such communities.”

All it takes is a picture.

“And I told you? The culprit is from a wealthy family.”

They may not receive a salary of 1 billion won, but there are many ways to verify. An expensive car, a fancy interior, or luxury goods.

“You’ll find it if you look for verification.”

Park Do-joon smiled and said.

# The Pitfalls of Verification

There may be 300,000 members, but how many can really verify themselves? 10,000? Sadly, not even 1,000. Because, from the perspective of real rich people, their actions are not the actions of real rich people, but just a festival of idiots.

Even if they are rich people who really think of the poor as trash, they don’t publicly leave posts on the internet.

They don’t know what will happen later, and associating with such idiots is humiliating for them.

“Don’t they know that the site is not a normal site?”

So, there are almost no posts called verification, and what comes up as verification is mostly obvious.