My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 644

“Maybe I need to ask for your help, *Oppa* [an honorific term used by a younger woman to address an older brother or male friend],” Jung Yi-yeon said.

“Huh?”

Park Do-joon tilted his head, surprised by her words.

“You know Team Leader Cha Dae-hoon, right?”

If it was Cha Dae-hoon, who had quit the police force and joined Moonlight, he was known to be highly capable. So why would she need Do-joon’s help?

“Team Leader Cha Dae-hoon also says this case is ambiguous because the incident happened in China.”

“Ah…….”

Park Do-joon understood the situation. It wasn’t that Cha Dae-hoon’s skills were lacking. However, Team Leader Cha Dae-hoon had only done profiling in Korea. Naturally, he wouldn’t be as familiar with the cultural and legal differences in China as Park Do-joon was.

In fact, even though China shares the same Confucian cultural sphere as Korea, its culture has been significantly changed and controlled by the communist regime. This has resulted in aspects that Koreans often don’t understand.

For ordinary people, this might not matter much, but profiling requires understanding inner thoughts and motivations. These can vary greatly from country to country, making the task significantly more complex.

“Hmm, if that’s the case, I might be of some help. But it seems like it’s not the right time to discuss the details yet.”

“Because it’s still uncertain.”

Even though Park Do-joon was Jung Yi-yeon’s boyfriend, a lawyer’s work is fundamentally confidential. She couldn’t just talk about a case when the details were still unclear.

“I’ll try to help with what you’re asking. What do you need me to do?”

“First, I need you to go to the lab and retrieve the trash.”

“Trash?”

“Yeah.”

“What difference will it make if I collect the trash now?”

“It makes a difference. Even though they claim they poured cyanide into the snack, there’s no definitive evidence, and we need to check for fingerprints.”

“Wouldn’t they have worn gloves? Cyanide is a dangerous substance, right?”

If they were meticulous, they might have worn gloves for everything.

“Yeah, maybe. But the important thing is, even if Kang Seok-doo says that, would Kang Gu-chan believe him?”

“Ah-ha!”

Kang Gu-chan had already lost faith in Kang Seok-doo. He might still feel the need to protect his son, but he wouldn’t automatically believe, ‘My son is definitely not a murderer.’

“From what I can see, Kang Gu-chan has already heard everything.”

If that weren’t the case, there would be no reason for Kang Gu-chan to be so actively trying to cover up the case.

“Since his trust is broken, even if Kang Seok-doo insists he didn’t make a mistake, he won’t believe him.”

“That’s right. Kang Seok-doo’s memory might be unreliable.”

And since a single mistake would obviously ruin Kang Seok-doo’s future, they would do whatever it takes to prevent that.

“Fear makes people uneasy. The criminal often returns to the scene. You know that saying, right?”

“I know. Is it because of anxiety?”

“That’s right.”

The saying that the criminal returns to the scene is widely known, though not always true. But the probability is high.

The anxiety that they might have left evidence behind drives the criminal back to the scene.

“Those guys must be very anxious right now.”

They probably thought they couldn’t be tracked. But Park Do-joon had tracked them down. And they must be seriously considering whether they made a mistake.

“If they start to feel anxious about psychological traps or analysis, then they’ll start to worry about physical mistakes, like leaving evidence behind.”

“Hmm…….”

“And you know, do you think Kang Gu-chan will just leave Kang Seok-doo alone?”

“Are you saying he’s going to beat him up?”

“No, not that, but he’ll grill him. About whether he made any mistakes. And the idea of certainty is a very weak thing for humans.”

Even if someone insists, ‘I didn’t make a mistake!’ if someone next to them keeps asking, ‘Are you really sure? Didn’t you make a mistake?’ that certainty turns into doubt.

“Probably, the moment the words ‘I probably didn’t make a mistake!’ come out, the answer is obvious.”

Kang Gu-chan will grill Kang Seok-doo to tell him for sure, and Kang Seok-doo’s certainty will gradually weaken.

“And he’ll start to seriously worry about that weakness.”

About whether he made a mistake and whether there’s something that can track him.

“And the moment he can’t answer for sure, ‘No, there isn’t,’ the answer is obvious.”

Kang Gu-chan will have no choice but to fall into Park Do-joon’s trap while in doubt.

“But where did you get the fingerprints from? There had to be something at the scene. You didn’t even go near there, did you?”

“Tape.”

“Tape?”

“They threw it away in a box, right? Would they just throw it away without a second thought?”

“Ah-ha!”

Usually, in such situations, they use a large transparent tape, commonly known as box tape. And fingerprints stick very well to such box tape. In fact, in the absence of specialized equipment, such transparent tape is sometimes used to lift fingerprints from a surface and use them in investigations.

“But you can’t be sure if they wore gloves when they put it on.”

Of course, they might think they wore them, and they might actually have been wearing them.

“But grilling them dilutes that certainty.”

“That’s right.”

Unless they filmed themselves committing the crime and kept it as proof, it’ll be even more so.

“Especially when you look at the box tape, there’s one part that’s not even. I think it was probably done in the early stages of the incident.”

“Does that matter?”

“It does. Usually, that means they didn’t have a knife or other cutting equipment readily available.”

If they had a knife or scissors, it would have been cleaner to just cut it.

“Right?”

“But if they don’t have that, what would they usually use?”

“That’s…… oh, teeth?”

“That’s right.”

“Wait, then if you check for saliva there?”

“Unfortunately, it’s difficult.”

“Why?”

“It’s just a fleeting moment. The amount of saliva transferred would be minimal.”

Therefore, it is almost impossible to obtain enough saliva from the tape to perform DNA comparison.

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. You need a certain amount of saliva for a reliable sample.”

“Then it’s meaningless, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not meaningless. You just said it yourself. You asked if you could track it with saliva. That question itself is a mistake on their part.”

Of course, if you ask the police, they’ll tell you that no saliva was found on it. The police are already doing everything they can to cover up the case.

“But regardless of that, their certainty disappears.”

“Ah-ha!”

From the moment the certainty that ‘I didn’t make a mistake’ disappears, Kang Seok-doo will start to tremble with fear. And Kang Gu-chan will see that and believe that the information Park Do-joon has might be real.

“He’ll have to catch me no matter what.”

Whether he tries to kill me or negotiate, he’ll try anything.

“And that moment will be his weakness. Hehehe.”

Park Do-joon was certain.

# Forcing a Choice

Kang Gu-chan was in turmoil. The revelation that his son was a terrorist murderer was shocking. He was barely managing to stall the investigation before the incident blew up, but things weren’t going smoothly.

“You! Tell me straight! Did you make a mistake! Or not!”

“I…… I didn’t make a mistake. It’s not my fault. What’s wrong with killing a few parasites anyway…….”

At those words, Kang Gu-chan swung his fist in anger. It was a fist he hadn’t thrown since his son Kang Seok-doo’s life was twisted due to his misunderstanding, out of guilt. But he couldn’t hold back.

“You don’t even understand the gravity of the situation!”

“What do you mean? Isn’t it over if you just give them money? You gave money to the police and reporters, right? Then it’s all over.”

Hearing those words, Kang Gu-chan realized that Kang Seok-doo truly didn’t understand the situation.

“Damn it!”

Kang Gu-chan paced around the room in anger. The situation was far from good. He was bribing the police and reporters to keep quiet, but food companies were calling the *담당 경찰서* [the police station in charge] dozens of times a day.

No matter how much the media kept silent about the incident, the leaked news persisted, and they needed to catch the culprit to restore their plummeting sales.

But the questions were subtle. It wasn’t ‘How far has the investigation progressed?’ but ‘Is it true that a suspect has been identified?’

‘Well, they must know.’

There were police officers who wanted money from him and passed on information, so there was no reason why other companies wouldn’t have such contacts. They probably knew that Kang Seok-doo was a suspect.

“Damn it.”

Of course, the police were aware of that pressure, and to resist that pressure, they needed more money and more pressure from above.

So he was calling everywhere for help, and because of that, his influence was diminishing. People who knew the situation were refusing to help and cutting off contact.

Some reluctantly said they would help, but the calls they made were not to cover up the incident. They were subtly telling the authorities to check and investigate the incident more carefully so that the suspect wouldn’t be unfairly accused.

In fact, it couldn’t be helped. No matter how much Teriam had secured its position through connections, most of the snack companies were within the top 30 in the business world.

Teriam, which barely made it into the top 200, was not in a position to compete.

Fortunately, the police had obtained profiling information about Kang Seok-doo, but they had not obtained any physical evidence.

Even if he had given bribes, he wouldn’t have been able to cover up the case if physical evidence had surfaced.

“What’s wrong?”

“You idiot.”

But then that Park Do-joon was the problem again. When he was chasing that guy out, everyone said it wouldn’t be easy to resolve. They said he was a tenacious guy who would never give up easily.

Sure enough, even after being fired, he seemed to be conducting a solo investigation, and scary information was surfacing.

That he had found decisive evidence.

“You really didn’t make a mistake?”

“I told you, I didn’t.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“Then what is this!”

Kang Gu-chan roared, shaking the copied photos. It was information he had obtained and then urgently secured again from within.

“This is…….”

“You said you tore this with your teeth?”

“Oh, that…….”

Only then did Kang Seok-doo look like he realized. He had actually done that once.

“That was a long time ago…….”

“A long time ago? A long time ago!”

Of course, Kang Seok-doo tried to be meticulous. He knew what he was doing, so he tried hard not to leave any traces.

“I definitely used scissors when I cut it…….”

He definitely used scissors when he cut it. But what about before that, when he initially used the tape? In other words, the starting point of the part he had been using? He hadn’t paid attention to that.

He didn’t pay attention to that and just started cutting.

“There…… by any chance…….”

Kang Seok-doo trembled, knowing that he would be in deep trouble if saliva came out from the place he had cut with his teeth.

“You idiot.”

Seeing Kang Seok-doo turning pale, Kang Gu-chan’s certainty disappeared once again.

He didn’t make a mistake? How could he be sure he hadn’t made a mistake?

“It seems like that Park Do-joon…… is dangerous.”

He had confirmed several times that there was no room for negotiation. He wanted to pretend he didn’t know, but if he exposed something, everyone would be ruined. That’s why he wanted to cover up the incident no matter what.