My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 65

“These days, many young people in Korea are finding it hard to form relationships due to financial pressures and other difficulties.”

“Really?”

“Meanwhile, many powerful individuals can easily indulge in such pleasures.”

“What does that have to do with this case?”

“I’m referring to the law of diminishing marginal utility [the more you have of something, the less satisfaction you get from each additional unit].”

Initially, meeting someone new and dating brings excitement, but after marriage and the inevitable progression to sexual intimacy, the spark can fade, or so they say.

According to the law of diminishing marginal utility, pleasure decreases as one becomes accustomed to it.

“And for the wealthy and powerful, this diminishing marginal utility kicks in much faster.”

They can have any woman they desire at any time, and there’s always someone eager to entertain them.

Celebrities, perhaps?

If you frequent truly high-end establishments, you’ll find women even more stunning than celebrities. Some are former celebrities or trainees.

“The act of sexual intercourse itself eventually reaches a point where it provides limited enjoyment.”

Naturally, they begin to crave stronger stimulation.

And that’s when people’s true nature starts to surface.

Some turn to drugs, while others experiment with different sexual acts.

“You might remember a few years ago when the police cracked down on an underage prostitution ring.”

There was a case involving a group of runaway teenagers, a ‘팸 (paem, short for ‘family,’ referring to a group of runaway teens)’, who coerced minors into prostitution.

“At the time, the identities of those arrested weren’t released to the media, but I know who they were.”

“Police officers, prosecutors, doctors… lawyers.”

Contrary to the expectation that those at the bottom of society would commit such acts, the ones exploiting those girls were the powerful and wealthy.

“Hearing that, I understand perfectly.”

Unable to find satisfaction in ordinary bars or entertainment, they resorted to raping minors.

In other words, they sought sexual gratification through child rape.

“Those guys are probably pedophiles. So, how is this case different?”

The victim is an adult, and female. Up to that point, it’s no different from other establishments.

However, it must be kept secret from the outside world, and there must be a compelling reason to confine them.

Park Do-joon proposed a hypothesis about this possibility.

“I believe they’re not just engaging in prostitution but are being subjected to sadists. Sadists, as they’re called.”

“Ah!”

At that, the two immediately understood.

Sadists are people who derive sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on others.

Conversely, there are people who enjoy sexual pleasure from receiving pain. Those are masochists.

“Everyone has sadistic or masochistic tendencies to some degree. It’s just a matter of intensity.”

And when sadistic tendencies become dominant, they only find happiness by inflicting increasingly severe pain on another person.

It becomes impossible to gain pleasure simply through sexual relations as before.

“In modern society, prostitution isn’t very lucrative. There are too many alternatives.”

Even though it’s illegal, a profiler can’t ignore it. Profiling that denies reality is useless.

“If it were just simple prostitution, it would be more profitable to run a regular room salon [a type of Korean hostess bar]. It’s much safer, too.”

Why, then, resort to forced abduction and confinement?

“So, you’re saying they’re gathering sadists to abuse the kidnapped women?”

“That’s my theory. There are no prostitution establishments catering specifically to sadists in our country.”

At least, not openly.

Even if they exist, they’d be extremely secretive.

“Moreover, sadists are far more numerous than masochists.”

Masochists have a limit. If the pain becomes life-threatening, they’ll stop. But sadists don’t have that brake. It’s the other person’s life at stake, not their own.

“As a result, the manifestation of abnormal sexual desires is much faster and more frequent on the sadist side.”

Of course, most sadists don’t go to such extremes. Conscience acts as a restraint.

But what about people with money and power?

“They have no restraints.”

“None.”

One of the lesser-known facts is the assault of female employees by customers.

That’s because in most cases, they use their influence to cover it up, and since prostitution itself is illegal, they handle it internally.

Naturally, with money and power, it’s easy to suppress such assault cases.

“When you go to a bar, they always hire male staff. Why? Just because customers get drunk and cause trouble? That’s unlikely.”

More accurately, it’s to deal with guys who get drunk and whose sadistic tendencies emerge.

“Sadistic tendencies surfacing when drunk… I’ve never considered that angle before?”

Kim Geun-chan’s eyes lit up at Park Do-joon’s words. If he used this as a headline, he could get a huge number of views.

“So, what happens then?”

“If they provide a place where they can safely indulge their desires, they’ll make a lot of money. And those people will protect those who provide it.”

Considering them not just as customers but as protectors and accomplices.

That was Park Do-joon’s profile.

“Then, all that’s left is to analyze their behavior patterns.”

We can’t know who they are or where and how they operate. From the start, they wouldn’t reveal such abnormal sexual desires.

In reality, no matter how much the world has progressed, people don’t look kindly on those with abnormal sexual desires.

In fact, many unintentional accidents often occur because of it.

“If that’s the case, it’ll definitely be profitable.”

Jo Sang-gyu frowned. According to Park Do-joon’s analysis, they’re not the type to keep the victims alive.

But would such guys care what happens to the victimized women inside?

“But you can’t pinpoint the location with that, can you? You can’t even identify who they are, so following them secretly would be impossible, right?”

“Of course, you’re right.”

“Ah. What about tracking adult products?”

“That would be difficult. There are so many places that sell adult products. And most adult products are sold online, especially those related to sadism.”

So, it’s impossible to track from that angle.

“And if they run an establishment for sadists, there will probably be related products.”

It’s hard to imagine someone buying them openly. At Park Do-joon’s words, the two frowned. No matter how they looked at it, tracking seemed impossible.

Sexual preference is an extremely private matter.

Almost no one reveals it to the outside world. If you do, you’re considered ignorant and foolish.

Even if you have power or influence, you’ll be ostracized by your peers and isolated.

“If that’s the case, among the customers… could there be such guys?”

“No, they wouldn’t look for such guys among the customers.”

Their bar is an illegal establishment, and they drug and extort customers.

“The caliber of people working in such places is obvious.”

If you have money or power, you wouldn’t frequent such a low-level bar. Naturally, the point of contact between them and the sadists isn’t the bar.

“The point of contact isn’t important right now anyway. What’s important is finding the confinement site.”

“Then…”

“The confinement site is probably on the outskirts of the city. From the perpetrator’s perspective, they wouldn’t want to be in a high-crime area.”

Profiling that started from the perspective of those who engage in prostitution. Park Do-joon was able to narrow down the location through such profiling.

“Since they have money and power, they’ll be rational and knowledgeable. And they’ll know that their actions are illegal. Therefore, they’ll naturally want a place that won’t attract attention. That rules out areas with low moral standards.”

“Why?”

“Areas with low moral standards, meaning high-crime areas, are saturated with CCTV cameras.”

Of course, there are neighborhoods overseas where even those are stolen and can’t be installed, but Korea isn’t that bad.

Naturally, if you go inside, there’s a high chance of being caught on CCTV internally.

“Moreover, the vehicles they own will be quite expensive. Such vehicles are bound to stand out in the area.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and such crime-ridden areas have almost no buildings with underground parking lots.”

In other words, you have to park outside, which means there’s a possibility that someone will recognize you while moving.

“A crime-ridden area means that the person who goes there is also likely to become a victim.”

“What does that mean?”

“Even though they know that a crime is being committed there, there’s a high possibility that they won’t report it, but at the same time, there’s also a high possibility that they will threaten the other person after seeing it.”

“Ah!”

Someone might recognize them, and of course, they might do something foolish.

“From the perspective of the person engaging in prostitution, they wouldn’t want to go to the scene. In the end, all that’s left is the outskirts.”

“The outskirts…”

“And here, we can profile once again. They are fundamentally people who live in Seoul.”

There’s a saying that you should send horses to Jeju Island and people to Seoul [meaning that the best resources should be sent to the most important place]. In reality, Seoul is at the center of power and money.

“They won’t go far. They can’t go beyond the surrounding provinces. Time is money for them.”

In other words, they’ll want to travel as quickly as possible.

“Besides, humans want to control everything, especially those who do illegal things.”

These are criminals based in Seoul who move around. In an emergency, they’ll either move immediately to protect the place or quickly obtain information.

“If something happens there, the information will go straight to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.”

If they’ve heavily bribed the Seoul police, they can immediately notice and run away the moment something happens.

“But they won’t go to other provinces to get such information.”

That would cost twice… no, three times as much. Moreover, their opportunities to move would be limited.

“In other words, there’s a high possibility that they’ve confined the victims in an area they can control, probably near Seoul.”

“Near Seoul…”

Saying Seoul greatly reduces the possibilities. That’s because most of the area around Seoul has been developed and urbanized.

You have to go at least to Gyeonggi Province to find some undeveloped land.

“Then it’s Gyeonggi Province?”

Park Do-joon shook his head at Kim Geun-chan’s words, denying it.

“Gyeonggi Province is too big. It’s probably Gwacheon or that general vicinity.”