My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 650

“So, you’re saying they won’t kill them?”

“Yes, I don’t know what kind of guys they are, but now that things have turned out this way, they’ll probably try to extort money by taking hostages and then run away.”

Their actions were predetermined from the start. They didn’t immediately start a hostage situation upon boarding but demanded $100,000. That means they’ll leave if they get the money.

“Their goal is money. They probably have no interest in the cargo at all. Ah, what is the cargo?”

“The Dongshin is just a container cargo ship. It carries everything indiscriminately.”

“I see.”

Then it can’t be said that they boarded targeting specific cargo.

“So, we can assume it’s the same as a typical hostage situation.”

“I had no idea.”

“That’s probably true. There hasn’t been anything like that in the last few years.”

With the navies of various countries deployed, safety devices increased on ships, and even armed mercenaries on board, such incidents haven’t occurred in recent years, so the new officers here wouldn’t know about it.

Of course, some education will take place during the duty handover process, but they wouldn’t include ‘the purpose of pirates’ in the education content.

“Of course, it’s not that there aren’t any crazy bastards who kill from the start, but…”

“Then even now……”

“No, if they were those kinds of guys, it would have already happened. Think about it. How long did it take for me to get here?”

“Hmm……”

The incident happened, it went on the news, and Yoon Tae-min came to find Park Do-joon, and that time was a whopping 20 days.

It took a whopping 20 days to get here. In that situation, the fact that they haven’t taken extreme actions means that they are not murderers committing heinous crimes.

“Usually, they can’t last that long in a hostage situation.”

That’s why hostage situations are often called a fight against time.

“But that’s usually the story on land where you can respond immediately, and pirates will probably think they can last long enough. There’s probably someone with hostage experience among those pirates. He’ll be the leader.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If they were inexperienced young guys, there’s no way they could be controlled like this. The influx of pirates is quite fast in Somalia.”

There was a time when the dream of Somali boys was to become pirates. The consumption was that fast, and the circulation was fast too. Because it’s not a proper country, they naturally shoot each other every day, and there’s no treatment, and diseases spread.

It’s Somalia where, as a joke, after helping the poor in Somalia, a letter of thanks came with a photo of them holding an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] after becoming a pirate.

“The last hostage situation was almost 10 years ago. If they are made up of only those who have flowed in during that time, they won’t be able to last 20 days.”

“Hmm……”

So, the other party’s leader should be seen as an experienced old pirate.

“Still, they do as they’re told?”

“Of course, they won’t just do as they’re told. They’ll probably promise compensation for it. The negotiation amount must have gone up now?”

When Park Do-joon asked, looking at Yoon Tae-min, Yoon Tae-min shook his head at the words.

“I didn’t hear the story while coming together.”

“That’s……”

The captain sighed and said.

“They are demanding 10 million dollars.”

A large sum of money, roughly 13 billion won in Korean currency.

“Of course, they won’t get all of that, and they probably thought about making a big hit and persuaded them.”

“Do pirates usually do that?”

“Yes.”

Even if they receive about 10 billion won in Korean currency, if they divide that money and scatter, it is enough money to live comfortably in Somalia.

No, with that money, they can get out of this hellish Somalia and settle in another country where security is at least guaranteed.

Somalia now has a proper government, but it still doesn’t have the capacity to look after its people, and there are still those who refuse to integrate into it or act as rebels.

In contrast, even Kenya next door is relatively livable. Kenya is one of the better-off countries in Africa.

“The company must have refused.”

“They say they’re considering it.”

“Considering my ass.”

Would a company that didn’t give 100 million won because it was a waste give 13 billion won?

There’s no way.

“Then do you know which side the other pirates are from?”

“Which side of the pirates? Are there such things as pirates?”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue at the words.

‘I expected it.’

As a navy, what they protect are the ships of other countries, not Somalia, so I thought they might not know the internal affairs of Somalia.

In the first place, the ships dispatched, that is, the Cheonghae Unit [South Korean naval anti-piracy task force], are based in Oman, not Somalia, so it is natural that they do not know about the inside at all.

“Somalia has outwardly found some stability, but it has not completely stabilized.”

The unified government has barely established itself, but that is only because large warlords have joined hands, and small warlords still refuse to integrate into it or act as rebels.

“And no matter how well the warlords are established, they are still warlords after all.”

There is no way that proper governance or operation can be achieved, so everything can only be done haphazardly.

“Is there a difference?”

“There is no difference in appearance.”

Anyway, they are fishing and then turning into pirates if they look easy, but they are not determined to do something piratical, armed with speedboats and weapons, and attacking.

“But there is a big difference in terms of negotiation.”

“Why?”

“If it’s the government side, in fact, no matter how crazy they are, they won’t just leave the pirates alone.”

In such cases, negotiations must be conducted directly with the pirates on the ship, not a third party. On the other hand, if it is the rebel side, negotiations must be conducted with the rebel side, not the pirates.

“That difference is huge.”

“Hmm……”

At those words, the people of the Choi Young ship, including the captain, had troubled faces. Because there was no information at all.

“First of all, then, assuming we don’t know, we should make them the main negotiating target.”

It’s uncertain, but there’s no choice.

“Then, is there anything revealed about the number of personnel or weapons on the other side?”

“No. There is nothing at all.”

“There’s no one watching this side?”

“Well, the surveillance itself is being done in shifts. Shall we count the guys who come out in shifts?”

“It probably won’t mean anything.”

It is never easy to monitor the surroundings from a ship made of iron plates in this scorching sun. Of course, the high-ranking guys will never come out; only the guys who come out will come out, so it will be difficult to check the number of pirates by checking the number of guys who come out.

“Did you find the escaped ship?”

“No.”

When the French warship approached, it ran away like lightning, so it couldn’t be caught. From the French military’s point of view, they couldn’t know whether that ship was a pirate ship or a ship that happened to be passing by, and the urgent thing was not the abandoned ship but the pirates, so they just let it go.

“Then the number won’t be large. It’s probably about seven or eight people.”

“How do you know?”

“Didn’t I tell you? They load weapons on the ship and turn into pirates depending on the situation.”

Of course, they don’t carry thirty people on a ship and commit piracy. And if it’s a ship of that size, the French military would have felt something strange and chased it.

“But the fact that they let it go because they thought it was uncertain means that it’s a ship that can be commonly seen in this area.”

Because it is a common fishing boat that is not known to be for pirate purposes, they had no choice but to let it go even if they were vaguely concerned.

“The size of ships operating in this area usually doesn’t have room after carrying seven or eight people.”

In addition, due to the nature of piracy, which is piracy if necessary, there must be space to load weapons inside. At the same time, since fishing is also the purpose, there must be space to load nets or caught fish necessary for fishing.

“So, you can think of it as a maximum of eight people. If it exceeds that, they cannot maintain profits by fishing.”

If they can’t do piracy, there is no profit. They can carry about twenty people, but the people who ride like that cannot make a living by just catching fish.

There is not enough space and not enough profit.

“And as I said before, it has become almost impossible to make a profit from piracy recently.”

So, naturally, the profit from fishing activities is prioritized over the profit from piracy.

“Humans set up situations based on general situations rather than variables.”

How likely is it that there will be a company that saves safety costs as stupidly as a Korean company?

“So, we can assume it’s about eight people.”

“Yes.”

Everyone looked at Park Do-joon as if they were amazed when he told them about the things they had not expected at all, even roughly.

“Detective Park, then what should we do with those pirates?”

Yoon Tae-min, who was quietly listening to it, asked worriedly.

“Shall we just hold out there like this?”

“We can wait and see for now, but that’s probably more likely.”

“Why?”

“If they were guys with rebels or backgrounds, they would have abandoned the ship. Or they are likely to have taken the ship and entered their area.”

That way, they can guarantee their safety and shake off the pursuit. Of course, naval ships will follow, but if their purpose is to extort money through hostage situations, they would prefer to just take the hostages and move to land and hide rather than spend time on the ship.

That way, they can’t be tracked either. In fact, even if Somalia is a mess, foreign troops landing is a completely different matter, so in that case, there is nothing the Korean Navy can do.

“Then?”

“They are probably thinking about a long-term war and looking for a place where they can enter the port now.”

At those words, everyone’s faces hardened.

“Are you just going to leave it like that?”

“What can we do then? It’s not like we can shell them.”

“Ugh!”

The team leader, who seemed to be leading the special forces, gritted his teeth at the words.

“The good thing is that they haven’t found a place yet.”

If they had, they would have already entered in 20 days.

“Probably, in that situation, the criminals are pirate ships disguised as fishing boats that are not directly under the rebels, and there will be no lines on the government side.”

If there was a line on the government side, they would have tried to enter the port controlled by that side.

“But even if the Somali government is a mess, would they easily allow that?”

“That’s what I mean.”

Even if it is a newly established government, so there is nothing to do properly, no government would allow pirates to land at their port and carry out a hostage situation unless they are crazy.

“They’re probably going to ask the rebels for help and land on land……”

“Then?”

“Yes, the first thing we need to do is find a port where they can dock.”

And with the help of that place, we must block their escape by blocking the port.

“The urgent thing is to block the escape route, so let’s do that first.”

Park Do-joon urged the people.

“Hurry up. The longer the hostage situation lasts, the lower the chances of the hostages surviving. Don’t forget that.”

At those words, everyone left to find their own work, and Park Do-joon sighed as he looked at the ship models on the table.

“Okay, let’s say we’ve blocked the escape route, what should we do……”

Park Do-joon had so much to think about that his head hurt, so he had no choice but to frown.

My natural job is a profiler.