My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 653

“So, you’re suggesting we subtly get our people in place,” someone said.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Since they’re short on food, they’ll need supplies. They wouldn’t want to starve, after all.”

“But is that really safe? Wouldn’t they be somewhat on guard?”

“That’s why I’m suggesting we ease them into it.”

“If we deploy our forces immediately, they’ll naturally be on high alert and resist. Problems are bound to arise during that process.”

“So, initially, we supply them with food. As we continue supplying them by boat, their vigilance will naturally decrease.”

“By boat?”

“Yes, we can’t use a helicopter, nor should we.”

“Supplying by helicopter would allow us to deliver a large amount of food at once, but that would make long-term planning difficult.”

“We’ll use small rubber boats to supply them.”

“Supplying food via small rubber boats will only provide enough for, at most, two days.”

“Once it becomes routine, they won’t react as sensitively to the sound of the rubber boats. We can also schedule the food supply for nighttime.”

“You’re saying you’ll mask the sound from one side with sound from the other?”

“Yes.”

“Moreover, people naturally tend to look towards the light.”

“If we create a little confusion on the day of the operation, they probably won’t even know what’s happening.”

“Is there no negotiation possible?”

“Of course, there is negotiation—or at least, it has to appear that way. If we don’t attempt to negotiate, they might execute the hostages.”

“That’s true.”

“Of course, there’s no real intention to negotiate.”

“I’m thinking of going over there myself first.”

“Going over there?”

“Yes.”

“Not using a radio?”

“We can’t do that.”

“Using a radio is a common trope in movies, and hostage-takers actually prefer negotiating via radio.”

“It’s obvious why. If even one person leaves and returns, it means information is leaking.”

“But that’s based on people familiar with modern civilization. In these kinds of incidents, face-to-face negotiation is usually the norm.”

‘So, he’s planning to use that situation to gather information,’ someone thought.

“And while I’m there, I’m thinking of communicating with the hostages.”

“You’re not planning to give the hostages a radio, are you? That’s too dangerous.”

“No, not at all.”

Park Do-joon shrugged, as if it were obvious.

“The weakness of these pirates is their low intelligence. Their learning ability is also low. I’m going to exploit that.”

“How?”

“I’m going to leave a carrot.”

At those words, everyone looked puzzled.

Park Do-joon boarded the cargo ship and looked at the people guarding him.

“Are you the negotiator?”

“Yes, I am. First, I’d like to check on the condition of the hostages.”

“Alright.”

Park Do-joon, accompanied by an interpreter, slowly headed towards where the hostages were being held. They followed them to the kitchen, where hostages with haggard faces were gathered.

“Are you all right?”

“Korean? He’s Korean! Korean!”

“Please save us from here! I have family in Korea!”

“Everyone, calm down. We’re doing our best.”

“Please, please save us.”

Everyone’s face brightened at the sight of a Korean negotiator.

“Does anyone have any injuries or illnesses?”

“Not yet.”

“I see.”

Park Do-joon glanced around as he spoke in Korean, wondering if anyone could understand him. If they did, it would be a problem.

But fortunately, the pirates didn’t seem to care much. It was only natural.

It wouldn’t make sense to learn Korean in Somalia, where there aren’t even proper schools.

“First, I’ll check your health status.”

Park Do-joon checked their physical condition and then asked, “How much food is left?”

He quietly asked the man who appeared to be the captain. The man flinched, looking frightened, before answering.

He could tell that they didn’t understand Korean at all.

“Almost none.”

“Roughly?”

“All that’s left are canned goods. You can consider the food gone. We didn’t bring much to begin with.”

“I understand what you mean.”

‘These ships replenish their food at ports of call. But they haven’t been able to dock and have been adrift at sea for almost a month, so there’s no way they’d have food,’ he thought.

“I see. I understand.”

Park Do-joon got up and turned around.

“Now that I’ve confirmed the safety of the hostages, let’s properly negotiate.”

“Good.”

They took Park Do-joon to a prearranged room, and the negotiation began.

But as expected, the negotiation didn’t proceed smoothly.

“How much?”

“Twenty million dollars.”

“I understood the demand to be ten million dollars?”

“No. Twenty million dollars. We can’t negotiate for anything less.”

‘As expected,’ he thought.

“They need to take this ship and sell its contents, but since that’s impossible, they want to generate additional revenue through the hostage situation.”

‘It seems they know they’ve been denied entry into port.’

“Previously, the navy had been blocking radio communications, but they had to temporarily unblock it regarding port entry, so they must have heard it, and they must be confused.”

‘And they want to generate revenue in other ways.’

“That’s the reason for the increase in the cost for the hostages.”

“If you suddenly raise the cost like that, things will get complicated.”

“No, what’s complicated about it? If you give us the money, we’ll evacuate the ship.”

“The cost suddenly doubling—there’s no way the government and the company will allow that.”

“That’s none of our business. Our demand is twenty million dollars. Not a penny less.”

Naturally, these negotiations don’t happen all at once. Knowing that, they’re demanding an absurd amount of money.

“Ugh!”

Park Do-joon talked like that for a while, then suddenly grabbed his stomach.

“Can I use the restroom for a moment?”

“Follow me.”

Even though they’re pirates, they didn’t deny him the restroom, so they headed there without suspicion.

“Here’s the restroom.”

“Thank you.”

Park Do-joon went inside with their guidance. Then, he casually let go of his stomach, which he had been holding as if in pain.

“Just as I thought.”

“The restroom was a public restroom.”

‘These restrooms often have guides or things that need to be announced posted. Everyone has to use the restroom, and while using it, they can naturally check the information,’ he thought.

“And restrooms have things like this posted.”

A so-called bulletin board on one corner of the wall.

The terrorists didn’t come all the way into the restroom either, because there’s nowhere to run anyway.

“Then this should be enough.”

Park Do-joon took out a small piece of paper from his pocket. ‘They don’t know Korean anyway, so even if he replaces this, they wouldn’t know.’

-A rescue operation is scheduled. If there are frequent changes in location, leave it as is. If there are few changes in location, wet this paper.

The carrot that Park Do-joon mentioned.

It was a bulletin board commonly found in restrooms.

‘Carrot’ is a meme that originated from a webtoon [Korean webcomic]. Someone wrote in the comments, ‘If you’re trapped and only drawing, please draw a carrot,’ and when the author actually drew a carrot as a joke, everyone started doing that.

Of course, Somali pirates wouldn’t know it because it’s a meme only known in Korea. Moreover, the pirates probably can’t read, and it would be difficult for the crew to have pens, so he made it obvious by wetting the paper.

The writing on the paper was done with a water-based pen, so it would be impossible not to notice when it gets wet.

“Now, shall we wait for a response?”

Park Do-joon smiled and left the restroom.

“Getting used to something can sometimes be terrifying. Hehehe.”

From the next day, Park Do-joon boarded the cargo ship every day under the pretext of negotiating. Naturally, the pirates made absurd demands each time, but it didn’t take long for additional conditions to be attached to those demands.

“Food.”

“Yes?”

“Give us food, or we’ll execute the hostages.”

‘As expected,’ he thought.

Day 4.

The food had run out in the meantime.

“That’s possible. Is there anything else you need?”

“No.”

“I understand. However, we’re not exactly abundant in food either, so it may take some time to procure it.”

“Are you trying to deceive us?”

“That’s not it. You wouldn’t be familiar with our food, would you? We’ll have to buy it locally and bring it.”

“We’ll accept that.”

“Yes, then we’ll start supplying food from tomorrow.”

Park Do-joon got up from his seat at the appointed time.

“I’m… I have a stomach ache, so can I use the restroom…?”

“Ugh, the restroom again?”

“It’s a habit. I always go to the restroom when I’m nervous.”

“Go ahead.”

Since it was already the fourth time, they didn’t suspect anything and took Park Do-joon to the restroom.

There, the intact paper was still stuck there.

‘I think I’ve gotten all the necessary information for now,’ he thought.

“The number of enemies is six. One pirate is always on guard, and two are guarding outside. And today, the last piece of information came in.”

‘They sleep, huh.’

They sleep. The reason Park Do-joon didn’t rush in right away is precisely that. They’ll sleep. No matter how hard they try, no matter how much they struggle, people eventually have to sleep.

During that time, the pirates lock the doors and go to sleep.

‘At first, they’ll be nervous and try to stay awake without sleeping, but as time passes and they get used to it, they’ll end up sleeping.’ Even in the military, when privates and corporals are on night duty, they keep their eyes wide open, but once they become sergeants, there are always guys who just go inside the outpost and crash.

If that’s the case with soldiers, what about pirates?

‘It’ll be the same with pirates.’

Especially if there are only six of them, fatigue is bound to accumulate. If two people are guarding outside and one is guarding the kitchen, there’s no way for the crew to escape. The kitchen where they’re confined is spacious, but there’s only one way out.

In fact, before Park Do-joon came, the pirates were controlling the situation by simply confining them to the kitchen and stationing one person at the entrance.

“I think that’s enough.”

Park Do-joon smiled and dusted off his hands.

“It’s time to finish this.”

It was finally time to rescue the hostages.

Profiler by Trade