My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 657

“The higher-ups are taking this very seriously. They’re pressuring us to catch Wang Woo-hwan.”

“Why us, of all people?”

“We’re the ones who fought and won against him, or rather, you, Detective Park Do-joon, are the only one who did.”

“Tsk!”

Park Do-joon clicked his tongue.

He understood. From the perspective of those in high places, Wang Woo-hwan was a major headache.

“Why are they so desperate to catch Wang Woo-hwan?”

Lee Ji-soo asked, seemingly unable to understand the higher-ups’ urgency. It wasn’t as if there weren’t plenty of criminals, so she didn’t understand why they were so focused on Wang Woo-hwan.

“It’s the targets that are the problem.”

“Targets?”

“Yes, Wang Woo-hwan has committed several crimes in Korea. And the common denominator of his targets is that they are high-ranking people.”

The organ trafficking case was ultimately about swindling money from high-ranking people, and the other crimes were the same. Even the last bomb terror attack targeted the chairman of the Daeguk Group, of all people.

“We don’t know who’s behind him, but one thing is certain: Wang Woo-hwan is a dangerous element to those in high places.”

One person who could pose a threat to high-ranking people in the future is more important than a criminal who killed ten subordinates.

“That must be the higher-ups’ decision.”

“That’s cold.”

“It’s not so much cold as it is obvious. If a subordinate becomes a high-ranking person, do you think they’d make a different decision?”

You could safely say that virtually no one would risk their own lives for someone else.

“Even if it’s 1%, we have to prevent such a decision from being made.”

“Pardon? Why is that?”

“The idea that the chaos will subside if the decision-maker dies is an illusion.”

Is the U.S. President a protected target simply because they were elected? No. Social organizations are quite well-systematized.

But if someone can forcibly seize a position within that system, the social organization will inevitably collapse from that moment on.

“The death of a key figure due to a killer is not just a matter of ‘I could die too,’ but also a problem that simultaneously causes social chaos because they are gone.”

That’s why terrorists target high-ranking people. The world doesn’t suddenly change 180 degrees just because one person dies. But at the very least, their death causes social chaos, and that moment can be used to overthrow the state or attempt even greater acts of terror.

“I understand.”

“Anyway, for various reasons, the higher-ups want Wang Woo-hwan captured as soon as possible.”

“They suspect Wang Woo-hwan is working for Hong Woo-jong, right?”

“Yes, but that’s just a suspicion.”

In reality, there is no concrete evidence that Wang Woo-hwan works for Hong Woo-jong.

“We can’t investigate or raid Hong Woo-jong without evidence.”

“This is like trying to catch a sparrow with your eyes closed.”

We know where he is and how dangerous he is, but we can’t arrest him.

Surprisingly, this is a common occurrence in police investigations.

There are even cases where criminals with arrest warrants come and go from the police station, calling the detectives brothers. Of course, the police officers who call him brother know he’s a wanted man.

But they don’t arrest him because their loyalty lies more with vested interests and money than with the law itself.

“So, to arrest Wang Woo-hwan, we ultimately have to catch Hong Woo-jong?”

“That’s the problem.”

We know it’s dangerous, but it’s hard to touch Hong Woo-jong. Moreover, Hong Woo-jong recently lost his father. And we’re going to investigate him?

“There will be accusations of political pressure, guaranteed.”

“Hmm……”

Since Hong Woo-jong’s support base is so strong, neither the police nor the prosecution can touch him.

“That’s been passed around and landed on you.”

We don’t know the real relationship with Hong Woo-jong, but Park Do-joon is the only one who has succeeded in tracking Wang Woo-hwan, at least.

“In that case……”

Park Do-joon was silent for a long time. Then he said in a low voice.

“I should assume that Hong Woo-jong knows we’re tracking him, whether he likes it or not.”

“You have to.”

It’s hard to believe that there isn’t someone inside the police department selling him information.

“Then Wang Woo-hwan will go into hiding.”

That’s why he’s worried. Then tracking will be impossible.

“I need to look at the data on Wang Woo-hwan again.”

Park Do-joon licked his lips.

“In the end, all judgment depends on how well you know the other person.”

It wasn’t difficult to get data on Wang Woo-hwan. In the first place, the CIA handed over the data they had secured in advance, telling them that Wang Woo-hwan was the client who had requested the contract killing.

Of course, it was only the data that the Chinese Public Security Bureau [China’s main security agency] officially had, but that alone was important. A person who can predict the future by knowing the past – that’s profiling.

“Wang Woo-hwan was originally a police officer.”

“I know that.”

“Then he turned traitor and joined a violent organization. And the violent organization he joined grew rapidly.”

If you can predict people’s psychology, there is obviously a huge advantage.

“Then it all went down in connection with organ trafficking.”

After that, things went wrong again, and it was virtually dissolved.

“After that, Wang Woo-hwan remains in Korea.”

“Wouldn’t he be dead as soon as he went back to China at this point?”

“He’d die. 100%.”

So he can’t go back to China. Because he’ll die.

“So we should assume that Hong Woo-jong is providing protection to Wang Woo-hwan.”

“Isn’t that what we all know?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head and asked at Park Do-joon’s words. She tilted her head because it was information they already knew, even if it wasn’t CIA information.

“Yes, that’s right. Then what data is missing here?”

“Missing?”

“Yes, this data is from the Chinese Public Security Bureau. Then how has Wang Woo-hwan changed since then?”

“Well? Ah, that’s not here. The influence of the environment is huge, isn’t it?”

“It’s huge.”

From the standpoint of a profiler, one’s environment is surprisingly important. Because there are limits to the weapons you can use depending on the situation.

For example, if a profiler is a police officer, they can use weapons such as police power and warrants. On the other hand, if they belong to a criminal organization, they can’t even dream of that, but they can use killers or gang members instead.

Conversely, if they belong to a company like Moonlight, they can cast reasonable doubt in the defense based on that suspicion.

“If you use that method, you tend to become fixated on that method.”

That’s the same even for profilers who do profiling.

“Wang Woo-hwan has been active as a profiler for a criminal organization for quite a long time. What weapons can he use?”

“Violence, I guess. Isn’t that too obvious?”

“I don’t think so.”

But surprisingly, Park Do-joon shook his head.

“Pardon? You don’t think so?”

“Yes, if simple violence is needed, a criminal organization doesn’t need a profiler. They can just send a gang member to kill them. In China, it’s virtually impossible to track down such crimes.”

In fact, the wife of a powerful person killed more than a dozen people because she didn’t like them, but she wasn’t even investigated. Only later, after her husband lost power, did she receive her punishment.

Even though many of the victims were not Chinese but overseas investors.

“What’s important here is not Wang Woo-hwan but the criminal organization. Why did the criminal organization need Wang Woo-hwan?”

Force? It doesn’t mean anything. In China, there are plenty of guys who will commit the crime if you give them money.

Then connections with high-ranking people? No. According to the data, Wang Woo-hwan may have been good at profiling, but he wasn’t someone who rose to a high position.

“Then……”

“Intelligence.”

“Intelligence?”

“Yes, and that would require a talent for reading the other person.”

As a criminal organization grows, the accounting part inevitably grows.

Money laundering, embezzlement, and concealment of funds, etc. The more money you make, the more you have to hide.

“Moreover, the organization grew rapidly after Wang Woo-hwan joined.”

“Right?”

“If so, there should have been checks from the surroundings or even gang wars.”

Would guys who are drunk and waving Chinese swords on the street just calmly watch a rival force grow?

“But there’s no record of that.”

“Then…… I see. A trap would be necessary.”

Lee Ji-soo nodded as if she understood right away.

“If it’s a trap that the police or public security can’t track, it can dismantle the leadership of the other organization.”

“Yes.”

If they simply blow them up with a bomb, shoot them with a gun, or attack them where they are and cut off their heads, the Public Security Bureau won’t stand still, and the other organization won’t stand still in that situation either.

“But if the leadership disappears, the organization loses control.”

In particular, violent organizations often lack ability in the remaining parts except for the leadership. Because smart guys study; they don’t join violent organizations.

“Violent organizations have a form in which power is concentrated in the head. So if that point disappears efficiently, then everything goes to hell from then on.”

When the leader disappears, someone starts betraying their colleagues and wielding a knife to become the next boss, and someone starts wielding a knife to survive in the chaos.

If the other organization is dismantled in that way, it becomes too easy for the competing violent organization to grow.

You can absorb the divided side, or you can sweep away the weakened rival organization and take over the entire area.

“But there is one condition for all those plans.”

“Their desire for revenge must not be directed at them.”

“That’s right.”

If the other organization is convinced that our organization killed their boss, they will choose to destroy the other organization rather than protect their own position.

Because of loyalty or duty? No. Because they expect to be attacked the moment internal strife occurs.

“But what if that’s not the case?”

If there is no evidence that the other party killed them, internal strife begins. Someone may shout for resistance while suspecting, but someone will try to seize power, saying that the other party is lying, and will refute and attack.

“The best gift a profiler can give: a trap.”

Even Park Do-joon himself has set traps to catch criminals more than once or twice. In fact, many profilers set traps to knock down the other party when they reach the stage where they have to actively arrest them beyond the tracking stage.

“Then Wang Woo-hwan’s best weapon would be a trap.”

“Yes, and if he’s been using it all the time, he’ll be used to it.”

In fact, the most important thing when setting a trap is to predict the other person’s behavior. For profilers whose livelihood is that, setting a trap is, in a way, too natural.

“But a trap is, after all, something that the other person has to enter, right?”

But they are not entering; they have to catch him. In other words, they have to track Wang Woo-hwan, and of course, Wang Woo-hwan can set a trap for them, but in order to do that, they have to make him target them.