My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 662

“Both children have pretty set routines.”

Both are elementary school students. They go to school in the morning, then take a private academy bus [a common after-school learning center in South Korea] straight to their academies. After the academy, they are brought back home by the academy bus, a typical pattern.

“Is it difficult to kidnap them during that time?”

“It is.”

The moment someone tries to target a bus with children for kidnapping, people will swarm around. Normal people recognize children as needing protection, and academy buses usually have more than just one or two kids. Kidnapping a child moving in an academy bus in the middle of the city is definitely not easy.

“So, academy buses are safer than I thought.”

“Right, there’s a reason why academy buses are made yellow.”

In the past, children were simply transported in vans. However, academy buses and daycare buses are made yellow to alert surrounding vehicles, reducing accident rates, and to make them easily recognizable as carrying children who need protection in case of emergencies.

In fact, ordinary vans were often used for kidnappings in the past, so the yellow color also serves to differentiate them.

“What about the possibility of them going outside after going home?”

“Not high.”

These days, kids prefer playing games or using their phones at home rather than playing outside. So much so that one game console company said their rival isn’t other game console companies but famous sports brands.

“Even if they do go out, they don’t leave the apartment complex.”

They are still young elementary school students, and the apartment complex prohibits vehicle traffic within its grounds.

“Even if someone were to kidnap them, they would have to drag the child out to the road or to the underground parking lot, which is realistically impossible.”

So, the difficulty of kidnapping the brother’s family is significantly lower.

“And as a precaution, sending them on a trip outside would also be a good idea.”

“That’s right.”

“But Lee Yeon is the problem. Ultimately, Lee Yeon is the most likely target in terms of value assessment.”

She often travels outside for work and doesn’t have bodyguards. Plus, as a woman, her resistance is clearly limited.

“Shouldn’t we warn Jeong Lee Yeon that she might be targeted?”

“Of course, we should.”

No matter how much of a police officer Park Do Joon is, he wouldn’t fail to warn his girlfriend about the danger.

“However, the problem is that Lee Yeon isn’t the type to run away.”

Park Do Joon muttered with a bitter smile.

# Creating Variables

“She definitely can’t run away.”

“You could be in danger.”

“Being a lawyer isn’t exactly a safe job in the first place. How often do you think we get involved with criminals?”

“That’s true, but that doesn’t mean you have to walk into a trap.”

“I’m not going to voluntarily walk into a trap either. You must believe in something; that’s why you came to me, right?”

Park Do Joon looked at Jeong Lee Yeon at those words.

Then, he let out a hollow laugh.

“Hahaha.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“It’s just… how should I put it… it’s something I didn’t expect.”

“From me? You’re a profiler, aren’t you?”

“That’s why it’s harder to predict. I told you, profiling isn’t like mind-reading. It’s a field of study based on probabilities.”

“And?”

“How many women do you think would say what you just said?”

1%? No. Probably less than 0.1%. Most women would declare a breakup and leave Korea for a while to prepare for any possible situation. Even if they don’t break up, it’s common to leave Korea for safety.

But her answer is that she won’t run away. Moreover, she isn’t even a police officer.

“Are you really confident you won’t regret it?”

“Regret… Now that it’s come to this, even if I run away, they won’t give up. I don’t think they’ll give up even if I come back later.”

“That’s true.”

Psychologically, they won’t think they’ve broken up with Jeong Lee Yeon in such a short time and give up. Even if they really break up, Wang Woo Hwan knows that in this situation, it’s the woman who is being threatened, not the man, who decides to break up. He will naturally deduce that the man still has feelings for the woman, so he will proceed with the plan as is.

“See, it’s just as I expected.”

“You know it well.”

“Well, as the saying goes, ‘Even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years [meaning even someone with little talent can learn something with enough time and exposure].’”

Jeong Lee Yeon said as if it were obvious.

“And given my personality, if I can’t run away, I’d rather catch them. It’s not the first time.”

“Not the first time?”

Park Do Joon was surprised by those words. But soon, he could understand.

“It’s because of your father.”

“That’s right. Do you know how many people have told my father to lose the trial, or they’ll kill me and my family? It’s easily in the hundreds.”

“But their execution power must be extraordinary?”

“Do you think they didn’t execute?”

Park Do Joon smiled bitterly at those words. Indeed, if more than 100 people threatened, there was a high possibility that someone would have acted.

“What I learned from that is that if I run away, I’ll always be used by them.”

“That’s right.”

“And the more I do that, the fewer cards I can play.”

“Smart.”

“I am a very skilled lawyer, after all.”

Park Do Joon could only smile awkwardly at Jeong Lee Yeon, who smiled confidently.

“Okay, *Oppa* [an affectionate term for older brother or boyfriend in Korean]. Then, what do you think is the best way for me to choose?”

“Usually, you hire a bodyguard first.”

“That’s right. I’ve hired bodyguards every time I’ve received such threats.”

“But this time, the target is a dangerous guy.”

Hiring three or four bodyguards won’t solve the problem. They will definitely hire more people.

“Of course, hiring more bodyguards would make you safer. But you can’t keep them around for 10 years, right? It would be uncomfortable for you too.”

“That’s right.”

“So, we need to use a different method.”

“A different method?”

“Variables should never come out as expected. They only come out when we don’t move as expected. He’s probably thinking that we might hire bodyguards.”

Maybe he’s analyzing us and anticipating the possibility of fleeing overseas. Wang Woo Hwan and I are in a fierce battle of wits, so he’ll consider all variables.

“So, we have to respond in a different way.”

“How?”

“A bounty.”

“A bounty?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t you be curious how much your life is worth?”

Park Do Joon said with a grin.

“We’re putting a bounty on him. He probably won’t expect that. Hehehe!”

People hate variables. It’s natural. Because it messes up their plans. But smart people plan with those variables in mind. However, usually, those variables are things they can solve, or they think about the maximum card the other person can play.

For example, when scouting a sports player, the variables are their hidden injury possibilities or unknown slumps.

In fact, to filter that out, the team trying to scout thoroughly checks their existing performance and tries to make sure there are no problems.

All of this is to reduce variables.

“But if that variable is at a level that no one can predict, everything goes wrong.”

“For example?”

“For example… um, they were going to scout someone, but it turns out their team is on the verge of collapse. Or the coach runs away, and they brought in the player he wanted, but the coach is vacant.”

“That would definitely mess with your mental state.”

Jeong Lee Yeon nodded.

“And Wang Woo Hwan probably has no idea that there’s a bounty on his head.”

“Wait, isn’t that wrong? Isn’t there already a bounty on him?”

“The bounty I’m talking about isn’t the one the government puts out.”

The bounty offered by the government is at best 5 million won or 8 million won [approximately $3,700 to $6,000 USD]. The reason why the bounty system isn’t active in Korea, unlike the United States, and why there are no bounty hunters is precisely because of that.

The bounty itself is so low that it doesn’t even cover the cost of tracking down the fugitive, let alone making a living.

“So, we can put a bounty on him from another source.”

“Our company?”

“No, that’s not it. Moonlight Law Firm doesn’t even know about this situation. Officially, that is.”

And no matter how much money Moonlight Law Firm has, it’s basically a law firm. Putting a bounty on him there could cause external problems.

“Then what should we do?”

“It’s simple. We use another third party.”

“Third party?”

“Yeah, in this case, the Chinese White Dragon Society would be appropriate.”

“What do they do?”

“They are sworn enemies of Wang Woo Hwan.”

No matter how hard Wang Woo Hwan tried, there was bound to be a limit to completely destroying the other organization. That’s not Wang Woo Hwan’s capability, but the organization’s capability.

“And the White Dragon Society are the ones he couldn’t eliminate in the process.”

The people who were fighting in Wang Woo Hwan’s organization before this incident were the White Dragon Society, and the White Dragon Society was driven to the brink of collapse.

“According to the CIA’s data, the White Dragon Society was larger than the organization Wang Woo Hwan belonged to.”

But they began to collapse helplessly because of Wang Woo Hwan. Of course, they resisted as much as they could because they had their own power, but the traps Wang Woo Hwan set were so numerous that they were almost on the verge of collapse when the situation suddenly reversed.

“So, the White Dragon Society survived. And at this point, the White Dragon Society is still hunting down the remnants of the organization he belonged to.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why do you think Wang Woo Hwan can’t go to China?”

If there’s a warrant out for him in Korea, he can just go to China. That’s how Chinese criminals have historically lived.

But for some reason, Wang Woo Hwan can’t go to China.

“Of course, he’s been marked within the organization. But even so, the possibility of the organization kicking out Wang Woo Hwan is not high.”

His power is needed to survive again.

“The Chinese government’s pursuit? In fact, avoiding that isn’t difficult if you have money.”

In fact, it’s not difficult to hide and live if you avoid major cities.

But the fact that he can’t go to China has another reason.

“If he’s caught by the White Dragon Society, he won’t be in good shape.”

“I see.”

“So, we can borrow that name.”

“Without talking to them?”

“The White Dragon Society doesn’t have a branch in Korea. Even if they did, do you think the Korean police would go and say, ‘We have Wang Woo Hwan, whom you’re looking for’? No, even if they believed it, they wouldn’t put a bounty on him.”

They would probably send their members directly to kill him.

“But what we’re aiming for is to arrest Wang Woo Hwan.”

Killing him would be satisfying, but the line to Hong Woo Jong could be cut off. Naturally, we have to arrest him at all costs to prevent that.