“It’s not like you don’t have money, and the amount isn’t small enough to warrant going to someone else, is it?”
But the organization isn’t becoming independent; instead, it’s following Wang Woo-hwan to be under Hong Woo-jong?
“Even if the organization has collapsed, the hierarchy hasn’t, so it’s possible for a while. The level of Chinese organizations is obvious anyway.”
Even if Korea is struggling, at least everyone graduates from high school, and you only hear about middle school dropouts when life is truly at its worst. But China isn’t like that. So, we can’t ignore the possibility that they might instinctively follow Wang Woo-hwan.
“But Wang Woo-hwan is different.”
“Wang Woo-hwan is… a boss.”
“Right, a boss.”
As a boss, he could build a new organization, establish himself in Korea, and then bring his family to Korea. But instead, he went under Hong Woo-jong.
“So, I changed my thinking. Wasn’t it that he had no choice but to go in, rather than that he willingly went in?”
“Hong Woo-jong is threatening him, holding his family hostage.”
Jo Sang-gyu said with a face that seemed to understand something.
“Yes, when you think about it, it’s not impossible. Then a lot of things make sense.”
Why is Wang Woo-hwan so loyal to Hong Woo-jong? Why is Wang Woo-hwan working for Hong Woo-jong instead of for himself?
“The other subordinates can’t resist because Wang Woo-hwan is holding the money anyway, but Wang Woo-hwan himself—his actions don’t make sense.”
“Indeed…”
“Even this case. Wang Woo-hwan targeted me until the end. But usually, when someone is being chased, the first thing they do isn’t to target the person chasing them, but to hide themselves to survive.”
Moreover, I am not Wang Woo-hwan’s primary target, but Hong Woo-jong’s. In other words, Wang Woo-hwan is risking himself for Hong Woo-jong, not to save himself, which, based on Wang Woo-hwan’s profile, doesn’t make sense.
“Wait, then there’s something I don’t understand?”
“What is it?”
“No, let’s say Wang Woo-hwan’s family is being held hostage and he’s being threatened. That much is possible.”
“That’s right.”
Lee Ji-soo pointed out the problems one by one with her fingers.
“But the first problem here is whether he abandoned his family.”
“Abandoned his family?”
“Yes, Wang Woo-hwan was thinking of sending his subordinates to prison in the worst-case scenario, right? Then targeting you would fail, and his family wouldn’t be harmed, right?”
Park Do-joon nodded at those words. If he succeeded, he could get a chance to target Park Do-joon, but if he failed, only he would run away, and his subordinates would be caught.
“Right, that’s right. But if that happens, what would he say to Hong Woo-jong?”
“Huh?”
“Everything has a reaction. For example, saying ‘I failed’ versus saying ‘I failed and lost everything.’ Which one would resonate more with the other person?”
“Ah……”
Only then did Lee Ji-soo seem to understand what was happening.
“If Wang Woo-hwan just says he failed, Hong Woo-jong doesn’t need to abandon him.”
“It’s ironic, but that’s reality.”
Because he has no power, he can’t resist. Moreover, at the point of losing his subordinates, he has virtually lost everything.
“If he’s already suffered damage, there’s no reason to touch him. Wang Woo-hwan failed. What benefit is there for Hong Woo-jong to kill his family?”
“There’s none, not at all.”
“Right, don’t misunderstand psychopaths.”
Psychopaths and sociopaths are bad guys, but realistically, they are also extremely rational.
They would mercilessly kill their own family if necessary, but if there’s no need, they are the kind of guys who wouldn’t care.
“Wang Woo-hwan knows that. If he doesn’t even have the power to threaten Hong Woo-jong, he’ll probably pretend not to know.”
There’s nothing to gain from killing Wang Woo-hwan’s family.
“So, he calculated sacrificing his subordinates to save his family.”
“He probably did.”
Team Leader Jo Sang-gyu clicked his tongue at those words. He had a lot of experience as a profiler, but he didn’t know how to set traps and calculate like that. Certainly, tracking the other person as a profiler and luring the other person into a trap are different skills.
“Then, has he killed his family now?”
Lee Ji-soo’s face looked serious at those words. Because Wang Woo-hwan was arrested differently from his plan. So, he’s no longer useful.
“No, I don’t think he killed them.”
“Why?”
“Wang Woo-hwan was caught by us. Then what would he do if he killed his family?”
“That’s right. He’ll tell everything.”
“I said before, right? Sometimes a secret is a weapon when it’s a secret.”
When his family is held hostage, he’ll shut his mouth and stay quiet for the safety of his family, but if his family is dead? Of course, he’ll be burning with revenge and will spill everything he knows.
“Hong Woo-jong isn’t touching his family because he’s worried about that.”
“That’s highly likely.”
“But all of that is just a possibility, right?”
Someone raised their hand and said then.
“That’s right.”
“No, I understand what you’re saying. And psychologically, that would be a normal judgment. Hong Woo-jong is smart, and he’s a profiler himself, so he would have made that judgment and acted accordingly. But you know there are two key questions, right?”
“Yes, whether his family is really being held hostage. Secondly, how are they being held?”
“You know it well. These two are completely opposed.”
They are similar questions, but inside, they are opposite questions. Because it’s based on the fact that Wang Woo-hwan knows that his family is being held hostage, but there’s no way to know if he knows that, and even if it’s true, Hong Woo-jong doesn’t have the power to hold Wang Woo-hwan’s family hostage at this point.
Hong Woo-jong’s forces have been almost completely wiped out. But his forces remain in China, so they are holding Wang Woo-hwan’s family hostage for Hong Woo-jong?
Then it directly contradicts the possibility that Park Do-joon and other profilers predicted: ‘Hong Woo-jong’s violent organization has virtually collapsed.’
“But if this is true, it doesn’t make sense either.”
Let’s say the organization is still active. Then there’s no reason to make Wang Woo-hwan do the work. They can use that organization directly. But Hong Woo-jong specifically entrusted the work to Wang Woo-hwan.
Deploying a dangerous guy who might betray him, while holding his family hostage? That doesn’t make sense.
“First of all, Wang Woo-hwan definitely knew that fact, judging from the lawyer’s attitude.”
“Attitude?”
“Yes, when I mentioned his family in the interrogation room, Wang Woo-hwan wavered slightly.”
“That could be a coincidence, and Wang Woo-hwan is a profiler, so he could be showing a fake reaction.”
“That’s right. But after that, Wang Woo-hwan was alone with the lawyer. The lawyer asked to turn off all recording devices and recording equipment, saying he wanted to talk to Wang Woo-hwan quietly.”
“That’s right.”
“The lawyer who came out after that didn’t look excited or angry, but embarrassed.”
“That’s definitely right.”
“Why is that?”
Everyone couldn’t answer the question. Because they didn’t think about reading the lawyer’s psychology. However, Lee Ji-soo, who was familiar with the method of monitoring the surroundings to some extent while working with Park Do-joon, immediately understood.
“Oh, isn’t it because he was embarrassed because he heard something sensitive? I mean, if I were a lawyer, I would be angry if my client didn’t tell me a secret, right?”
“Correct. And if Wang Woo-hwan had completely lied and said, ‘My family is fine,’ then the lawyer would probably be angry at me.”
Because Park Do-joon lied to provoke both himself and Wang Woo-hwan.
“It’s not illegal, but it’s definitely something to protest about.”
“Right, but the lawyer wasn’t angry at Wang Woo-hwan, and he wasn’t angry at me either. Why would he do that?”
“That’s……”
From then on, Lee Ji-soo was stuttering. Instead of her, Jo Sang-gyu, who had a lot of experience, said in a reluctant voice.
“Because cases of committing crimes due to coercion are grounds for mitigation [a legal term for reducing the severity of a sentence]. I see. It’s become ambiguous. It’s really dangerous to judge.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
From the lawyer’s point of view, he has to argue that the client, Wang Woo-hwan’s family, was threatened and committed a crime, and ask for a reduced sentence.
“But the other party is Hong Woo-jong.”
The current three-term member of the National Assembly. And a leading candidate for the next president. Mentioning him and arguing in court that he threatened Wang Woo-hwan?
“Is that really easy?”
“So, it’s understandable that he’s embarrassed.”
“Yes, what I was aiming for in the first place wasn’t Wang Woo-hwan. It was the lawyer.”
Hong Woo-jong will trust and provide information to the lawyer for his defense, but conversely, the lawyer doesn’t trust him and doesn’t think he’s a good person.
“It’s different from Wang Woo-hwan, who has no one to trust at the time of his arrest.”
He is a person who lives in society and is a lawyer, so he will be very sensitive to power. Especially if he has a lot of thoughts about the future.
“Well, if he mentions Hong Woo-jong in any way, his career will be ruined.”
“That’s right. Moreover, I don’t know how much Wang Woo-hwan said, but he will at least imply that Hong Woo-jong is a guy who can really kill his family.”
“That means that the moment the lawyer gets too close to Hong Woo-jong, he and his family are also in danger.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then the answer is obvious.”
“Right, he’ll probably submit his resignation in a hurry.”
It’s a bolt from the blue for the lawyer, but from Park Do-joon’s point of view, that action itself is the strongest evidence that Hong Woo-jong is holding Wang Woo-hwan’s family hostage.
“Still, one problem remains: Hong Woo-jong’s forces extend to China? No, if you think about that, you should see that there are forces in other places now.”
But that conflicts with the current situation again. And Park Do-joon had some expectations about that as well.
“I think it’s probably a bluff.”
“Bluff?”
“Yes, it’s a low probability, but it’s not impossible.”
“What does that mean? A bluff?”
“Hong Woo-jong is basically a politician. He has never run an organization himself.”
In fact, he had violent organizations under his command, but he was never the boss. In the first place, it is impossible for a current member of the National Assembly to run a violent organization.
Unless he’s an idiot, it’s natural to set up a proxy and pretend to be clean himself.
“But Hong Woo-jong doesn’t seem to have a line in China based on his past actions. Before that, it was a Korean-based organization, and he turned to him after contacting Wang Woo-hwan.”
“That’s definitely right.”
“But where would an organization member suddenly pop out with the ability to monitor Wang Woo-hwan’s family and kill them if necessary?”
“Hmm?”
“But there are more than one or two violent organizations in China, right?”
“There are more than one or two. Okay, I admit that. But receiving the loyalty of that organization is a completely different matter. Moreover, the Chinese violent organization is not stupid, and even if you suddenly call and ask, ‘Please monitor someone for me and kill them if necessary,’ would they believe it and do it?”