My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 676

#The Shadow of Sponsorship

Wang Woo-hwan was arrested. According to his testimony, Hong Woo-jong was a sadomasochistic killer with a hobby of kidnapping and torturing people. However, proving it was impossible.

“You couldn’t find any evidence?”

Jeong I-yeon, looking gaunt, asked cautiously.

“Yeah, he already burned it all. Not just burned, but completely smashed and destroyed. I guess the news of Wang Woo-hwan’s arrest got to him through someone.”

That’s probably why Hong Woo-jong eliminated all the evidence to protect himself.

“Then isn’t it dangerous?”

“It could be. That’s why I’m telling you. Keep the bodyguard for now.”

Generally, leaking information to people is illegal. Especially investigative information related to powerful figures? It wouldn’t be surprising to get fired.

“But dangerous is dangerous.”

“That serious?”

“Yeah, Hong Woo-jong’s behavior pattern is definitely changing.”

“His behavior pattern is changing? In what way? Then isn’t it getting dangerous?”

Jeong I-yeon said with a grimace, and Park Do-joon nodded.

It was dangerous, so he was warning her.

“Yeah, Wang Woo-hwan didn’t notice because he was in a disadvantageous position.”

A profiler must maintain their center as much as possible. Since their judgment is the standard, if they start to falter, the standard of the subject of judgment will naturally change.

For example, it’s no secret that a prosecutor might cover up the crimes of the opposing party based on their political leanings when handling a political case.

If that’s the case for prosecutors, what’s so different about profilers? Wang Woo-hwan didn’t realize his standards were collapsing, and that’s why he made a mistake.

“How has Hong Woo-jong’s behavior pattern changed?”

“The preparation period for crimes, and the plans are being made quite spontaneously. Decisively, the timing of the murders.”

“That’s changing, Oppa?” [Oppa is a Korean term used by a younger woman to address an older brother or a close male friend.]

“It is changing.”

Park Do-joon said with a serious face.

“Hong Woo-jong wasn’t the type to rush when committing crimes. Just look at the Hong Geun-jong case.”

How many years did he prepare to harm Hong Geun-jong? Even his younger sibling, Hong Min-young, brought in refugees from overseas, where tracking was impossible, carefully selecting them to manipulate the case.

It’s true that there are many criminals among refugees, but finding those with criminal records, especially murder records, is a completely different matter.

“Why?”

“Think about it. In a situation where the system is so messed up that refugees are coming in, do you think it’s easy to find criminal records?”

“Ah! That’s right. It’s not Korea there, is it?”

“Yeah, it’s not Korea.”

Of course, unlike in Korea, you can’t just enter a person’s name with a criminal record and have their information pop up on a computer.

“Moreover, refugees do all sorts of things to hide their criminal records. That means finding those with criminal records among those who have already entered is like picking a star from the sky.”

What is a refugee? It literally means a civilian who has fled from a disaster. But even if Europe accepts refugees, do they not know that criminals and mass murderers are hiding among them as refugees? Of course, they do.

In fact, criminals and mass murderers tend to be extremely selfish, so they are the first to run away when war breaks out. Rather, more ordinary people take up arms to protect their families.

European countries know this, so they do accept refugees, but they also conduct some investigation. But would they admit their crimes in that process?

“Of course not.”

“Yeah, criminals with crimes won’t get refugee status.”

Naturally, criminals hide themselves to get refugee status.

“But the guys who got caught aren’t just criminals.”

There were even vicious individuals with terrorism charges mixed in. There’s only one way that could be possible.

“They planned it from the beginning?”

“Correct.”

Clearly, Hong Woo-jong’s initial criminal tendencies were extremely secretive, carefully considering things for a long time, not allowing even a single mistake, and even if he did make a mistake, he continued to design things in a way that he wouldn’t be exposed.

“But his current tendencies are different.”

Bold, spontaneous, and much more aggressive.

“Usually, this process is one of two things.”

First, he’s gained confidence. But based on past failures, it doesn’t make sense that he would gain confidence from those failures.

“Second, he’s impatient.”

“So you think he’s impatient?”

“Maybe.”

“But isn’t it dangerous to judge based on Hong Woo-jong being impatient?”

Park Do-joon shook his head at those words.

“No. That’s not the only basis.”

“Then?”

“The other basis is none other than the crime records. That’s what Wang Woo-hwan said.”

They supplied women to Hong Woo-jong.

“But if you look at the timing, it’s getting shorter little by little.”

“It’s getting shorter little by little?”

“Yeah, addiction applies to murder as well.”

Addiction doesn’t only occur due to substances. People may not realize it, but murder is also an addiction for murderers.

“Hong Woo-jong is a sadomasochistic killer, right?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Then what’s the reason why a sadist shows that sadism?”

“Huh?”

At those words, Jeong I-yeon realized something. She just thought Hong Woo-jong was bad and crazy, but she hadn’t thought about such things.

“Is there a reason for crazy people to be crazy?”

“If it’s simple mental illness, there might be a genetic reason. But sadists have other reasons too.”

“Other reasons?”

“Yeah, the reason why people do things that everyone says are bad is stress.”

“Stress? Is it that influential?”

“It’s huge. Why do people do drugs or smoke?”

Simply curiosity? Of course, that’s the excuse.

Most drug offenders, when caught, most commonly say, ‘It started with simple curiosity.’

“But you need to know the exact meaning of that word ‘simple curiosity’.”

“Exact meaning? Just being curious?”

“Yeah, but at the same time, the possibility of drugs ruining your life is incredibly high. In fact, it’s 100%. But would you do something that has a 100% chance of ruining your life?”

“Usually, you wouldn’t?”

“Yeah. But why do they do it?”

“I don’t know?”

Jeong I-yeon tilted her head at Park Do-joon’s words.

“It’s stress.”

“Stress?”

“Yeah, when you want to relieve stress but there’s no way to relieve it, you turn to drugs.”

“Of course, there are cases like that, but there are also a lot of rich people?”

Jeong I-yeon asked, tilting her head. There are a lot of rich people who do drugs. But there’s no reason for them to do drugs to relieve stress.

“It’s relative.”

“Relative?”

“Yeah, stress is relative. Some people have high stress tolerance, and some have low. And rich people generally have very low stress tolerance. Honestly, you’re a very special case, I-yeon.”

Jeong I-yeon had a fairly high stress tolerance because her family had been in the legal profession since she was young, and there were many cases where they were threatened to break her father.

Stress tolerance is ultimately built by overcoming it.

“Moreover, the chances of rich people ruining their lives when they get caught doing drugs are very low.”

“Ah!”

They have low stress tolerance, but even if they do drugs, they only receive punishments that don’t affect their lives at all.

At most, a fine, or at worst, they’re released on probation.

The prosecution is shouting that they will eradicate drugs, but in fact, there are many who take bribes from drug addicts, so they only shout eradication in words.

“If you hire your company, how far can your company prevent punishment?”

“If it’s us…….”

Jeong I-yeon immediately understood Park Do-joon’s words and frowned.

“Well, assuming it’s a first offense, we can cut it down to a fine of about 3 million won [approximately $2,200 USD].”

“Is a fine of 3 million won meaningful to rich people?”

“Not at all.”

A fine of 3 million won isn’t even the cost of a day’s worth of alcohol.

“We got off on a tangent, but this stress relief surprisingly has a big impact on the area of human behavior patterns.”

“Then?”

“Yeah. The reason why a sadomasochistic killer kills is simple: stress relief.”

They confirm their dominance by watching the other person suffer, beg for their life, and die, and they feel power from that. That plays a kind of stress relief role.

“Murder, sadism—I’m saying it cruelly, but ultimately the basis of all those activities is stress relief.”

But according to Wang Woo-hwan, the timing of supplying those women was unknowingly getting shorter.

“A smoker goes to smoke when they’re stressed at work. And the higher the stress, the more often they go to smoke.”

For them, smoking is a way to relieve stress.

“A sadomasochistic killer also has that goal.”

Their own stress relief.

That means that the shorter the frequency, the more stress they are experiencing.

“Moreover, everything has a limit to its utility. Even if it’s murder.”

The pleasure of murder is 100 at first. And it takes about 6 months for it to drop to 10? But will it be 100 again later?

No.

The next time, it will be about 95.

Naturally, the time it takes to drop to 10 also comes sooner.

“That’s the characteristic of serial killers.”

Naturally, tolerance builds up, and the period between murders, called the cooling-off period, gradually shortens.

“The rise in stress and tolerance sometimes drastically reduces the cooling-off period related to the murderers’ killings.”

“Seriously? You didn’t know that the period Wang Woo-hwan supplied was getting shorter?”

“Yeah.”

To be exact, Wang Woo-hwan did control everything in the organization, but he didn’t necessarily go to those murder scenes himself.

No matter how much of a crime boss Wang Woo-hwan is, he’s still in the realm of ordinary people, and even if he can’t empathize with the victim’s pain, he still feels bad.

“Then if Hong Woo-jong is under a lot of stress…….”

“Yeah, if he’s under a lot of stress, his judgment will naturally deteriorate.”

In fact, there are many cases where people make wrong decisions due to stress.

“Then could it be……?”

“Yeah, there’s a possibility that he might try to catch you in an extreme way.”

“Um…….”

“And you’re not the only target.”

“I’m not the only one?”

“Would I be telling you to keep a bodyguard just for you? I’m doing it to ask for cooperation.”

“Cooperation? Is there something you want to ask for? But my family has nothing to do with Hong Woo-jong?”

“Yeah, but Hong Woo-jong is in crisis right now.”

“Well, if it’s a political situation like that, it’s a crisis.”