My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 680

“But this company isn’t like that.”

Officially, they’re listed as a matchmaking service. Of course, they openly state that they arrange sponsorships, but since they’re legally a dating service under U.S. law, requesting information from them is unlikely to yield any results.

“So, we need someone to raise the issue.”

“That would be me, I presume.”

“Correct. Even if it’s just the police, they can’t simply ignore it once the media starts questioning it.”

The journalist’s mission is to point out social problems and bring them to light.

“And there’s no problem with saying this is wrong.”

Even if it’s operating 100% cleanly and there are no victims, it’s fundamentally a business that brokers prostitution.

Therefore, you can’t protest against it, nor can you sue them for raising the issue.

“It could be operating completely cleanly, you know.”

Park Do-joon scoffed at that.

“Is that even possible? Ah, you haven’t seen the registration process, have you?”

“Huh? Ah, no.”

“There’s no identity verification process during registration.”

“What? Why?”

Seo Joo-ran tilted her head at that.

But she quickly realized.

“It’s an American company, isn’t it?”

“Oh, right. That’s true.”

Personal verification through resident registration numbers is Korean law, not American law.

In the U.S. and Europe, assigning and managing numbers for each individual is considered an extreme violation of human rights.

To the extent that the basis of dystopias described by writers from those countries is a country like Korea.

From the moment of birth, you have to register as a resident, report your location every time you move, every resident is assigned a number, and the state registers and manages the fingerprints of all citizens.

Americans and Europeans would probably be horrified.

“So, the only form of identification during registration is essentially an email.”

Of course, you can create as many emails as you want personally.

There are even places that create disposable emails, so it’s not reliable at all.

“Naturally, if there are such weaknesses, they wouldn’t be criminals if they didn’t exploit them.”

“Ah, I see.”

Seo Joo-ran nodded.

“Yes, I’ll write an article about it then. But the higher-ups obviously don’t know, right?”

“No, they don’t.”

“That’s surprising. They used to be sensitive about this kind of thing, weren’t they?”

“They’ve forgotten.”

In fact, Park Do-joon has been keeping a low profile lately. There’s no need to make enemies. Of course, it’s also true that he’s been favorably disposed towards the government and the police.

As a result, the higher-ups clearly thought, ‘Park Do-joon has been quiet lately. I guess he knows his place now,’ without remembering the past.

“Once this blows up, they probably won’t think that way again.”

Park Do-joon had no intention of covering up crimes for the convenience or performance of the police.

“Then I guess I’ll get a bonus for this scoop.”

While reviewing the data, Seo Joo-ran smiled without realizing it.

Soon after, an article appeared in the newspaper.

-Disappeared Women. And Brokers for Criminals.

As expected of a journalist, Seo Joo-ran chose a provocative title that was hard to ignore.

And the content turned out to be quite plausible.

-According to an insider, the police investigation has limitations, and even missing women cannot be found.

It wasn’t confirmed whether these people had really disappeared or whether there were real victims.

But that alone was enough. In reality, a significant number of young women disappear in Korea every year.

Some are simple runaways, and others are fleeing due to debt.

That doesn’t mean there are no victims at all, so why not even suspect?

“You son of a bitch.”

The chief glared at Park Do-joon with an expression that suggested he wanted to beat him to death.

It was obvious to anyone that Park Do-joon was behind this.

Even the journalist is Seo Joo-ran.

Everyone in the police force knows that Park Do-joon saved Seo Joo-ran’s life.

In other words, the moment Seo Joo-ran wrote the article, it was evidence that Park Do-joon was the one who leaked the information.

“You son of a bitch, did you have to escalate things like this?”

“Well, if you had focused on the case from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

“Hey, you bastard! Do you think this can be covered up at our level?”

“Then you should have blown it up even more.”

This is a case that requires the help of the United States. From the beginning, when Park Do-joon and Jo Sang-gyu reported it, they didn’t ask for it to be resolved with just internal police resources.

They wanted a proper investigation team to be formed after the report was sent to the higher-ups.

But the chief and other superiors refused.

Because if they raised this issue and it turned out to be nothing, they would be held responsible.

If the problem is solved, they get some credit, but if not, they have to take the blame.

It’s even a case where they have to reach out to the United States, a country that Korean diplomats treat as a superior nation.

There’s no way it would end with ‘It was a misunderstanding, oops!’

So, they tried to take the position of ‘We didn’t know.’

“So, I’ve been very considerate, haven’t I?”

“What?”

“Originally, the article wasn’t ‘The police 내부에서는 수사에 한계가 있다고 밝혔다 [revealed that there are limitations to the investigation internally],’ but ‘경찰 내부에서는 수사할 이유가 없다며 수사를 막은 것으로 드러났다 [it was revealed that the police blocked the investigation, saying there was no reason to investigate].’”

“What?”

The chief was horrified at that. If such news had come out, he would have been held responsible.

Jo Sang-gyu and Park Do-joon had already reported it.

The person who cut it off was the chief himself.

Covering up the case by blaming Park Do-joon and Jo Sang-gyu?

That’s impossible. There’s more than one person behind Park Do-joon, and even if Park Do-joon doesn’t strike him, he won’t stand by and watch Jo Sang-gyu get hurt.

“You son of a bitch……”

The chief trembled, but he knew he couldn’t lay a finger on Park Do-joon.

Frankly, the current situation is like a line from a movie, ‘I saved you this time, shouldn’t you be grateful?’

In terms of rank, Park Do-joon is much lower, but in terms of performance and power, Park Do-joon is the one with the upper hand.

He’s even the one who’s gotten his superiors fired several times.

“You, do you think your borrowed power will last forever!”

In the end, the chief couldn’t say anything and just shouted. He wanted to save face, even if it was just a little.

Of course, Park Do-joon was dumbfounded by that.

‘Where did you learn to throw your weight around?’

호가호위 (Ho-ga-ho-wi) [literally means to act imposing by borrowing the power of a tiger; similar to ‘riding on someone’s coattails’].

“That also requires intelligence.”

“What?”

“Tigers are animals that attack when you show them your back.”

In fact, in zoos, tigers and lions tend to attack people or animals when they show their backs.

“So, in Africa, drawing eyes on the buttocks of cows is one way to prevent lion attacks.”

“What are you talking about?”

Park Do-joon said coldly to the chief, who couldn’t even understand what he was talking about.

If they’re going to fall apart anyway, there’s no reason to treat him with a smile.

‘Showing strength is the establishment of a good relationship.’

People usually call someone who just bows down when they have power a pushover.

“In order to borrow the power of a tiger, I have to be helpful to the tiger. If I’m not helpful, the tiger will eat me.”

“Tch.”

Tigers attack from behind.

But the fact that someone can show their back and not be attacked by the tiger means that the target is either helpful to the tiger or is part of the tiger’s family.

“You damn bastard.”

The chief gritted his teeth at that sight. But he couldn’t deny it.

He also came to be the chief because of his backing. But if he caused trouble or wasn’t helpful, his backing wouldn’t help him.

School ties? Regional ties? Family ties?

All of those things may give you the opportunity to grab a line, but that doesn’t mean they’ll protect you.

On the other hand, Park Do-joon? He’s being protected by two large corporations, and he’s wealthy himself, and his family is also relatively wealthy.

“Okay, I give up! I give up!”

In the end, the chief threw up his hands and shouted.

“But even you will have a hard time getting help from them, right? Don’t you know what you look like right now? Do you know what it means that those bastards are still running their site normally even though they’re getting so much attention?”

“I know.”

If they had something to hide, they would usually run away. Or they would protest that they were being wronged, or they would put something on their website. But SponsorNet is completely ignoring it and continuing to operate the site as is.

“They know that the police can’t touch them.”

In fact, Jeong I-yeon, who learned about the site in a divorce lawsuit, also requested cooperation and data from them, but they completely ignored her.

It’s the same now. Clearly, it’s been exposed in the media, and people are raising issues here and there, and things are getting bigger, but the site is brazenly continuing to operate as is.

Unless they’re completely ignorant, they’re very smart and know that they can’t do anything.

“So, I think we should find the victims first.”

“You crazy bastard! How do you find victims that don’t exist!”

“The victims will come to us.”

“What?”

“The people who know the most about the victims are their families.”

Park Do-joon said with an awkward smile.

“Someone is bound to grab at straws, even if they don’t want to admit reality.”

As Park Do-joon said, it wasn’t long before several people filed reports with the police, saying that their daughters might have disappeared in connection with the site.

Whether there was a possibility or not, it was a significant gain.

“Detective, how did you know?”

Lee Ji-soo asked in amazement, expecting that he would find a way to get data by cracking down on the site, but instead, the victims contacted them first.

“Sometimes families know but pretend not to know.”

“Yes?”

“Not all families are harmonious. But that doesn’t mean all families don’t love each other. The world isn’t black and white.”

“Yes?”

“There are many cases where they love, but the way they do it is wrong.”

Some people think that teaching their children to study is love, so they send them to academies to the point where they can’t breathe.

But sometimes children can’t withstand the pressure and commit suicide.

“There are often cases like that, kids who commit suicide after taking the college entrance exam [a notoriously stressful event in Korea].”

It’s not because their grades are bad or because they made mistakes.

They received a top grade, but they think they’ve done everything they need to do and commit suicide.

“Did those parents really not love their children, driving them to suicide?”

“I guess not. That wouldn’t be the case.”