My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 681

Some people grow up with grandparents because they don’t have parents, yet they turn out well and even earn doctorates. Others are born into wealthy families and receive every advantage, but suddenly lose their way and make disastrous choices.

In Korea, some individuals become doctors to fulfill their parents’ wishes, but as soon as their parents pass away, they abandon their medical careers and open restaurants.

What they truly desired was to be chefs, not doctors.

Conversely, even in the United States, there are individuals from so-called prestigious families who unexpectedly become pornographic actors.

It’s not that she lacked academic ability; she graduated from a top-tier university, obtained a CPA [Certified Public Accountant] license, which is notoriously difficult to acquire, and joined one of the largest accounting firms in the United States. However, the life that woman ultimately chose was to be a porn star.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean their families abandoned them, though.”

The wife supported her husband when he announced his intention to become a restaurant owner instead of a doctor, and while the porn star’s parents eventually disowned her, her siblings understood and accepted her.

“Loving family, but that love is sometimes twisted…”

“Right. And that’s not something that can simply be dismissed as unfortunate.”

What may appear to be a perfectly happy life to outsiders can be a deeply unhappy life for the person living it.

“Then wouldn’t the family be aware? If a person suddenly changes dramatically and experiences conflicts with their family, wouldn’t they recognize what that person is like?”

“Well… I suppose so.”

“Sometimes, many people choose to ignore it.”

There are quite a few people who are unwilling to admit that their child has failed, or who are so disappointed that their child doesn’t meet their expectations, that they pretend not to know what their child is doing, even when they are aware.

“But whether they are dead or alive is a completely different matter.”

A child not meeting one’s standards is different from not knowing whether the child is dead or alive.

“And, you know, being completely beyond help is completely different from being in a situation where things can be fixed.”

“Yes?”

“Sponsors are often people who have some kind of regular job.”

“A regular job?”

“Yes, if money were the only motivation, it would be more profitable to work in prostitution than to be a sponsored person.”

A pretty woman working at a bar can earn tens of millions of won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to thousands of US dollars].

“In fact, many of the women who receive sponsorships don’t rely on prostitution as their primary source of income, but rather as a supplementary one.”

And in that case, they are more likely to maintain some contact with their family.

“You mean…?”

“Yes, someone will be motivated to report it or investigate.”

No matter how terrible a child or sibling may seem in their eyes, and no matter how much they disapprove of them, they are still family. When she disappears, all the family can do is report it to the police.

“And the police will search and investigate, but it will almost certainly remain unsolved.”

“Ah, I see.”

Because they don’t know where she disappeared from or how she disappeared.

“Then what the media reported last time about the police being clueless…?”

“They’re clinging to hope.”

They wouldn’t want to believe that their child is involved in something like that.

But there may be people who want to find them even if that’s the case. And at the same time, there will be people who feel ashamed but suspect that their family member is the type of person who would seek sponsorship.

“No one will come forward.”

Can’t obtain victim or member information from the site? Then you can try to get it from the victims’ families.

“But there’s no proof that those victims signed up, is there?”

“Right, but if there’s at least a report, you can find out about the sites they signed up for or recently accessed.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

And if you’re lucky, you’ll find related sites. It’s not actually that difficult, and since murder is suspected, obtaining a warrant won’t be difficult.

“So, a lot of people will definitely come forward.”

Sure enough, not long after Park Do-joon said that, suspicious reports poured in from all over the country. To be exact, people who had already filed missing person reports rushed to the police and said that their missing family members might have used the site.

Park Do-joon’s police station was no exception.

“They might use a site like that?”

“Yes, she’s my sister, but not really… well, um, she wasn’t living a righteous life.”

The man who came to find his sister said after some hesitation.

It was because of a faint hope that he could at least find his sister’s body.

“She may already be dead?”

“I need to know, even if it’s just that. My mother and father are getting old with worry every day… Hooo!”

The man shook his head.

‘That’s right. Many victims’ families are like this.’

If families give up looking for missing people, will they forget everything? No. They begin to hope to find at least a body.

Thinking they are alive is worrying, scary, and constantly eating away at them, but at the same time, as a family, they hope to confirm at least a body or find something they can use to find closure.

“But why do you think your sister would use such a site?”

“Well… my sister was a bit vain, and she used to do some fitting modeling when she said she was going to be a model.”

“Really?”

“And her relationships with men were complicated, and her boyfriends even came to her house and got into fights.”

“Ah.”

She certainly exhibits tendencies that are quite consistent with the typical profile of someone who seeks sponsorship.

“But what happened with her disappearance?”

“She just disappeared overnight.”

Because she didn’t live a conventional life, she didn’t have a close relationship with her family.

So she moved out and lived separately, but she couldn’t shake those tendencies.

“But she simply vanished.”

If she had sent a text saying she was cutting ties because she hated her family, I would understand. But she suddenly disappeared.

“I went to her apartment, and…”

“Was there nothing?”

“I wish she had moved out without us knowing…”

“But?”

“It was the same.”

Nothing had changed.

Even a single cosmetic item was still there.

‘Then the police would have taken it seriously. It’s definitely a disappearance.’

When a missing person report is filed, the police initially assume it’s a runaway and conduct a preliminary investigation. But sometimes they determine that it is not a runaway but a genuine disappearance and launch a full investigation.

In particular, this is usually the case when personal belongings are still in the house.

Because even if you run away in the middle of the night, people take what they can carry with them, and women tend to take cosmetics with them.

But she disappeared without even taking her cosmetics?

That’s not a runaway; it’s literally a disappearance, and it’s almost always evidence that something bad has happened.

“What did the police say after that?”

“They said they couldn’t find her no matter how hard they looked.”

“Is that all?”

“Her phone is also turned off…”

“Ah…”

She abandoned her family, abandoned all her belongings, and her phone is turned off?

At this point, the police likely believe that she is no longer alive.

Knowing this, this man came just in case, but he didn’t seem to have high expectations.

“Okay. I’ll review the case.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It’s my job.”

That’s how the first clue was obtained.

# Start with the Victims

“Ah, that case? I remember it too. I investigated it for about two months.”

The officer who was explaining the case to Park Do-joon and Lee Ji-soo shook his head.

“Really? Couldn’t you track her down? You should at least have her phone’s location history, right?”

Tracking a phone’s location isn’t just about checking its current location. In fact, if the location keeps changing, it remains in the phone’s data.

Especially these days, many phones are set to track their location by default, making it even easier to trace.

“I found it.”

“But?”

“I couldn’t find her.”

“Couldn’t find her?”

“Yes, I found a somewhat suspicious location, but…”

After that, it was impossible to track her.

“There were no CCTVs [closed-circuit television cameras] at the scene either.”

“There weren’t?”

“Yes, she suddenly disappeared.”

“Can I see the data from that time?”

“That’s not a problem.”

The officer in charge copied the record and handed it over.

“I couldn’t find her, but I hope you find her.”

…with such words of encouragement.

That’s how well he remembered the case.

“Hmm.”

Park Do-joon sat in the passenger seat and began to examine the documents.

Lee Ji-soo, who was driving, asked Park Do-joon.

“What do you see, Detective?”

“I have a general idea. It seems like it’s what we expected.”

“Yes? Why?”

“The victim took the subway.”

The victim’s name was Park Yoo-ran.

It wasn’t difficult to trace her movements.

Her movements were consistently linked to the subway line.

“That’s not proof that she was sponsored as we suspected.”

“No, it’s a little different. If she was meeting a man, it’s common for the man to come to the woman’s location when they go on a date.”

“I suppose so.”

“Also, look at where the movement line changes.”

Starting from Suwon Station, the woman’s movement line no longer coincided with the subway line.

“But if it’s at the speed indicated here, it means she traveled by car.”

A person can’t reach an average speed of 55 kilometers per hour [approximately 34 miles per hour] on foot.

“Also, if you look at the CCTV footage from the time of her last disappearance, she was very well-dressed.”

“She went out to meet a man.”

“Yes, of course, she could have met with other women.”

“If that were the case, she would have chosen a location in the middle, but she wouldn’t have come all the way to Suwon.”

“That’s my point.”

And she would have gone to the entertainment district around the station and enjoyed herself.

“If she was going to travel by car, she would have asked them to pick her up.”

But the fact that she arrived by subway suggests that the victim, Park Yoo-ran, was in a subordinate position.

“But there are CCTVs at Suwon Station, right?”

“There are.”

There are many cameras.

In fact, the last video is her appearance on the Suwon Station CCTV.

“But after that, nothing was recorded. She disappeared while heading to the right.”

“To the right?”

“There are no CCTVs to the right of Suwon Station.”

The left is the road to the downtown area, so there are plenty of CCTVs, but the right is just a road for several kilometers, so there is no reason to install CCTVs.

It’s safe to say that there is no pedestrian traffic at all. It’s a structure where cars or subways run side by side, so would people walk there?

“Then that means the culprit lured Park Yoo-ran there…”

Park Do-joon frowned slightly at the words.

“Why?”

“It wouldn’t be Hong Woo-jong.”

“How do you know?”

“Only locals know that the area has that kind of layout.”

“Ah.”

People from other regions are unaware that the place has that kind of structure.

Because there’s nothing there, so no one goes there.

Locals or people who regularly travel to and from Suwon Station might know about the area, but in general, they are not interested in its layout.