My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 684

The route from Suwon Station to this place was lined with many deserted areas.

But even though few people passed by here, there were still some shops.

“I don’t know.”

“I think it’s a bus.”

“A bus?”

Cho Sang-gyu’s face tightened at Park Do-joon’s words.

Someone had arrived via public transportation.

There’s no subway around here, so it had to be a bus.

“They come to this area by bus and then board the victim together. Then…”

“The woman can’t resist.”

If men boarded from both sides, the woman would be trapped. A vehicle is a confined space. If men boarded and held a knife to her, the woman would freeze, allowing the criminals to calmly hold out the knife, snatch the phone, and turn it off.

“And after that…”

They could go anywhere.

“Not using another vehicle?”

“I don’t think so. If they were, there wouldn’t be much reason to come here.”

“I guess so.”

If the criminal group was using another vehicle, there would be no reason to come all the way here to board the bus. They could simply follow her car to a deserted location.

“Then what’s the purpose of these guys meeting here?”

“It seems like a rape and murder.”

Park Do-joon said grimly.

“It’s rare, but it does happen.”

And now it was time to catch those bastards.

Cho Sang-gyu first gathered detectives who could dedicate time to the case. Since this wasn’t an officially reported case to the police yet, and there was no clear evidence, those with available time had to handle this kind of investigation.

“The criminals are probably three or four people.”

“Why?”

One of the investigators tilted his head, questioning.

“If there are more than five people, one person won’t have a seat. Of course, they would have brought another vehicle.”

If that were the case, they could just board and subdue the victim elsewhere, not necessarily at this specific location. But they specifically chose this place.

“This place is structured so that you get off the bus and walk further in. In other words, the bus stop itself is almost deserted, and even if you get off there, there’s no real reason to walk down that road.”

“That’s definitely true.”

“Yes, and the criminals are likely in their early to mid-20s. They’re not socially established, and they’re likely to be unemployed.”

“Just?”

“No, just in their 20s?”

Even Lee Ji-soo was surprised that they were not even in their late 20s but in their early to mid-20s.

“Detective, are they that young? But…”

“Yeah, there’s no official investigation going on, so there’s no hard data. But looking at the pattern of the case, it has to be.”

“Why?”

“There’s only one car involved. That means the criminals don’t have much money.”

The reason why there are three or four criminals is simple: they need to pressure the woman from both sides so she can’t resist. If they leave the passenger seat next to the driver empty, that’s three people; if they fill that seat, that’s four people.

“To fit more people in the car, they need the passenger’s cooperation.”

Each person has to sit as far inside as possible, but would the kidnapped woman really help with that?

“So that’s why there are three to four people.”

“That’s right. Even if they leave the passenger seat empty, they need at least three people to surround her from behind.”

“But what about them being young?”

“How could these guys get an expensive car?”

“A stolen car, right.”

“Yeah, but if they can get one stolen car, why can’t they get two?”

“Ah…”

Of course, that’s not difficult. Stolen cars are much cheaper than used cars. If a car costs about 20 million won in the used market, you can buy it for 4 million won as a stolen car. Then what about a car that costs only 3 or 4 million won used? You can probably get it for just a few tens of thousands of won.

“But what does it mean that they didn’t have even that and came separately by bus?”

“It means they’re broke and poor.”

“That’s right. They probably spent most of their assets buying that one luxury car and getting contact information by signing up on that site.”

But if they were living a normal social life, they would have at least a few tens of thousands of won by the time they reached a certain age.

“But they don’t have that money?”

“That means they’re likely to be young.”

“No, they could be broke for other reasons, right? Like they lived their lives recklessly or got scammed.”

“Of course. But if you’ve worked and earned money, you basically know how to make money to some extent.”

Even a man can earn 500,000 won by working at a construction site for just a week. But there are at least three to four criminals. So, no matter what, a week is enough to buy a small car.

“And if they lost money by being scammed, the target of the crime would be money, not women.”

“Ah…”

The reason why people commit crimes is to gain profit from that crime. Naturally, the target of that crime is what they want to obtain the most.

“Whether it’s revenge or control, they commit crimes because they want that. But why kidnap, kill, and murder women?”

“Sexual desire is the priority?”

“That’s right.”

If they lost their assets for other reasons, the primary target of the crime would naturally be money.

“And the age when sexual desire explodes the most is in the late teens and early 20s.”

“Hmm…”

In fact, men in that age group can’t control their exploding sexual desires and do all sorts of things to sleep with a woman.

“And the criminals probably knew each other in the past. They probably spent their school days together.”

“Then, is there any possibility that they kidnapped her, locked her up, and are managing her?”

Lee Ji-soo asked with a small hope, but Park Do-joon shook his head.

“Unfortunately, it’s hard to see it that way.”

“Why? From their perspective, it’s easier to satisfy their sexual desires if the woman is alive, right?”

“That’s true. But where would they lock her up?”

“Ah…”

To lock her up, they need their own space. Especially to prevent her from asking for help from the surroundings, they also need something like a basement. What makes that possible is something like a villa with a basement.

“Could guys who can’t even afford to buy a small car with stolen money secure such a space?”

“I guess not.”

“Probably, their goal is gang rape and murder.”

Everyone’s face hardened at those words. It’s rare in Korean history, but there have been groups around the world that aimed for rape and murder.

“Then, are they like those Jijonpa [a notorious Korean crime syndicate from the 1990s] guys from the old days?”

“No, they’re different from Jijonpa.”

“Why?”

“The main purpose and the secondary purpose have changed.”

“The secondary purpose and the main purpose have changed?”

“Yes.”

In the case of Jijonpa, murder was the primary purpose. And in the process, rape was a secondary issue; they used the women they obtained as a kind of trophy to satisfy their sexual desires.

“On the other hand, the main purpose of this organization is rape, and murder is just one of the means to hide it.”

“Hmm…”

“And that difference extremely divides the tendencies of criminals.”

The result is the same for both, and they cause public outrage in the process, but the behavior patterns of criminals inevitably change completely in the process.

“For example, if the purpose is murder, it’s often a kind of revenge against society.”

In fact, Jijonpa said, ‘We kill all the rich people’ when they killed, and the reason why they kidnapped the victims was that they were driving expensive cars at the time.

Those words caused the sales of well-known cars at the time to plummet.

“In other words, they prioritize revenge against society, so they target successful men. Naturally, they kidnap or rob them in the process. But if the purpose is sexual crime, the behavior pattern is quite different.”

“Why?”

“Guys who take revenge on society are basically very self-destructive.”

That’s why they have nothing to lose. But sex offenders are not like that. They act selfishly to satisfy their desires, so they take care of their backs and their safety.

“There’s a big difference between trying to protect yourself and giving up completely.”

The police nodded at Park Do-joon’s words. Empirically, there is a significant difference in confrontation with the police between guys who have something to lose and guys who have nothing to lose.

“Sexual crime is a crime related to personal desires.”

The so-called random killing, or more accurately, the abnormal sign killing, is completely different from the tendency of the criminal.

“Hmm.”

The police all had complicated faces at those words. Everyone knew it roughly, but not everyone understood it perfectly.

“Then, to summarize the analysis of the criminals?”

“Men in their 20s. The criminals will be three to four people and will be poor. They won’t have a normal family history, and they will have at least one prior conviction for sexual assault or assault. Their base will be near Suwon, and they will have a hatred for women, especially an extreme hatred for women who pursue money.”

“Extreme hatred for women who pursue money?”

“Why would they target women who are running for sponsorships? That’s not a coincidence either.”

Simply because they can be easily kidnapped? That’s not very likely.

“Criminals are constantly trying to rationalize themselves.”

Especially in cases involving extreme crimes like murder, that rationalization becomes even stronger. Even socially extreme criminal organizations like Jijonpa or Makgapa [another Korean crime syndicate] say that society made them this way when defending themselves.

That’s not a coincidence. It’s a means of self-rationalization.

“They will have a hatred for women who voluntarily engage in prostitution.”

“Because they won’t date them?”

“Of course not. If that were the case, sex workers wouldn’t be the target.”

Sex workers don’t date anyone, so in that case, they’re not the target.

“The reason why they target women, especially women who receive sponsorships, is probably because ‘they make money too easily.'”

“Certainly, in that case, they would have inferiority in terms of wealth.”

“That’s right.”

Lee Ji-soo immediately understood and nodded.

“Hey, no way…”

Then one of the police officers waved his hand as if it didn’t make sense.

“No matter what, they wouldn’t think that way…”

“No, they just don’t say it, but surprisingly, many men have inferiority about earning money through such actions.”

“Men have pride.”

“That’s the problem.”

Women can easily make money through a specific crime called prostitution. On the other hand, men can’t do that.

“I don’t understand? No, it’s not impossible for men either. That detective must not have experience, but there are a lot of men who get sponsored.”

Someone challenged Park Do-joon.

And Park Do-joon sighed inwardly as he looked at the police.

A Professional Profiler