My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 701

## Cornering Them

Kim Song-rim didn’t react at all, but the lawyers were sensitive to Jo Yu-soon and Ahn Tae-ik.

Park Do-joon suspected they were involved and naturally started investigating them.

“Both are married men.”

“Yes, they’re both married men. And… hmm, interesting.”

It was impossible to check their financial records without a warrant. But looking at their past records, it wasn’t difficult to figure out how they had lived.

“He must be desperate.”

“Desperate?”

“Yes, both are married men, but their address change records are a bit different.”

“How so?”

“Both live in Seoul, but they originally lived in Shin-in-dong and Sam-yeong-dong.”

Shin-in-dong and Sam-yeong-dong are densely populated neighborhoods in Seoul. Conversely, they’re not very expensive.

High population density in a similar area suggests many studio apartments. Even if they didn’t live in studio apartments, both neighborhoods are inexpensive by Seoul standards.

“But in their late 20s, their addresses suddenly changed to Cheongdam [a wealthy district in Seoul]. What do you think?”

“They married well?”

“Correct.”

Park Do-joon nodded at Lee Ji-soo’s words.

“They both married well.”

This isn’t just a compliment to their wives.

It literally means they married rich wives and moved in with them.

“And both have two children, but their surnames are different.”

Generally, the children should have the surnames Jo and Ahn, matching their fathers.

Of course, legally, they can take their mother’s surname, but traditionally, they usually follow the father’s surname.

But both children were Kims.

“They’re uxorilocal husbands [husbands who reside with their wife’s family].”

Uxorilocal marriage refers to bringing a son-in-law from outside to continue the family line in a household with only daughters.

“They must both have a strong inferiority complex.”

“How do you know?”

“They’re uxorilocal husbands, after all.”

“Do uxorilocal husbands have a strong inferiority complex?”

Park Do-joon calmly explained to Lee Ji-soo, who didn’t understand.

“It’s not so much that uxorilocal husbands inherently have an inferiority complex, but rather they end up in a position where they’re not socially recognized. In that case, uxorilocal husbands can’t help but develop one.”

Society still considers it common sense to carry on the father’s surname.

As the old saying goes, ‘Even with three measures of unhulled barley, a man won’t live with his in-laws,’ it’s quite humiliating for men to live off their in-laws.

“Moreover, being an uxorilocal husband means that the paternal bloodline is cut off. That’s a pretty big deal for a man.”

Even if they are the same children, the family changes if the surname is different.

“So, uxorilocal husbands are generally brought in from humble families.”

“Why?”

“As I said before, there’s also the issue of pride.”

If the levels of the two families are almost similar, would the man’s family accept the uxorilocal marriage? Of course not.

“Generally, when the woman’s side mentions uxorilocal marriage, it means they’re looking down on the man’s side.”

Because of that, there are many cases where the man’s side gets angry and throws a fit.

In fact, there are surprisingly many cases where some women try to pass on their surname to their children due to feminism or various other reasons, and the marriage falls apart due to that issue.

“So, the uxorilocal marriage issue has to be resolved before the wedding… then what kind of family would you choose?”

“Ah!”

Naturally, they usually choose a relatively less affluent family that will accept their demands.

“In reality, uxorilocal husbands are usually low in the hierarchy within their own families.”

They’re rarely the eldest son and are usually the second or third son. This is because the pressure to continue the family line is still strong for the eldest son.

“But they might marry for love, right?”

“Of course, they might.”

Both of them may have made that choice out of love. It’s not impossible.

“But if they married for love, would they really be getting sponsored [financially supporting someone, often in exchange for favors]?”

“That’s… I see.”

They wouldn’t do that unless they were crazy.

“Moreover, sponsoring isn’t an act that costs just a little bit of money.”

“Right.”

“So, how would they get that money?”

“Hmm?”

At those words, Lee Ji-soo realized. Come to think of it, it doesn’t make sense.

Of course, they could marry a rich daughter. And they could spend money freely as rich sons-in-law. But no matter how rich the family is, they wouldn’t give them money for sponsoring.

“Come to think of it, it’s strange?”

“I told you, the purpose of men who sponsor is largely to show off their abilities.”

“You certainly did. Then… aha. Is it that kind of contract?”

“It’s that kind of contract, although they might not know about the sponsorship.”

You come in and just provide the seed [have children].

In return, I won’t interfere with how much money you spend.

“And they’re probably both handsome and good at studying with a very high probability.”

“How do you know?”

“You can’t ignore genetics.”

Genetics is an indispensable choice in continuing the family line. Simply continuing the family line is important, but if the family has money, there must also be a condition that they must protect that money.

And stupid guys will lose all the money if they make a mistake.

“So, they probably chose a smart guy. The problem arises from there. Because each has their own world.”

Naturally, rumors will spread in that world. Will those rumors be good? Of course not.

“It wouldn’t be good, given the social structure still.”

“Yes, especially for the successful ones.”

With a very high probability, they’ll hear, ‘He married well,’ but also, ‘How pathetic must he be to go as an uxorilocal husband, you pathetic bastard.’

“In fact, if you look at history, people who go as uxorilocal husbands receive a lot of envy from those around them.”

And knowing that, they’re more likely to have an inferiority complex. And they’ll do things like sponsoring to relieve that inferiority complex.

“If we look into it, we’ll find something.”

“We will.”

Park Do-joon said leisurely.

“It’s easy to shake them up and make them spit out information. Hehehe.”

As Park Do-joon expected, their occupations were doctors.

Certainly, if they’re doctors, there will be plenty of smart guys around them.

One was a plastic surgeon, and the other was a dermatologist. And they were both so-called ‘pay doctors [salaried doctors],’ doctors who work for a salary.

Watching that, Park Do-joon said calmly.

“They probably don’t get treated like people at their in-laws’ house, do they?”

“How do you know?”

“It’s not like their in-laws don’t have money. But instead of setting up a hospital, they’re pay doctors? That means their in-laws don’t care about their social life.”

Moreover, both plastic surgery and dermatology are medical fields that earn a lot of money.

But the fact that they’re not being allowed to open their own practice, even though they’re in such a lucrative field and have some experience, means that their in-laws have no intention of doing so.

“According to the investigation results, it seems their in-laws aren’t giving them money directly. Both in-laws are quite well-off.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

Showing that they’ll let them spend money as they please but won’t use their own money for them shows how much their in-laws disregard them.

Of course, it’s understandable. Even if Jo Yu-soon and Ahn Tae-ik spend money, there’s a clear limit. Even if they sponsor, it’ll be at most 10 million won a month [approximately $7,500 USD].

However, opening a hospital requires a huge amount of money. Moreover, since both families have a reputation to uphold, it can’t be a small neighborhood clinic, and they’ll have to build at least a three- or four-story hospital.

That would probably cost over 10 billion won [approximately $7.5 million USD] to build, so from the in-laws’ perspective, it’s more comfortable to just let them spend a few million won each month than to risk investing 10 billion won.

“Spending money is also about pride.”

“It is about pride.”

In-laws who won’t set up a hospital.

In that situation, Jo Yu-soon and Ahn Tae-ik need a suitable excuse to show off their power.

And the most suitable excuse is, ‘It doesn’t matter if I do it or not, so I’m just living leisurely.’ In reality, if they have enough money, they wouldn’t bother opening a hospital and grinding themselves.

“Of course, that doesn’t stop people around them from looking at them like idiots.”

So, they’ll try to find a new way to assert their pride, and that way was probably sponsoring.

“It was said that the women who receive sponsorship have to do whatever they’re told.”

That kind of behavior itself is a means for men to regain great pride.

It may seem meaningless, but surprisingly, there are quite a few men who go to bars or sponsor for that reason.

“But their in-laws would hate it.”

“They would. But would they even care?”

“What? You mean they wouldn’t care even if they sponsored?”

“No, I mean they wouldn’t care at all. There’s a saying in the entertainment industry, ‘Bad publicity is better than no publicity.'”

“Ah!”

If they’re not interested, they won’t care about that person at all. How they spend their money and how much they spend.

“Seriously? They don’t even check their credit card statements?”

“If they have a lot of money, does it matter?”

“It certainly wouldn’t matter much.”

Lee Ji-soo nodded at Park Do-joon’s words.

“Then how do we investigate this?”

“We don’t investigate, we have to make them come and plead.”

“What? How?”

“There’s a term called ‘disposable,’ right?”

Park Do-joon smiled and said.

“That applies to people too. Hehehe.”

Park Do-joon sent summons to Jo Yu-soon and Ahn Tae-ik.

Naturally, they showed up with lawyers.

‘They hired different lawyers. Well, they’d get caught if they came together.’

That part was expected.

Rich people call lawyers right away if there’s even a slight legal connection, so it’s not particularly strange.

‘But that lawyer probably isn’t related to Jo Yu-soon or Ahn Tae-ik.’

It’s probably a lawyer sent by their in-laws. And with a very high probability, that lawyer will report what happened here to them.

Lawyer’s duty of confidentiality?

Of course, that’s an obligation that must be absolutely observed.

The problem is that the client isn’t Jo Yu-soon and Ahn Tae-ik, but their in-laws.

“What is this? Calling people here and there.”

“I’m busy as hell, you know.”

The two men complained with their lawyers. And watching that, Park Do-joon was convinced.

‘They definitely know each other.’

If the two didn’t know each other, they would be uncomfortable being in the same place or ask who that person is.

But they’re not saying anything.

After all, lawyers are doing the job of protecting their clients against the police, so they wouldn’t be very interested in the person next to them.

A Professional Profiler