My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 704

“So, that’s why you’re not asking,” I said.

Because there’s a very high chance it would just be a wild goose chase.

“Rather, what’s important at this point is that Kim Song-rim committed perjury.”

“But we don’t know who it was for, do we? Are you going to use the perjury as leverage to make them talk?”

“No. The way I see it, Kim Song-rim’s perjury is related to the Hong Woo-jong case.”

“Hong Woo-jong? Out of the blue?”

“Yes.”

“But there’s no evidence that Hong Woo-jong and Kim Song-rim even knew each other.”

Indeed, the investigation into the two of them turned up nothing.

The reason I was talking about the testimony in the case Jo Yu-soon mentioned was simple.

“The timing is coincidental.”

Jo Yu-soon said that Kim Song-rim felt uneasy after testifying and ended their sponsorship. And if you look at the timing, Kim Song-rim created the Sponsornet site not long after that.

“But where would she get the money?”

“Hmm.”

“Creating a website isn’t easy.”

Especially establishing a corporation in the United States, hosting servers there, and running a business costs a lot of money.

To do that, you need to hire a lawyer in the United States, and American lawyer fees are prohibitively expensive.

“So, they supported the start-up costs?”

“That’s right. They wouldn’t have given testimony out of goodwill.”

Unless it’s family, no one would commit perjury for a complete stranger. This kind of perjury is a crime where something is given and taken in return.

“There are plenty of people who would invest money, aren’t there?”

Lee Ji-soo didn’t let go of her doubts. As she saw it, other people could invest that kind of money.

“And even if it’s perjury related to an investment issue, there’s no evidence that it’s Hong Woo-jong…”

“We’ll find out if we look into the cases. If Kim Song-rim testified, there will be a record of it.”

And there will inevitably be a suspect and a victim.

“We’ll see.”

But Park Do-joon could intuitively sense that Hong Woo-jong was involved.

Once you know the target, tracking down which case they testified in isn’t difficult.

And the case they found rolled out in an unexpected direction.

“Missing person case?”

“He was a strong suspect.”

A missing person case related to Hong Woo-jong.

But at that time, Hong Woo-jong wasn’t even a member of the National Assembly.

“What do you think? The timing is right.”

A missing person case occurred in connection with Hong Woo-jong.

And the police and prosecutors tracked him down through investigation.

But Kim Song-rim testified on his behalf, which established his alibi, and as a result, he was released.

“Remember the criminal’s learning effect?”

“Yes.”

All criminals learn.

There are no cases where a criminal easily and familiarly commits a crime from the beginning without leaving a trace.

They believe they are, but they are not, and surprisingly, the initial arrest rate for criminals is high.

However, through these initial mistakes, criminals learn and gradually develop and know how to hide themselves.

“Hong Woo-jong has been hiding himself too easily and too well.”

This isn’t just a matter of being smart. No matter how smart Hong Woo-jong is, he has to learn what he doesn’t know. Moreover, there’s no way Hong Woo-jong would know the police’s criminal investigation methods at this time.

“Hong Woo-jong was identified as a suspect, and the investigation proceeded, but everything went wrong.”

The victim was a twenty-one-year-old woman at the time and was found dead five days after she went missing.

And at that time, the scene of her boarding Hong Woo-jong’s car was the last time she was seen.

And as a result of tracking the last call history, the last person she talked to was an anonymous burner phone [a disposable, untraceable phone], and its location happened to be near Hong Woo-jong’s house.

“And look at the records at that time.”

Hong Woo-jong’s lawyer, or rather, Hong Chang-sik’s lawyer, argued that Hong Woo-jong and the woman had a consensual relationship.

“In other words, the relationship between the two cannot be denied.”

“Well, it makes no sense to say you don’t know someone when you’re caught on camera getting into the car.”

“That’s right.”

So, the method they chose was consensual sex.

And at the time she went missing, or rather, at the time of her death, Kim Song-rim and Hong Woo-jong were together, so Hong Woo-jong was cleared of suspicion.

“How did you know?”

“I said she committed perjury. But in most cases, the prosecution doesn’t reinvestigate that testimony.”

If they expand the scope of the investigation in that way, the scope of reinvestigation will inevitably grow endlessly. As a result, the prosecution doesn’t reinvestigate the testimony very often.

“But it doesn’t make sense to go all the way to Jo Yu-soon after reinvestigating.”

To check the credibility of the testimony, they check the testifier’s call history and summon and investigate the people around them? In such cases, the case is very likely to be a violent crime.

“But Jo Yu-soon doesn’t know what the testimony is about.”

“I guess so. It’s also a problem to dig into the testifier’s background, but it’s illegal to talk about the case related to the testifier.”

“Hmm.”

“And it’s strange that the testifier’s words at the time were glossed over so easily.”

“Strange?”

“The prosecutor, no, the prosecutor who investigated the case, was very likely convinced of the perpetrator of the case.”

Whether it was Hong Woo-jong or not, he was convinced, so he must have investigated Kim Song-rim. And there is a very high possibility that he realized that Kim Song-rim was lying.

Testimony is testimony, but it is not difficult to find out the facts, such as when and how they were together, through interrogation.

For example, even if Kim Song-rim and Hong Woo-jong claimed to have had a close relationship at that time, it is a common method in investigations to check the hotel’s accommodation records, checking CCTV [closed-circuit television], or checking card details.

“Rather, digging into Kim Song-rim’s call history and asking people related to Kim Song-rim what they did that day is an unconventional method in investigations.”

“Does that mean?”

“Yes, there’s a very high chance it was cut off.”

Park Do-joon knows because he’s been through it many times.

In order to conduct an investigation, you have to do something. In order to check hotel accommodation records or card details, a warrant must be issued.

“But if that doesn’t come out, tracking is almost impossible.”

There are not many people who have the power to block such a warrant.

Even ordinary rich people or politicians usually get a warrant.

Especially if there is strong suspicion.

But the warrant didn’t come out?

“So, you suspected it was Hong Woo-jong?”

“With the power of the Daeguk Group, it’s not difficult to block it.”

“Then, should we find that prosecutor and hear the story?”

“It’s not a prosecutor, it’s a lawyer.”

“Pardon?”

“The Daeguk Group would never leave a prosecutor who was so desperately tracking their weaknesses alone.”

As Park Do-joon said that, he checked the prosecutor’s name in the prosecutor’s list. Sure enough, that person was not among the current prosecutors.

“A lawyer… so, a lawyer… Ugh, he was kicked out.”

Just in case, Lee Ji-soo searched for the prosecutor’s name on the Internet with the keyword “lawyer.”

But there were as many as four people who came up there. Well, there may be many people with the same name. Lawyers have been around for decades.

“I don’t even know who it is.”

“It’s probably that person.”

“Who?”

“The person working in Haenam.”

“Out of the blue?”

“It’s not out of the blue, it’s someone who was targeted by a large corporation. Who would want to work with that person? They’d cut ties. But the rest of the people are all in Seoul or the Gyeonggi area.”

The Daeguk Group at the time would not have left it alone, and in the case of being targeted like that within the prosecution, they would not be treated like people, let alone preferential treatment for former officials.

Rather, there is a greater possibility of receiving disadvantages if they work as a lawyer.

There is a high possibility that they will make harsh judgments for fear of getting involved.

“To avoid that, you have to go to a place that is completely unrelated.”

Park Do-joon said that and tapped the name of the lawyer in Haenam.

“That’s far enough away. And the Daeguk Group wouldn’t track down and destroy someone who ran away to Haenam.”

If they try to destroy a former prosecutor more than necessary, the prosecutor’s organization will also show signs of discomfort.

“Should we go visit him?”

“It seems like that’s the only option…”

Park Do-joon shrugged and said.

“Let’s go ask what Hong Woo-jong’s beginnings were like.”

# Rat Hole

Park Do-joon and Lee Ji-soo went straight down to the provinces. And Jung Chang-soo, the lawyer they met there, nodded and admitted.

“I was kicked out because of that case.”

“It can’t be easy to kick out a prosecutor, can it?”

“There are ways.”

A prosecutor has strong power. So, they can never be cut off in a way that says, ‘You, get out!’

In order to cut off a prosecutor, they must be judged unfit for duty through investigation.

But this judgment of unfitness for duty does not come out easily.

“But there are many other ways.”

For example, by assigning only miscellaneous cases, assigning only petty criminals, or assigning cases that no one can solve, extremely lowering the indictment rate or performance, and pressuring them through that, most prosecutors give up and leave because there is no future in their career anyway.

“That’s what happened to me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Then, could the cause be…?”

“It’s the Hong Woo-jong case.”

He says it very calmly, but Park Do-joon smiled bitterly when he saw that he didn’t hesitate at all.

‘He must have a lot built up inside.’

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said it right away without hesitating like this.

“Did you suspect that Hong Woo-jong committed murder?”

“That’s right. Hong Woo-jong was a strong suspect at the time.”

The victim was Hong Woo-jong’s ex-girlfriend and was beaten to death by someone.

“What about the DNA?”

“Unfortunately, there wasn’t any.”

If there was, it wouldn’t have been difficult to identify the perpetrator.

But there was no DNA, and there was nothing that could identify the perpetrator.

“Then why did you suspect Hong Woo-jong? People don’t usually think Hong Woo-jong committed murder, do they? Is it because he was in the car?”

“Because she was Hong Woo-jong’s ex-girlfriend. And the woman unilaterally dumped Hong Woo-jong.”

“Pardon?”

“She even got a restraining order from the court.”

Park Do-joon frowned at those words. The fact that the woman got a restraining order means that there is a very serious problem between the two.

“The victim’s side also said that the perpetrator was definitely Hong Woo-jong.”

“But the investigation was blocked in the middle.”

“That’s right.”

“Did Hong Woo-jong say anything or show any strange reactions at that time?”

“Well, he always came with lawyers.”

Of course, he had never conducted a proper investigation or even succeeded in interrogation.