My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 71

Park Do-joon immediately contacted Jung Yi-yeon.

Jung Yi-yeon, already desperate to overturn the case and willing to grasp at straws, rushed to Park Do-joon’s summons like lightning.

“Sunbae [Korean term for a senior colleague or mentor].”

“What’s with the ‘senpai’?”

“It’s the Japanese pronunciation of ‘sunbae’.”

“If you were trying to be cute, you failed.”

“Still so guarded. But what’s going on? What wind has blown you here to help us?”

“Didn’t you see the news? No, you’re the victim’s lawyer. The police are already investigating the case.”

“I know. That’s why there’s no hope.”

She was doing her best to defend him, but it was nearly impossible. Proving he didn’t do it was an almost insurmountable task.

“Is there any evidence he was somewhere else? From the kidnapping to the death, it was two days, right?”

To be exact, the time from his disappearance to the discovery of the body was two days. If they had solid proof he was somewhere else during that time, they could easily overturn the case.

“That’s the problem. There isn’t any. He just kept drinking and staying home….”

“Well, that’s a common reaction for victims.”

He must have been in pain after his daughter died. The death of a child is the most painful thing of all.

And before that wound could heal, the murderer was revealed, and Jeon Gu-wan appeared to protect him, using all sorts of tricks. Of course, anyone would be furious.

Jeon Gu-wan’s actions would have reopened the victim’s wounds, causing him immense pain.

‘When in pain, the most common coping mechanism is avoidance.’

Drinking to forget everything and just sleeping. Such a choice is common among victims.

Knowing this, Park Do-joon couldn’t bring himself to criticize such behavior.

“What about other witnesses?”

“There are no other witnesses. His wife is divorced and lives separately.”

“How bitter.”

Victims often get divorced. Seeing their partner reminds them of their child, making it impossible to control their emotions.

In such situations, the partner becomes an object of pain. In most cases, people end up choosing divorce.

“So, there’s no proof the victim isn’t the culprit?”

“Yes, the police seem to be meticulously prepared.”

As soon as the incident occurred, an arrest warrant was issued, followed by a search warrant. They searched his house and found a toolbox and even bleach in the bathroom.

“I don’t know why they need bathroom bleach, though.”

“Probably to fit the case.”

“Pardon?”

“He wouldn’t have used beauty or dental equipment for torture, would he?”

He probably used tools like pliers to pull out teeth and fingernails. The blows were likely inflicted with a common object like a hammer.

“But think about it. They need those items to claim they’re the murder weapon.”

These days, people don’t usually keep tools at home… but older generations, like our fathers, had to fix things themselves, so every house had a toolbox.

“What about the bleach?”

“Will Jeon Gu-wan’s DNA be on that toolbox?”

Of course not. He’s not the perpetrator. That would be a legal problem.

“But if they say it was wiped clean with bleach, they can avoid that too.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That’s what the law is.”

Circumstantial evidence is too easy to fabricate. That’s why courts usually ask for direct evidence and try not to convict based solely on circumstantial evidence.

“And in the current situation, it’s likely to be accepted.”

“Ah… I’m going crazy.”

The answer is already determined, and the profiler’s opinion is completely excluded.

“Sunbae, what should we do?”

“Don’t be impatient. If you’re impatient, you’ll end up being dragged around by the case.”

If you’re dragged around by the case and make hasty judgments, you won’t see the essence of the case. The reason many police officers and some profilers think it’s a simple revenge killing is that the case is progressing so quickly that speed is more important than the essence, so they haven’t properly verified it.

“I wouldn’t be sneaking out like this otherwise.”

“I trust you, Sunbae.”

“You need to work too.”

“Just give me some direction, Sunbae. We’re saying there’s no hope on our side either.”

It’s not that there aren’t prosecutors or judges-turned-lawyers within the firm.

But even they can’t find a proper solution.

‘Well, it’s not easy to overturn a situation where the answer is already determined and the investigation is underway.’

Park Do-joon pondered for a long time. And he pondered about the perpetrator of this case for a long time.

Of course, he had already thought about it several times and analyzed the possibilities. So, he roughly knew the situation, but explaining it to someone else was a completely different matter.

“First of all, in this case, the perpetrator is a professional contract killer.”

“We’ve said that several times.”

“Yes, but there’s more to it. This case is a political one.”

“A political case? What, out of the blue?”

“Yes, out of the blue, but yes.”

“Why?”

“Because the body was found.”

“Pardon?”

Jung Yi-yeon didn’t understand Park Do-joon’s words. What did the discovery of the body have to do with it being a political case?

Park Do-joon, as if reading her thoughts, calmly explained the situation.

“You’re a lawyer, so you know the saying, ‘No body, no murder,’ right?”

“Yes, I know.”

It’s a kind of legal maxim that you can’t specify a case without solid evidence. A missing person case without a body is just a missing person case, not a murder.

Unless there’s a body that proves murder, or excessive bleeding to the point where the person can’t possibly survive, or the moment of death is captured on CCTV or other video media, a person’s disappearance is treated as a missing person case, not a murder case.

“Think about it. Assemblyman Jeon Gu-wan disappeared without a trace. That means the other party is a skilled person who can have such a preparation period, without leaving any evidence. Would it be difficult for such a person to bury a body without being caught?”

“Ah!”

In fact, there are plenty of forests in Korea where people rarely go. If you dig deep into such a mountain and bury a person, you’ll never find them.

In reality, a tremendous number of people go missing in Korea every year.

And some of them are never found.

“‘No body, no murder.’ A contract killer would know that.”

But the body was found. It was thrown naked next to the highway, easily discoverable.

“In other words, the other party didn’t want to hide the body, but rather wanted it to be found.”

“Not hide it?”

“It can’t be hiding. This isn’t the usual method of a contract killer. They prefer to dispose of the body for safety.”

“Uh… so?”

“This case was done by a contract killer. Nevertheless, they threw the body out to be discovered. These kinds of cases usually happen when the body has some kind of meaning.”

For example, when a terrorist attack occurs, some terrorist groups issue statements claiming responsibility.

It’s not because they can win. It’s to show their presence.

Just look at the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Other countries were crawling on the floor when that happened.

It’s funny, but when most terrorist attacks happen, many terrorist groups shout that they did it.

They want to increase their presence by doing so.

“In the case of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Al-Qaeda announced that they were the perpetrators after it happened.”

Logically, it’s rare for a perpetrator to reveal their own crime. Humans commit crimes and want to cover them up, not reveal them.

“But they threw the body naked in a place where people can easily see it. There’s no way it wouldn’t be found.”

If they had at least put clothes on it, there would be a higher chance it wouldn’t be seen depending on the color of the clothes.

Ironically, human skin color is easily visible.

But they deliberately took off the clothes and threw it out to be easily seen?

“They deliberately made sure the body was found. You can see that as an assassination for political reasons.”

“Assassination? Isn’t assassination killing quietly? Just sneak in and…”

Park Do-joon frowned at those words. Well, most people know it that way.

“Assassination means killing for political purposes, not killing secretly.”

Of course, the word itself includes killing secretly.

“But if you look at the cases people call assassinations, most of them are murders in broad daylight.”

Rather than quietly going in and taking heads like in movies, novels, or games, approaching in broad daylight and putting a bullet in their head has a much higher success rate.

And those actions are also called assassinations.

“Anyway, the other party wanted the body to be found. In these cases, the body usually has some meaning.”

The problem is, they don’t know what that is. If a terrorist group just came out and said they did it, they could cleanly catch them, but that’s not the case.

“Then this is a warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yes, if it was for some political purpose, someone would have come forward and revealed their existence while talking. But this has some kind of warning meaning: that we can kill anyone.”

“Ugh….”

An Ji-yeon shuddered at those words.

In fact, the warning definitely worked. Many politicians are trembling and demanding bodyguards from the police, bringing the police’s work to a standstill.

“But you said assassination is for political purposes?”

“A warning is also a political purpose.”

If the victim had killed Jeon Gu-wan, he wouldn’t have thrown the body out so conspicuously.

That would ruin his life.

“Of course, he’s already given up on his life.”

Park Do-joon continued to organize the case in his head.

Political purpose. But finding the exact message is not easy.

“Maybe… it’s more of a message not to mess with them than a grand purpose.”

That’s why it’s even less likely that the victim committed the murder. Of course, it’s possible that the victim gave up on his life and killed him.

But in that case, he would readily admit that he killed him, not claim that he didn’t like he is now.

A Profiler’s Profession