My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 714

In cases like this, it’s almost always ruled a suicide.

Because there are no signs of resistance.

“And strangulation and drowning are definitely not the best methods to disguise as suicide,” Park Do-joon said sarcastically.

“That’s right.”

It’s widely known that the angle of the marks left on the neck determines whether a strangulation is a homicide or a suicide.

“That’s somewhat true, but the police are well aware of that,” Park Do-joon countered.

“The method is simple: lay the person down or lean them back and pull from behind. This naturally creates an upward strangulation mark on the neck, and then hanging the body makes the marks look like suicide to anyone.”

“Drowning is the same.”

“People die when they fall into water. So, in a controlled situation, you just go into the water together and hold them down.”

“At that point, the victim’s arms are already restrained, so they can’t resist and just die helplessly, and then it’s ruled as suicide.”

“In reality, all suspicious suicides are one of three things: strangulation, drowning, or jumping.”

“And all three of these methods are too easy to manipulate. But the problem here is that it requires at least three or more perpetrators.”

“Could it be an external organized crime group?” Lee Ji-soo asked, still hoping it wasn’t the police, a glimmer of hope in her voice. But Park Do-joon shook his head.

“No way.”

“Why not?”

“Would you surrender just because an organized crime group threatened you?”

“Are you crazy?”

“If an organized crime group threatens, the police will naturally try to fight back.”

“So, of course, they won’t surrender. In the worst case, they are likely to be killed by them.”

“Why do you think the saying ‘Even a cat leaves a hole for the mouse to escape’ exists? If the opponent thinks there’s a way to escape, their resistance weakens.”

“In reality, when a cat appears, the mouse first tries to escape, not to bite and kill it.”

“Organized crime groups are the same.”

“It’s hard for a police officer to be dragged away by them and have a good outcome.”

“So, the police will obviously resist desperately.”

“But usually, the victim shows no signs of resistance. Why do you think that is?”

“They knew the person?”

“That’s what people usually think.”

“In fact, in situations where there are no signs of resistance, it is common to assume that the victim knew the perpetrator.”

“But there’s an error in that interpretation.”

“There’s an error?”

“Yes, that error has become common sense. But it’s wrong.”

“What’s the error?”

“It’s not that they know the person, but that they have trust in the person.”

“Huh?”

Lee Ji-soo tilted her head at those words. Because the words seemed the same to her.

“They trust them because they know them.”

“No.”

Park Do-joon shook his head.

“The difference is enormous.”

“Knowing each other isn’t the only way to prove trust, is it?”

“Huh?”

“If you’re investigating and another police officer approaches you showing their ID, what would you do?”

“Well… oh, I see?”

“Since they are fellow officers, you would naturally trust them and let your guard down.”

“How is it possible to subdue them? It’s not difficult if you trust the person.”

“You can just quietly approach them as if you’re talking, grab their arms, and twist them. Then they can’t resist at all.”

“And the police are good at that because they keep getting that training.”

“Moreover, even if that’s not the case, they would easily surrender.”

“I guess so, since they’re fellow officers.”

“Generally, it’s hard to imagine that a fellow officer would come to kill you. So, even if they come to meet you, you usually think they’re trying to persuade you to stop the investigation, not that they’re trying to kill you.”

“Then the victim becomes completely defenseless.”

“In that situation, after perfectly subduing the victim, it’s a piece of cake. You can lay them down, pull the rope from behind to make it look like strangulation, or throw them into the water to make it look like drowning.”

“I should be grateful that the number of fall deaths has decreased these days, right?”

“But it’s not that the police or murderers have become kinder, but almost every place that is high enough to commit a fall death has CCTV [Closed-Circuit Television, or surveillance cameras].”

“Buildings and bridges all have CCTV, so it’s really ambiguous to fake a suicide.”

“So, these days, fall deaths have disappeared compared to the past.”

“Definitely.”

“It’s almost impossible to resist when both of your arms are restrained.”

“And in that situation, there’s a very high probability that they’ll threaten the safety of your family.”

“Um, if that happens…”

“Yeah, usually they don’t resist.”

“Because the other person is a police officer, the same as them, they think, ‘Surely they wouldn’t kill me?'”

“In reality, the police have a strong sense of considering each other as family. So, if someone is murdered or harmed by a criminal, arresting that person becomes the top priority.”

“So, they’re exploiting that trust.”

“That’s right.”

“If you think, ‘Surely a fellow officer wouldn’t kill me?’ you can’t help but be subdued.”

“I’ve been through it myself, but before committing such extreme murder, they try to win you over.”

“That’s probably true.”

“Everywhere you go, silencing people through co-optation is the usual process. Murder is a very dangerous and burdensome choice.”

“And if that doesn’t work, they’ll threaten you.”

“Yeah. That’s typical.”

“And if that doesn’t work, they move on to murder. The problem is that the targeted victim often doesn’t believe they will actually kill them and thinks they are just threatening them.”

“Because the other person is the same police officer as them.”

“By the time they realize that the other person’s goal is murder, it’s too late to resist.”

“On top of that, there will be threats.”

“It’s never easy to resist when facing guys who threaten, ‘If only you die, we won’t touch your family.'”

“Especially if you’re already subdued and can’t even resist.”

“At that point, the victim has no choice but to die for the sake of their family.”

“And when they die like that, it’s naturally treated as suicide.”

“So, could it be that they… Senior?”

“Kim Song-rim will probably be the priority rather than me.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The people behind me are dangerous.”

“But will the conglomerate really fight until the end after that…?”

Lee Ji-soo is worried about that.

“If Park Do-joon dies, will the conglomerates really fight for the truth?”

“There’s a saying that people go when Jeong Seung’s dog dies, but they don’t go when Jeong Seung dies [a Korean saying meaning people care more about trivial matters than important ones].”

“If they are no longer useful and have no reason to fight, will they really fight for the truth?”

“The truth doesn’t matter.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a matter of relationships.”

“Relationships?”

“Yeah. As you said, even if I die, the conglomerate probably won’t really step up and fight. But they won’t easily back down either.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a kind of power struggle between the prosecution and the conglomerate.”

“Clearly, the conglomerate won’t try to find out the truth until the end. If that happens, the prosecution will definitely take out data related to the conglomerate and shake it to control the conglomerate.”

“But even if the conglomerate is shaken by such data, will it collapse? It’s difficult.”

“All the prosecution can do is cause minor damage, such as arresting the chairman or suspending the company’s business.”

“But what if the company keeps wagging its tail because it’s afraid of that?”

“Ah, I see. The initiative will pass to the prosecution.”

“Yeah, from then on, they’ll keep being dragged around by the prosecution.”

“And the conglomerate doesn’t want that.”

“If that happens, they’ll have to give money every time the prosecution asks for it.”

“In the end, the conglomerate has to hit back when it gets hit.”

“There’s no choice but to maintain a relationship where they can’t give each other fatal blows, but they can inflict a certain amount of damage.”

“You know how many prosecutors quit and go to conglomerates, right?”

“I know. I know what you mean. Those people will say something.”

“That’s right. And even within the prosecution, they wouldn’t want to fight with people who might become superiors who can give them hefty salaries in the future.”

“Therefore, if we were to divide the order of targets, Kim Song-rim, who has no risk, would be the primary target.”

“And Park Do-joon, who has a risk, becomes the secondary target.”

“In fact, if Kim Song-rim dies at this point, there’s no way to prove Hong Woo-jong’s crime.”

“Hong Geun-jong is persuading him, but Kim Song-rim is actually keeping his mouth shut. He recently passed by the bereaved family, but the two of them didn’t actually meet. They just killed time in different waiting rooms, and their times overlapped.”

“But Hong Woo-jong will take that as a considerable threat in itself.”

“And he’ll try to hide his weaknesses as soon as possible. The best way to do that is to kill Kim Song-rim.”

“I understand the situation.”

Lee Ji-soo hesitated and asked reluctantly.

“Then, realistically, it’s not easy for the police to kill Kim Song-rim, is it?”

“Kim Song-rim is currently extremely concerned about his safety. Therefore, it is not easy to kidnap him from somewhere.”

“If they ask to accompany him with a police ID, he’ll call a lawyer right away.”

“Whatever the reason, he already has four lawyers. Furthermore, Kim Song-rim probably knows that he is suspected not only of prostitution mediation but also of perjury.”

“Other people say that Hong Geun-jong is monitoring him.”

“No one who knows that the CEO of Daeguk Group is calling them and digging into their background would be careless. As a result, Kim Song-rim is extremely sensitive and wary of all directions.”

“In that situation, the police come and ask for accompaniment?”

“It’s obvious without looking. As you said, he’ll call a lawyer no matter what.”

“In murder, the method is important, but it is also important to lure the victim to a place where murder is possible. But a police ID is like a cheat key in such cases.”

“Generally, people move together once they submit their police ID.”

“Of course, there are cases where it is revealed while tracking down an investigation, but such cases are extremely rare.”

“But he knows he’s a suspect in the police investigation, so he wouldn’t follow willingly.”

“Lee Ji-soo’s question is not wrong. In the first place, people who are at a disadvantage in that way never follow the police. They can’t ignore the possibility of being tricked by the police and unknowingly making mistakes or confessing.”

“Yeah, so it’s ambiguous.”

“The situation is that they can’t use the most powerful card, the police.”

“Of course, they can just kidnap him without warning. If that happens, Kim Song-rim will desperately struggle, and someone around will see them. And the police will have no choice but to present their ID saying they are arresting him.”

“And Kim Song-rim lives in a very expensive neighborhood.”

“There are security devices at the entrance, and security cameras are installed not only on each floor but also on the stairs. No matter how hard they try to cover up the case, the person presented a police ID, and the security CCTV [Closed-Circuit Television] took a picture of their face, so the police cannot cover it up.”

“Moreover, they don’t just hire anyone as security guards in such expensive places.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, you haven’t been to such places? First of all, the security guards at the entrance immediately check the warrant.”

“You can’t just get permission by saying, ‘I’m a police officer. Please open the door.’ If the police go to the security office or management office and ask for cooperation to open the door, the security office or management office doesn’t just open the door because they are police, but they say, ‘Please show me your warrant.'”

“In fact, the police cannot enter without a warrant because it is illegal.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“It became like that as the precedent changed.”

“In the past, public areas, such as corridors or stairs, were not considered areas of trespassing. However, as security facilities increased and no one could enter, and decisively, after a precedent changed and ruled that such public areas also constitute trespassing unless they are residents, that became too obvious.”