My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 724

“Disposing of a human body that quickly isn’t easy at all.”

“But during funerals…”

“That’s because it’s a special facility.”

Contrary to what people think, a human body doesn’t burn that quickly.

“Moreover, there aren’t any equipment or facilities nearby that could supply that much gas.”

They had already searched the area once, looking for a facility that could supply that much gas, but there was nothing. And there were no local businesses that regularly delivered that much propane gas.

“Well, I don’t think my senior would miss something like that.”

“Right, you need tools to handle everything.”

And no matter how hard the murderer tries, acquiring those tools requires considerable effort.

“On the other hand, burying a body doesn’t require any tools.”

A single shovel is enough to bury someone.

“Is that so? But around here…”

“Right, there weren’t any.”

“And digging a hole to bury someone isn’t easy, is it?”

People think you can just dig a hole and bury someone, but it’s not that simple. To bury a person, you need to dig at least one meter deep.

Because if you dig less than that, wild animals will smell it and try to dig up the body to eat it.

In fact, there are many cases where murderers who didn’t know this dug shallow graves, and the murder was discovered later when wild animals dug up the bodies.

“It would be the opposite.”

“Opposite?”

“A stable supply of victims, a set time, the degree of freedom that gives is quite significant.”

“Degree of freedom?”

Lee Ji-soo frowned at Park Do-joon’s words. She didn’t understand the degree of freedom he was talking about.

“There’s a saying, ‘Dig two graves for revenge. One for your enemy, one for yourself.’”

“That’s a story about revenge, isn’t it? This isn’t revenge, though?”

“What’s important here isn’t revenge, but that you can dig them in advance.”

“Dig in advance…? Ah!”

Lee Ji-soo realized. Watching her, Park Do-joon clicked his tongue.

“Many people make mistakes.”

What police and profilers often mistake is thinking that the ground is dug and the body is buried after the murder. In fact, that’s how it’s often depicted in movies.

“But in the case of planned murders, it’s common to dig in advance.”

When a violent organization kills someone, they often have their subordinates dig the grave beforehand.

“So, you’re saying they use the time before the confirmed murder?”

“That’s right.”

Clearly, Wang Woo-hwan had said that Hong Woo-jong moved very quickly.

“If you dig after the murder, it would be too late, but…”

If you dig beforehand and then bury the body, it wouldn’t take more than an hour, no matter how long it takes. The reason digging takes so long is that the ground has been compacted over time and is hard.

But pushing the soil back into a pre-dug hole isn’t difficult.

“Then Hong Woo-jong’s pattern of moving quickly is possible.”

“That’s right.”

“Moreover, although I haven’t confirmed it yet, would Hong Woo-jong really come to commit murder wearing a suit?”

“That’s not likely. He tried very hard not to leave any traces.”

“Right, that’s right. So, he probably has something like work clothes. Something comfortable to wear.”

“It wouldn’t have been difficult to prepare in advance.”

“Right.”

Park Do-joon nodded.

“But still, the answer is too complicated, isn’t it? We don’t know where it is.”

Hong Woo-jong has been trying to hide his crimes, so he must have buried the body in a place that no one knows about.

He entrusts the kidnapping to others, so why would he bury the body himself?

Of course, in the case of kidnapping, the line connecting him is filtered once.

Because there’s Wang Woo-hwan, who can just flee to China.

“On the other hand, the disposal of the body is a different story.”

Once a body is buried, it doesn’t go anywhere. And if someone remembers the location?

There’s a high probability that they could blackmail Hong Woo-jong or, in the worst case, report him to the police.

“Looking at his behavior pattern, one thing is certain. He never tries to create anything that could be used as a weakness against him.”

“Even so…”

The problem is that we don’t know where Hong Woo-jong buried the body.

The place where Hong Woo-jong committed the murder was very secluded, which is why the murder was carried out without any problems.

That’s why there were so many such places around.

“Of course, but did Hong Woo-jong really do the digging himself?”

“Yes?”

“I told you, what’s missing is sometimes important.”

“You did.”

“But Wang Woo-hwan’s statement didn’t mention that Hong Woo-jong had dirt on his body.”

“Indeed…”

“Wang Woo-hwan is a profiler. He’s quick-witted.”

Would such a guy not notice if Hong Woo-jong had been digging? That’s impossible. No matter how slowly he did it, he would have the smell of dirt and sweat.

Wang Woo-hwan is talented enough to be scouted by a criminal organization. There’s no way he wouldn’t know.

“Then it makes even less sense, doesn’t it? How do you dig without leaving any traces? It’s impossible to have someone else do it.”

“And Wang Woo-hwan is the son of a chairman who has been raised well his whole life. He’s a *chaebol* [a wealthy, usually family-controlled, conglomerate]. It’s hard to imagine such a guy doing the digging himself.”

He could do it if he wanted to, but he wouldn’t be able to dig without leaving any traces that Wang Woo-hwan wouldn’t notice.

“Then, is there a place to wash nearby? No, that’s impossible.”

There’s no place to wash nearby. You’d have to go quite far to find such a place.

“But he wouldn’t risk carrying the body in a vehicle and going far away, would he?”

“So, I think he used equipment.”

“Equipment?”

“Like a small mini excavator.”

“Yes? Ah, right. I’ve seen them. You mean those things that can barely fit one person?”

“Right.”

Those machines are easy to use. Of course, you need a driver’s license to operate them properly, but if you’re just using them to dig, you can do it well enough with a few practice runs.

“And no matter how small it is, an excavator is an excavator.”

It would only take a few tens of minutes to dig a hole big enough to hide a person.

“If he’s planning to bury people continuously, it wouldn’t be difficult to get one.”

If Hong Woo-jong bought such a mini excavator used, it wouldn’t be that expensive for him. Moreover, with that, he could dig even deeper.

If he dug more than 2 meters deep with such a mini excavator, you could say there’s almost no chance of anyone finding the body.

“He’s going to be that thorough?”

“Hong Woo-jong is a meticulous guy. At least when his desires are under control, he does things very thoroughly.”

So, it’s not impossible for him to buy such an excavator.

“Short time, preparation, and a personality that doesn’t trust others, he wouldn’t try to do the digging himself.”

In fact, such mini excavators, or rather excavators, vary from company to company, but even new ones can cost less than 10 million won [approximately $7,500 USD]. Of course, that’s for Chinese-made ones.

“Well, as long as it works, it doesn’t matter.”

“Right.”

Moreover, if he’s not going to use it often, there’s not much chance of it breaking down. And since it uses diesel anyway, buying a little to fill it up isn’t difficult.

“It’s definitely suspicious… How do we find it?”

“We know the murder site, so we have to look around there.”

“But…”

There’s definitely nothing around there.

So, where did he get it from?

“It’s going to be huge.”

“We don’t have to search there ourselves.”

“Yes?”

“We have a good technology called aerial view, don’t we?”

Park Do-joon chuckled and turned on the computer to start searching the area around the murder site using aerial view.

“Think about it. No matter how cheap it is, you can’t leave it outside. It’ll break down in no time from the rain and wind, right?”

“Ah! That’s right. Someone could steal it too.”

“Right, so there must be a facility that can provide at least minimal protection.”

Park Do-joon used the aerial view to turn the map this way and that. Most of the places on the monitor were empty. But even if people are scarce, there were still houses or buildings every now and then.

“It won’t be a proper house. An excavator can’t go into a space where people live. So, it’ll be a warehouse that can fit an excavator, or a house with such a warehouse.”

And he started erasing the less likely places one by one on the aerial view.

“Still, there are too many variables, aren’t there?”

“First of all, it’s not a place with fields or rice paddies nearby. People could see it, and it would be inconvenient if people were coming and going in such a place.”

“I guess the purpose is to dispose of the body.”

Lee Ji-soo also started looking for other mountains on her computer. The most likely place is the mountains. Seeing that, Park Do-joon gave her advice.

“Right, it must be a place where an excavator can enter and that borders a mountain. Except for mountains with tombs.”

“Yes? Why?”

“If there are tombs, it means that the mountain is a family burial ground or has another owner. If you were the owner, wouldn’t you be upset if there were traces of digging on the mountain overnight?”

“Ah!”

“You can’t help but be concerned about that.”

There are so many people who secretly bury trash on other people’s land that mountain owners check the ground there if there are any such traces.

Moreover, if such things happen regularly, they might install CCTV [closed-circuit television] cameras.

“But the fact that it hasn’t been a problem for a long time means that the land is either owned by Hong Woo-jong, or Hong Woo-jong owns it under someone else’s name, or it’s state-owned land.”

“Under someone else’s name?”

“Difficult.”

“Why?”

“This is the countryside.”

You can’t just buy any land you want in the countryside. Especially land with rice paddies or fields, you have to farm it, not just buy it.

“Even if it’s Hong Woo-jong, it would be hard to find someone to farm next to a corpse.”

Even if he tried to hide it, there’s a high probability that they would find it strange.

“And he wouldn’t farm himself.”

“So, it’s not land with rice paddies and fields nearby.”

“That’s right. It might be possible if it’s a mountain, but how many mountains have warehouses?”

A warehouse is a place to store something. There’s no reason to build a warehouse around or in a mountain where there’s nothing.

“It wouldn’t be a house either.”

“It’s not that there aren’t people who build houses and live in the mountains.”

After searching for a long time, they were able to find a place that perfectly matched the conditions.

“Senior, look here.”

At the place Lee Ji-soo found, there was a shabby, warehouse-like building in the mountains. Judging by the shape, it wasn’t a house where people could live.

“There are no fields here, and it’s not a place where there should be a warehouse.”

“Let’s check the address there.”

Park Do-joon checked the address of the mountain. It’s not difficult to get a copy of the registry anyway. And after checking it, he chuckled.

“The owner of the land is actually missing.”

“Since when?”

“About… more than 10 years.”

“10 years…”

“There’s a high probability that they’re buried there together.”

Park Do-joon looked at the house in the aerial view. It’s definitely in the mountains. But the surrounding area is a bit far away and there are no trees.

“There’s no reason for there to be no trees, is there?”

“That’s right.”

It’s obvious that no one has farmed it, and it’s not like they’ve created a garden.

“It’s definitely suspicious.”

“But…”

Lee Ji-soo said hesitantly.

“It won’t be easy to get a warrant there, will it?”

The owner is someone else, and Park Do-joon’s prediction is just an inference. Even if there’s a strong suspicion about Hong Woo-jong, there’s not a high probability that a warrant will be issued for that place.

“I’ll just take some flak for a bit.”

“Yes? Are you going to go and dig it up no matter what? Even so…”

Of course, if a body comes out of it, they can definitely tie him to it.