My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 8

“I think I understand the situation, more or less.”

Of course, the senior officers were stuck in their ways, deeply entrenched in Korea’s rigid hierarchical culture. They never bothered with proper analysis or skill improvement, content to simply flaunt their seniority, which only led to their abilities deteriorating.

“Those guys don’t even bother studying. I actually do, though.”

Studying is absolutely essential for a profiler. When analyzing people, understanding the current era is crucial. Teenagers, people in their twenties, and those in their thirties all have different thought patterns and approaches, and without properly grasping these nuances, accurate analysis is impossible.

So, the team leader tells them to learn about and study current culture and society, but those senior officers just regurgitate what they learned for their promotion exams and don’t study at all.

‘That’s why the team leader is handing the team over to me.’

Even with several years of experience separating them, the difference in skill is enormous.

“But what can we do? The higher-ups tell us to work with those guys, and they’re at least of middling skill….”

“We can’t settle for middling. Dozens of lives depend on what we do.”

“Right. That’s what’s important. But those guys don’t get it.”

The team leader looked angry as he gulped down his coffee.

“I know you’re angry, but don’t report them. If we get tangled up in assault charges, the Regional Profiler Team could be destroyed.”

“But….”

“I’ll go and take care of it. Honestly, Han Sung-gi was in the wrong this time.”

Park Do-joon had never leaked internal information to Jung Yi-yeon.

This time, it was purely his own lack of skill.

“For now, it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to go in today, so just go home. And don’t report them.”

“Haa, I understand.”

“Okay, okay. Go on, get going.”

At the team leader’s urging, Park Do-joon reluctantly frowned and got up from his seat. Then, he walked out of the police station.

“What am I going to do?”

He left early, so he had nothing to do. There was nothing he could do, and there was even less to do if he went back to his studio apartment now.

It’s just a place to sleep, nothing more.

“Should I go see my brother for the first time in a while?”

The thought suddenly occurred to Park Do-joon.

# Fate is What You Make

Park Do-joon had one older brother.

In fact, they weren’t on good terms before the regression. After his business failed, his brother became eccentric and turned into a money-obsessed monster, and Park Do-joon had no choice but to put his brother in prison himself.

His brother, who used all sorts of fraud to make money, was sentenced to three years in prison for it, and after his release, the brothers lived completely cut off from each other.

No one would want to be close to the brother who put them in prison.

‘It was okay before that. Or, should I say it was still *mostly* okay?’

There was a time when his brother was still alright. In other words, it was when his business was running smoothly, so they still visited each other.

‘If I’m seeing him today, how many years has it been? Thirty years? It feels like longer.’

Park Do-joon shook his head, lost in thought for a moment as he watched the scenery flowing past the bus window.

‘I’m glad that memory is intact, at least. Man, I need to buy a car.’

He didn’t have a car yet, so it was very inconvenient to have to transfer buses every time he went somewhere.

Moreover, he *would* have a car in the future and drove it around, so the sense of loss was even greater.

‘I need money to buy a car.’

Park Do-joon smiled bitterly and took the bus for several hours, arriving at a small factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. He opened the door and went inside.

“Oh, young master.”

“Why ‘young master’?”

His brother inherited this factory from their father. He had given up on the business early on to become a police officer. However, many of the people who had worked there since his father’s generation knew Park Do-joon.

“I’m just a passing nobody.”

“Hey, how could our young master be a nobody?”

“But why is the atmosphere like this?”

Except for the man who greeted him, everyone was gathered together, chatting, not working, and their eyes were full of worry and fear.

“Ah, the people from the main contractor came.”

“The main contractor?”

“Yes.”

“Why from Hyunseong [a major South Korean conglomerate]?”

“I don’t know. But it seems like the story is going in a bad direction. I can hear shouting from inside….”

“Hmm….”

Hyunseong. A major corporation in South Korea. Just as most small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea ultimately live off subcontracting, the Haneul Industries factory run by Park Do-joon’s brother, Park Do-shik, ultimately lives off subcontracting.

Even being at the level of not being a sub-subcontractor means that the factory is still a large scale. But Hyunseong?

“What’s going on?”

“Well? I don’t know….”

It was too awkward to go into the president’s office.

“I’ll go take a look.”

“Yes? But the people from the main company are here right now….”

“That’s why I’m going.”

If Park Do-joon’s memory is correct, the company will go bankrupt in about two years. The main contractor will cut off orders, eventually leading to bankruptcy.

‘And that secret starts with Hyunseong taking our technology.’

To be exact, one of Hyunseong’s key directors will retire in two years, and Hyunseong decided to set up a client for him, and to set up that client, they had to have the technology.

Of course, the target with that technology wouldn’t just give it away, so they had to take it.

‘That’s our Haneul Industries.’

By the time Park Do-joon found out about that fact, the company had already gone bankrupt, and Park Do-joon had to put his brother, who had become a monster, in prison to stop him.

‘But I can’t let that happen now.’

Fortunately, the memories related to the cases he was in charge of are vague, but other parts are intact. Because of that, Park Do-joon was able to fully recall the situation between the main contractor, Hyunseong Group, and themselves.

Park Do-joon slowly approached the president’s office, receiving the gazes of others, and people’s voices leaked from inside.

“We can’t hand over the technology!”

“No, who said anything about handing over the technology? It’s for verification, for verification!”

“We’ve been doing business with you for the past ten years, so you know enough about the technology, don’t you? Why suddenly verification!”

“The company’s internal regulations have changed this time. If you don’t hand over the original technology, we’ll cut off the contract. That’s the verification process.”

‘It’s the same as before.’

They say they’re verifying the technology, but they’re really asking to hand over the entire technology and give it as a gift to the director who is opening a new company.

Park Do-shik reluctantly handed over the technology due to their threats, and as a result, two years later, when the retired director completed the factory, they cut him off and went bankrupt without being able to resist.

Click.

Park Do-joon opened the door and went inside, and there was an employee from the main contractor sitting in the seat of honor, looking at them like a master, and his brother, who was raising his voice next to him.

‘I was careless.’

It was something that could have been resolved if he had tried. But being a rookie and being hesitant without confidence eventually led to tragedy for his family.

‘But I don’t intend to do that anymore.’

“Oh? Do-joon?”

“It’s been a while, hyung [older brother].”

“Didn’t you go to work today?”

“Ah. Well, a short vacation.”

“Are you allowed to do that as a rookie?”

“I have my reasons.”

Park Do-joon brushed off his brother and went to sit across from him. Then, he stared at the man.

“I heard the story, more or less. You’re asking for our technology for verification purposes?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the president’s younger brother. I have shares in this company.”

He had handed over the management rights of the company, but not the shares, so strictly speaking, Park Do-joon was not a pauper.

“That’s right. The company’s operating policy has changed. From now on, we can’t receive product deliveries unless we do a technology demonstration.”

‘What a load of crap.’

That’s a lie. A lie to extract the entire technology.

“Are you sure? You’re not taking it somewhere else?”

“That’s right.”

“I understand.”

Park Do-joon nodded. He knows it’s a lie.

‘But if I try to confirm it through official channels, they’ll probably cut it off at the director level.’

You can confirm it by calling and asking, or by sending a certified mail. But can’t a director of a company like Hyunseong Group, which is not a small company, shut that down in the middle? There’s no way they couldn’t.

Of course, when inquiring about such content, they can just say that the regulations have changed. Knowing that, his brother is only pleading and can’t speak confidently.

But Park Do-joon now knows how to respond. Not the law, but psychology. That’s the key.

“I guess we’ll know if we ask the chairman.”

“To the chairman? You guys?”

The employee speaks with a face full of ridicule. What Park Do-joon is aiming for is that kind of contempt for them. The idea that a small factory like theirs couldn’t possibly have connections with the chairman.

“Yes. Our company is small. Only about 100 employees.”

In fact, a company with about 100 employees is more likely to receive sub-subcontracts than direct subcontracts.

“Nevertheless, we have been doing business with your company for over 30 years.”

“So? Are you asking us to look at the old relationship? I’m sorry, but we can’t do business with old relationships. It’s business, that’s all.”

“I know. I also know that it’s not an easy world to do business based on old relationships. But don’t you think it’s a little strange?”

“What?”

“How could this tiny company have been able to invest in technology while trading with Hyunseong for 30 years?”

A small company with only 100 people. How could such a company have become a direct subcontractor of Hyunseong?

‘I didn’t think about it in the past.’

He was a police officer, and his father had passed away. In fact, Hyunseong was not a small company 30 years ago. It was a large corporation back then too. But how could such a small company have a direct contract?

“Hmm?”

The company employee seemed to be slightly troubled by those words. In fact, the reason they chose Haneul Industries was because it was a small, easy-to-manage company with good technology.

In fact, it’s impossible to keep making a living with technology from 30 years ago, and Haneul Industries actually invests a lot in technology.

But in order to do that, they have to receive a lot of money, and in fact, Hyunseong Group was giving Haneul Industries quite a bit of money.

So, if they steal the same technology, the profits will be much better, so they targeted Haneul Industries.

“We, you see.”

Park Do-joon stared intently at the face of the main contractor’s employee and said.

“My father and the chairman have a small connection.”

It’s literally a small connection. They weren’t close friends, but they went to the same school and were friendly. They were elementary school friends.