My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 80

#Just Stay Alive

Generally, a team leader shouldn’t make comments that rank the skills of team members. Moreover, isn’t Park Do-joon someone who is ostracized within the team? Yet, he’s being called the best.

Of course, the team leader isn’t saying that without any thought. In this Jeon Wan-gu case, they didn’t do their jobs properly.

Their heads were filled with nothing but the desire for promotion, spouting nonsense. Han Seong-gi even appeared on TV and wrongly identified someone as the culprit, didn’t he?

Profilers need to look at cases with a cold, detached perspective, without any personal motives. But they failed to do that.

“What? Why? You got a problem? Huh? Then you guys should do your jobs properly. Why are you acting like this when you can’t even do your jobs right?”

“That’s…”

“You guys will end up like that Namgoong guy.”

Everyone frowned at that remark. Although the name was mentioned, Namgoong isn’t a common surname in the profiling industry.

That name is like a dirty scandal in the industry. He passed with good test scores, but he couldn’t solve cases properly. To be precise, he kept mixing his personal ideologies into the interpretation of cases when solving them.

Profilers should view cases as they are, without personal ideologies.

However, that profiler incorporated his personal ideologies into interpreting the cases, and as a result, the profiler’s interpretations were constantly distorted.

It was a drawback of the system that selected people based on test scores, like hiring other civil servants, without proper field testing.

In the end, despite being a profiler, he didn’t properly interpret and solve any cases, and he was eventually fired from the police force, which is known for its job security.

More than anything else, his strange interpretations kept causing additional victims.

“You bastards, you should have the criminal in your heads, not personal gains or interests. Look at Do-joon. He stuck with the case you guys abandoned and ran away from, and he eventually solved it, didn’t he?”

“…”

It’s true that it’s considered a coincidence that it was solved, but Park Do-joon made the biggest contribution to this case.

“You got a problem? Then you guys can join him.”

“What case is it?”

“A child abduction case.”

“Ah…”

Some who were tempted to join turned their heads and pretended not to know.

“I knew it, you bastards.”

The team leader chuckled and clicked his tongue. They avoid child abduction cases because it’s hard to expect good results, and they end up taking all the blame in such cases.

“You’re not going to do it either?”

“I have to. But if it’s a child abduction case, doesn’t that mean we don’t have time? Let’s go right away.”

“That’s how it should be. Let’s go. Oh, perfect timing. Let’s take your car.”

“I guess you’re from a wealthy family.”

“You’re quick to notice. I like that.”

The team leader urged Park Do-joon, and Park Do-joon brought the car as he was told. You should never dispatch a police car for a child abduction case. Of course, you have to go in a regular car, but if an old car enters a wealthy neighborhood, it can look strange.

But Park Do-joon’s car is a very new, top-of-the-line sedan. It’s not strange for it to be there.

“It’s not far, so we’ll get there soon.”

The two started moving first. Park Do-joon was driving when he suddenly had a question and asked.

“Team leader.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Why don’t you let us call you by your name?”

It’s not that the team leader doesn’t have a name. He has a name too. But he always fixed his title as team leader and didn’t allow anyone to call him by his name.

“Ah, that? It’s a kind of habit.”

“A habit?”

“I’m one of the early members of the profilers. But at the same time, I’m a police officer.”

“That’s right.”

“But that gives me a kind of obsession.”

Every time his name was called, he felt like his identity as a police officer was interfering with his judgment.

‘Well, he’s not wrong.’

What was the reason the team leader got angry at the other team members? Wasn’t it because they put personal feelings into their judgment?

In fact, one of the most difficult things for profilers is distinguishing whether a judgment made as a profiler is a true profiler judgment or a judgment with personal feelings involved.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of profilers who can’t make that distinction, and that’s why the overall skills of profilers are declining.

The profiler with the surname Namgoong, whom I mentioned earlier, is a prime example.

Memorizing well and distinguishing one’s thoughts to make judgments are completely different talents.

“So, I told them not to call me by my name. I was trying to reduce my own presence. It became a habit.”

“Is that so?”

“But you managed to escape that trap. New guys usually make a fuss about that issue once.”

“Well, let’s just say I have a talent for it.”

Park Do-joon laughed inwardly at that remark. Because he had experienced it himself. But that was before the regression.

“Ah, it’s over there.”

“It’s a luxury apartment.”

“Yeah. Let’s go in.”

As they went inside, the surroundings were quiet. And people didn’t feel anything strange. In fact, that’s normal.

In the past, when a kidnapping occurred, there was a commotion. Reporters and onlookers gathered, the police conducted a public investigation, and the child’s picture was plastered all over the news.

But after it became clear that it didn’t help the child’s survival, child abduction cases are now investigated secretly as a matter of course.

The reason why Park Do-joon was told to work quietly is precisely that. If the fact of the child’s abduction is revealed to the outside, things start to go wrong.

There were even cases where someone who wasn’t the kidnapper made prank calls demanding money, claiming to be the kidnapper, and as a result, the child died.

“Let’s go up.”

Going up, the elevator was directly connected to the house. A luxurious house that looked at least 60 *pyeong* [approximately 2,134 square feet].

Inside, two men and women were at a loss, and the police were installing equipment to record.

“Team leader.”

“Oh, yeah. But haven’t you heard anything?”

“No, nothing.”

“How many hours has she been missing?”

“Eight hours.”

“Hmm… it’s getting a bit urgent.”

While the team leader was worried, Park Do-joon quietly approached the team leader and asked.

“Team leader, how are the parents?”

“No signs of anything strange. Perfectly clean.”

When a child abduction case breaks out, who is the first person to be suspected? Surprisingly, it’s the parents. Because the best way to kill a child and then cover it up is to make it look like someone kidnapped them.

“They said they always treated the child with care, and looking at what’s on social media, the child’s expression is fine.”

The fact that the child shows comfortable emotions in front of the parents means that the parents didn’t abuse her.

“The asset situation is also clean. There are no seizure records for this house, and the account has a total asset of about 130 billion won [approximately $100 million USD]. The debt is about 14 billion won [approximately $10.7 million USD] from the business.”

“It’s unlikely to be the parents.”

“I think so.”

Park Do-joon nodded at that. Then there are two possibilities left.

“I won’t contact the parents for now.”

“Exactly. This bastard, he’s got skills.”

Having several police officers stick to the parents and ask questions is quite stressful, and someone has to keep a distance and judge them objectively.

What’s the reason for moving as a team? Isn’t it to prevent mistakes? If the team leader has already contacted the parents, someone has to keep a distance and look at the case objectively.

“Then there are two possibilities for now. Grudge or money. Child sex offenders don’t fit the style.”

Child sex offenders don’t kidnap children in this public way. They prefer to quietly take the child away.

But this is clearly a kidnapping case.

“Yeah. If the assets are 130 billion won, they’re incredibly rich. And it doesn’t make sense that there are no grudges while accumulating that money.”

It’s not that the victim accumulated money immorally. People hold grudges over trivial things.

For example, let’s say you hire an employee with a monthly salary of 5 million won [approximately $3,800 USD], and that person works hard and earns 50 million won [approximately $38,000 USD] a month. Then, strictly speaking, that 50 million won is the business owner’s money, and it’s normal for the contracted employee to take 5 million won.

If you don’t like that, you can quit the company. Or you can appeal to that in the next salary negotiation.

But some people hold a grudge, thinking that it’s not normal for them to take half of that. They don’t even think about the existing transactions, support from the company, or other production-related facilities operated by the company within that 50 million won revenue, and they just think that since the amount of transactions they’ve achieved is 50 million won, they should get at least 20 million won [approximately $15,000 USD].

As a result, no matter how kindly a person has lived, it’s impossible to completely rule out grudges.

“Where was she kidnapped?”

“She was kidnapped while coming out of daycare.”

“What about other victims?”

They wouldn’t just send the child alone when coming out of daycare. There are two ways: either the daycare directly takes the child, or they put them on a bus operated by the daycare.

“They only took Yoo Seon-jin.”

The victim’s name is Yoo Seon-jin.

“Exactly?”

“Yeah. They were as quick as lightning. They opened the door, took the child, and fled.”

“What about the driver or other teachers?”

“They didn’t have time to react. To be exact, they couldn’t get off.”

“Because of threats?”

“No. They said they pushed the doors from both sides.”

“Ah.”

The vans that carry children have a system where you pull the driver’s seat and passenger seat doors to open them. Of course, if someone pushes it with force, you can’t open the door from the inside.

“In that situation, they opened the back door, dragged the child out, and fled.”

After putting the child in the car first, the guys who were blocking the door immediately jumped out, got in the car, and ran away.

The driver and teacher get off and follow, but they can’t help but be slow, and the criminals’ van was already running far away.

“Maybe there are no CCTVs [closed-circuit televisions]?”

“There are. But the vehicle is already listed as a stolen vehicle.”

“Can I see it?”

“Watch it quietly in that room inside. The victims will be sad.”

“I understand.”

Park Do-joon headed to the room the team leader had told him about. The room seemed to be the child’s room, with many cute items.

Park Do-joon looked around the room and then checked the video from that time on the tablet the team leader had given him.

‘They’re fast. They’re guys who have worked together.’

They cut in front of the van that was going and made it slam on the brakes, and at the same time, four people jumped out of the van. Then, two people stuck to the driver’s seat and passenger seat and pushed them with force so they couldn’t open them, and in the meantime, the other two approached the right back door, broke the window with a baton, opened the door, and pulled the child out.

It’s a CCTV far away, so you can’t know the internal situation, but the driver and teacher are struggling to get out, but the big guys are pushing with all their might from the outside, so there’s no way it will open.

And as the two people who forcibly dragged the child out got into the van, the guys who were pushing the door suddenly took out batons and smashed the window. Then they immediately jumped in and followed.

The driver and teacher get off and follow, but they can’t help but be slow, and the criminals’ van was already running far away.

“Hmm…”

Park Do-joon watched it and took out his cell phone and started timing. The movement from getting off. And their reaction speed.

“They practiced. These bastards definitely practiced.”

They didn’t panic or hesitate.

They moved quickly and retreated quickly.

“Is this random?”

Park Do-joon hesitated for a moment and called the team leader.

“Team leader.”

“Do you know something?”

“This daycare. It’s not an ordinary place, is it?”