My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 95

“Bang Young-soo is an elder in the cult. And with the cult leader’s word, marriage isn’t difficult. In fact, there are many signs of arranged marriages within the cult.”

There were instances where they paired a woman in her early 20s with a man in his mid-40s and told them to marry, and they actually got married and started a family.

“Cults wield significant power in these rites of passage. Moreover, if he’s an elder, it’s easy for him to get a woman within the cult.”

“But?”

“But they didn’t give him one. So, I asked, and they said everyone avoided him because of his extremely selfish tendencies.”

“Just avoided?”

“More precisely, it seems he assaulted women. Among the bodies found, isn’t there a family that includes a woman in her 20s?”

“That’s right.”

“While investigating the missing persons, an interesting piece of information came out. Someone remembers that woman.”

“Really?”

“Apparently, the cult leader had designated her to marry Bang Young-soo.”

“What?”

Everyone was shocked by that statement. No one knew that.

‘If you ask about their status, they just assume they died after leaving.’

The problem isn’t just leaving, but the reason for leaving. It doesn’t make sense for people who were fanatically religious to suddenly leave.

“As you know, once you become an elder, it’s easy to take advantage of women within the cult.”

A characteristic of cults is that those in power can do whatever they want with women within the cult.

In extreme cases, such individuals often treat women within the cult as sex slaves.

From the start, forcing a woman in her early 20s to marry someone in their late 40s is evidence that they are seen not as individuals but as slaves.

“She left because she didn’t want to get married, is that it?”

“No. If that were the case, the woman would have left alone, not with her family.”

“Is that so?”

“And although we’ll know for sure once the exact autopsy results are out, unlike the others, the woman’s cause of death wasn’t strangulation or poisoning, but a fracture in her skull.”

“Fracture?”

“Yes. It seems he accidentally killed her during intercourse.”

Through numerous testimonies, it was clear that Bang Young-soo showed violent tendencies during intercourse with women.

“And I think that when the woman died in the process, he killed the entire family to prevent them from reporting it to the police.”

Even if the entire family is just elderly parents.

“Hmm, that could be the case. Then it makes sense. Even Heo Kang-soo would be hesitant to give another woman to someone who killed someone during the marriage process.”

The team leader nodded as if he understood the situation. If young women keep disappearing, anxiety will spread even within the cult.

“Since they are a religious group, and the cult leader is considered a god, it’s religiously inconsistent for problems to keep occurring.”

God must be perfect, but if problems keep occurring in the cult where he has supposedly reincarnated, people are very likely to doubt that he is a god.

“So, he killed them?”

“Yes. It’s easier to tell the followers that they left the cult.”

“But in that case, wouldn’t they usually be more loyal, thinking they received grace [divine favor]?”

Since they think he covered up their murder, that’s usually the normal reaction.

“Perhaps Bang Young-soo has a similar disposition to Heo Kang-soo.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s not a normal person, but mentally ill. Criminals have no gratitude. Rather, Bang Young-soo is likely to have been dissatisfied with not being given a woman to use as his next plaything.”

Feeling fear and dread about murder is only possible when you recognize the other person as human.

“When the Japanese army operated Unit 731 [a notorious biological warfare research unit], they called the people mobilized for experiments ‘Maruta.’ And Maruta means ‘log’ in Japanese. It’s to prevent the psychological shock that soldiers would receive by harming the other person by dehumanizing them.”

If you were to conduct biochemical experiments on humans, ordinary people would be shocked, but if you don’t think of them as people, there would be no shock.

“Considering his violence towards women and the fact that he has been alone for a long time, Bang Young-soo is likely to be a criminal type with psychological problems.”

The chief frowned at that.

“Didn’t you say he was an ordinary person before? Soldier something… anyway, that’s what you said?”

“Most will move according to orders like soldiers. But once you become a colonel, you don’t move according to orders like soldiers. In fact, at that level, they move for profit.”

“Are you saying he’s a commander?”

“I’m not saying he’s a commander. It’s just that their proactiveness is different.”

Being thrown into battle as a soldier is different from being thrown into battle as an officer.

In fact, after World War II, most ordinary soldiers returned home, saying it was done by order, but officers were punished as war criminals.

“I think Bang Young-soo joined hands with Heo Kang-soo because of vested interests.”

“Vested interests? Do you mean because of money?”

“That’s unknown.”

Whether he joined hands because of money or because of women. Perhaps they joined hands to share power.

“One thing is certain: Bang Young-soo was with Heo Kang-soo from the beginning and didn’t hesitate to do dirty work under him.”

“So?”

“But he couldn’t become the second-in-command. And at the same time, he wasn’t brainwashed.”

“Hmm, he’s smart.”

Park Do-joon shook his head from side to side at the chief’s interpretation.

“No. If he were smart, he wouldn’t have done this in the first place. In fact, he doesn’t seem smart. If he were a smart person, he wouldn’t get involved in these crimes.”

“Then?”

“You can say he knows Heo Kang-soo well.”

“Know Heo Kang-soo well?”

“Yes. If he knew Heo Kang-soo before he became the cult leader and knew his true nature, he would never be brainwashed no matter how hard Heo Kang-soo tried.”

The chief had a strange expression at Park Do-joon’s words.

“Are you saying they met in prison?”

Like all con artists, Heo Kang-soo has a criminal record. It’s not easy to pull off a perfect scam from the beginning.

“No. I’ve already confirmed that. Heo Kang-soo has a fraud conviction, but there is no one named Bang Young-soo among the people who shared a cell with him in there.”

“Hmm……”

The reason why they are pondering like this is simple. They have nothing about Bang Young-soo except his name. No age, no photo, no phone number.

Bang Young-soo existed, but he wasn’t a specific person. When asked about him, most of the followers didn’t even pretend to listen.

Even those who answered only vaguely remembered him and had no information.

No matter how good the police are, they can’t track him down with just a name. There could be hundreds or thousands of Bang Young-soos across the country.

Even if that’s not the case, they can’t even know if this name Bang Young-soo is his real name or a fake name. So, in fact, everyone was pessimistic about tracking down Bang Young-soo.

Except for one person. Park Do-joon.

“Perhaps Bang Young-soo knows Heo Kang-soo quite well. He knows what kind of person he is and how he will betray him. And Heo Kang-soo didn’t even try to retaliate against Bang Young-soo.”

“But wasn’t Heo Kang-soo in a bad situation at that time?”

“Of course, that could be the case. But he is an elder. Generally, this rank is not given simply because you have known him for a long time.”

The rank of elder is given based on how much loyalty you have shown and how much you have proven it.

In simple terms, they give money or positions to those who have done dirty work for the cult leader.

“But when I heard the story, everyone remembered Bang Young-soo as an elder. That means he was an elder for a very long time. He was probably an elder from the very beginning of the cult.”

“So?”

“In the early days, faith wasn’t complete, and they couldn’t just take money. So how did he receive the title of elder?”

Everyone looked at each other as if they didn’t know what he meant. Only one person, the team leader, realized what Park Do-joon was saying.

“You mean he knew him before.”

“That’s right.”

He’s like a founding contributor, so to speak.

“But there is no record of fraud or related crimes. They probably knew each other since they were young.”

“Since they were young?”

“Yes. If they met as a follower and a cult leader, there would be no reason why brainwashing wouldn’t have taken place.”

But Bang Young-soo refused to take the blame and fled. That means he wasn’t brainwashed.

“It’s hard to see him as someone with a strong mentality, and if he grew up seeing what kind of person he was since he was very young, he wouldn’t be brainwashed.”

“You mean he’s a neighborhood friend.”

“That’s right. And we know where Heo Kang-soo lived.”

“But even if he’s a childhood friend, there must be more than one or two such people?”

“Of course. But if they were trying to grow up together, they would have gone to the same school.”

Whether it’s elementary school or middle school.

“And we can start the investigation from there.”

***

Tracking down Bang Young-soo wasn’t difficult. As Park Do-joon expected, when they searched the list of graduates from the elementary school Heo Kang-soo graduated from, his name came up quickly.

Once his name and resident registration number were identified, tracking him down was a piece of cake.

Perhaps because Bang Young-soo thought he had escaped the murder charge, he was living very confidently with his address registered.

However, the location was very unexpected.

“Wow, he’s rich.”

Bundang [a wealthy district in South Korea], below paradise.

He was living a leisurely life, running three convenience stores in Bundang, one of the most expensive cities.

“It’s probably money he received from the cult. He’s practically a founding contributor.”

No matter how much of a Heo Kang-soo he is, he can’t ignore Bang Young-soo.

No, he should take even better care of him. That way, he’ll help him.

“If a classmate from the same school claims to be a god, there’s no way he’d be brainwashed.”

“That’s right.”

What if his elementary school classmate came to him and said he was a god?

Most men would probably punch him in the face, calling him crazy.

“Moreover, Bang Young-soo moved with him. That means he knew it was a scam.”

If that weren’t the case, he would have started as a follower, not an elder.

“So, it would have been in the form of sharing some of the profits.”

The team leader nodded at those words.

“Then everything makes sense.”

Why he fled when Heo Kang-soo told him to take the blame, and even why Heo Kang-soo didn’t retaliate.

“But how are you planning to catch that guy now? There’s no evidence.”

Bang Young-soo is clearly visible right in front of them, but there’s no way to catch him.

“We can bring another witness.”

Park Do-joon smiled and said, “It’s a natural fit for a profiler [someone skilled at analyzing behavior].”