Sociopaths are good at investigating - Ch 5 - When Instinct Shines

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When I asked, the complainant began to stutter.
“Wh… What are you talking about? Please go back.”
“If it were just a drunk person trying to open the door, the doorknob wouldn’t be damaged like this. The fact that it’s been damaged to the point of being ragged means that the person who pulled the doorknob was filled with anger. And with that hand, they also tightly grabbed your arm.”
I then pointed to the man’s shoes near the entrance and said,
“The owner of those shoes must be the one who made the mark on your arm.”
“That… That’s…”
“Statistically, seeking help from relevant authorities when a crime victim is involved is much more helpful in recovering from the incident than not. Even if the perpetrator…
”
I paused for a moment before continuing.
“Is someone you know, or a boyfriend, for example.”
“…!”
“Assault is a crime that cannot be prosecuted without the victim’s complaint. We can’t conclude this as a crime scene and begin an investigation without it.”
“……”
“Please file a complaint. Then we’ll enter and arrest the suspect.”
In an instant, the drunken person’s report became an assault report.
If the other officers had seen it, they would have cursed me for making a fuss, but I was certain that this was an assault case, specifically an assault between lovers.
And sure enough.
“You don’t need to come in.”
A man in his 20s walked out from inside the room.
“Her arm, I did that. I opened the door too.”
Gyeong-su, who was next to me, looked at me, the complainant, and the man in the room with a bewildered expression.
“W-Well…”
He gestured toward the man and said,
“Let’s go to the station for a moment.”

After hearing their story at the station, it turned out to be an assault between lovers.
They had been arguing over something minor when the woman broke up with him over the phone, and in his anger, the man went to her house.
The man said that in a fit of emotion, he grabbed her arm too hard.
He didn’t want any punishment, so no criminal charges were filed, but I arranged for the victim’s protection with the relevant department so that she could receive necessary care.
If I had just assumed it was a drunken person and left, who knows what could have happened inside.
“Wow, Team Leader. Isn’t Inspector Tak amazing?”
After they left for home, Gyeong-su excitedly explained what had happened earlier.
“I thought it was just a drunk person, and I was going to leave, but suddenly Inspector Tak blocked the door with his foot.”
“……”
“And then he looked at the complainant’s arm and started asking if the perpetrator was inside. I was so creeped out at that moment.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Team Leader Kim Deok-gyu, who had been listening with a dissatisfied expression, finally spoke up.
“You took a rookie out for his first day at the station and couldn’t even lead properly, and you’re bragging about it?”
“Oh, Team Leader, I wasn’t bragging…”
“If the report changes, you should radio in first! You couldn’t even do the basics, and now you’re acting like you did something great!? You’re making things worse when you’re not even going to process the case.”
“Enough. We should take a break…”
As Deok-gyu continued scolding him, Gyeong-su took me outside to the smoking area.
“Do you smoke?”
“I don’t.”
He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it.
“Sigh, I don’t know why our Team Leader acts like that. He should just say ‘good job’ when it’s good. Always with the bad attitude…”
Then he added, “No wonder he’s losing his hair.”
Deok-gyu had no hair left on the top of his head.
“Don’t worry too much about it. It’s just because he’s jealous that a young inspector came in.”
“He’s fine.”
“He’s actually a pretty good guy. Don’t let it get to you.”
He exhaled the smoke upwards.
I wondered why he had brought me out to smoke.
“That was really cool earlier.”
Was that why he called me out here?
“Where did you learn to do that with your hand?”
“In my Criminal Investigation class.”
“Ha, the Police Academy lectures are really good.”
He sighed and took another long drag from his cigarette.
“Inspector Gyeong-su.”
I had something I wanted to say to him as well.
“Yeah?”
“Earlier, you said that for a police officer, instinct is more important than knowledge.”
“That’s right.”
“I think that’s wrong.”
“……”
“If I hadn’t learned the knowledge in my Criminal Investigation class, I would have just closed the case as a simple drunken person’s report. If that had happened, the complainant could have suffered further harm…”
As I spoke, I suddenly realized my mistake.
I had learned from the Company Commander at the Police Academy not to say “you’re wrong” to others.
But once again, I said it out of habit.
“I’m sorry. I misspoke…”
“Okay. I’ll admit it.”
Before I could apologize, Gyeong-su smiled pleasantly and put out his cigarette.
“That’s right. If it weren’t for Inspector Tak today, we wouldn’t have been able to properly understand the report.”
“……”
“But just wait and see.”
He added as he walked back into the station after finishing his cigarette,
“There will be times when instinct really shines.”

**The Next Day, Night Shift**

“Were you upset yesterday?”
As we got into the patrol car, Gyeong-su asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It was your first day on duty, but we didn’t have a welcome dinner.”
“Is that something to be upset about?”
“Come on, you should feel bad if they didn’t even throw a welcome party.”
“I’ve never had a welcome party, so I’m fine with it.”
Gyeong-su looked at me with a teasing expression.
“Oh- our Inspector Tak didn’t get any love growing up, huh?”
“……”
When I didn’t respond,
“Why the cold reaction? I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. Geez, can’t even joke around with you.”
He tapped my shoulder.
“Just wait. Our team leader’s the type who gets really excited if something good happens, so when that happens, I’ll suggest we go for drinks.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“No, I can’t let that slide. You have to have a drink with someone you just met before working together.”
I had never drunk alcohol in my life.
I knew it was harmful, so why would I drink?
“Anyway, let’s do our best today.”
Just as Gyeong-su was about to start the car,
Ding ding ding-
A report came in.
– “Maechun Police Station, Maechun 1-2 patrol, 2376, theft in progress, please respond quickly.”
– “Understood.”
It was a theft case, and all patrol cars in Maechun Police Station’s jurisdiction were ordered to get to the scene quickly.
The report was that “someone was pulling on car doors in the parking lot.”
“Sounds like a CCTV report.”
Gyeong-su commented, and when I looked at the report again, it was indeed a report received from the CCTV monitoring center.
“Looks like someone’s trying to steal from cars. If they’re pulling on car doors, that’s attempted theft.”
“Do you think they know what’s inside the car?”
“Maybe a black box, or a navigation system. They might even be trying to steal loose change from the car. They’ll try all the car doors, and if one opens, they’ll take everything inside.”
“Well, the damage probably won’t be too big. There’s a low chance of valuable items being inside.”
“That’s true. But in our organization, we treat theft as a serious crime, so when a theft report comes in, we deploy as many patrol cars as possible. If we catch the criminal at the scene, they even get an award.”
While we were talking, the patrol car arrived at the scene.
Gyeong-su, perhaps remembering that he had been scolded by Deok-gyu yesterday, immediately grabbed the radio as he got out of the car.
– “Maechun 1 patrol arriving, will be on foot patrol in the alley.”
– “Understood.”
– “If suspect description is available, please contact us immediately.”
– “Understood. The CCTV center is checking the footage, but the screen is too dark to identify the suspect at the moment.”
It seemed they hadn’t gotten a description of the suspect yet.
We decided to search the alley near where the suspect had last been spotted on CCTV.
“Criminals usually flinch or quickly turn away when they see police. Watch people’s actions closely and pay attention.”
“Got it.”
The alley was eerie, with no one around.
After several minutes of seeing no one, we finally spotted a middle-aged man walking around the neighborhood.
Gyeong-su approached him.
“Sir, it’s getting late. Where are you going?”
“I’m heading home. Why, is something wrong?”
“There’s a scary guy walking around here. You should head home quickly.”
“Oh, really? I should hurry up then.”
“Where do you live?”
“Just over there. If you walk 5 minutes this way, you’ll see…”
Gyeong-su looked in the direction the elderly man was pointing and immediately answered,
“Green Flower Shop?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s it. Green Flower Shop.”
“There’s a big bookstore across from it?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
From his response, it seemed like he was a local resident.
There was no visible evidence or anything suspicious about him.
As Gyeong-su was politely agreeing with him,
“But sir…”
Suddenly, he changed his expression to a cold one.
“Actually, there’s no flower shop or bookstore in this neighborhood.”
“…!”
He stepped up to the middle-aged man and sharply asked,
“Did you happen to be pulling on car doors around here?”