OFF THE
RAILS
OFF THE RAILS   
The eye from above caught the moving forms of
two seemingly desperate persons. The pair of fugitives were apparently fleeing across the vast green fields, with
the police in hot pursuit. The hunted men were oblivious of the fact
that they were in the path of an oncoming high speed train.
It was revealed later that they had been involved in a murder-cum-robbery case. One of the
men was hit by the train while the other had escaped into the train after the
train service was suddenly halted.
   
Coincidentally, Yoo Min Young, one of the NCI
profilers was on board. She was heading towards Seoul and was on the
phone with the NCI Chief Director, Baek San, discussing important matters.
The NCI profiler had inadvertently revealed
her NCI connections when she accidentally dropped her file. A man seated
close to her spotted her file with the acronym, NCI, emblazoned on it.
THE MAD SCIENTIST
   
Cho Seok Hwan, a stout man who seemed ill at
ease in his seat, was talking to a sinister man who was dressed in black.
The man was practically breathing down his neck but it was strange that Cho did not face his friend.
It was likely that he was being harassed as he
was desperately pleading, ‘Please leave me alone.’ No one seemed to be aware
of his struggles with his friend. His friend hovered over him like
a helicopter and hissed at him to look at the NCI file dropped by Yoo Min Young.
Cho grimaced
on being pressured.
Had anyone observed Cho Seok Hwan’s erratic expressions,
they would have been worried. His baffling behaviour should be cause for
concern. But everyone was oblivious of what was happening to him.
 
Suddenly, the blue and white train which was weaving its way through the picturesque fields had rolled to a emergency stop.
In order not to throw the passengers into a panic, an announcer declared that the train would soon be on its way.
A man with a cap had surreptitiously entered
the train car while everyone’s attention was distracted by the announcement.
 
A plainsclothes
police officer who was accompanied by a train attendant was queried about the emergency stop by the NCI profiler. Noticing her NCI
file, he shared a secret that while he was chasing two murder suspects, one
of them was hit by the train and died. Hence, the stopping of the train. He
confided that he believed that the accomplice had boarded the train.
THE MAN IN BLACK
 
The relationship between Cho Seok Hwan and
his friend in black seemed rather strange. What was the nature of their
relationship? The friend seemed to be taking advantage of Cho’s fear by
referring to the suspicious manner of Yoo Min Young and the police
officer who were speaking in hushed conspiratorial voices. He pointed out that the man had a gun and instigated Cho to grab it. Why
didn’t the man in black do it himself?
Leaping forward suddenly, Cho swiftly
snatched the gun and shot the police officer. The ruckus that the assailant
created froze those in the cabin.
  
Quivering violently, he pointed the gun at
Yoo Min Young’s head who calmly tried to pacify the agitated and seemingly
panicky killer. The train attendant who tried to disarm him was shot at
point-blank range.
ASSESSING
THE EVIDENCE
AT THE CRIME SCENE
 
Meanwhile, at the NCI headquarters, the
profilers had received the security feed from the train car.
They realised that, all in all, there were
seven hostages in the cabin. Two were dead – the police officer and the
attendant.
They were flabbergasted when they recognised
Yoo Min Young on the train. She had been inadvertently caught in the
dangerous situation.
DYSKINESIA
  
Kim Hyun Jun, the newly-minted profiler, rose
to the occasion on his first day on the job. He wanted a closer look of the
unsubs’s face.
 
When the camera panned in on the dispatcher’s
face, Lee Han immediately recognised the Dyskinesia characteristics. The
suspect had a contorted face due to uncontrollable muscle movements. He was
suspected to have tardive dyskinesia, probably the result of not taking or
lessening the dosage of the anti-psychotic medication which he had been
taking for a prolonged period of time.
  
The usually exuberant Nana Wang exclaimed in
horror that their teammate was being held hostage by a deranged man. They
were witnessing the miscreant’s descent into raving madness before their very
eyes.
Kim Hyun Jun stared at the NCI screen and
grimly confirmed that the man was indeed unhinged. More than that, he was one
demented man with a gun and he had already committed murder.
The man, apparently stressed and shaken by
his own violence, rushed fearfully to the windows upon hearing the sirens of the police cars.
THE PSYCHIATRIST
 
A woman, who was mistaken for Cho’s
girlfriend, turned out to be Cho’s psychiatrist, Dr Kim Ji Yeon. Had the
situation not been so serious, it would have sounded hilarious.
The good doctor was on her way to a
conference to present her paper on ‘A Patient Who Had Overcome A Serious
Mental Illness’. The lady doctor probably wanted to prove that it was
possible to overcome such a debilitating illness.
She was shocked to see the panic attack in her
patient and his capacity for violence. She speculated that he probably
thought that his life was in grave danger.
The ease with which information could be retrieved from the government database by Nana Wang was amazing. She had already accessed all of Cho’s data and the computer input about him was put at their disposal.
 
Cho Seok Hwan was 44 years old. He received a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Buseong University and had been involved in developing alternative energy resources.
But, Dr Cho had been upset with certain interested parties in a state institution whom he had accused of having stolen his patent. Subsequently, he held a one-man protest against the government. Since then, Dr Cho had been declared to be mentally disabled or unsound of mind and was institutionalised. He came under the care of the lady psychiatrist, the 35-year-old Dr Kim Ji Yeon.
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PIECING THE PUZZLE TOGETHER
  
NCI’s resident hacker had supplied the
profilers with the records of the people who had bought tickets for that particular
train.
But, one perplexing issue cropped up. There
was a passenger in the cabin who was unaccounted for. Nana Wang could not
retrieve any of his details. What was that missing piece of the puzzle?
The brain of the new profiler, Kim Hyun Jun, was
working at its peak. His profiling instincts had come to the fore.
‘If one of the suspects had been hit by the
train, causing it to stop, and his accomplice had boarded the train ….’
Lee Han jumped to the same conclusion. In
fact, he finished his sentence for him. It made sense that the person had no
record because he did not purchase a ticket. He was the murder suspect who
had boarded the train during the emergency stop.
The two male profilers seemed to be in sync
with each other. They just clicked.
  
Nana Wang, the technical analyst soon got the records of the new criminal for them.
Another murderer on board. Kang Won Hyung had
broken into a house in Sejong-si and murdered the whole family at around 11
pm the previous night.
TWO IN ONE
SITUATION
The situation had turned out even more complicated than expected. Now, they have two different criminal cases in one crime scene. Two-in-one. Well, the case had got messier with another killer in the picture.
The NCI bus, with the profilers, was soon on its way to the crisis site.
The crisis showcased the well-oiled government machinery.
The paramedics were seen to be carrying the dead bodies off the train, meaning the demented but logical patient was merciful enough to allow it. Perhaps they, not the SWAT nor tactical team, were the ones who had delivered the Throw Phone to the train cabin.
The passengers in the other train cars had fled with the help of the tactical team.
The SWAT was ready with its throngs of heavily armed men. The sharp-shooters and snipers were in position.
The Special Forces had the area surrounded.   
ANALYSIS
FINDING OUT THE TRUTH
   
The NCI had decided not to make a move until
the negotiations were over.
The NCI Team Leader was informed that the
unbalanced unsub wanted to to talk to the ‘Person-in-Charge’.
The hostage negotiations Team Manager, Jung Han Soo, was informed that from that minute on, the NCI would be in charge.
Jung wanted to know whether they could handle a lunatic who did not trust
anyone. However, he respected the decision of the NCI. There was not going to
be a turf war.
   
The NCI Team Leader knew what had to be
done. They were going to move in tandem with Dr Cho – going the way he wanted.
It would only be a matter of time before they knew what was hidden in his
delusional mind.
Scenario. The NIC Team Leader, Kang Gi Hyeong,
had already imagined the whole scenario in his mind and was mentally prepared for his role as a very important Senior Government Officer in a real-life
drama. The NCI team would act out a show for the delusional man and Kang Gi
Hyeon had psyched himself for his very important role.
The Team Leader’s Self-Talk: ‘Wait for 30
seconds after you have arrived at the site. Make it seem as if you’re a
senior manager who is running late. You must act as if you are not worried
about only a few hostages.’
Meanwhile, the eyes of the delusional Cho lit
up upon seeing what he thought was a high ranking official. The NCI Team Leader looked the part of a person in authority as he got out of the car and walked
up the NCI bus.
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THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION (NCI) BUS
On board the jet-black NCI bus, Team Leader Kang stressed that it was important to figure out what the criminal’s delusion was.
One is amazed at the furnishings of the luxurious NCI bus. The bus had been modified to suit the purposes of the NCI. It was equipped with a plethora of office equipment – computers that could be connected to CCTVs, phones, internet equipment, radio and a plush sofa set. Two of the plush recliners even had touch-screen seat-back TV screens.
Two NCI personnel were monitoring the situation on their highly complex computer system. 
WHAT DOES THE CRIMINAL WANT?
Kim Hyun Jun was curious why no action was being taken by the NCI. Nothing would be accomplished by waiting. He was new to the depth and perspective of the NCI strategy. He, coming from a military background, thought that the SWAT team should be sent to deal with the crisis straightaway.
 
THE STRATEGY
The Team Leader first wanted to know the exact demands of the psychotic man. He was sure that once the paranoiac patient was anxious, he would contact them. Patience is a virtue, if one wants any results.
 
True to his prediction, the man was extremely
agitated. He wanted the pregnant lady on board to phone the NCI but Yoo Min Young
protested. He forbade Yoo Min Young from delivering his message to them for
fear that her message might be coded.
    
What was the strategy of the experienced NCI
Team Leader? In order to find out what the unstable patient wanted, the NCI
Team Leader made the communication between them vague. In his ‘strategic’
communication, the primary goal was not clarity on his part but to lure the
delusional criminal to spell out his secret motive or delusional
phobia.
 
Dr Cho wanted to know the identity of those
who had newly arrived. The answer was they were ‘People who would work things
out for him’.
 He also wanted to know the position that Kang Gi Hyeon held. The answer was vague: ‘Tell him to ask himself’. 
On being spurned, the frustrated hostage taker threatened to kill Yoo Min Young, whom he was convinced was their close associate.
Unperturbed by his threat, the calm Team Leader was not forthcoming with a clear response. ‘You know who I am. I’m better than anyone else.’
    
‘Then you can get rid of it, right?’
‘Yes, but it would take some time,’ the Team Leader responded. ‘You know it is not easy.’
 
THE PROBLEM
  
‘One hour. I’ll give you an hour. If you
don’t get rid of it in an hour, I’ll kill them all.’ The deranged man
punctuated his threat with the violent thumping of his gun against the train
seat.
The shuddering of the man’s large frame set the hostages quaking with fear. With that, the dialogue ceased. 
Kim Hyun Jun interjected, ‘Get rid of what? What is he talking about?’
The team leader responded that they had to figure it out. The time available was short so they had to race against the clock to analyse the situation.
  
Lee Han noticed something
peculiar about the lunatic’s hands. The footage of the man was rewound by the
NCI personnel for closer scrutiny.
  
Kim Hyun Jun noticed something peculiar about the lunatic’s hand. Cho had several healed scars and it looked as if someone had dug into his arm.
 
The new profiler’s keen observation must have
taken everyone by surprise. Dr Lee Han suggested
that it might be that Cho was trying to get something out.
 
It dawned on Ha Sun Woo
that it might be a microchip or something. Perhaps, she was familiar
with microchips as news about them abound on the Internet. Those things could be injected or inserted under the skin.
  
Kim Hyun Joon was thinking - ‘A microchip?’
It was possible.
It hit them like a ten-ton brick that the
criminal had a serious delusional disorder that was almost impossible to
handle. He might have thought that a tracking device had been implanted into his arm. The microchip was a figment of his imagination. Nothing else mattered
to Cho except to rid himself of the microchip that was supposedly buried in
his arm.
  
The Team Leader was stumped. How did one dig
out a microchip that was not even there?
Ha Sun Woo was convinced that the man, though mentally unstable, was intelligent. ‘He’s quite articulate because he could think logically.’ |
THE KEY
TO
PROBLEM SOLVING
  
The NCI had identified the problem and they
must find a solution.
Kim Hyun Jun was the key to the problem
solving. The ‘Aha’ moment. Understanding dawned. He had realised that their goal was to make the delusional criminal think that the chip had been taken out and was
gone.
Why not use magic tricks? Kim Hyun Jun was nothing short of amazing. He offered to perform the trick. He understood the danger but they had to take risks. Perhaps, he also relished
the opportunity to display his magic skills.
      
Suddenly, he turned into a magician. He whipped out a coin
with his right hand while his left palm was closed tight. He told the
profilers to look. He deftly opened his left palm to show that there was
nothing there. He closed his left palm again. Then, using his right palm, he
placed a coin on the back of his left palm.
What he was telling them was he could use
magic tricks on the delusional man.
‘I keep a chip in my hand and act as if I have just taken it out.’
Kim Hyun Jun was determined to get into the
thick of things and be a useful member since he was now an NCI profiler. Changing Kim Hyun
Jun’s mind was out of question.
 
Ha Sun Woo was anxious about him playing the
role of a magician, albeit, a fake one. Would his sleight of hand
skills be able to deceive the criminal? He had just come on board
the NIC vehicle literally and figuratively for the first time and it was his very first day at work.
But Kim Hyun Jun assured her that he would wear the in-ear phone.    
Turning to Lee Han, Kim Hyun Jun requested his younger colleague to feed him the important information about the delusional man as soon as he had figured everything out.
The new profiler reassured them that he could do it. He was reminded of the fact that the delusional criminal would kill all the hostages when the time was up.   
Lee Han was already very supportive of the new team member. He reminded Kim Hyun Jun to play the game according to the madman’s delusions.
 
THE ALPHA MALE
VERSUS
THE ALPHA FEMALE
The Female Leader. Ha Sun Woo assumed the leadership role of giving instructions to her subordinate, the risk-taking newcomer.
Not used to getting orders from women superiors, the Alpha Male, Kim Hyun Jun, bent his head a little when she briefed him. She wanted to get into the minutiae of the NCI procedures with him just in case he did not fathom the grave danger that he would be in.
‘When there are hostages, even if we are ordered to attack, there are times when we don’t tell the negotiator,’ she spoke with icy precision.
She was telling him in no uncertain terms that since the lives of the hostages were at stake, he, as the negotiator might be be sacrificed in case there was an order to attack the criminal. The order to attack might not be communicated to him. He found it curious that she was so particular about his safety.
     Perhaps she did not want the green recruit to be a potential liability to the NCI on his first day. It would be an acid test for him. When he looked up, his eyes seemed to be rounder and brighter with amusement. His measuring look did not shrivel her self-confidence.  
Boy, was he tickled that she was treating him like a little boy! Unable to resist himself, he reminded her that she should have known better than to tell him that. He was formerly in the Special Forces Brigade. He smiled meaningfully at her. He knew perfectly well what lay ahead in such situations.
The experienced profiler, Ha Sun Woo, continued undeterred. She reminded the newcomer not to forget that he was acting the role of an Microchip-removing Expert. And, under no circumstances must he make any eye contact with Yoo Min Young, their other NCI profiler or else his cover would be blown.
Since that day was his first day with the NCI, Yoo Min Young would not know of his connection with the NCI.
  
He gazed at Ha Sun Woo as she spoke. His eyes
narrowed. He was amused by her solemn and humourless manner. She seemed to be
carved from ice. A smile curved his
lips and his eyes were smiling brightly.
Perhaps he was thinking of his resume: Former EOD / SWAT operative, Former Special Forces Brigade operative and Former Homicide Detective. She should also have known by now that he had graduated at the top of the profiling class at the Police Academy.
  
Finally, he spoke up, ‘Are you done now?’ That
was obviously an atrocious lapse of manners.
Was it his insubordination or lack of
seriousness that annoyed her? Was he trying to undermine her authority? Was she rankled by the laughter in his eyes?
Being a level-headed profiler, she did not allow herself the luxury of taking him down a peg or two. She must have gritted her teeth as she looked at the overly confident new profiler - a half-baked cookie who had just been taken out of the oven.
Logic should have told the Homicide
Detective-turned-Profiler that he had not yet proven himself, so he
should be more heedful. Perhaps, a bit of reality might bring him to his senses.
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