"The Dean would like to speak to you."

Daehyun in a cold breath before sliding himself through the ajar door to the Dean's office. He didn't even realize he was holding his breath until he released a long exhale, feeling his chest fall with contemptuous apprehension and abstained worry. He his lips slowly, lowering his gaze as he seated himself down into the lone chair before the wooden table; his dean glared at him disappointedly, hands folded neatly across his notebook, with a quirked brow waiting for Daehyun to finish situating himself.

"Sajangnim," Daehyun breathed awkwardly, a nervous laughter pretruding from his ponderous lips. 

"How's Yonghee?" the aging man looked up, disregarding Daehyun's stiff manner. Choosing rather to bore his petulant eyes into Daehyun's flickering irises, the old man leaned across his desk, drawing in a short breath. "You.. have been monitoring her progress, haven't you?"
"Of course," Daehyun replied almost too quickly. "She's well.. recovering at a substantially rapid pace," he whispered, nodding slowly.
"Is that all?"
"Is there any more?" Daehyun catechized, eyes narrowing softly.
"What methods are you using, if not mine? I've been hearing extolling feedback from Yongguk, and I was just wondering what could've possibly worked better than my method of psychology."

Daehyun his lips, scoffing mentally to himself before defiantly locking his eyes with his boss'. "Sajangnim," Daehyun uttered gently. "What you were proposing made no sense; there was no need for a victimized patient like Yonghee to have to endure the horror and trauma of crime scene pictures."
"They were crimes she committed."
"They were crimes her alter ego committed," Daehyun objected patiently. "Yonghee and her alter ego are two completely different beings. The reason why I rejected your method of displaying the crime scene photos for her to see, was because you were going to show them to Yonghee, not Yoona, her alter ego. Yonghee, according to my research," Daehyun explained carefully, "is already suffering from the trauma of blacking out and losing herself to her alter ego. It would worsen her condition to add on any more stress if we followed through with your suggested practice."

Daehyun sat back comfortably into his chair, crossing his legs mannerably before folding his hands across his lap. "Yonghee is not just another patient; as a psychologist, I've come across many psychiatric patients like Yonghee; what's different about her is how well she's coping with the fact that there is indeed another.. mindset living inside of her. With her substantial recovery," Daehyun furthered, "if this continues, really, I could probably restore Yonghee to full health in no time."

"You know that's not why I mentioned it," the elder argued calmly, an eyebrow lifting probingly.

Daehyun grimaced to himself coldly before plastering on the most convincing poker face he could muster. He sat still, eyes searching his boss'; however, he sat quietly, not uttering a word. This time, Daehyun decided, he would wait for his boss to speak first.

"I thought I asked you not to get attached."

"It's impossible for a human being not to get attached to someone after having spent nearly every waking moment with that one person for over a period of three months," Daehyun argued. "It's a psychological fact."
"You should've stopped before you got attached."
"I don't see why this matters," Daehyun objected fiercely. He rose from his chair, biting down on his lip disdainfully. "My business with Yonghee is strictly professional, as long as you're concerned. To have had her open up to me, I was supposed to act like a friend, and that's exactly what I did. Consequently, yes, I did get attached, but it's only humane and innate for a person to. She's a friend. And as long as I'm working with her, yes, Yonghee will be my friend, and I will be attached."

"Jung Daehyun," the man sighed, rubbing his balding head. "It will strike controversy with the people of the court. It was supposed to be strictly doctor-patient relations. If they find out you've befriended the killer, they're going to report a biased claim. Yonghee's court date is coming up soon and if they know you're emotionally attached, they're going to try you for involvement.. as an accessory, and your career will go down the line," the dean remarked briskl. A wistful sigh escaped his lips as he met Daehyun's fidgeting gaze.

"It'll be worth it," Daehyun whispered stubbornly. 

"How?!"

"They're going to try her for first degree murder! Several murders! They're going to send her to that rotten prison house and they're going to execute her the minute they get the chance," Daehyun cried. "Yonghee is innocent. As long as I can prove she is fully restored to her original self, she won't be tried. But as long as Yoona is still inside Yonghee and still has the chance to appear, Yonghee will go to prison for the rest of her life. What would you do, with the knowledge that an innocent person may die for something they had not committed?!"
"Yonghee is the killer!"
"Yoona is," Daehyun growled, his breath wavering profusely. He his lips, running frenetic hands through the locks of his dark brown hair. "Yonghee is innocent. I know the rules of the court, and I've studied the law like no other," Daehyun mused impatiently. "I know that if Yonghee is safely restricted from relapsing, she will be declared innocent. But if you keep me here and lecture me about trivial matters such as this, you will be lowering the chances of an innocent person's freedom."

Daehyun glared defiantly into the elder's eyes, irises gleaming with bitter reticence and expediting stubbornness. "You can fire me if you want," Daehyun whispered, "just as long as it's after Yonghee's court date -- at least let me be there to hear her verdict."

"You can cure her?"
"I can do more than just that," Daehyun promised confidently.
"Her court date is in two weeks, Daehyun... you know how the jury can be."
"That's more than enough time."
"This is your last chance."

Daehyun was silent for a moment, his mind swiveling from the intensifying hostility ringing about the atmosphere. Then, he looked up, smirking broadly with his shoulders pushed back with a defying arrogance.

"It's the only chance I need."

Daehyun paced the court room slowly, his heeled insoles clacking euphoniously against the hard wooden platforms. The jury members had their eyes planted onto Daehyun, following his swift, coursing movements; every hand gesture, they followed, as well as every turn he made. He ignored Yonghee sitting at the stand, eyes burning furiously into the eyes of the jurors. The judge watched meticulously, if not, then tediously, as Daehyun continued his furthered research and studies made, based on what he had learned from observing Yonghee's progress.

"She's innocent," he finalized clearly with a mysterious air. "The woman may have physically committed the crimes, yes, it was her body. But the mental and intellectual mindset that had conquered her during the times of the committed homicides is no longer within her."

"And how can you ensure that?" the lawyer at the opposite table rose to her feet, her eyeglasses resting firmly atop the bridge of her nose as she glowered down upon Daehyun. Daehyun his lips slowly, still unfamiliar with the lawyer/doctor role he was assigned to play. "There is no confirmed treatment or cure for a disassociative personality disorder," the lawyer furthered promptly, eyeing Daehyun with furious curiosity.
Daehyun nodded slowly, drawing many gasps from the jury members. "It's true that there is no set-in-stone 'cure' as you put it," Daehyun agreed politely. "However, there is long-term treatment. As Yonghee had been so committed to doing, she is receiving psychiactric help, as well as taking prescribed medication. There are also self-help resources that she is busying herself with."
"And these exercises guarantee that her so-called 'alter ego' will stay sheltered?" the lawyer catechized dubiously.

Daehyun chuckled, pointing a humorously finger at the lawyer, earning himself a harsh glare. "Now, that, is where lawyers and cops tend to get lost," he remarked wittily. "As a psychologist and doctor," Daehyun furthered in a civil manner, "I know as a fact that if she continues the exercises I prepare for her; and if she continues her committment to therapy and medication, her alter ego could be as good as wiped away. Yes, there may be chances of her relapsing and there may be chances of her alter ego re-appearing, but those are rare cases. Bang Yonghee has a substantial record of recovery," Daehyun noted briefly.

"But how can we ensure that she won't kill again? This is a killer we are talking about," the laywer demanded impatiently, tapping her feet. She turned to the jury, then, pulling a cheap card by uttering insane propaganda against Yonghee's favor. "She's killed over 100, 200, 300 men! How can you ensure your own safety if we let her loose? She's a murderess!"

"But, you see," Daehyun interjected promptly, holding up his hand politely to apologize. "If you had been listening, you would've caught the fact that.. Yonghee's alter ego had committed the murders; Yonghee in no way, aside from her physical involvement, was present during the crime scenes. She blacks out when Yoona, her alter ego, makes her presence. She has no knowledge of the crimes, nor does she remember committing any homicides," Daehyun argued insistently. "You can't possibly try an innocent human being for something they haven't committed! That, alone, is murder."

The lawyer was silent, fuming rage clarifying the hateful contempt burning in her eyes.

Daehyun simply nodded to the judge and Yonghee, clasping his hands behind his back. "I'm finished."

"As am I," the lawyer barked.

The judge then, pounded his gavel promptly onto his desk, pushingu p his glasses. He shortly put away the case files and motioned for the jury. "We'll send the jurors to the jury room now, to discuss the details of the case. Keep in mind that we are trying Bang Yonghee for a first-degree offense, which will most likely result in life in prison, and possibly a death sentence. This is not a joking matter; so with that in mind," the judge remarked, glancing at the jurors, "I shall send you out to your duties."

Before Yonghee was taken away to rest in her confinement cell, she shared a brief moment of eye contact with Daehyun, to which he, in that moment, shot her a brief nod with a small ghost of a reassuring smile.

It's going to be okay.