Hyesung patted Eric's shoulder before he stepped out of the room.

Eric was in a study room and there was nothing unusual about it. There was a table, a few book shelves, a set of sofa plus a comfortable looking daybed and nothing screamed luxurious in the study room.

"I heard about your case and I decided to help you. The most important thing was to find out what caused you to develop sleep walking. I guess I can only rely on hypnotizing you." Seeing Hyesung left the study room, Professor Cho stood up from his table.

"Hypnotizing?" Eric was hesitant.

"What do you say? I heard from Hyesung that you used to be Jihoon's patient. Did Jihoon use this method for your treatment?"

In the cases of sleepwalking among the adults, 80 percent of the cause was due to stress. Hypnotizing could relief stress, going to the source of stress and provide solution to the problem. And majority of the patients recover well thereafter.

"No. Dr Jihoon did not." Eric shook his head and he was still hesitant if he should go ahead with hypnotizing.

Professor Cho seen through his worries," Hypnotizing is not dangerous at all. It can assist you to trace the root cause of your problem and together we can solve the problem; and your sleep walking could be cure without any medication."

"I...." Eric started to consider.

"Everyone would have some secrets with them. I am a professional and your secrets are safe with me. I did not let Hyesung to stay as I believed that you might not want a third party to get to know your secret. Protecting the privacy and secrets of patients is the code of ethics and professional client care of every doctor or medical practitioner, especially for physcharist. You should not worry so much." Profesdor Cho spoke with assurance.

Eric exchange a glance with Professor Cho. The feeling of recovering from his sleepwalking won over his hesitation.

"Alright." Eric spoke after some time.

"Let's start then." Professor Cho walked over to the daybed and sat on a chair near it.

Eric lie on the daybed and tried to relax himself. However the clenched hands in front, on his abdominal betrayed him.

"You do not have to feel nervous." Professor Cho explained.

"I know." Eric chuckled with anxiety.

"Just close your eyes." Professor Cho leaned on his chair.

"Close my eyes?" Eric queried. The hypnotizing that he knew of was not like this. At least there should be a prop such as a dangling wrist watch swaying in front of his eyes or sometime similar.

"Yes, I need you to close your eyes." Professor Cho repeated.

Eric complied althought he had a lot of doubts in his mind. He closed his eyes but his eye balls could be seen moving underneath the eye lids, indicating that he was nervous.

"Take a deep breathe and slowly exhale." Eric's emotion did not escape Professor Cho's eyes.

Eric followed the instruction and adjusted his breathing pace till he was breathing slowly and easily.

Seeing that the eye balls no longer moving, Professor Cho was sure that Eric had relaxed. "Now, can you feel my fingertip pressing lightly in the middle of your forehead?" Professor Cho leaned forward and pressed his index finger on Eric's forehead.

"Yes." Eric replied.

"Good." Professor Cho lifted his finger up. "Now, imagine that there was a patch of white light at the place where my fingertip touched your forehead. The white light is moving downwards along your nose and till your throat. Slowly, the white light is travelling across your limbs and your breathing gets slower and lighter."

This time, Eric did not respond and it could be seen that his breathe became slow and light. Eric was into a semi hypnotized state.

"Very good. Let try to recall something." Professor Cho spoke in a slow and smoothing voice," What was the happiest thing that happened when you are younger?"

Eric's eyes were still shut and he was following Professor Cho's voice to recall the happiest thing. Unknowingly, Eric let out a smile. "When I first saw him."

"Him? Who is he?" Using a happy thought from memories to chase away the suppressed stress was one of the methods.

"Shin Hyesung." The smile on Eric was still obvious and he was in his happy thoughts.

"Oh." Professor Cho was surprised that the 'him' that Eric was talking about was Shin Hyesung. " Can you say in detail how did you two get to know each other? For example how old was you then?"

Eric paused for a while as he was thinking," It was when I was about to graduate from Middle high school. I went to visit my mother and he was there."

"Visiting your mother?" Professor Cho got the vital point," You are not staying with your mother?"

"Hmm." Eric replied. His expression suddenly turned sad.

"Okay let us go back then about you visiting your mother. How old were you?" Slowly guiding patient through the session was what a physcharist usually do.

"I was 15 years old." Eric's voice started to get slightly high pitched.

" What is it that you visited your mother?" Professor Cho was scribbling some notes on his notepad.

"My younger brother wanted to join his classmates for a camping trip and wanted me to impersonate him." Eric continued and was grinning.

"Your younger brother?" This piece of information surprised Professor Cho because he had no idea that Eric had a younger brother.

"Yes." Eric recalled about his younger brother and he started to fidget. " We are identical twins but we were separated since young. I follow my father while my brother followed my mother."

"Since you and your brother were separated, how did you two keep in contact?" Professor Cho put a star at this information.

"We contacted each other secretly. Our parents were unaware of this." Eric continued but he seemed emotional and he started to pull his hair lightly.

Professor Cho quickly consoled Eric," Okay. Let forget about this. Let talk about what happen when you saw Hyesung. The details of the day that you saw him."

The smile returned to Eric's face once again and he was in a cheerful mood," My brother and I arranged to meet along the way and exchanged our belongings. He will be going for his camping trip while I would go to my morher's place. When I reached home, I saw a boy sitting in the living room. The moment that he saw me, he waved and greeted me."

"Was the boy Hyesung?"

"Yes." Eric nodded his head and smiled in a bashful manner," It was the first time that I saw him and learnt that he was the buddy of my brother. They were very close just like brothers."

"Er can you describe of the first impression of Hyesung that you had?"

"It was nice and carefree talking to Hyesung. I was so envy of my brother that he had such a close buddy plus he had a soft and sweet voice, beautiful appearance and brilliant smile." Thereat, Eric's expression changed and something seemed to be weighing on his mind.

Professor Cho noticed it," So let talk about your younger brother?"

"There is nothing to talk about him." Eric became alarmed.

"You hate him?" Professor Cho made a wild guess and maybe this was what troubling Eric till he developed sleep walking.

"Hate him?" Eric shook his head violently and raised his voice, " No I do not hate him, I was just...." Eric stopped.

"You were just what?" Profesdor Cho questioned him.

"Just.... Envy." Eric sounded sorrowful.

"Envy? Envy of your brother?" Professor Cho tried again. He believed that Eric was not plainly envy of his younger brother.

"Yes." Eric responded.

"What did you envy your brother of?" Professor Cho asked again.

"Everything." Eric replied clearly and swiftly.

"Everything?" Professor Cho was surprised by Eric's reply but he reacted quickly and continued posing the next question," What do you mean by everything?"

"We were separated since young. Mother took him and not me. I envy my brother that he can live the life he wanted and he did not have to live in the Mun family. Each time that I met my brother, he was all smiles and he talked about his life, school, his friends etc  He was so happy." Eric paused and covered his face with his palms.

"You are miserable?" Professor Cho pressed on.

Eric continued burying his face in his hands and shook his head slowly, " No not really...." Eric was used to it.

"So, your brother...."

"He is gone." Eric replied coldly and a slight smile could be seen.

"Gone as in?" Professor Cho's heart beat quicken with the new information.

"Dead." Eric's smile deepened. "He is dead and so I do not have to be envy of him anymore."

Suddenly, as Eric was speaking; he leaped up and opened his eyes but they were expressionless while he stared at a certain direction.

Professor Cho was startled by Eric's movement and he almost fell off from his chair. The notepad in his hand slipped onto the floor. Professor Cho bent down and retrieved it.

The study room was enshrouded in dead silence. It was like a few seconds, a few minutes or a few hours later that Eric slumped back onto the daybed. His breathing stabled.

Professor Cho tried to direct back to the topic," You mention that your brother was dead?"

"Yes."

"So?" Professor Cho thought for a while," How did he die?"

If this was the crucial part, then the sudden uncontrollable action displayed by Eric brought about greater shock.

"I ended his life." Eric smirked," With a knife and I plunge him here." Eric gestured to his heart and started gesturing wildly," Once, twice, thrice and more..... I do not know how many times that I plunged at his heart. Blood! It was everywhere. The blood stained the knife, my hand was soaked with blood, it was in my eyes, my clothes and on the floor. In fact, everywhere....Arrggghhh. " Eric yelled hysterically.

This time, Professor Cho fell from his chair and he scrambled on his hands till he retreated far away from Eric. It was not until  his back hit the wall that Professor Cho realized that he had nowhere to retreat further.Professor Cho was trembling badly and he tried to wipe away the cold sweat that trickled on his forehead. He kept telling himself to remain calm and not be affected.

Eric continued chanting while his hand curled into a fist and was doing a plunging movement at his left chest," One time,  two times,  three times, four times...."

Professor Cho scowled and placed his hand on his chest. After taking a few deep breathe,  he returned to his chair," It's okay. Everything is okay now. You did not kill your brother. Now, slowly sit down and let us resume. Take a deep breathe. "

"I did not kill him." Eric muttered and unexpectedly cool down. He rested back on his daybed," I did not kill him. I did not kill him."

"Yes, you did not." Professor Cho consoled Eric and once again spoke in a smoothening and low voice," Now let us start again. Can you still recall the white light that is flowing in your body? Feel it's presence and let it goes up to your body; to your forehead. Can you feel it at your forehead? " Professor Cho leaned near Eric and pressed his finger on his forehead.

" The white light is floating upwards and it is slowly disappearing. Before it disappears completely, you will wake up." Professor Cho retracted his hand and leaned back on his chair.

After a short while,  Eric woke up and looked confused at Professor Cho.

"Professor Cho, what happen to me just now?" Eric was feeling uneasy.

"Nothing." Professor Cho shook his head and put on a false posture." You can go back first because I had some matter to attend to. I will review your case. When I found a way for your treatment, I will let Hyesung know for you to come back again."

"Er...." Eric wanted to ask further but seeing Professor standing up and he stopped. "Alright and so I will wait for your call then." Eric went up to shook Professor Cho's hand before he left the room.

Professor Cho observed Eric's departure till Eric was out of his sight before he slumped weakly against the wall like a deflated balloon.

"Oh my god." Professor Cho closed his eyes," What am I going to do?"

As a doctor, he should not disclose the confidential information of his patient but he could not help it when he recalled on the death of his student,  Jihoon.

"Could it be him who kill Jihoon?" Professor Cho could not believe that Jihoon didn't use hypnotization method on Eric as part of the treatment." No I could not allow Jihoon to die injustice while the suspect went scot free."

Professor Cho stood up and took out his hand phone from his pant's pocket. Thereafter, he rummaged among a stack of papers on his table to find a name card.  He dialled the number on the name card.

"Hello, Inpector Kim Dongwan? I am Professor Cho, Jihoon's Professor.  Is it convenient for me to speak to you? I have a very important matter which I need to speak to you in person urgently....."

                                                                            ***********************************************************************************

"How is it? What did Professor Cho said?" Hyesung could sense that Eric was not his usual self.

"Nothing much." Eric's hands were on the steering wheel and he squeezed out a smile but his eyes were full of worries.

"Oh I remember that before I left the room, I heard Professor Cho said that he will be using hypnotizing?"

"Yes he did." Eric replied and the speed of the vehicle slowed down. Eric swerved the vehicle towards the roadside.

"And how did it go?" Hyesung asked after seeing the vehicle had stopped.

Eric slammed his hand on the steering wheel and the horn sounded. Hyesung was taken aback by Eric's action and he widened his eyes at him.

Eric realized his action and calmed down. He murmured aplogies to Hyesung and lowered his head," I do not know what happen after the hypnotizing because Professor Cho did not say anything at all."

"I see..." Hyesung was a bit surprised because it was not Professor Cho's style of being like that.

"So, I am frustrated." Eric looked out at the windows and sighed loudly.

Hyesung patted Eric's shoulder," You do not have to worry too much. I believe that Professor Cho know what he is doing. He will definitely find a way to help you. Oh did Professor Cho mention anything else?"

"He said that he will review my case and will contact us again for another appointment." Eric returned his gaze to Hyesung.

"See, you do not have to worry at all. Professor Cho will find a way to help you." Hyesung patted Eric's shoulder again to assure him.

When Hyesung wanted to remove his hand, Eric grabbed his hand and with a tug, he was hugging Hyesung.

"Sungie, do you know that? I had this feeling which made me feel uneasy but I do not know why." Eric was shaking while he was saying this.

Hyesung was shocked at Eric's action," Nothing will happen. I'm sure that you can cure your problem with Professor Cho's help."

Hyesung did not push away Eric though he felt uncomfortable at their current position. But Hyesung knew that Eric needed him, needed some comfort.

Eric tightened his embrace on Hyesung," Sungie, there is something that I had wanted to tell you but I did not know how to say it." Eric's voice soften and seemed like a ballad in Hyesung's ear.

"You just say whatever is on your mind  Don't forget our relationship." Hyesung smiled and placed his hands on Eric's chest, with the intention to get away but Eric's hold was too strong for him.

"Sungie." Eric hesitated.

"What.. what?" Hyesung looked into Eric's eyes.

Eric held onto his shoulders, " I....." He hesitated but he decided to speak out," I like you."

"What?" Hyesung was dumbfounded but soon he was grinning," I know and I like you too. Like brothers."

"It a different kind of like." Eric pressed onto Hyesung shoulders and Hyesung almost screamed out in pain.

Eric cupped Hyesung's face," The like which I am talking about was Love. Since a long time ago, I discover that I fell in love with you."

Eric's words landed on Hyesung like an atomic bomb and he was unable to react.

It was after a long while that Hyesung managed to find his voice, Er Eric, you are joking with me right?"

Eric grabbed Hyesung's hands," Do you think that I am joking?"

Hyesung was unable to speak as if something was stuck in his throat. Should he push Eric away when he needed help at his most vulnerable time.

"Of... of course not." Hyesung sounded stiff," It is..  that it was too sudden and I am so shocked. "

"You are not rejecting me?" Eric pulled Hyesung's hand to his lips for a kiss. He was relieved tgat Hyesung did not reject him or push him away.

"I....." Hyesung did not know what to say. " Can you give me some time to think about this. Eric ah, you know that we had been buddies all this years. Suddenly you blurt out that you had special feeling for me and I am confused."

Eric smiled happily at Hyesung," No problem. I can let you take your time to think about this, about us." So long Hyesung did not reject him outright, Eric felt that there was a glimpse of hope.

" Er..." Hyesung faked a smile," It is settled then.  Let think think about all this and I will give you an answer." Hyesung could only reply this way to Eric.