Rule #44: There are situations that might be out of deductive reasoning and that's okay

"The country has been on the edge of their seats as serial killer Park Yoo Chang enters, what insiders state, is the final day of the month long trial. Park Yoo Chang and Seo Sang Min have had the nation's attention ever since they had been arrested and charged for the horrendous murders of over 50 es over the 12 year period and the murder of Chief of police Kwon Tae Hwan. We will now take you to our correspondent live at the courthouse."

"We are standing outside the Seoul district courthouse as the proceedings are start to go underway. Today's session is stated to be not only the most vital to the case, but also the one that most people have been talking about. Park Saera, Park Yoo Chang's daughter and last surviving witness, is taking the taking the stand to testify against her father and Seo Sang Min."

The camera panned across the stairs leading up to the courthouse showing large masses of people hold signs and pictures of victims.

"Crowds of supporters have gathered in front of the house in solidarity of Park Saera and her younger brother. There's only one verdict that these folks are waiting for.  Back to you at the studio."

-----

Saera stood nervously outside the doors that lead to the courtroom and nervously played with the hem of her blazer.

"You'll be fine." The prosecutor reassured, "Just remember the questions we practiced and take deep breaths. Don't look at Yoo Chang. Just focus on me or your brother and you'll be okay."

Saera nodded as the woman squeezed her shoulder, "Ready?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm ready."

Saera had sat through most of the month long trial, listening to every single gritty detail that the lawyers set out. They painted him as a psychotic murderer whose only purpose of existence was to hurt people.

Even the defence side had chosen to plead guilty, so now the trial had fallen to trying to decide the proper sentencing because the prosecutor wanted a death sentence.

"Alright, then." The prosecutor said with a confident smile, "Let's get him."

-----

Saera's throat was dry after answering intrusive questions for 30 minutes straight.

The defence side was relentless as they tore up every little part of her of past that she had tried to ignore. They made her relive the moment of her mother's murder, her father's 'murder', being kidnapped and Yoo Chang's confession about Jinyoung.

"So he told you that he killed your brother while you were in captivity?" Yoo Chang's lawyer asked.

Saera nodded firmly, "Yes. He told me that he killed him because Sang Min was in a relationship with him and had told Jinyoung the crimes that his father was committing and wanted him to commit as well. Yoo Chang also thought that Jinyoung would be a distraction to Sang Min so he just wanted to get him out of the way."

The prosecutor smiled at Saera from behind her desk as the defence attorney walked in front of her.

"Isn't it entirely possible that he just made that up to get a rise out of you? He could have fabricated his own involvement just to traumatize you."

Saera's eye twitched, she hated the way the attorney spoke to her. His voice always sounded like he thought that Saera made the whole thing up.

But she had to keep her cool, "It is possible, however, in order to escape being locked up, I convinced Sang Min that I could find him proof of what Yoo Chang did, so I called the medical examiner and had her read directly from Jinyoung's autopsy file. "

The prosecutor stood up and smug smile and handed the judge the file, "We'd like to enter this into evidence."

The judge scanned the documents before reading out the same thing that Hwasa had said over the phone when she was confined.

The defence attorney's brows furrowed as he listened to the reading of the file, but suddenly the court room fell silent as everyone, including the judge, looked over at  Yoo Chang.

He was laughing.

No, he was giggling.

He was bent over, covering his mouth with his hands as he laughed hysterically.

Even his lawyer looked gobsmacked by his behaviour.

The judge's eyes narrowed, "Mr.Park I'd like to remind you that you're still on trial for multiple counts of 1st degree murder that you pled guilty for. "

"I know." Yoo Chang said between laughs, "I just can't keep a straight face when I see her look so traumatized."

His defence attorney's eye twitched as he stormed over to his client and leaned close to him, "Shut up." He hissed.

"What?" Yoo Chang said in befuddlement, "It's funny, even if I get the death sentence, she'll still be scarred by me."

"We request a short recess!" The defence yelled.

The judged stared Yoo Chang down, "Good idea and Mr. Lim, I suggest you have a long talk with your client about his courtroom behaviour."

------

When court came back from recess, Saera was back on the stand.

She could tell that the defence was visibly rattled and the previous cockiness was replaced by uncertainty. The attorney asked basic questions, no longer trying to pry into her past history.

He must've figured out that it would only make Yoo Chang look more guilty.

Once he sat down, the prosecution stood up and walked up to her with a soft smile, "So Saera, you've been through a lot, but I just have two questions. The first one is do you believe your father is still the same man that he was on the night he killed your mother?"

"No." Saera said without hesitation. "He's worse. He had time to turn his killing spree into a career and even recruited a mentally disabled man and manipulated him into carrying out his crimes."

The prosecutor smiled, "And my second question is do you honestly believe that, based on the evidence that was earlier discussed, that Park Yoo Chang was mentally stable when committing these crimes?"

 "He plotted my kidnapping to pin his crimes on me and Sang Min, he was aware of the consequences of his actions and acknowledged that they were wrong and was scared by them."  Saera said while staring straight at the lawyer.

She quirked her brow, "Answer the question Ms. Choi."

"Yes, I do."

"Prosecution rests."

-----

The prosecutor told Saera that this case had set the record for the shortest amount of time a judge spent deliberating before coming to a sentencing.

It took exactly 30 minutes after closing arguments.

So when she sat at the back of the courtroom with her fingers laced with Youngjae's, she was barely breathing as the judge took a seat.

He started going through the formal statement until he reached the most important part, "In the case of Park Yoo Chang, the defendant is sentenced to death row. He will receive one mandatory appeal before his execution and until then will remain under maximum security in Seoul Penitentiary and Seo Sang Min, who is currently in holding, will be sentenced to court mandated therapy and will be institutionalized indefinitely until seen fit."   

Saera's jaw dropped and her body started to shake as the court room bursted out into murmurs, cheers and gasps. Some people weren't subtle and high-fived and applauded as the rest of the sentencing were read.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "Is this real?"

Youngjae shook their laced hands up and down in excitement, "It's true. Saera, you did it!"

Saera let out a stunned laugh before dropping her head against Youngjae's shoulder. After a month long trial, it was all over.

It was all over and he was going away until he died.

And Sang Min was finally going to get the treatment that he should've gotten years ago.

It took a moment before tears streamed down her face, her body shaking as she buried her face in his neck.

"We would like to call Choi Saera to give her final words." The prosecutor said with a smirk.

Saera stood up and wiped her face before walking up to the microphone that was set up. This time she stared at her father, the man whose DNA was a part of her and felt every part of her harden over.

She didn't think that she ever felt this much blackout rage directed towards one individual. It was boiling and raging through her veins.

"You're not human." She rasped out, "You're an animal and you deserve to be treated like one. You deserve to be put down and I am so ing glad that you will be. In that short time before you die, I hope you have fun being alone with that ed up little mind of yours and I hope it eats you alive that the only victim your mind will attack is yourself. Jinyoung's death put you in jail, never forget that."

Yoo Chang's face was dark, his eye con