<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:

def _direct_set(self, key, value):
        '''
            _direct_set - INTERNAL USE ONLY!!!!

                Directly sets a value on the underlying dict, without running through the setitem logic

        '''
        dict.__setitem__(self, key, value)
        return value