“Now that I’ve decided to join, officially, are you finally going to get these ropes off of me?” Kris asked.

Toying with the thought of leaving Kris tied up, Hui Qi sat next to Kris, a grin slowly creeping up onto her face.  Noticing her excitement, Kris inwardly groaned, hoping he wouldn’t actually have to stay tied up.  He already had rope burns from flopping around beforehand.  

Hui Qi slyly responded, “I was thinking of letting you go but… the prospect of seeing you be a flubbering mess in front of your boy toy is also quite amusing.”

Kris groaned, this time outloud.  He was definitely NOT going to enjoy the rest of his meager life stuck in this guild where his closest (and only) friend had found another… interest.  And not to mention that its leader was an amazing manipulator, his kidnapper was as fast as the wind, and the kid with the puffy eyes (from crying: he swore scaring the kid into tears was a complete accident, that’s just how his face was) kept staring at him.

Hui Qi then started untying his feet.  Suddenly flustered, Kris stuttered “W-wait!  What are you doing?  Wasn’t I supposed to stay tied up?”  Hui Qi continued to untie the ropes binding his feet, and then continued on to the binds around his wrists sparing him a glance to examine the flabbergasted expression resting on his face.

“Well, watching you struggle in these ropes would also be hilarious, but I can’t be picking you up every time you fall.  And getting Sehun to carry you is too much work for him.  So, I figured I’d spare you the pain and untie you,” reasoned Hui Qi.  After all, Hui Qi was a logical person, despite what others might have thought.  What reason did she have left to continue to restrict his movement?  Kris had already agreed to stay with his bestie in the guild, and since he was basically the world to Kris, there was no way he would ever think of leaving.

Kris sighed in relief as Hui Qi finished untying the ropes binding his limbs.  He finally relaxed on the couch and really looked around.  As Kris soaked in his surroundings, Hui Qi rose up from the couch, coiling the rope around her arm.  When she finished, she secured the rope and stuffed it in the bag that previously held Kris.  Hui Qi then threw the bag up the stairs, resulting in a crash.

Shocked by the loud noise, Kris whipped his head around to find its source. He saw Hui Qi surprisingly (wasn't she right next to him a second ago?) appear from underneath the stairs with the same bag she had tossed.  

Yixing poked his head from out of the kitchen and requested, “Hey, Hui Qi?  Can you call Tao and Sehun down?  Dinner’s almost ready.”  After hearing a yelp from within, Yixing returned to the kitchen, leaving Hui Qi with the task of herding Tao and Sehun down for dinner.

Hui Qi approached the stairs once more and cupped her hands to her face.  “Sehun!  Tao!  Wake up, dinner’s ready!”

Kris flinched at the volume and mumbled under his breath, “I can’t believe you’re too lazy to go and physically wake them up.”

“I heard that, .  I’m not too lazy, you’ll see; there’s a method to my ‘madness’.”  Kris could hear the sound of footsteps pounding against the second floor.  Tao came down first.  He looked like he was still half asleep and was rubbing a fist against his still-puffy eyes.  When he got to the landing on the stairs however, he disappeared from Kris’ view; a loud squeal could be heard (most likely from Tao).

Kris looked on in confusion, “What the fu-,”  he suddenly felt a lurch in his stomach, almost as if he was plummeting down a roller coaster ride.  Oh my god, I think I’m going to throw up.

“Jesus Christ, can someone direct the newbie to the bathroom?  I think he’s going to hurl.”  Sehun came down the stairs next, but unlike Tao, he had actually noticed the gaping hole in the stair landing and calmly floated over it to get to the first floor.  Tao reappeared from under the steps just like Hui Qi had just moments before.

“Since when were our stairs in an even worse condition than before?”  Tao furrowed his brows, a bit disgruntled at the fact that he almost broke a leg.

“They broke when I threw that sack with the rope in it up there.  And Tao, how many times do we have to tell you, no time manipulation outside of a job.  How long did you freeze it for this time?”

A bit indignant, Tao defended, “Oh come on, Hui Qi.  It wasn’t even that bad this time!  It was barely even 20 minutes, I swear.”  He put on an innocent face, as if trying to make his point that he didn’t screw up that badly this time.  

Kris looked up with a start.  “Not that bad!?  I almost threw up in the middle of your living room!  All because you didn’t notice that enormous hole in the steps and had to freaking manipulate TIME ITSELF to save your sorry !”  Hui Qi quickly corrected him with a quiet “our living room” when he took a deep breath to resume his rant.

“I can’t believe you guys.  How do expect to take care of Joonmyeon in such crappy conditions!?” Kris huffed out, breathing deeply once he finished his schpiel.  The deep breaths helped lower his heart rate and calm his mind, now that he was done venting out his anger on his new guildmates.

Joonmyeon popped his head out of the kitchen once more.  “Oh I’m fine here.  I don’t mind at all, really.  I’ll be just great as long as Xingie is here with me, oh and the rest of you too of course.”  He burst into a killer smile and went back into the kitchen, leaving Kris dumbfounded in his spot and Hui Qi and Sehun snickering.  Tao ignored Kris’s speechless state and made a beeline for the couch to continue his nap from earlier.

“Well, now that that’s all settled, let’s eat, shall we?”  This time it was Yixing who peeked his head out of the kitchen to inform the guild members that dinner was ready to be served.

Sehun grunted out a “finally I’m starving over here” and proceeded to the kitchen area.  Hui Qi followed him and Kris begrudgingly trailed behind them.  As Kris entered the kitchen, he observed that it was just as run down as the rest of the area.  He was surprised that Yixing was able to even walk in the horrible room, let alone cook in it.

After spying Joonmyeon seated at the table, Kris headed directly for the open seat closest to him.  Yixing came over to set a bowl of steaming jasmine rice, hidden under some tofu and bok choy, before each chair around the table.  “Hmm?  Where’s Tao?”  Yixing asked after he had finished serving dinner.

Everyone began to dig in at once, ignoring Yixing's question.  Kris, however, was still a bit queasy from earlier and just looked on at the rest of the guild.  Hui Qi was sitting at the head of the table (coincidently Kris ended up sitting at the other end) with Sehun on her right.  He assumed that the empty seat on his left was for Tao, seeing as Yixing had already settled next to Joonmyeon after the latter eagerly waved him over, excited about the prospect of spending more time with his new friend(s).  Kris glared at the idle chatter that was going on between the two, his disdain noted by a munching Hui Qi.

"Oh, he’s sleeping on the couch.  Don’t mind him; he’ll wake up when he’s hungry," Hui Qi finally replied without even looking up from her meal.

“Aw that’s too bad.  I’ll just wrap up his portion so he can eat it later.”  Yixing got up from his seat to open a box of newly bought saran wrap and covered Tao’s bowl in the clear plastic.  He went to open the door of the refrigerator but Sehun spoke up to stop him.

“Oh Yixing.  Just leave it.  I’m sure Tao won’t be able to use the microwave to reheat that if you put it in there.” Yixing shook his head in amusement, it seemed as if someone always had to remind the guild that Tao was a horrible cook.  He set the bowl back on the counter and resumed his own meal.

"Good.  I hope he enjoys his cold meal. Stupid jerk almost made me throw up just now."  Kris mumbled as he continued staring at the dish in front of him.  He was poking around at the food, still hesitant about eating it.

"Sorry man, but you're going to have to get used to it like we have."  Sehun gestured to Hui Qi and himself with his fork.

"Yep.  Tao tends to abuse his powers a bit even though he still at controlling them.  So you're going to have to make do and fast; we don't want you puking all over the floor just because you couldn't handle a little time slip."  Hui Qi shrugged at Kris as if time slips were considered a normal, everyday thing.  (It wasn’t.  Time manipulation was a rare power for any Elucian to be born with.)

Hui Qi was about to continue stuffing her face with the steaming meal before her phone dinged.  She looked down in confusion at the screen before her face lit up in surprise.  "Woah Sehun guess what?  Yejin just texted me that she's on her way here."

A/N:  Now that the whole kidnapping fiasco is done for, the action's gonna die down a bit (sorry >_<)  But Tao's abuse of his powers is just hilarious >_<  Please comment and subscribe if you enjoyed this chapter!  We'll seeya next week!

Hi guy! The action may be dying down but at least Yejin is on her way to spice things up a bit lol. Hope you enjoyed the update!