Apparently, Jun was a master of timing. Just when Jisoo had braced himself to step in once more, he casually walked into the scene, sending Jisoo and Seungcheol a grin and acting as if seeing bloody and beaten people was as normal as a hot day in summer (to be fair, it probably was to him - but Jisoo hastily tried not to think about it too much). He was wearing his usual ragged, black hoodie that seemed to appear out of thin air whenever a fight was drawing closer, but this time the hood was lowered. It gave him the somewhat innocent look of a poor college kid just randomly passing by.

Apparently, Jun was also a great actor since a very convincing expression of fear crossed his features as soon as the people stuck in the fight noticed him. At the sight of a new witness, Chaerin stopped attacking immediately and her battered Forcebearers pulled back as well. Only Kangin was left standing in the middle of the road, his torn and bloody clothes the only indicator of the fight he had just taken part in. Seokmin was lying next to him, half-conscious, still loyally clinging to his his hand. The burly Wielder shook him off with an annoyed grimace.

After a few seconds of horrified staring, Jun finally opened his mouth. "Oh my god! Help! A fight! An ambush! Criminals! Don't come closer; I've already called the police! They'll be here in a minute!" he yelled passionately and waved his arms, Kangin and Chaerin cringing at his volume while Jisoo and Seungcheol shared a short, dumbfounded look. The Wielder could feel the amusement of both his Bonded bubbling in his chest and the feeling made it quite hard to suppress a smile, although it conflicted with his anger and concern about Seokmin's condition.

While Jun kept loudly exclaiming about murder and robberies, Seungcheol leaned closer to Jisoo's ear. "His expression is good but he's horrible at delivering lines. Jeonghan would do a much better job."

"I don't think he needs to be convincing; he just needs to be loud enough," Jisoo whispered back, the smile finally tugging at the corners of his mouth. At that sight, Seungcheol tousled his hair before turning his attention back to the shouting Warrior.

Jun's tactic of causing a ruckus seemed to work just fine when Chaerin began to glance around nervously, even taking a few more steps back to look as uninvolved in the situation as possible. It was obvious that she wasn't very keen on turning the family feud into a public issue, especially not when it came to police involvement. Jisoo could only imagine the wrath she would face from the rest of her family if her meddling would get Kangin and her arrested - and judging by her pale face, her thoughts had wandered in a similar direction. Jun was still spouting nonsense when she suddenly cursed loudly and turned around, motioning her Forcebearers to follow her with an arrogant flick of the wrist. With a last venomous glare in Kangin's direction, she strode away, pulling Minzy with her who seemed reluctant to leave but had to obey in order not to be the recipient of Chaerin's foul mood.

As soon as they were gone, Jun stopped rambling and Kangin began to gather his belongings, prompting Jisoo to run over to check on his friend. Seokmin's eyes were closed, but his breathing was steady and when Jisoo sat next to him and touched his forehead, the ghost of his usual smile flickered over his face. "Your fingers are cold." The Wielder immediately pulled back with an apology, but Seokmin only shook his head, eyes still closed. "Feels good."

Smiling, Jisoo took his hand, even though Kangin's judging stare made him quite uncomfortable. Jun and Seungcheol came over to take a look as well and Kangin warily eyed the newcomer in his black hoodie but apparently decided not to ask any questions. Instead he focused on assessing the damage done to his clothes.

It took Jisoo a moment to gather his courage before he dared to address the elephant in the room. He squeezed the Guardian's fingers in for support who weakly returned the gesture. "K-Kangin, we need to t-talk about how you're treating S-Seokmin."

The bulky Wielder looked up from his shirt, his expression filled with disbelief, and Jisoo had to fight the strong urge to hide in a hole – until the feeling of Jun's hands on his shoulders boosted his confidence quite a bit, his Warrior's figure towering over him protectively. He leaned into the touch for added comfort and faced the other Wielder head-on, not breaking eye contact, although Kangin's disbelief had morphed into anger.

"It's my decision how I treat my Bonded. What the hell are you trying to say?" he growled, fists clenched.

"S-Seokmin is important to me and you're abusing your status as a W-Wielder." Jisoo blushed at Kangin's pitying look but still determinedly stared back, squeezing Seokmin's hand slightly harder.

"Great, now what?"

"Well, you know, Jisoo here is currently in contracts with seven very capable Forcebearers, six of them are Warriors. And you have what? One Guardian?" came Jun's voice from behind while he casually began to massage his Wielder's shoulders.

Jisoo flinched at the implication while Kangin stiffened and glared at the Warrior. "Are you threatening me?!"

Jisoo didn't need to see his face to be able to imagine the smirk playing on Jun's lips. "Wow, you're more intelligent than you loo-"

"No, we're not threatening you," Seungcheol quickly jumped in to salvage the situation and silenced Jun with a sharp look, surprisingly similar to one of Jihoon's you-better-shut-your-trap-now-or-else-glares. "It's just that Seokmin is our friend and we don't want to see his ability getting abused."

The Wielder watched as Kangin relaxed slightly at Seungcheol's reassurance, his expression still tense and defiant but mixed with an ever so small hint of remorse.

Suddenly a thought popped up, a thought he immediately tried to send back to wherever it had come from due to his own strict morals - but it was stuck in the back of Jisoo's head, prodding him while he tried to follow the conversation between his Bonded and Kangin.

That's blackmail, he argued with himself - It's just an offer; he doesn't have to take it. - You are using his emotions against him. - He abuses Seokmin. - That does not make your idea any better. You are a terrible human being for even thinking about it.

Jisoo became aware that his Forcebearer's had noticed his restlessness and unease when Jun's warm fingers began to draw soothing circles on the bare skin of his neck and Seungcheol sent him several questioning glances while talking to the other Wielder. He forcibly shut down the debate in his head and took a deep breath. "Kangin, I want to offer you a deal."

The burly Wielder raised a condescending eyebrow while the Forcebearers looked on in confusion, not sure what to make of the turmoil inside of Jisoo. "What kind of deal?" Kangin finally asked.

"I want to exchange Seokmin against your sister," Jisoo said calmly, neither his voice nor his face betraying any of his conflicting emotions.

Kangin raised his eyebrows even further, a look of disbelief crossing his features. "My sister? Why? What does she have to do with anything?"<