"Wait, what? Wonwoo? The guy who almost killed you?!" Jisoo asked, visibly stunned by the revelation. The eyes of his Bonded flitted from the tall Warrior to him.

Mingyu examined him, brows still drawn into a frown. "How do you know?"

With flushed cheeks, the Wielder hung his head in shame and avoided the piercing gaze. "I a-asked about it while you were still under Seungri's influence. I'm sorry."

After a moment of tense silence, the Warrior sighed. "I don't blame you; I'd probably do the same thing. But yeah, the same guy." Uneasily, he took a tentative sip of his tea and grimaced at the strong herbal taste before he continued. "I said I wouldn't talk about it but I'm pretty much out of options right now, so I guess there's not much else left to do."

"You really don't have to if you're uncomfortable," Jisoo reassured and Mingyu sent him a small smile - the first since he had woken up. It made his face look much softer, erasing some of the harsh lines, and the Wielder once again marvelled at how handsome the male was before he forced himself to stay focused.

"Well, I think your Forcebearers want to know anyway," Mingyu said with a shrug and everyone apart from the Wielder nodded.

"So. Wonwoo. It's a weird story actually. I don't really know what to make of it either and I can't really remember most of it which makes it even harder to understand his reasons. He was my best friend all throughout elementary school but he moved away right before we entered middle school. I remember throwing a massive fit because of it." He smiled again at the memory, brighter this time, his eyes twinkling with nostalgia. "He returned by himself in high school, just before I turned seventeen, and we got along but not as well as back then. He still offered to take me in when my parents kicked me to the curb, though. Living with him was nice but he was kinda reclusive and didn't interact all that much with me or others. I mean, he was a quiet kid in elementary school too, but he'd always open up to me." Mingyu rose to pick up the pillow he had thrown at the wall earlier, before he slumped back into the armchair, hugging it. "I don't really know what's happened to him or his family during the time he was gone because he never talked about it. I think it might've had something to do with the Organisation. Maybe his parents sent him back to Seoul to hide or something, no clue. Well, everything was fine until I met my former Wielder." His gaze had turned steely and his body stiffened in anger. Jisoo watched him with concern but decided not to interrupt. "A few months after my eighteenth birthday, I came home after school and found a guy standing in front of our building. He said he had a delivery for Jeon Wonwoo but couldn't find the apartment. If I could show him the way. I told him that I was his roommate and offered to give the package to Wonwoo, but he insisted that he needed a signature from him. Like an idiot, I brought that bastard to our apartment... god, I was so stupid." The Warrior's voice broke and he buried his face in his hands. His next words were muffled. "It's all my damn fault."

After a few long seconds, Jisoo couldn't bear it anymore. He got up and slowly moved towards the Warrior. His Bonded stayed behind on the sofa, tense and worried about their Wielder's safety, but Jisoo only sent them a calming smile when their concern reached him. After Mingyu had made no attempt to stop him, he sat down on the armrest of the armchair and started rubbing the shaking shoulders of the other. To everyone's surprise, the Warrior leaned into the touch and hid his face in the Wielder's chest. Jisoo could feel tears seeping through his shirt while he ran his fingers through the shaggy hair until Mingyu had calmed down.

When the Warrior resurfaced, his face was red but he looked a lot less tense. Awkwardly he moved out of the Wielder's arms into the corner of the armchair furthest away from Jisoo, who got the hint and went back to his original seat between Minghao and Chan.

"Sorry about that. Won't happen again. Uhm, yes, Wonwoo." Mingyu still seemed frazzled but he tried to cover it up as much as he could. "So, Jiyong came and I stupidly brought him into our flat and called for Wonwoo and once he stepped into the room everything went to hell. I'm still not sure what exactly happened back then; it was all way too fast. I think Jiyong had a knife or something hidden somewhere. Anyway, the next thing I knew was that I had a bleeding gash on my cheek and Jiyong was pointing a gun at Wonwoo, saying that if I don't bond with him, he would shoot my friend."

At the mention of guns, Jisoo paled and pressed himself against Minghao's side, who wrapped a protective arm around him.

"Well, there wasn't much I could do, right? Wonwoo begged me to stop but I couldn't just watch my childhood friend get shot; of course I accepted. That contract was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced." The Warrior released a shuddering breath before he continued. "Once I was caught, Jiyong used me to get Wonwoo. Nobody knew my rank back then, myself included; I only got forcebonded because they assumed that Wonwoo would agree to their demands after they'd gotten me. I know that at least you two," he nodded towards Seokmin and Minghao, "are rank five, so you know what happens when Wielders find out. I'm high ranking too, which probably saved my life since they didn't just get rid of me once they had Wonwoo in a contract. After a while they got Seungri to tame me though, 'cause I was a pretty rebellious kid." He smiled a very bitter smile and punched the pillow. "But Wonwoo did everything they asked of him; he never said or did anything he wasn't supposed to and just followed along. From time to time he would make suggestions and got praised for it; he's clever and Jiyong noticed that quickly. He actually thinks pretty highly of Wonwoo; he even let him keep his part-time job at a Chinese restaurant. I guess gang life is his thing after all," Mingyu scoffed, his face scrunched up in disgust but his eyes held sadness.

"Did you ever find out why they wanted him so bad?" Seokmin asked after a few beats of silence.

The Warrior sighed and squished the pillow. "Same reason all Wielders want Forcebearers: He's one of the Others and his ability is valuable. Valuable enough for the head of the Organization to personally come to collect him." He snorted but he couldn't quite hide the sorrow in his expression. "He sees stuff, you know? Not in a vision kinda way but he sees the bond between Forcebearer and Wielder and - the most important part for the Organisation - he can determine the rank of bonded Forcebearers without seeing their mark. They got quite a few high ranking people through him; I don't think I want to know what's happened to the Wielders though."

Minghao whistled through his teeth while Chan moved closer to a tense-looking Jisoo, entwining their fingers. "Damn. Of course they would want him; that sounds awfully convenient. So this Jiyong character, your former Wielder, is the leader of the whole thing? Man, that makes everything a hell of a lot worse," the redhead said, his face tense. "I've only heard rumours about GD but I always counted myself lucky that I never had to deal with him. Given that you were his Forcebearer, I guess it's not too surprising that you ended up half-dead in a backyard." He flinched when Jisoo's elbow met his side in response to his insensitive words. With an apologetic grin, he reached out to ruffle his Wielder's hair.

"But what exactly happened?" Chan asked, thinly veiled curiosity lacing his voice.

Mingyu sighed again and pressed the pillow harder against his chest, his expression miserable. "That's actually the part I'd rather forget about but now that I've started already..." He took another sip of tea before he continued. "Like I said, they forced me to meet Seungri because I acted up too much and not even getting punished could keep me in line for too long. After that everything is fuzzy. Seungri's ability works a bit like a battery: he can only use it once before he needs to recharge for a few days but the effects last for about three weeks. Apparently he used it on me a while ago, but went on a trip? Mission? I have no idea; he wasn't there to renew it at least, and I was getting more and more conscious while he was gone. Nobody noticed a thing though, because I just continued acting as if everything was the same as usual and I guess everyone just assumed that he had renewed it before he left. Also two major things were happening at the time which probably helped me stay undetected as well: There was a big trade c