“YA! Knock it off would you? You’re acting like a mum and that’s my job!” Kihyun joked, which followed with a playful jab to the ribs. Hyungwon grabbed his side and turned to face kihyun. Hyungwons face changed from cold, to extremely annoyed.

“THAT HURT!” He yelled, turning to face kihyun. His ears started to burn a bright red in anger.

“So? Leave the poor kid alone, you’re intimidating him for now reason” Kihyun nagged. “If he was going to do something, he would’ve very well done it by now, it isn’t as if he hasn’t had the opportunity to do so…”

Hyungwon knew all too well that Kihyun spoke the truth. There had already been a ton of opportunities for changkyun to make a move, if he had bad intentions. Now Hyungwon was not only annoyed with Changkyuns responses, but he was also pissed off at Kihyun. He took a moment to try and find a comeback, but he just couldn’t. Hyungwon got flustered.

“UGH, FINE! Like I care anyway!” Hyungwon huffed in annoyance. He threw his arms down and stomped off into the kitchen, sitting down at the table on the opposite side of the room. Changkyun watched in shock and amazement at the sudden change of character, which made him smirk to himself slightly. Hyungwons actions reminded him of a toddler that was in the middle of having a temper tantrum because his parents wouldn’t buy him what he wanted. Changkyun tried his hardest to hold in his giggle.

“Aww, how cute! Hyungwonie is Angwie!” Jooheon teased. Hyungwon heard jooheon loud and clear, in which he responded with an ice cold death glare. Something Changkyun knew straight away that he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of. Changkyun glanced at jooheon who had a huge grin across his face. Hyungwons reaction had only made Jooheon even more amused. Jooheon added a little more fuel to the fire by shooting Hyungwon a few hearts.

Minhyuk clapped his hands together, gathering everyones attention and trying to ease the tension from hyungwon.

“So what are we going to do now?” He asked, curious as to what the next step was. He had finally gotten over the fact that Changkyun could see them. Everyone turned to Changkyun, wondering what he was going to say.

The situation had finally calmed down and after the hunters left, well despite Changkyuns sudden change in appearance that is. Everyone was still all holding in their questions, but they had other things to worry about first. Shownu was finally starting to regain some colour in his cheeks. His wounds was doing better, but it was still too soon to allow him to be walking around or moving a lot.

“You guys can stay here for a while, I don’t mind really. Either way, it looks like your friend there could use a bit more rest. “ Changkyun said while turning his head in the direction of Shownu. Changkyuns response shocked the group. Even Hyungwon, turned back at Changkyun in utter surprise.

“re… really? It’s no problem?” Minyhuk stuttered in amazement.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not as if you haven’t been here the last couple of days…” He said smiling. Everyone was actually shocked at the answer. Sure they had been there for a few days already, but they were all expecting changkyun to tell them to leave asap. After all, that is the common reaction, even from fellow keepers.

Unlike humans, keepers tend to hide themselves and disconnect themselves from other keepers. Being in groups was dangerous, there are more of a chance to be discovered from hunters. It was very rare for keepers to be in groups, unless they were of their own kinds.

“But I have one condition” Changkyun stated, turning the conversation more serious. It was actually the first time changkyun had spoken so seriously. They time he had been mumbling or stuttering.

“don’t leave the house” Changkyun said sternly, as if warning the group. Everyone was confused at the condition. Why weren’t they allowed to leave. It’s not as if they had intentions of leaving, after all it would be dumb to leave with their current situation.

“And why is that?” Kihyun asked curiously, confused to the request. Changkyun turned and looked Kihyun directly in the eyes.

“Because I can’t protect you if you go outside” He replied with an accomplished smile. Everyone burst out laughing at changkyuns statement. Jooheon was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. On the other hand, Kihyun was on the receiving hand of wonho hitting his leg. No one took changkyuns statement serious, all thinking it was a joke. That face he pulled while saying it didn’t really help either.

“Ahh, Sorry I should probably explain” Changkyun said a little frustrated and shocked at the reaction. After all, from his point of view he was being very serious. Everyone was still wheezing from laughter. Changkyun waited patiently for the group to settle down before explaining. When everyone had settled he finally started to explain.

“Earlier when the hunters arrived, I assumed they were looking for you, since it’s not every day we have a random inspection for keepers. During that time, one of the hunters pulled out a wisp branch, rightt?” he asked. Everyone nodded in agreeance, remembering back to the earlier scenario. 

“Well...The wisp branch drained of power just before reaching you. Of course, the hunters thought that was a coincidence and that the branch had just outlived it’s life, you all probably thought so too.” Everyone began to exchange looks with one another, trying to figure out what way this conversation would go. They had all though they’d gotten lucky.

“To put it simply, that wasn’t a coincidence. Anything supernatural can’t be detected within here, even by a wisp branch and anything that is used as a detection device will either die, or give off a negative”.

Changkyuns explanation left the group with mixed reactions. Some were in shock, while others were simply confused and wondered how even the wisp branch died. Kihyun was the deepest in thought, after all, he knew a lot about the wisp branch, even for a keeper.

“Do you have a seal? Or maybe a barrier?” Kihyun asked, still uncertain of changkyuns method. Changkyun fell silent and avoided eye contact.

“It’s something like that”

------------------------ AUTHOR NOTES ------------------------

Welp....1k words....//shot

Now that i have gotten past the entry stage (suprisingly). I think i have decided how to speed it up without loosing information! If you have any questions about the current chapters, feel free to ask in the comments or send me a message <3