Xuefen sat alone in his room that he shared with Chenle, and played his Ocarina for the two Dream Eaters he had summoned.

One Spirit was a Meowjesty, while the other was a Catanuki.

Xuefen played the Ocarina in order to make bubbles for them to play with.

They played with the bubbles together, but then immediately ran up to Chenle once he entered the room.

"Oh, hi dad~"

Xuefen smiled, halting his music.

"I see you guys are having fun~"

Chenle smiled, petting the Spirits.

"We are~. I'm getting used to this Ocarina too~. But I was getting a bit hungry"

"Well, there's some more hotpot left in the kitchen if you wanna get some with me. I was getting hungry again myself~"

"You're always hungry Lele..."

"Xuefen definitely gets that from you~"

Jungwoo and Yukhei teased them as they ventured back to their room.

"...So we're heading to the kitchen?"

"...Definitely"

-

Once they arrived in the kitchen, they found Minkyu, Baekhyun, Hanyu, and Jonghyun with Woojin. They found Youngjae too, but he just stood by, silently drinking his glass of water before he left.

"Come on man. You gotta eat something"

Minkyu sighed, but Woojin ignored him.

"Please? We don't want you to get sick if you don't eat..."

Jonghyun frowned.

"Wait. We don't? I mean, he deserves it doesn't he?"

"Repaying him for what he's done with more evil doings isn't going to help. Repaying him with kindness is the best option"

Minkyu lightly scolded Hanyu.

"Fine. Listen, if we let you out of the jar, will you eat something?"

Hanyu asked, receiving only a glance from Woojin.

"Just know this. If we let you out, I won't hesitate to hurt you if you try anything"

He warned him, producing a blade from his wrist.

Woojin only frowned, as if he didn't want to come out anymore.

"Hmm. Let's try this"

Baekhyun then opened the jar and carefully picked up Woojin.

Even though he squirmed a bit, he obediently sat on the countertop.

"Let's make a deal alright? If you continue to eat, I'll make some candy for you, any candy that you want. But you have to eat first. Deal?"

Baekhyun smiled.

Woojin thought for a minute, but finally nodded.

"...Sure"

"Great~. So, what kind of candy do you like~?"

"...Hi-Chews. The mango and dragon fruit ones are my favorites, but any kind is fine"

Not even seconds passed before Baekhyun made an entire variety pack of Hi-Chews, immediately making Woojin light up.

"Wow..."

"You can have a mango one now, but you have to eat first"

"Deal!"

Woojin exclaimed.

"Cool~. We've made progress~"

Jonghyun cheered.

"Oh, hi Xuefen. You and Uncle Lele came for more hotpot right? It's already warmed up for you, so you can make your bowls"

"Wow... Thanks man..."

"It's like they knew we were coming..."

The two sighed.

The two silently filled their bowls with hotpot before sitting down to eat them.

"So dad, do you know what iKON are like?"

Xuefen suddenly asked.

"Well, there's seven members in iKON. We don't really know much about them, since they tend to keep everything that's not too serious to themselves. Not to mention, they're very territorial, and don't really appropriate other heroes interfering with their work or showing up on their turf"

"Oh... But, they've gotta understand why we're going to show up on their turf right? It's not like we have a choice"

"They've gotta understand. We need them if we gonna win this war. We can't move on without them"

"Trust me. They'll definitely understand, even if we have to make them understand by force"

Xinrei suddenly stated, entering the kitchen.

"Did you get hungry again too hyung?"

"Nah. Dad got hungry again. Gotta make sure that we can restore his strength in any way that we can~. Later"

He wasted no time making a bowl of hotpot before leaving once more.

"Reirei! You forgot the water!"

"Oh, right. Sorry.."

"No worries~. I got it~. You just get the hotpot to daddy~"

"Right"

"And I'll get the straw~!"

Nitro cheered, following behind Xinya.

"Say Xuefen, do you wanna go see Renjun-hyung?"

"I do"

-

After the two finished eating their hotpot, they ventured to see how Renjun was holding up.

When they arrived to his room, they found that he had already finished eating, and that he looked a lot better already, compared to the time when they reunited.

"Hi hyung~"

"Hi Uncle Ren~"

"Lele~. Xuefen~. How are you~?"

"I think the real question is how are you? You already seem to be doing a lot better compared to earlier"

"Don't worry about me~. I'll be ready to roll in no time~. And besides, I'm just relieved that we're all alive and back together again"

"I'll say.. I really hate it when we get separated from each other, let alone being posed against each other.."

Chenle frowned.

"None of this could've been prevented. We have to find out how to help the Gang Stars in order to end this war"

Nitro explained.

"Gang Stars?"

Xuefen questioned.

"Marshall-hyung and his team. Back when we were stranded at Force 127's HQ, TXT would listen in on them before we managed to rescue dad. They called themselves the Gang Stars"

"I see. Did they ever mention their leader's name?"

"Not once. At this point, I doubt that they even know his name at all. They only ever refer to him as The Boss"

"Well... At least we know their team's name now. That'll make it easier for us to identify them. But, what did you mean by save them?"

"It may seem hard to believe, but they really don't want to cause anyone any harm. They're only working under The Boss, but they didn't want any of this to happen. And they really don't mean us any harm"

"And you believe that?!"

Chenle exclaimed.

"Like Nitro told me, they only hate dad and our other uncles because they got the better future, while all they've endured is suffering. Additionally, they hate themselves because of what they've gone through. Nitro promised them that once we complete our mission, that we'd help them"

"Nitro also mentioned that the Gang Stars are the only reason that he and TXT made it out in one piece. They even handed dad over to them without putting up a fight"

"And they're making sure that The Boss doesn't find out that they helped us"

The three siblings explained.

"If you think about it, it's just about the exact same case as my Uncle Xinyi. He was just a misguided good guy after what happened between him and dad. But after I gave him the chance to reunite with him, he completely returned to being a good guy"

Renjun added.

"So basically, if we can help them with whatever brought them to the villain side, then we could use that to our advantage and bring them to our side, saving them in the process"

Chenle analyzed, to which Renjun nodded in response.

"If that's the case, then we'd better be prepared for when we get that chance. As for The Boss, if there is a way for us to save him, then we'll have to save him for last until we can find some background information on him"

Nitro concluded.

"Until then, let's focus on completing our main mission"