At 6:41, the lights flickered for the fourth time.
JP looked up from his bowl.
"If the electricity fails during dinner, I am protecting the chicken."
"From what?" Bunny asked.
"Confusion. Darkness makes people selfish."
Cherry moved the chicken plate toward herself.
"Thank you for the warning."
Mr. Kim tapped his spoon against his glass.
"The night-market visit is still approved."
The dining hall became louder immediately.
"However," he continued, "we leave as one cohort, remain within the festival streets, and return by nine-thirty. Nobody leaves the marked area. Nobody drinks alcohol. Nobody purchases fireworks."
Bunny lowered her hand.
"Do not ask the question you were about to ask," Mr. Kim said.
"You don't know the question."
"It involved fireworks."
"That is profiling."
Ms. Nway placed a sign-out sheet beside him.
"The night market becomes crowded after eight," she said. "Keep at least three people together. If the power fails, the stalls have lanterns. Remain where you are until the lights return."
Jihye checked her phone.
"Is failure expected?"
"No."
The lights dimmed again.
Ms. Nway looked toward the ceiling.
"It is becoming less unexpected."
Room 306 needed twelve minutes to prepare four men for a two-hour walk.
Ten of those minutes belonged to JP.
He stood before the small mirror, holding two jackets against his chest.
"Black says mysterious academic success. Blue says emotionally available."
TZ tied his shoes.
"Wear the warm one."
"You have rejected both narratives."
NS buttoned a dark coat.
"They look the same."
JP turned toward me.
"This room opposes personal expression."
My phone vibrated.
KITTY: WEAR THE BLACK JACKET.
I looked at the black jacket already in my hand.
XH: WHY?
KITTY: BECAUSE I SAID SO.
Three dots appeared again.
KITTY: AND IT LOOKS BETTER.
I put it on.
JP watched me.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"You rejected my fashion consultation and then received spiritual guidance from your phone."
"The weather is cold."
"The weather selected black?"
"Apparently."
JP looked at NS.
NS was reading a message of his own.
For the first time that evening, JP stopped joking.
Only for a second.
Then he chose the blue jacket.
"Someone in this room should remain emotionally available."
TZ opened the door.
"We are late."
"And someone has chosen darkness."
The girls waited in the courtyard.
Kitty wore a black sweater beneath a red scarf.
She looked at my jacket, then at me.
Her approval lasted less than a second.
It was enough.
NC stood beside her with Anna and Jihye.
Across the courtyard, Bunny adjusted June's pale scarf while Cherry complained that both ends were unequal.
NS descended the stairs.
June's attention moved toward him immediately.
She did not smile.
She did not need to.
TZ collected the sign-out sheet from Ms. Nway and began counting everyone.
JP joined him.
"I can count too."
"Then count the back row."
"You have turned friendship into unpaid employment."
"You volunteered."
JP looked toward the girls.
"I was trying to be included."
TZ lowered the sheet.
Something in his expression changed.
"Then walk with me."
JP appeared surprised by the answer.
He covered it quickly.
"Only until a more prestigious position opens."
They led the group through the gate together.
For half a street, the cohort looked whole from behind.
Mountain Valley changed after dark.
Lanterns replaced the missing sunlight one shop at a time.
Red and gold lights hung between balconies. Paper animals glowed above food stalls. Steam rose around people carrying bowls and wooden skewers. A local band played beneath a striped canopy while electrical cables crossed the pavement like roots.
The night market occupied three rising streets around a small public square.
At the center, artisans prepared a white cloth screen for a shadow-puppet performance.
Above it hung the same two birds painted on our balloon.
The crowned bird faced east.
The dark-winged bird faced west.
Between them, a silver star had been suspended on a separate string.
JP looked up.
"The story gained a third participant."
Ms. Nway heard him.
"The Northern Star appears in the longer version."
"Does it survive?"
"Stars usually do."
"Finally, competent leadership."
The group divided before reaching the first food stall.
Bunny and Cherry pulled June toward a row of vendors selling fried tofu, noodles, and sweet rice cakes. NS followed several steps behind them. TZ remained close because he was carrying the attendance sheet.
NC stopped at a stall selling woven bags. Anna joined her. Jihye photographed the paper lanterns above the road.
Kitty remained beside me.
JP stood between both groups.
"I feel like a child whose parents separated at the market."
"Choose a snack," Cherry said.
"That does not resolve custody."
TZ held out the sign-out sheet.
"Help me count after the performance."
JP looked at him.
"You remembered I volunteered?"
"Reliable people remember things."
JP accepted the sheet.
"That sounded almost human."
TZ walked toward Bunny and Cherry before JP could see him smile.
A vendor sold herbal tea near the upper lane.
Bundles of dried leaves and roots covered the table. Small handwritten labels promised relief for coughs, headaches, sleeplessness, stomach pain, sadness, poor concentration, and husbands.
Anna picked up the final packet.
"What does this one treat?"
The vendor smiled.
"Temporary conditions."
NC began bargaining for three woven bags.
Jihye photographed a card explaining the tea mixture.
Kitty selected a packet marked THROAT AND CHEST.
"For your grandmother," she told me.
"She will say medicine from strangers is how people become news reports."
"Then tell her it is tea."
"That is dishonest medicine."
"You told me she was fine. We have already entered dishonest medicine."
She paid before I could stop her.
The vendor placed the packet in a paper bag.
"Your girlfriend takes good care of your family," she said.
Neither of us moved.
Anna suddenly became interested in the ingredients card.
NC continued bargaining without changing expression.
Jihye lowered her camera.
Kitty took the paper bag.
"He is slow," she told the vendor.
"Most men are."
"I meant we are classmates," I said.
The vendor looked between our matching dark clothes.
"Of course."
Kitty walked away.
I followed her.
Behind us, NC completed the purchase without asking a single question.
That was more suspicious than if she had asked ten.
The performance began at eight.
Students, families, vendors, and children gathered around the public square. The local band moved aside while two lanterns illuminated the white cloth screen.
Mr. Kim stood near the back with Ms. Nway.
We found space along opposite sides of the crowd.
Kitty stood beside me with NC, Anna, Jihye, and JP.
June stood across the square with NS, Bunny, Cherry, and TZ.
The audience occupied the space between us.
A drum sounded once.
The shadow of a tree appeared across the screen.
Two birds emerged from the same nest.
The storyteller spoke from behind the cloth.
"Before the valley had roads, two birds shared one fire. One was born beneath the sun. One was born inside its shadow. They learned the wind together. They fought the storms together. When one fell, the other carried him home."
The puppets crossed above the tree.
Their paper wings touched.
"The valley loved them both. But love from a valley is not the same as a crown."
A gold circle rose behind the first bird.
The crowd became quiet.
"The elders chose the Sun Bird to become King of the Sky. His companion bowed first and stood closest when the crown was placed."
The second bird lowered its head.
JP whispered beside me.
"This will end badly."
"You heard the short version," Anna said.
"I was hoping the longer version included counseling."
The storyteller continued.
"The King gave his companion a place beside the throne. But beside was not above, and the King began to fear every wing that rose to his height."
The two shadows separated.
A silver star appeared between them.
"Both birds followed the Northern Star. The King believed its light promised him an eternal reign. His companion believed it showed a road beyond the King's sky."
Bunny leaned toward Cherry on the other side of the square.
Even from a distance, I saw Cherry glance at June.
June kept her eyes on the screen.
"The King asked the Star to choose. The Star refused. Light belongs to everyone who can see it."
The crowned bird struck at the star.
The dark-winged bird moved between them.
"Afraid of losing what had never belonged to him, the King named his brother King-Slayer before a blade had been raised."
The second bird's wing changed shape.
A black point extended from it.
"Some names describe us. Others command us."
The drum sounded again.
The two birds flew toward each other.
The lanterns behind the screen went out.
Children in the audience gasped.
When the light returned, one bird remained above the tree.
Its crown had disappeared.
Its dark wing had disappeared too.
The survivor was only a shadow.
"Which one lived?" a child shouted.
The storyteller allowed the question to remain.
Then he answered.
"The survivor carried two names, and the valley never agreed which one he was born with."
The silver star rose above him.
"A king and a king-slayer cannot share one sky. But after one falls, the one who remains must carry both shadows."
The screen went dark.
For several seconds, nobody applauded.
Then JP began clapping.
The rest of the square followed.
We remained near the stage after the crowd dispersed.
The two bird puppets had been placed on a low table for children to examine.
NS picked up the crowned one.
"The King created the rebellion by fearing it," I said.
NS turned the puppet once in his hand.
"Or the other bird wanted power and called it freedom."
"It wanted the right to fly somewhere else."
"According to the storyteller."
"You think the King was right?"
"I think a state cannot survive if everyone decides responsibility is oppression."
The word state made the conversation larger than the puppet deserved.
"A state cannot survive if one person believes responsibility means ownership," I replied.
June stepped closer to NS.
"The story never said the King owned the valley. It said the elders chose him."
Kitty stood beside me.
"Being chosen once does not mean everyone must obey forever."
NS placed the puppet back on the table.
"People who step down usually call it sacrifice because they cannot admit they lost."
"Not everything is about winning," I said.
"That is usually said by someone who is losing."
The words arrived calmly.
That made them worse.
JP removed a paper crown he had won from a ring-toss stall.
"As the only legally recognized king here, I am ordering both of you to purchase noodles."
Nobody laughed immediately.
He placed the crown on TZ instead.
"Fine. A transfer of power."
TZ removed it.
"It is paper."
"So is the constitution of this market. Respect it."
Cherry took the crown and placed it on Bunny.
"There. A peaceful succession."
Mr. Kim approached carrying two cups of tea.
He looked at the puppets, then at us.
"Did the constitutional debate return?"
"It survived the first performance," JP said.
"Then leave it here. We return in forty minutes."
The group separated again.
This time, it happened faster.
June found me beside a stall selling small glass lanterns.
Anna and NC had gone to collect their purchases. Kitty stood farther uphill with Jihye at the herbal-tea stall.
NS was speaking to TZ near the square.
For once, nobody had arranged the moment.
June stopped beside me.
"What happened at the clinic?"
"The power failed."
"I know."
"Then you have the answer."
"You stopped hearing us."
I examined a blue lantern I had no intention of buying.
"It lasted a few seconds."
"That does not make it normal."
"Kitty already asked."
June's eyes moved toward the hill.
Kitty was watching us now.
"Of course she did," June said.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
"You are becoming good at that word."
"And you are becoming good at avoiding questions."
The vendor turned away to help another customer.
June lowered her voice.
"Did you see something?"
The ambulance siren returned inside my memory.
Red light crossed the glass lantern in my hand.
I put it down.
"No."
"XH."
"Does NS know you are checking on me?"
Her expression hardened.
"Does Kitty know you are still waiting for me to?"
The market sounds seemed to move farther away.
"I am not waiting for anything."
"Then why did you look at me like that on the coach?"
"You were sleeping on him."
"I chose him."
The sentence should have ended the conversation.
Instead, it made the distance between us feel measurable.
"Then stop checking whether I am okay," I said.
June looked at me for a long time.
"I don't know how."
She walked away before I could answer.
The wind moved through the market.
Every lantern above us turned in the same direction.
The electrical cables did not move at all.
Kitty waited beside the upper stairway.
The packet of tea for Grandmother remained in her hand.
NC, Anna, and Jihye had moved ahead, slowly enough to claim they were not giving us privacy.
"How long?" Kitty asked.
"Two minutes."
"That is not what I meant."
I looked down the hill.
June had returned to Bunny and Cherry.
NS joined her.
"She asked about the clinic."
"And you answered?"
"Badly."
"At least you are consistent."
Kitty began climbing the stairs.
I followed.
"Nothing happened."
"Something always happens. Sometimes it is just quiet enough that everyone agrees to lie."
At the top of the stairs, the market noise fell beneath us.
Paper lanterns hung from a closed shop. Their red light covered Kitty's face.
"I am here," I said.
"Privately."
"We agreed."
"You wanted privacy. I wanted you. Those are not the same agreement."
I reached for her hand.
She almost pulled away.
Then she allowed me to slide our joined hands into the pocket of my jacket, hidden from the street below.
Her fingers were cold.
"One day," she said, "I won't accept being the secret you use to survive another girl."
"I know."
"That is not reassurance."
"I don't know how to reassure you without lying."
Kitty looked at me.
"Then tell me one true thing."
I tightened my hand around hers.
"I wanted you to find me when the power failed."
Her anger weakened.
Not enough to disappear.
Enough to let me closer.
She kissed me beneath the paper lanterns.
The kiss was brief, quiet, and hidden above the market.
When she stepped back, the red light remained across her face.
"That does not fix it," she said.
"I know."
"Stop saying that."
This time, she almost smiled.
June and NS left the lower market through a passage beside the puppet stage.
Bunny saw them go.
She moved closer to Cherry and began an argument about which food stall they should visit next.
TZ counted the group without looking toward the passage.
He recorded everyone as present.
The passage opened onto a small overlook above the western neighborhoods.
June stopped beside the railing.
"I spoke to him," she said.
NS stood beside her.
"I saw."
"Aren't you going to ask what he said?"
"Would you tell me differently if I did?"
June folded her arms against the cold.
"He had another episode at the clinic."
"He said it was the alarm."
"You don't believe that."
"Neither do you."
Below them, a motorcycle moved between the dark houses.
"Does it bother you?" June asked.
"That he is unwell?"
"That I still worry."
NS considered the question longer than she expected.
"Yes."
June looked away.
"At least that was honest."
"You chose me while part of you was still looking backward. I knew that before you said yes."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because looking backward is not the same as returning."
June turned toward him.
"And if I don't know the difference yet?"
"Then I will."
His phone vibrated.
The message came from VT.
There was no greeting.
Only a photograph.
June and NS stood together at the overlook, photographed from somewhere behind the market roofs.
Beneath it, VT had written:
MOUNTAIN AIR MAKES PEOPLE CARELESS.
NS looked toward the dark buildings across the street.
No camera was visible.
"Who is it?" June asked.
He locked the screen.
"Nothing important."
It was the same kind of answer he had given before declining HS's call.
June did not ask again.
NS placed one hand against her face.
For a moment, she leaned into it.
Then the market lost power.
Every electric light disappeared at once.
The market inhaled.
Children shouted. Vendors called for people to remain still. Emergency lanterns appeared behind counters, one weak flame at a time.
Above me, the paper lanterns went dark.
Kitty's hand tightened inside my pocket.
For half a second, the stairway vanished.
I saw another entrance.
White fabric beneath palace lights.
A woman waiting where the road should have ended.
Then a red reflection turned across broken glass.
"XH."
Kitty pulled me back toward her.
"I'm here," she said.
Below us, one of the shadow performers raised an oil lamp behind the white screen.
The surviving bird appeared alone.
The storyteller's voice carried through the dark square.
"One held the crown. One held the wound. The Star did not choose."
Power returned.
The market lights flashed white, then gold.
At the lower passage, June's hand was inside NS's.
At the top of the stairs, mine remained joined with Kitty's.
For one exposed second, the four of us saw the truth arranged beneath the returning lights.
June released NS.
Kitty removed her hand from my pocket.
Nobody else appeared to notice.
NS looked up at me.
I looked down at him.
Neither of us needed the King or the King-Slayer explained again.
JP's Diary
The market lost electricity for forty-seven seconds.
This is long enough to lose a child, a wallet, a friendship, or an argument you were winning.
When the lights returned, everyone stood almost where they had been before.
Almost is a dangerous measurement.
XH walked back beside Kitty but did not touch her.
June walked back beside NS but did not touch him.
Nobody held hands on the return to the training house.
That proved more than if they had.
We returned at 9:27.
TZ counted everyone twice before signing the attendance sheet.
JP stood beside him and counted once more.
All students had returned.
The number was correct.
The group was not.
In Room 306, I opened my notebook to the blank wish.
Across the room, NS sat on his bed with his phone facedown beside him.
Neither of us spoke about the market.
The moon appeared between the balcony doors.
For a moment, our shadows crossed on the floor.
One wore no crown.
The other carried no blade.
The room still felt too small for both.