The rain became heavy before we reached the training house.
It struck the road in silver lines, filled the gutters, and turned the festival lights below us into blurred colors.
Nobody had brought an umbrella.
The forecast had promised a clear night.
Bunny ran with both hands over her head.
"This is not protection."
Cherry ran beside her.
"Then stop doing it."
"I need emotional protection."
JP held the paper crown from the clinic girl beneath his jacket.
"Priorities," TZ said.
"Governments can be rebuilt. Ceremonial objects cannot."
Lightning illuminated the valley.
The thunder arrived too quickly afterward.
Jihye counted anyway.
"Less than one kilometer."
"The sky followed us home," Anna said.
I looked back toward the exhibition field.
The last community balloon remained visible above the rain, a small orange light moving behind the clouds.
Ours had disappeared.
The wish was somewhere beyond the ridge.
Or burning inside the storm.
The training house lost power at 8:53.
We entered the courtyard at 8:54.
The building stood completely dark except for two emergency lanterns near reception.
Ms. Nway waited beneath the entrance roof with towels.
"Leave wet shoes downstairs," she said. "The east-ridge transformer failed."
"Did lightning strike it?" Jihye asked.
"The power office does not know."
"How long until it returns?"
"The power office also does not know."
Mr. Kim checked his phone.
"The driver says the northern road is closed near the second switchback. A section of soil came down after the rain."
The group became quiet.
"Are we trapped?" Bunny asked.
"Delayed," Mr. Kim said.
Cherry removed her wet jacket.
"Temporary."
Nobody laughed at the popular word this time.
"The road crew will inspect it at first light," Mr. Kim continued. "Until then, everyone stays inside the building. We will confirm tomorrow's departure after six."
JP held up the damp paper crown.
"An additional night has been granted to the kingdom."
"It is still the same night," NC said.
"Do not weaken morale with calendars."
The generator powered only the reception desk, kitchen refrigerator, and one outlet in the dining hall.
The water pump had stopped.
Ms. Nway placed another handwritten notice beside the stairs.
NO SHOWERS UNTIL POWER RETURNS
JP stared at it.
"First the road. Now civilization."
"You showered this morning," TZ said.
"History cannot clean the present."
We changed into dry clothes and returned to the dining hall.
Candles stood inside glass jars across the tables. Rain struck the metal roof hard enough to replace conversation whenever it intensified.
The mobile network appeared and disappeared every few minutes.
Bunny reached her mother first.
She held the phone too close to her face.
"We are safe."
Her mother said something loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
"No, we are not stranded. We are temporarily unable to leave."
Cherry leaned into the camera.
"That is the definition of stranded."
Bunny pushed her away.
"She is not helping."
Anna messaged her family and received three replies before the signal vanished.
NC created a charging schedule for the single generator outlet.
Jihye stood near a window recording the time between lightning and thunder.
JP called home, spoke for less than a minute, and told whoever answered that he had become fourth in the cohort ranking before the signal could interrupt the announcement.
TZ typed several messages but sent none.
Kitty sat beside me while I called Grandmother.
The phone rang six times.
No answer.
"She may be asleep," Kitty said.
"She sleeps after midnight."
"Maybe she listened to you for once."
I called again.
The network failed before the first ring.
Kitty placed the herbal tea and paper star lantern beside my phone.
"Try when the signal returns."
"That is becoming everyone's plan."
Across the room, NS read the message from HS again.
June watched him.
He pressed the call button.
The screen displayed CALLING for seven seconds.
Then the network symbol disappeared.
CALL FAILED
NS locked the phone.
"Try again," June said.
"There is no signal."
"When it returns."
"I will."
The promise sounded sincere.
That did not make it safe.
The rain kept us in the dining hall long enough for conversation to become dangerous.
Anna sat beside the charging table and looked around the room.
"Is this our last university trip?"
Bunny stopped trying to reconnect her video call.
"Why would you say that during a blackout?"
"I was asking."
"Ask something less threatening."
Cherry leaned back in her chair.
"Technically, the university can schedule another trip."
"The university cannot schedule working elevators," NC said. "I would not build hope around it."
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
The final year had existed on calendars for months.
We had treated it as a distant country.
After graduation, some of us would continue into clinical programs. Some would leave Yandong. Some would take whatever work their families considered safe. Some would discover that high grades did not protect anyone from politics, money, illness, or timing.
Every possible future required the group to become past tense first.
JP placed both hands on the table.
"New rule. No discussions beyond the next seventy-two hours."
"Why seventy-two?" Jihye asked.
"It is the longest future I currently support."
"We should plan our return," TZ said.
"Transportation is exempt. Careers, marriage, graduation, children, salary, death, and alumni gatherings are prohibited."
Bunny nodded.
"Especially alumni gatherings. Those always have disappointing food."
June looked at JP.
"You don't want to know where everyone will be?"
JP looked around the candlelit room.
"I want everyone to be here. That is the problem."
The answer removed the joke from his face.
TZ looked down at the unsent messages on his phone.
NS watched the rain.
Kitty's hand moved beneath the table until her smallest finger touched mine.
June noticed.
Her attention remained there for one second too long.
NS noticed that.
The future discussion ended because the present had become difficult enough.
Mr. Kim's phone rang near reception.
The Sleeping Man appeared on video with half his face outside the frame.
"Everyone accounted for?" he asked.
Mr. Kim turned the camera toward the dining hall.
"Eleven students. No injuries."
JP leaned into view.
"Emotional injuries remain under investigation."
The Sleeping Man looked at him.
"The road crew says the slide is shallow but still moving. Do not attempt the switchback before inspection."
"Did you call because you miss us?" JP asked.
"No."
"Your honesty is why students fear medicine."
"My honesty is why patients survive it."
The connection froze with the Sleeping Man's eyes half closed.
JP pointed at the screen.
"He fell asleep during his own call."
The image moved again.
"I heard that," the Sleeping Man said.
Then the call ended.
For the first time since the road closed, everyone laughed at the same thing.
JP watched us.
He reached slowly into his bag and removed a deck of cards.
Perhaps the game had been his plan all along.
Perhaps he had only been waiting until the room sounded like people worth keeping together.
At 9:32, JP placed a deck of cards in the center of the largest table.
"Emergency meeting, expanded membership."
NC looked at the cards.
"What are we playing?"
"Mafia."
Cherry sat down immediately.
"Appropriate."
"There will be two hidden enemies, one investigator, one doctor, and citizens who contribute nothing except suspicion."
Bunny took a seat.
"I want to be the doctor."
"The cards decide."
"The cards do not know my qualifications."
Mr. Kim stood near reception speaking with the coach driver.
Ms. Nway had gone to check the water tank.
For the first time since arrival, all eleven students gathered around one table without a teacher assigning the seats.
JP made sure of it.
He placed Kitty beside June.
He placed me beside NS.
TZ sat across from him.
NC, Anna, and Jihye filled one end. Bunny and Cherry took the other.
"No changing seats," JP announced.
"You arranged them," June said.
"All governments begin with unfair geography."
JP distributed the cards.
I received CITIZEN.
NS did not react to his.
Kitty covered hers with both hands.
June placed hers facedown immediately.
JP turned off the nearest lantern.
"The city sleeps."
Rain filled the darkness.
"The Mafia wakes."
Someone shifted beside me.
"The Mafia chooses a victim."
The table remained still.
"The Mafia sleeps. The doctor wakes."
Bunny inhaled too loudly.
Cherry whispered, "You are terrible at secrets."
"The city is sleeping," JP said. "The dead will include anyone who speaks."
"That is authoritarian."
"Sleep."
The lantern returned.
TZ had been eliminated first.
He looked at JP.
"Of course."
JP placed one hand over his heart.
"The minister of arriving on time has departed early."
TZ folded his arms.
"I am not speaking."
"The dead have become responsible."
Accusations began immediately.
NC suspected Cherry because she looked too entertained.
Cherry accused NC because organized people were historically dangerous.
Jihye calculated that Bunny's obvious attempt to act innocent made her either guilty or incapable of acting.
"Those are the only choices?" Bunny asked.
Anna defended her.
That made everyone suspect Anna.
I looked at NS.
"You are Mafia."
"Based on what?"
"You have not accused anyone."
"I am listening."
"You only listen when you already know the answer."
June looked toward me.
"That is not evidence."
Kitty turned toward her.
"You defended him quickly."
"So did you just now."
"I questioned you."
"Exactly."
JP raised both hands.
"The fictional murder has become a real relationship hearing. Please respect the genre."
We voted.
NS survived by one vote.
I did not.
JP took my card.
"Citizen. Wrongfully removed by democracy."
NS looked at me.
"You accused without proof."
"You always have proof when rules are hidden."
"You always blame the rules after losing."
The game continued.
The words did too.
In the final round, only NS, June, Cherry, and Jihye remained.
Jihye identified NS correctly.
June voted for Cherry.
NS voted with her.
Cherry was removed.
She revealed INVESTIGATOR.
NS had been Mafia.
His partner was Anna.
Nobody had suspected her because she had defended everyone.
Bunny revealed the doctor card.
"I saved myself every night."
NC stared at her.
"TZ died immediately."
"I panicked."
TZ looked toward JP.
"The medical system failed me."
JP stood and announced the Mafia victory.
For several seconds, the table argued, laughed, and demanded another round.
NS smiled.
I did too, despite losing.
The candlelight made everyone look younger.
Year One returned for longer than eleven minutes this time.
JP placed his phone against a water glass.
"Nobody move."
"Why?" NC asked.
"Evidence."
He activated the timer and ran behind the table.
There was no time to arrange factions.
Anna pulled Bunny closer. Cherry leaned across Jihye. TZ remained beside JP because moving would have ruined the photograph.
Kitty stood behind my chair.
June stood behind NS.
When JP forced everyone inward, my shoulder touched NS's.
Neither of us moved away before the timer flashed.
The photograph was poorly lit.
Half the table looked blurred. Bunny's eyes were closed. Cherry was still speaking. JP's paper crown tilted above one ear. Mr. Kim appeared in the background holding a phone and looking disappointed in all of us.
"Delete it," Bunny said.
JP looked at the image.
"Never."
"I look dead."
"That strengthens the Mafia theme."
He saved the photograph inside a folder labeled IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS.
"One day," he said, "you will all pretend this was fun. I require proof that it actually was."
Nobody asked him to send it to the group.
Everyone assumed there would be time later.
Then Mr. Kim entered from reception.
"The road closure is confirmed until morning. Keep your phones charged. We may need to leave later than scheduled."
The game ended.
The seats slowly became sides again.
The power had not returned by eleven.
Kitty found me on the second-floor landing beside a window overlooking the dark valley.
Rainwater moved down the glass.
Only generator lights remained near the market.
"Tell me what happened at the balloon," she said.
"The frame tilted."
"Before that."
"The burner started."
"Before you say another object, I am going to remind you that I saw your face."
I leaned against the wall.
Kitty waited.
"I saw a road," I said.
"Here?"
"I don't know."
"What road?"
"Broken glass. Red metal. An ambulance far away."
The words became less believable when spoken.
"Were you inside a car?" she asked.
"Maybe."
"Was it a memory?"
"It did not feel like mine."
"You have seen it before."
It was not a question.
"On the coach. At the clinic. Sometimes when I wake up."
Kitty looked toward the stairs.
"Did you tell the therapist?"
"I said I was losing time."
"That is not the same."
"I did not know how to explain the rest."
"Explain it badly."
"That is my usual method."
She did not smile.
"This is not a joke."
"I know."
"Did your wish ask for it to stop?"
I thought of the sentence inside the balloon.
"No."
"What did you ask for?"
"Something selfish."
Kitty moved closer.
"Did it include me?"
"It included everyone."
Her expression changed.
"I don't want to be included."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I am tired of being one person inside a word you use when you cannot choose."
The rain struck the window harder.
"I am with you," I said.
"In stairways. Behind markets. Inside jacket pockets."
"That was our agreement."
"I told you. It was your agreement. I only accepted it because some part of you felt better than none."
I reached for her.
Kitty let me take her hand.
"Tell the therapist everything when we return," she said.
"I will."
"And tell your grandmother about me."
"Those requests are not medically related."
"Both involve consequences if you lie."
This time, she smiled.
I pulled her closer.
She rested her head against my chest while the dark valley disappeared behind the rain.
For several minutes, we did not need privacy to feel like punishment.
Nobody came upstairs.
June found NS near the reception outlet waiting for his phone to charge.
The network symbol had returned with one bar.
"Try him," she said.
NS called HS.
The line rang once.
Then a recorded voice announced that the subscriber could not be reached.
He tried again.
The same message answered.
"Send a text," June said.
NS typed:
NS: I CALLED. SIGNAL IS BAD IN THE VALLEY. WHAT HAPPENED?
The message remained unsent.
"It will go when the network returns," he said.
June sat beside him.
"You should have answered yesterday."
NS looked at the screen.
"I know."
"That is not like you."
"What?"
"Admitting timing matters."
He placed the phone beside the charger.
"Do you want me to defend myself?"
"No. I want you to call again tomorrow."
"I will."
June touched his hand.
"What did you wish for?"
"You first."
"That was not the rule."
"There were no rules."
She looked toward the dark stairwell.
"I asked for my choice to become enough."
NS understood what she had not said.
"For you or for him?"
"For me."
"And is it?"
June turned toward him.
"Tonight, I am here."
The answer was smaller than certainty.
NS accepted it anyway.
"Then look at me tonight," he said.
She did.
He kissed her beside the only working outlet in the building.
The generator hummed behind the reception wall.
His message to HS remained unsent on the table.
JP and TZ stayed in the dining hall after everyone else left.
The damp paper crown rested between them.
JP dried it carefully with a napkin.
"You could have told me," he said.
TZ knew which conversation had returned.
"About the messages?"
"About both."
"There is nothing to tell."
"Then why hide the phone?"
TZ looked toward the candle.
"Because I knew you would misunderstand."
"You keep saying I misunderstand things you never explain."
"What do you want me to say?"
JP stopped drying the crown.
"Something before I turn it into a joke."
TZ's expression softened.
"I don't know what I want."
"That is something."
"Thoon messages when she is bored. SRM asks questions about class. I answered both. I did not promise either of them anything."
"And me?"
The word escaped before JP could disguise it.
TZ looked at him.
Rain filled the silence.
"You never asked me for anything," TZ said.
JP laughed once.
"I asked you to stay in the VIP room. I asked you to sit with me on the coach. I asked you to become stupid for one night."
"Those are not the same thing."
"They were the only things I knew how to ask."
TZ looked down at the crown.
"Then ask when you know."
JP placed it on the table between them.
"Maybe there will be more time."
Neither of them recognized the danger inside the sentence.
At 12:18, the electricity returned.
Every light in the training house activated at once.
People shouted from the rooms.
The water pump began shaking the pipes.
JP opened the boys' room door.
"Civilization has apologized."
Mr. Kim sent a message to the group channel.
DEPARTURE DELAYED. ROAD INSPECTION AT 6:00. REMAIN READY TO LEAVE AFTER BREAKFAST.
I tried Grandmother again.
The call rang.
No answer.
A voice message arrived instead.
It had been recorded forty minutes earlier but delayed by the network.
Her voice sounded tired.
"I saw the photograph," she said. "You look happier than you think. Keep the red-haired girl close. Call me when the road opens."
She coughed once away from the phone.
The recording ended.
I played it again.
Across the room, NS's message to HS finally changed from SENDING to DELIVERED.
No reply came.
Outside, rain continued falling across the switchbacks.
The route home remained buried beneath the mountain.