The service door opened.
Rain entered first.
Then I did.
NS turned with June still held against his chest.
The medic stood on her other side. Cherry had one arm around her back. PL held the sealed evidence bag near the wall, away from the rain.
Every fact I had promised Kitty I would remember was visible.
I remembered none of them.
"Give her to me," I said.
NS stared at me.
"What?"
"I will get a car. I will stay with her until she reaches home."
"She is not going home."
"Then I will take her wherever she needs to go."
"We already arranged the hospital."
"I said I will take her."
June lifted her head at the sound of my voice.
Her eyes found the space beside me before they found my face.
"XH?"
One word destroyed every useful sentence I had prepared while running.
I moved toward her.
NS shifted between us.
"Do not slow this down."
"Move."
"The emergency department is waiting."
"I am not asking where you are going."
"That is the problem. You stopped asking before you entered the door."
Cherry tightened her hold around June.
"Both of you, stop."
The medic looked toward the waiting car.
"We need to leave now."
NS guided June toward him.
I caught the front of his jacket.
The service lane became still.
NS looked down at my hand.
Then he looked into my face.
"Let go."
"You don't decide everything because you arrived first."
"I arrived before VT reached her."
The sentence entered precisely where he intended.
My grip tightened.
"What did you say?"
NS leaned close enough that the rain could not erase his voice.
"If you cared this much, where were you before he reached her? Where were you before I had to step between them?"
"I didn't know."
"You knew she was here."
"She is not my responsibility."
"Then stop behaving like she became yours when another man carried her."
I pulled him forward.
His shoes slid once against the wet pavement.
He recovered without touching me.
That restraint felt more insulting than resistance.
"You think money makes you the solution," I said.
"Tonight it found a hospital while you were still four stations away."
My right hand closed.
For one second, the punch existed inside my shoulder.
Then Kitty caught my wrist from behind.
"XH. Let him go."
Her breath remained uneven from the run.
Rain covered her hair and face.
She stood between my arm and the mistake waiting at the end of it.
"He is taking her to medical care," she said. "You promised you would not stop them."
"Stay out of this."
The words came too fast.
Kitty's fingers loosened for half a second.
Then she held tighter.
"No."
NC, Anna, Jihye, and JP reached the service lane behind her.
Nobody spoke.
Kitty moved beside me until I had to see her.
"June is sick," she said. "This is not your competition. This is not his victory. Let go."
NS did not look away.
He could have pushed my hand from his jacket.
He waited for me to choose.
PL stepped forward.
"VT is still upstairs. The glass is sealed. The cameras are preserved. If you want someone to blame, at least choose the person who did something."
I looked toward the smoked windows above the service lane.
A pale shape stood behind one of them.
VT lifted a glass toward us.
He had found the confrontation he wanted without leaving his table.
My hand opened.
NS straightened his jacket.
No punch had been thrown.
Everybody looked injured anyway.
June reached for me as Cherry and the medic guided her toward the Ferrari.
Her hand stopped in the rain between us.
"You came," she whispered.
"I came."
"You took too long."
I did not know whether she meant the club, the relationship, or the two years between them.
Her eyes closed before I could ask.
NS opened the rear door.
The medic took the front passenger seat with his equipment. Cherry entered the rear first and helped position June safely beside her.
NS stood beside the driver's door.
"The private hospital east entrance," he told PL. "Send the incident report there."
PL nodded.
"I am staying until the manager hands the footage to police."
"Do not stay alone."
"I have spent too long doing that."
NS looked toward me one last time.
"Do one useful thing. Keep VT away from the evidence."
"Do not give me instructions."
"Then consider it an opportunity to disappoint me."
He entered the car.
The black-and-gold Ferrari left the service lane beneath the rain.
June's face disappeared behind the tinted glass.
The taillights reached the intersection and turned east.
I had run four stations to watch someone else take her away.
Kitty stood beside me.
I did not look at her.
That was the second promise I broke that night.
"Say something," she said.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Start with why you grabbed him."
"He blocked me from June."
"He was taking her to a hospital."
"I could have taken her."
"In what car?"
The question stopped me.
Kitty did not allow the silence to rescue me.
"The trains are closed. Every road is blocked. You ran here after Student Health told you not to drive or take risks until you were assessed. What exactly were you going to do? Carry her four stations back through the rain?"
"I would have found a way."
"He already found one."
The words sounded like NS because they were true.
I turned toward her.
"Whose side are you on?"
Kitty stared at me.
"June's."
"Of course."
"She was drugged, XH. She needed everyone to be on her side."
"You know what I mean."
"Yes. That is the problem."
Rain struck the metal stairs above the service door.
Kitty wiped water from her face with one sleeve.
"You did not look through that door and see a patient," she said. "You saw NS in the place where you thought you should be."
"You were not inside my head."
"I was behind you for four stations. I know exactly where your head was."
"June called my name."
"And I called yours in the middle of traffic. You heard one of us."
The sentence left no place to stand without becoming guilty.
"This is not about you."
"I know."
Her answer came quietly.
"That is why I helped you reach her. But after she is safe, this becomes about us too. You told me to stay out of it while you held another boy by the collar over another girl."
"Nothing happened."
"Because I stopped it."
"I let him go."
"You are taking credit for releasing someone you should not have grabbed."
I looked toward the intersection where the Ferrari had disappeared.
"He wanted that reaction."
"Then you gave him what he wanted."
"You make everything sound simple."
"No. You make everything complicated so nobody can tell you that you were wrong."
The service door opened behind us.
The manager asked the remaining witnesses to come inside.
Kitty stepped toward the door.
"I am not leaving you tonight," she said. "Do not mistake that for saying what you did was acceptable."
She entered without waiting for me.
For several seconds, I remained alone in the rain.
Above me, VT disappeared from the smoked window.
The manager asked everyone involved in the medical incident to remain until police arrived.
The request applied to PL, Bunny, TZ, HTN, and the venue staff who had handled the table.
It did not apply to us.
The roads did.
The elevated trains remained suspended. No rideshare accepted the service-lane pickup. The premium van that had brought us as far as the strike barrier had already left.
We could either wait outside in the rain or wait inside a club none of us had wanted to enter.
The manager chose the upper level for us.
"Mr. NS's table is still reserved," he said. "It is quieter and away from the evidence area."
I almost refused because the table belonged to him.
Kitty walked upstairs before I could turn discomfort into another decision for everyone.
NC, Anna, Jihye, and JP followed her.
I followed last.
PL remained below with the manager and police liaison. Bunny and TZ left for the hospital in HTN's vehicle as soon as a side road reopened. Shinso drove because HTN had consumed alcohol. SRM and Thoon went with them to help manage June's belongings and contact information.
Before PL returned to the manager's office, VT met her beside the stairs.
"You chose them," he said.
"I chose the person who could not choose for herself."
"That is a beautiful sentence. It will not protect your transfer."
PL held up her phone.
The photograph of the sealed evidence bag remained open on the screen.
"If my place at that school depends on silence, it was never my place."
"You did not believe that when you asked for help."
"I asked for an introduction. You built a debt."
VT lowered his voice.
"Debts exist whether you understand them or not."
"So do cameras."
The police liaison called PL's name from the lower office.
She stepped around him.
VT did not touch her.
He no longer needed the room to believe they were affectionate.
"PL."
She stopped without turning.
"XH did not come for you."
The cruelty was small enough to fit inside one sentence.
PL looked toward the service door.
"No," she said. "But he came when I called."
She continued downstairs.
VT watched her enter the office where his table footage was being copied.
KM stayed.
Business was his major.
The Engineering Club was his territory.
Three men from that club occupied the table below ours.
All three wore navy-and-gold Royal Capital FC jerseys.
They had come to Bliss for more than the student night.
The eastern half of the club was hosting a late watch party for the national football derby between Royal Capital and Yandong United. Both clubs had supporters in every major city, and both fan groups believed disliking the other counted as a family tradition.
The match had entered its final minutes at one goal each.
Nobody downstairs was celebrating yet.
NS's upper table overlooked the dance floor.
From above, the emergency had already disappeared.
The music continued.
Students returned to dancing around the closed section near June's table. Staff replaced the glassware. Blue and violet lights covered every surface that might have remembered what happened.
Above the main bar, six screens had switched from music visuals to the football broadcast. The dance track remained loud, but the commentary filled the pauses between songs.
One side of the lower floor wore Yandong United's red and white.
The other side wore Royal Capital's navy and gold.
Security barriers separated the densest sections near the screens. The club had anticipated arguments about football.
It had not anticipated us.
JP removed his rain-soaked jacket.
Underneath, he wore a red-and-white Yandong United jersey with the number ten across the back.
"You wore that to study?" Anna asked.
"National duty does not stop for pathology."
"You said you forgot the match."
"I temporarily placed June above football. Do not make this sound medically concerning."
He checked the screen.
Eighty-nine minutes.
One-one.
Then he sat at the far end of the curved sofa.
"I hate this place," he said.
"You wanted to come," Anna replied.
"I was younger then."
"It was three hours ago."
"Tonight has been educational."
Jihye wrote the times from PL's photographs into her notes.
NC tried three transport applications.
Kitty placed a towel from the restroom across her wet hair.
Nobody spoke to me.
They may have believed I needed quiet.
They may have been afraid of what I would do with words.
NC eventually broke the silence.
"PL says June reached the emergency entrance."
Everyone looked toward her phone.
"Conscious?" Anna asked.
"Yes. They are monitoring her. Cherry is with her."
JP released a breath.
Kitty closed her eyes for one second.
I asked the question that had been waiting behind all the useful ones.
"And NS?"
NC looked at me.
"He is there."
"Of course he is."
"That was not criticism," she said.
"I didn't say it was."
"Your voice did."
Jihye placed her phone on the table.
"We should remain factual. June is receiving care. The evidence is preserved. PL and the venue are giving statements. We have no verified information about the substance or VT's direct involvement."
"We watched him watch her," I said.
"That is suspicious behavior. It is not laboratory confirmation."
"You sound like Mr. Kim."
"He is correct about evidence."
JP leaned forward.
"Can we agree on one thing?"
Nobody stopped him.
"NS got June out. XH got here. Kitty stopped a fight. PL saved the glass. TZ called the ambulance. Cherry stayed with June. Everybody did one useful thing under terrible conditions. We do not need to rank them tonight."
His voice had no comedy inside it.
That made the sentence heavier.
Kitty looked at me.
I looked toward the dance floor.
"Somebody already ranked us," I said.
JP sat back.
"Then stop helping him."
A server approached to close NS's table account.
"The remaining drinks were prepaid," he said. "Would you like water?"
"Yes," Kitty answered.
"Something strong," I said.
She turned toward me.
"No."
The server looked between us.
"One cocktail," I said.
"You were told not to drive because you lose awareness. You just ran through traffic. You have eaten almost nothing."
"I am not driving."
"That is not permission to make another bad decision."
"I didn't ask permission."
Kitty's face became still.
The server retreated before the argument chose him.
I went to the bar myself.
The bartender poured a dark cocktail over one square of ice. It tasted bitter enough to punish the person drinking it.
I brought it upstairs.
JP watched me take the first swallow.
"That will not improve the plot," he said.
"Then stop narrating."
He looked down.
I regretted the sentence immediately.
Pride kept the regret inside.
At 11:51, KM climbed the stairs with his Engineering Club friends.
He had changed out of the jacket he wore at the entrance.
Beneath it, he wore Royal Capital's navy-and-gold jersey.
His three Engineering Club friends wore the same colors. One had tied a club scarf around his head. Another carried a plastic flag pole that security should have removed at the entrance.
The broadcast had entered stoppage time.
Alcohol had made KM's smile wider and his balance less reliable.
"Health Track survivors," he said. "You came all this way and still refuse to enjoy the club."
Nobody answered.
KM looked at Kitty, then NC, Anna, and Jihye.
"Come dance. We will protect you from your textbooks."
"No," NC said.
"One song."
"Still no."
"You are wasting the table."
Anna closed the first-aid packet.
"Then use your table."
One of KM's friends laughed.
KM remained focused on Kitty.
"Red hair, you danced at the Water Festival. I remember."
"My name is Kitty."
"Then Kitty should dance."
"Kitty said no," JP replied.
KM looked toward him.
"Comedy King became security?"
"Temporary promotion. Leave."
The friends behind KM laughed again.
KM stepped around the table.
Kitty moved closer to NC.
"We are waiting for transport," she said. "Go downstairs."
"Transport is closed. That means you have time."
He offered his hand.
She did not take it.
He caught her wrist.
Kitty pulled away.
"Do not touch me."
The sentence was clear.
KM treated it like music he could speak over.
"Relax."
He reached for her again.
JP stood and pushed his arm away.
"She said no."
KM stumbled one step.
The smile left his face.
His three friends moved forward.
JP looked at them.
"This is a large committee for one bad decision."
"Apologize," KM said.
"To Kitty? You first."
KM shoved him.
JP struck the edge of the table with his hip but stayed upright.
NC and Anna moved between the girls and the sofa exit. Jihye lifted her phone, not to record, but to call security.
I remained seated.
The cocktail occupied half the glass.
KM looked toward me.
He mistook stillness for surrender.
"Your king is tired," he told JP.
"He isn't my king."
"Good. He lost the position tonight."
KM turned toward Kitty.
His voice rose above the music.
"You're really siding with him? He couldn't even keep his own girl. He hands her to anyone who shows up. Come on, Kitty. The guy is a pushover."
The word reached me after the rest of the sentence disappeared.
Pushover.
I looked at KM.
For one second, I saw his face clearly.
Then the lights changed.
His jaw became NS's.
His wet hair became NS's carefully arranged hair.
The smile belonged to the service lane.
Tonight it found a hospital while you were still four stations away.
I set the cocktail down.
Kitty saw my expression.
"XH, don't."
KM looked toward JP again.
"Make me apologize."
JP raised both hands.
"Everyone back up."
It was the correct instruction.
Nobody followed it.
One of KM's friends reached for JP's collar.
His hand closed around the red-and-white jersey.
I crossed the table before he touched it.
For the second time that night, I moved toward NS's face.
This time, nobody reached my arm soon enough.
KM hit the floor beneath me.
At that exact second, Yandong United scored.
The six screens flashed red and white.
Half the club erupted.
A United supporter at the bottom of the stairs looked up and saw three Royal Capital jerseys surrounding JP.
He did not see Kitty's wrist.
He did not hear KM's insult.
He saw a rival fan gripping the number ten shirt.
"Crown boys are jumping one of ours!" he shouted.
The wrong explanation traveled faster than the truth.