Central Precinct separated football supporters by color.
Red and white went left.
Navy and gold went right.
People wearing ordinary clothes were questioned twice because nobody knew where to place them.
JP looked down at his torn Yandong United jersey.
"This is discrimination against the winning side."
The booking officer did not smile.
"Name."
JP gave it.
"Student identification."
JP gave that too.
"Any injuries requiring immediate medical attention?"
"My dignity may not survive the night."
"Physical injuries."
"Nose. Left forearm. Possibly my future."
The officer marked two boxes and directed him toward the medical desk.
I waited behind him with blood drying beneath my eye and both hands beginning to swell.
The cocktail had left my head.
Everything it had helped me avoid returned in its place.
We arrived at 12:32.
The arresting officers removed the handcuffs one person at a time, photographed visible injuries, collected property, and issued temporary numbers.
My phone, wallet, wet jacket, and shoelaces entered a clear bag.
The booking officer photographed my face from the front and both sides.
"Right hand on the scanner."
I placed it down.
Pain crossed the knuckles.
"Left."
The left hand hurt less.
That felt like good news until the medical officer examined the right.
"Close your fist."
I tried.
The last two fingers stopped halfway.
"Any numbness?"
"No."
"Wrist pain?"
"No."
"You struck another person with this hand?"
"More than one."
The answer sounded worse after leaving my mouth.
He cleaned the cut beneath my eye and recommended imaging if the swelling or reduced movement continued. A cold pack was wrapped against my knuckles.
"The venue security employee remained conscious," he said. "He was transported for assessment."
"I know."
"Do you?"
I looked toward the floor.
"Yes."
The medical officer wrote something on my form.
I was taken to a holding room with JP and four Yandong United supporters.
KM and his Engineering Club friends occupied a separate room across the corridor.
The glass between us reflected the fluorescent ceiling.
Whenever KM moved, NS appeared for half a second inside the reflection.
I stopped looking.
Kitty reached the precinct at 12:49 with NC, Anna, and Jihye.
Their clothes had begun drying in uneven patches.
PL arrived through a separate entrance with the venue police liaison and the sealed glass.
The officers treated the fight and the suspected drink tampering as two different incidents.
One had more than forty witnesses and hundreds of videos.
The other had one glass, a service corridor, and a name people became careful around.
Kitty gave her statement first.
"KM asked us to dance," she said. "We refused. He continued. He grabbed my wrist after I told him not to touch me."
The officer looked at the faint red marks still visible above her hand.
"Then what happened?"
"JP pushed his arm away. KM pushed JP. Three men surrounded him."
"And XH?"
Kitty paused.
"XH crossed the table and tackled KM."
"Did KM strike him first?"
"Not before the tackle."
The truth did not protect me by changing shape.
Kitty refused to improve it.
NC and Anna confirmed the same sequence.
Jihye gave exact times from her notes.
11:51, KM approached.
11:54, Kitty stated refusal.
11:55, emergency services were called.
11:56, the football goal and first crowd surge.
Her precision made the brawl sound impossible.
Fifty people had lost control in less than five minutes.
At 1:14, Mr. Kim entered the precinct wearing the same coat he had worn during the Mountain Valley trip.
Nobody knew who called him.
He spoke first with the duty officer, then with Kitty and the girls.
He did not ask whether XH and JP were innocent.
He asked whether they were injured, whether legal counsel had been contacted, and whether the university had received formal notice.
"The conduct office will receive the arrest report automatically," the duty officer said.
"When?"
"Monday morning."
Mr. Kim looked through the holding-room glass.
I had seen him disappointed before.
This was quieter.
"Can I speak with them?" he asked.
"Not until processing is complete."
Mr. Kim sat beside Kitty.
He remained there for the next three hours.
For the first twenty minutes, nobody asked him the question occupying the room.
Anna finally did.
"Can they expel XH and JP?"
Mr. Kim looked toward the holding-room corridor.
"The university will conduct its own review. Arrest is not the same as guilt, and release will not be the same as innocence. They will consider the footage, police report, injuries, and student statements."
"JP was protecting us," NC said.
"Include that in your statement."
"XH stopped when Kitty reached him," Anna added.
Mr. Kim's expression did not change.
"Include that too."
Jihye closed her notes.
"You are not saying it will help."
"I do not know what will happen. Giving you certainty because you are frightened would not make it true."
Kitty kept both hands around a paper cup she had not touched.
"He punched venue security."
"Yes."
"He did not know who he was hitting."
Mr. Kim turned toward her.
"What does that mean?"
Kitty looked at NC.
NC gave no instruction.
"XH has been losing time," Kitty said. "He sees a road, broken glass, and an ambulance. During the fight, he looked at KM and called him by someone else's name."
Mr. Kim became very still.
"How many episodes?"
"More than one. Student Health knows about the laboratory incident. His therapist knows some of it."
"Some?"
"He edits himself."
The paper cup bent slightly beneath her fingers.
"I made him promise to see a doctor."
Mr. Kim looked through the corridor window toward me.
"A promise is not an appointment."
"I know."
"When he is released, he does not go home without medical assessment."
Kitty nodded.
"He will argue."
"Then he can practice losing."
It was the closest Mr. Kim came to a joke.
Nobody laughed.
The holding room had one metal bench, one camera, and no clock.
Time had to be measured through events.
A Royal Capital supporter vomited in the corridor.
Two United supporters were released after video showed they had only been trying to leave.
KM's family lawyer arrived with a second man carrying a briefcase.
JP's nose stopped bleeding.
My right hand became larger.
"How many?" JP asked.
"How many what?"
"People did you think were NS?"
I looked at him.
He leaned back against the wall.
"At the table, you looked through KM. When you hit the bouncer, you looked surprised that he was wearing black. Kitty kept saying KM wasn't NS."
The other supporters were speaking near the door.
I lowered my voice.
"The lights changed his face."
"Faces do not change because the lights are blue."
"I know."
JP's expression became serious.
"Did you lose time?"
"Not like the laboratory."
"That is not reassuring."
"I knew where I was."
"Did you know who you were hitting?"
I did not answer.
The camera watched from the ceiling.
JP followed my eyes and moved closer.
"Tell the therapist."
"I will."
"You said that before."
"I attended the appointment."
"Then attend harder."
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
My ribs refused.
JP touched his nose.
"Also, when we leave, you owe me a new jersey."
"You chose to fight in it."
"I chose to protect Kitty. Football history attacked the fabric."
"You hit one of your own supporters."
"He grabbed me without consent. Tonight had a theme."
The humor faded.
"I pushed KM because he touched her," JP said. "I stayed because his friends followed me to the service door. I can explain those choices."
He looked toward my swollen hand.
"Can you explain yours?"
"Not yet."
"That answer is becoming expensive."
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Through the holding-room glass, an officer reviewed videos from Bliss on a desktop monitor.
The first began with me already on top of KM.
The second began with KM holding Kitty's wrist.
The third showed JP pushing his arm away but ended before KM pushed back.
The fourth followed the football goal and never showed our table at all. Its caption blamed Royal Capital supporters for attacking United fans.
The fifth showed my uppercut against the bouncer in perfect clarity.
No video contained the entire truth.
The clearest one contained the worst part of mine.
JP watched it replay.
"That angle will become popular," he said.
"I know."
"Do you remember hitting him?"
"After."
"What does that mean?"
"I remember the movement. I remember his face after he fell. Before that, I saw NS."
JP looked toward the camera above us.
"Then we stop talking here."
For once, his caution arrived before his curiosity.
At 1:43, June opened her eyes at the private hospital.
The room remained dark except for the monitor and corridor light.
NS sat beside her bed.
Cherry had fallen asleep against the wall with June's coat across her knees.
"Where am I?" June asked.
"Emergency observation."
"Why?"
"Your drink may have been tampered with."
She closed her eyes again.
The memory returned in broken photographs.
VT raising a glass.
PL shouting beneath the music.
NS asking where she was.
XH standing in the rain with his hand on NS's jacket.
"XH."
"At Central Precinct."
Her eyes opened.
"You let them arrest him?"
"I was here with you."
"He came for me."
"He also punched a bouncer."
June tried to sit up.
Dizziness returned her to the pillow.
NS adjusted the blanket.
"The doctor said to rest."
"Get him out."
"I already sent someone."
"Who?"
"Someone effective."
Even impaired, June recognized the answer.
"Your butler?"
"Go back to sleep."
"You act like you hate him."
NS looked toward the monitor.
"That would be simpler."
June watched his face until her eyes closed again.
The emergency physician returned several minutes later.
"Her breathing and circulation remain stable," she said. "Her level of alertness is improving, but we will continue observation."
"Did the tests identify anything?" NS asked.
"The initial routine screen does not provide a complete answer. Some substances are not included, may be present below detection levels, or may clear quickly. We documented the suspected exposure and preserved the clinical samples. The forensic investigation is separate."
Cherry woke at the sound of the conversation.
"So a negative result would not prove nothing happened?"
"Correct. We treat the patient in front of us. Her reported intake does not adequately explain the sudden symptoms."
June opened her eyes again.
"I should not have taken the glass."
The doctor moved closer to the bed.
"Someone altering a drink is responsible for altering it. Accepting a drink does not make you responsible for what another person secretly did."
June looked toward the ceiling.
NS said nothing.
The sentence had corrected him too.
He had spent the drive thinking about where June stood, what she drank, and why she ignored his warning.
None of those questions belonged before the one that mattered.
Who changed the glass?
His phone vibrated with the butler's arrival confirmation.
NS replied with one instruction.
DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT THEM.
At 2:06, PL sat across from a young officer in Interview Room Three.
The sealed evidence bag rested on the table.
"Tell me exactly what you observed," he said.
PL described the unopened bottle leaving VT's table, the private attendant returning, the tray obscuring June's glass, the changed position of the citrus, and VT lifting a drink he never consumed.
She described June's symptoms and the manager's preservation of footage.
The officer wrote VT's name at the top of one page.
The door opened.
His supervisor asked him to step outside.
They spoke for two minutes through the glass.
When the young officer returned, he placed a blank form over the page.
"We will treat your statement as an observation," he said.
"It is a statement."
"You did not see a substance introduced."
"I saw his attendant move the drink."
"The attendant is not Mr. VT."
"Then question both."
The officer looked toward the covered page.
"We will follow the evidence."
PL understood the sentence.
It did not promise where they would stop.
At 2:38, KM and his three friends passed our holding room with a lawyer.
KM had a bandage across one cheek and bruising around his mouth.
His eyes found me through the glass.
He smiled.
This time, the face remained his.
I stood.
JP caught the back of my shirt.
"If you start Round Two inside a police station, I am changing universities."
KM continued toward the interview rooms.
"He is not worth it," JP said.
"You pushed him first."
"I pushed his hand away from Kitty. I did not confuse him with my unresolved bromance."
I sat down.
The insult worked because it was accurate.
The butler arrived at 3:37.
He wore a dark suit beneath a raincoat that showed no evidence of rain. A lawyer walked beside him carrying a slim folder. A driver waited outside with the engine running.
I recognized him from NS's family home before he reached the duty desk.
JP recognized him five seconds later.
"Administrative planning," he whispered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The lawyer reviewed the preliminary allegations.
Public disorder.
Assault.
Property damage under investigation.
Additional review concerning the injured venue employee.
The butler arranged the required bond deposit and signed as surety for our release pending further investigation. The lawyer made it clear that release did not remove the allegations, the venue's complaint, or the university notification.
Money moved the door.
It did not erase what waited outside it.
At 4:11, an officer returned our property bags.
JP received his phone, wallet, jacket, one shoelace, and a plastic bag containing the other shoe.
"Did the shoe commit a separate offense?" he asked.
"Sign here."
He signed.
I received my belongings and a printed notice ordering me to return if contacted by investigators.
The officer looked at my right hand.
"Get that examined."
"I will."
JP looked at me.
"Your promises remain popular tonight."
We left Central Precinct at 4:14.
Exactly four hours had passed since the police van closed at Bliss.
Kitty stood when the interior door opened.
NC, Anna, and Jihye stood with her.
Mr. Kim remained seated for one second longer, as if disappointment required slower movement.
JP emerged first.
Anna handed him tissues for his nose.
NC looked at his torn jersey.
"You protected the service door. The first-year student told police."
JP lowered his eyes.
"Did she keep pressure on the hand?"
"Yes. She needed stitches, but she is safe."
JP nodded.
For once, he did not make the good news funny.
Then Kitty saw me.
Her eyes moved from the cut beneath my eye to the swollen hand.
She did not hug me.
She placed a fresh cold pack in my left hand.
"You saw NS," she said.
It was not a question.
JP looked toward the exit.
NC, Anna, and Jihye found reasons to follow his attention.
"The lights were strange," I said.
Kitty's face changed.
"The weather is strange. The water is strange. Losing twenty-seven seconds is not weather. Seeing another person's face is not lighting."
"I know."
"Do you?"
The words belonged to the medical officer from four hours earlier.
I looked at the cold pack.
"I will tell the therapist."
"And a doctor."
"And a doctor."
She nodded once.
It was not forgiveness.
It was a condition for reaching the next day.
Mr. Kim approached us.
"The university will contact all involved students Monday. Do not post explanations. Do not argue online. Preserve every message and video you already have."
JP lifted his returned phone.
More than two hundred notifications waited.
"The internet has already argued without us."
"Then do not help it," Mr. Kim said.
The butler opened the rear door of a black sedan.
"The vehicle will take you for medical assessment, then home."
"Who sent you?" I asked.
"The household became aware of an administrative inconvenience."
JP covered a laugh with a painful breath.
"Did NS send you?"
The butler's expression remained neutral.
"The young master is occupied at the hospital."
It was the closest he came to answering.
He looked at my wrapped right hand.
"Can you close it?"
"Why?"
"The question was included in my instructions."
JP turned away to hide a smile.
I tried to make a fist and failed at the last two fingers.
The butler opened the door wider.
"Then we will visit the clinic first."
"Tell him I did not need his help."
"You were released through his help. Accuracy may prevent an unnecessary message."
He said it without judgment.
That made the correction impossible to fight.
Before entering the car, I looked back at the precinct.
Behind the second-floor windows, officers continued sorting footage from the football riot.
The brawl file contained names across six pages.
XH.
JP.
KM.
His three Engineering Club friends.
Supporters from both national teams.
The separate file beside it concerned one altered drink and one hospitalized student.
At 4:14 in the morning, its suspect line remained blank.