Dinda's hushed weeping over her overwhelming guilt was the sole sound breaking the suffocating stillness inside the Faculty Office. The vision showing Professor Danu's final moments had faded into the void, yet the haunting image of white pills spilling from a plastic bottle remained freshly burned into their collective memory.

The fear that had initially begun as pure survival panic had now mutated into a crushing, agonizing weight of remorse.

"I... I was the one who drafted that complaint letter," Dinda spoke in a raspy voice, barely audible through her ragged breathing. "I didn't know it would get him expelled from campus... I just wanted to secure my grades..."

"It makes no difference, Dinda," Gani cut in. His voice lacked its usual booming, volatile arrogance. The heavily built young man sat limply on the floor, resting his head against a metal locker with a hollow, vacant stare. "Me too... those stupid videos I circulated in the batch group chat... I just wanted to look cool in front of everyone. I never imagined it would destroy him like that."

Reno let out a heavy sigh, forcing his body upright beside Vanya, who was still shaking uncontrollably. "We all played a part in this. We mocked him, we turned a blind eye, and we engaged in indirect bullying. And now... he has returned to demand our accountability."

Before Reno could finish his sentence, the eerie silence inside the room suddenly tore open.

CRACK...

CRRRACK...

The sound of a heavy object grinding against the concrete floor echoed from the direction of the entrance. The iron filing cabinet Gani had dragged to barricade the door began to slide backward entirely on its own. The movement was agonizingly slow yet deliberate, as if an invisible entity were shoving it from the outside with absolute, unyielding force.

"Reno! The cabinet is moving!" Vanya shrieked, instantly scrambling backward until her spine slammed against the underside of an office desk.

Click.

The deadbolt on the heavy door turned by itself. The wooden door of the Faculty Office slowly swung open, gliding wide without the slightest squeak from its hinges.

Standing on the threshold was a rigid, familiar silhouette. Beneath the blood-red glow filtering from the corridor, Professor Danu stood completely still. His head remained broken, tilted sideways at a horrifying, unnatural angle. Fresh streams of dark blood pouring from his torn eyelids had saturated the entire front of his batik shirt, turning the traditional fabric pattern into a dense, rancid black stain.

"Break time... is over."

The double-toned voice reverberated directly from Professor Danu's throat, causing the glass panes on the office cabinets to vibrate softly. An ice-cold gust instantly swept through the room, freezing the sweat clinging to the six students' skin.

Gani stared at the monstrous form with tear-filled eyes. His aggressive survival logic was completely dead. He knew there was no point in throwing punches or hurling chairs anymore. The entity before them was not something that could be combated with physical strength.

"Professor... please forgive us, Professor..." Gani whispered, tears of terror and genuine remorse finally trickling down his filth-streaked cheeks. "We were wrong... please let us go..."

Professor Danu offered no response to Gani's desperate plea. He merely raised his pale, ash-gray right hand, pointing directly toward the corridor outside. The gesture was an absolute command that left no room for defiance.

Reno looked around at his friends one by one. Their mental fortresses had collapsed completely. Sela was entirely unresponsive; she stared blankly at the floor, muttering incoherent gibberish under her breath. Arin, who was holding Sela tightly, had run out of tears, her pale face set in utter resignation.

"There's no other way out," Reno said softly, his voice resigned yet attempting to stay steady. "We have to go back to the classroom. If this is our end... we have to face it."

"Reno, I'm scared... I don't want to die here..." Vanya sobbed, clutching tightly at Reno's jacket.

"I'm scared too, Vanya. But if we keep running, this building will never release us. Come on," Reno helped Vanya to her feet, then turned to support Sela alongside Arin.

With what little strength they had remaining, the six students filed out of the Faculty Office with their heads bowed low. They walked side by side, ushered along by the spectral figure of Professor Danu, who glided slowly behind them without making a single footstep.

Strangely, the corridor—which had previously felt like a bottomless, looping labyrinth—now felt remarkably short. In just a few paces, they were standing once more in front of Classroom 3B's entrance, which lay shattered from Gani's earlier rampage.

The atmosphere inside the classroom remained just as terrifying. The dim, red fluorescent lights flickered erratically, reflecting off the shards of broken window glass scattered across the concrete floor. The broad blackboard at the front was still covered in violent chalk scratches repeating the word DIE over and over again.

"Enter... and take your seats," Professor Danu commanded. His spectral form had suddenly relocated to the front of the class, standing behind his desk as if time itself had just glitched.

One by one, they stepped inside through the debris of the ruined door frame.

• Gani walked toward the middle row, slumping into his seat with his body hunched low, burying his face atop the dusty wooden desk.

• Reno and Vanya sat side by side in the second row, their hands locked tightly together, passing back and forth whatever dwindling courage they had left.

• Dinda sat at the very front desk, directly before Professor Danu. She dared not look up; her eyes were glued to the pile of black ash left by her burned bribe envelope on the floor.

• Arin and Sela returned to the back row—the spot closest to the dark corner that had previously projected the faceless shadows.

All six of their bodies trembled violently. The extreme, supernatural cold inside the classroom caused every breath leaving their mouths to form a thin, white vapor in the air. They were utterly powerless now—closing their eyes, preparing for the impending doom they believed would claim them the second that frozen clock finally moved.

At the front of the room, Professor Danu slowly picked up a fresh piece of white chalk that seemed to materialize out of thin air. He turned to face the blackboard, completely disregarding the fact that his head remained broken and inverted backward.

Srrrsk...

Srrrsk...

The grinding sound of chalk against the blackboard echoed once more, cutting through the stillness of a deathly night frozen forever at nine o'clock. Their true final exam had officially begun—and this time, not a single one of them could skip class or run away.