The campus looked like a sleeping giant. The moment Reno cut his motorcycle engine, an instant hush swallowed the roar of his exhaust. All that remained was the quiet rustle of the night wind blowing through the mahogany trees lined neatly along the entrance drive.

Three motorcycles and Dinda’s luxury sedan pulled up right in front of the massive, sturdy main gate. Reno and Gani rode their own bikes, while Arin and Sela shared Arin's automatic scooter. Dinda, as usual, had arrived in her high-end sedan with Vanya in the passenger seat.

Normally, at nine in the evening, this gate would be locked tight with heavy iron chains, and Pak Man—the elderly security guard always on duty—would step out of his booth to shoo away anyone without official business. Tonight, however, the guard booth was dead empty. Pitch black. No oil lamp, no cigarette butts, no signs of life whatsoever.

"Where’s Pak Man?" Sela asked, her voice trembling slightly as she stepped off Arin’s scooter, pulling her thin cardigan tight around herself. "Why is it so quiet out here?"

"Probably taking a dump in the back," Gani scoffed, dismounting his bike, removing his helmet, and spitting onto the ground. "Forget about him. We came to deal with Professor Danu, not look for a security guard."

Dinda stepped out of her sedan alongside Vanya, staring at the iron gate with a furrowed brow. "Hey, wait... Why is the gate open?"

She was right. The heavy iron gate, usually locked dead tight, had been left half a meter ajar at the center—as if someone had just opened it in a hurry, deliberately welcoming their arrival. There was no clinking padlock, no screeching chain. Just a suffocating silence.

Reno pushed the iron gate open with his palm.

Crrreeeeaaakk.

The sound of iron grinding against the bottom rail echoed sharply through the thick night air, sounding like a long, agonizing groan that refused to end. Reno walked in first, followed by the rest. Vanya remained glued to her phone screen, desperately searching for a fading signal.

"No service," Vanya grumbled in frustration. "Is this campus trying to ruin my mood on purpose? My live stream is totally ruined."

"Come on, Van, just enjoy the creepy vibes," Reno teased with a soft chuckle. "It’s perfect for horror content, right?"

"Not funny, Reno," Arin snapped back. "I just want to get this class over with and leave. I have plans at eleven."

They began walking down the concrete footpath toward the faculty building, leaving their vehicles parked outside the gate. To their left and right, lecture halls that appeared grand during the day had transformed into giant, gray slabs of stone beneath the heavy cloud cover. The glass windows, which usually reflected bright sunlight, now looked like hollow eyes staring down at them with icy indifference.

Gani, who had been suppressing his irritation, broke the atmosphere with a burst of profanity. "I swear, that Danu guy is dramatic as hell. Who does he think we are, unemployed bums? We have to show up in the middle of the night just to listen to him preach?"

"Maybe he's lonely," Dinda chimed in with heavy sarcasm, adjusting her designer handbag. "Maybe no one listens to him at home, so he power-trips on campus as an outlet. Typical old man with no personal life."

A round of light laughter broke out among them—a forced, boisterous laugh to cover the awkwardness and creeping dread slowly crawling up the backs of their necks.

"So true!" Vanya laughed, though her eyes kept darting nervously toward the dark corridors they passed. "I heard he lives all alone in university housing. Kinda sad, honestly. But still, no need to be a tyrant. Being a strict asshole doesn't make him look cool, it just makes him look pathetic."

"And that face of his," Sela joined in, trying to act brave so she wouldn't seem like a coward. "Always scowling, as if the world owes him something. Was he never taught how to smile?"

"Maybe he forgot how to smile because he was too busy waiting for absent students," Reno added, met by more laughter from the group.

They reached the courtyard in front of the main building. The hallway lights flickered erratically, casting dancing shadows across the concrete floor. Sela paused in her tracks. She felt—whether it was just her imagination or not—something moving behind the large concrete pillars. Something tall, black, and completely still. But when she stared harder, there was nothing there. Just the wind carrying the scent of damp earth and rotting leaves.

"What is it, Sel?" asked Arin, noticing her friend had stopped.

"Nothing... nothing at all. Just... a bad feeling," Sela whispered.

"Oh, don't start," Gani scoffed, walking ahead of everyone. "It's just a campus hallway, not a haunted house. Besides, if there were real ghosts here, I bet even they'd be too lazy to deal with Professor Danu when he's lecturing."

Everyone laughed again, except Sela. She still felt a pair of eyes watching them from the dark.

They entered the main building's corridor. The sound of six pairs of footsteps echoed off the tall walls, creating a rhythmic, repetitive sound—tap, tap, tap. Yet, amid their synchronized steps, there was another faint sound. An extra, unsynchronized set of footsteps that stopped the moment they stopped, and stepped when they stepped.

"Did you guys hear that?" Arin asked suddenly, the words catching in her throat.

"Hear what?" Reno stopped moving.

"Another set of... footsteps," Arin murmured, staring around the pitch-black hallway.

They all froze, holding their breath. Sure enough, the sound of dragging steps lingered behind them—like someone walking slowly across an old wooden floor, even though the ground beneath them was solid concrete.

Shhhk. Shhhk.

Gani spun around aggressively toward the dark. "Hey! Who's there?! Stop messing around! It's not funny!"

No answer. Only the long, empty darkness stretching back toward the entrance. Gani took a few steps into the shadows, attempting to challenge whatever was there to save face.

"There's nobody there, idiots," Gani called out from the dark. "You're just paranoid, Rin. Come on, let's keep moving. We're almost at Classroom 3B."

They resumed their walk, this time at a much faster pace. Their arrogance was slowly being eaten away by the sudden, bone-chilling cold. Though they continued to mock and laugh at Professor Danu, their voices had grown higher in pitch, rushed, and visibly anxious.

"I just want to get this done fast," Vanya muttered, no longer caring about her phone as she clung to Dinda's arm. "I swear, if Professor Danu keeps us longer than an hour, I'm reporting him to the dean."

"Good," Dinda replied coldly. "I'll back you up. We'll get him fired after tonight."

They pressed forward, passing tightly closed lecture halls, making their way toward the third-floor corridor where Classroom 3B was located. At the far end of that hallway, a single fluorescent light hung overhead, flickering in an unsteady rhythm, illuminating the faded, ancient wooden door of Classroom 3B.

Unbeknownst to them, outside in the dark, the main campus gate that had been left half a meter open slowly swung shut on its own. It locked tight with the heavy, resounding clank of an iron padlock in the dead silence of the night.

The campus had officially turned into a prison. And the night class was just about to begin.