BANG!

THUD!

"Dammit! Open the door, you piece of trash!" Gani slammed his shoulder into the wooden door of Classroom 3B until his shoulder blade throbbed with agony. Beside him, Reno kicked the bottom of the door in absolute frustration. Yet, the aged wood felt as though it had transformed into solid steel anchored directly into the building's foundation.

"It won't open, Gani! It's useless! It's like this door is locked by something invisible," Reno gasped for air, his temples drenched in cold sweat.

"Return to your desks."

Professor Danu's voice sliced through their panic. It wasn't loud, yet its double-toned resonance reverberated inside their chests, forcing their hearts to beat at twice their normal speed. The red fluorescent light in the ceiling flickered once, emitting a painful electrical buzz.

Bzzzzt.

"A pop quiz will now begin," Professor Danu slowly turned his body, staring straight at the six students who stood paralyzed in the corners of the room. "The rules are simple. I ask a question. You answer. If you answer incorrectly, or if you attempt to lie... you will receive an immediate assessment directly from me."

"Professor, please! We don't want a quiz! We want to go home!" Vanya shrieked from the floor, her hands tightly clutching her messy hair clip. "I can't take this anymore, Dinda... I want to go back to my dorm..."

Dinda didn't hear Vanya's weeping. Her eyes were locked onto a blank sheet of white paper that had suddenly materialized on each student's desk. The paper was empty, yet slowly, crimson stains resembling fresh blood began to seep through the fibers, forming faint lines across the surface.

"First question," Professor Danu pointed his stiff index finger at Dinda. "Dinda Clarissa. State the foundational principle of professional ethics in business law, and explain why bribery is a form of academic prostitution."

Dinda gasped. Her body trembled violently as she backed away toward her desk. "P-Professor... I... I don't know..."

"You do not know because you never opened the textbooks I assigned! You were too busy calculating the cash needed to bribe me!" Professor Danu's voice boomed, sending violent vibrations through the glass windows until hairline cracks spread across the panes. "Incorrect answer. Penalty begins now."

Dinda suddenly let out a piercing scream, clutching her head with both hands. Inside her mind, the voices of thousands of people echoed loudly. The voices screamed relentless insults: "Corruptor's daughter! Fraud! Your grades are fake! You deserve to die!"

Dinda wept hysterically, collapsing onto the floor while pounding her ears to stop the supernatural voices tormenting her mind.

"Dinda! What's wrong with you?!" Reno shouted in panic, attempting to rush over to her, but an invisible barrier held him firmly in place.

"Next. Reno Pratama," Professor Danu's hollow eyes locked onto Reno. "Explain the concept of social responsibility in public law. And tell me—what is the legal penalty for a driver who strikes an elderly person, leaves them critically injured, and flees the scene?"

Reno froze. The remaining color drained completely from his face. "I... I..."

"Answer, Reno!" Professor Danu snapped, his double-toned voice dripping with rage.

"I made a mistake, Professor! I was scared of getting beaten by a mob that night!" Reno finally screamed out an excuse, tears welling in his eyes. "I didn't mean to hit that old man!"

"Lies," Professor Danu hissed coldly. "You did not flee out of fear of a mob; you fled because you were terrified your expensive sports bike would be impounded by the police. You cared more about a inanimate machine than a human life."

Instantly, a suffocating pressure slammed into Reno's chest. He fell to his knees, clutching his own throat. His lungs seemed to refuse air. In his mind's eye, visions of the old man he had struck that night materialized everywhere—staring down at him from behind the blackboard, from the ceiling, with bleeding eyes demanding retribution. Reno clawed at the floor, gasping for oxygen that had vanished from his surroundings.

In the back row, Sela witnessed the horror, her sanity teetering on the edge of a breakdown. The intense psychological pressure inside the room was reaching the absolute limit of her capacity to endure.

Then, the corner of Sela's eye caught something strange in the back of the class.

Beneath the dim red shadows, the darkness in the corner began to thicken. The darkness moved, shaping itself into tall, faceless black silhouettes. One, two, three... five black shadows crept out from the concrete wall.

"Arin... Arin..." Sela whispered in a raspy voice, her eyes wide as she stared into the corner. "There are people behind us, Arin... they're watching us..."

Arin spun around in panic, but she saw nothing except the dark. "There's nothing there, Sel! Don't drive me crazy!"

"You laughed too, didn't you? You laughed when Professor Danu was humiliated?"

A cold, damp whisper suddenly sounded directly beside Sela's ear. The voice was so intimate, as if someone were pressing decaying lips right against her earlobe.

"No! No! I wasn't involved!" Sela screamed hysterically, clapping her palms over her ears. She shook her head violently. "I was just accompanying Arin! I never said anything mean to Professor Danu!"

"But you stayed silent... you enjoyed watching Professor Danu suffer... you're just the same... murderer... murderer..." The whispers grew louder, overlapping and filling Sela's mind. The black silhouettes in the corner began crawling forward across the floor, extending their long, emaciated arms toward Sela's legs.

"Arin! Help me! They're trying to drag me away, Arin!" Sela screamed hysterically, kicking at the empty air beneath her desk. She broke down completely, her mind fracturing under the weight of the terrifying illusions tormenting her soul.

"Professor Danu! Enough, sir! Please stop this!" Arin finally shouted, standing up from her seat in tears. She stared at the spectral instructor with desperation. "We were wrong! We know we're terrible students! But please don't torture us like this... Sela's going to lose her mind, Professor!"

Gani, standing in the middle of the room, slowly lowered his fists. Watching Dinda's hysterical breakdown, Reno gasping for air, and Sela screaming at unseen ghosts shattered his remaining anger. Pure terror coursed through his veins.

Professor Danu slowly raised his stiff head, shifting his gaze toward Arin and Gani.

"This quiz is not over. There is still time remaining in our class session that must be completed."

On the blackboard, the supernatural chalk moved aggressively once more, scratching out a new line of text beneath the word DIE:

ANYONE WHO FAILS TONIGHT WILL NEVER LEAVE MY CLASSROOM.

Screams, weeping, and supernatural whispers merged inside Classroom 3B, creating a fatal symphony of horror. All six of them now understood: Professor Danu was not going to let them go. This fatal quiz was designed not to test their knowledge, but to strip away every layer of their sins and sanity until nothing remained except belated regret.