“MARK LEE!” Mr Braun slammed his hand and his desk and yelled. His face etched with anger, he stood up, glaring at Mark who just caused a stifle chuckle at the back of the class.

Mark was already used to being yelled at so he didn't even flinch. Even so, he had a smug smile on his face while Mr Braun, the mathematics teacher glowered at him.

Leaning back on his chair, arms crossed, “oh common Mr Braun, you're way too serious, I'm just making this boring class lively” he shrugged

Mr Braun pressed on his temple, suppressing his anger. He spoke in a fluent accent while saying calmly “just stop making fun of my beard and distracting the class Mark”

Mark chuckled “seriously, I'm not sure what's thicker, your accent or that…. thing on your face”

The entire class roared with uncontrollable laughter

Mr Braun exploded, veins popped up on his neck and forehead. His face flushed and he yelled on top of his lungs “DETENTION!!”

His hands tucked into his pockets, Mark strode out of the class. It was a short trip to detention class, he was a regular customer there.

He twisted the door knob and opened the door.

“Mark my man!”His friend Ahmed greeted him with a casual handshake.

“Fool, what are you doing here?” He asked

Mark shrugged “Mr Braun brought his face bush today, I just couldn't resist” he collapsed on one of the chairs.

“You're so mean Mark” one of the girls seated, pouted.

Proudly, he simpered “well what can I say, I am THE Mark Lee.”

Mark started off by greeting the others that were seated. He was a popular student, especially amongst the bullies, vandals, troublemakers, and rebels.

Once they were done greeting each other, Grug, the tall light-skinned guy with black hair called out “Hey Mark, wanna see something funny?,” He asked, mischief lurking in his eyes.

Incited already, Mark sat up “Do you even need to ask?”

They shushed each other. Grug picked up a paper, squeezed it to the size of a small ball. He tossed it at the woman sitting at the table.

It landed on her head and slid down but she didn't flinch or look up.

Surprised, Mark's eyes widened “woah, that was bold. She didn't even move.”

Grug chuckled “yeah, she's like a robot just sitting there and ignoring us”

A blonde busty girl added “They changed Miss Sharona for some reason. I kinda like this teacher better, she's chill.”

The door opened up and two other students entered. One of them was Hyung Park, the only Korean in the school. And the other was Rachael Patrick.

Ahmed chuckled upon seeing them enter “More to the team? A nerd boy and a hippie” he teased.

The two ignored him. There were only six desks in the detention class. Hyung offered to stand while Rachael sat, although they weren't familiar with each other.

The seven of them were in the same year12 but were in separate classes.

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About 15 minutes after the entrance of Rachael and Hyung, the door opened and two men walked in.

One of them held a laptop and the other stood erect. In all, the teacher neither moved nor spoke.

They all sat in confusion staring at the men dressed in black suits and trousers.

Whispers of “what's going on?”

“What's their deal?” Spread throughout the class.

Once their murmurs settled, one of the men tapped a button on the laptop. There was a glitch on the screen before an ominous mask appeared.

“What the hell?” Mark exclaimed, his brows creasing in puzzlement.

A deep voice spoke “Hyung Park of classB, Rachael Patrick and Hope Dobre of classC, Grug Jones and Noel Hudson of classD, and finally Ahmed Phil and Mark Lee from classE. Welcome, to detention class”

As the voice spoke, files were distributed to the seven of them. Their names as well as almost everything about them was written in the file along with their pictures.

Hyung standing beside Rachael muttered with unease “what is this? My weight and height are even recorded. Is this what detention class is like?” He asked, it was his first time here after all.

“Beats me,” Rachael answered, her eyes sweeping over the pages with uncertainty. It was also her first time in detention class.

The files were retrieved afterwards.

“Huh…..this is new..” Ahmed remarked. For someone who has been to detention class all his life, this has never happened to him before.

The voice continued “Do you like games?”. It sounded creepy.

“Games..?” Mark repeated the words, his confusion growing.

“What is that supposed to mean man?” Ahmed boldly asked. Was this the principal's doing?

The voice spoke “Games worth thousands of dollars”

This statement threw the entire room into a field of gasps, surprised looks, and shocked murmurs.

Mark’s eyes widened and his lips parted open to speak but Rachael beat him to it.

“Don't answer that!” She said suddenly and all eyes were now on her. Her narrowed eyes moved from the laptop to the two men and then the teacher. It was all too weird to pass on as normal.

“What's the problem with you?” Hope popped the gum in mouth.

“Something isn't right” Rachael sounded stupid.

Ahmed waved her off “pipe down sis. Games worth thousands of dollars, I don't see anything wrong with that.”

Mark shrugged, “Me neither”. He looked back to the laptop, his curiosity piqued “What's this game about?”

The voice asserted “Play my game ENIGMA, seven players but only one person goes home with eight hundred thousand dollars”

The room fell silent for a moment before erupting into a chorus of stunned exclamations “Eight hundred thousand dollars!”.

Hyung straightened his glass. The only normal person here seemed to be Rachael so he crouched and said “you're the one named Rachael right?”

She nodded.

“I'm Hyung. Doesn't it seem weird how the person speaking waits for our replies? I originally thought it was a recorded message hearing as though the voice had already been tampered with.”

“This must be a live video call then” Said Rachael “do you think the school is doing this?”

“I highly doubt that. I haven't seen that teacher before”

“Me either.” Rachael rested her chin on her palm with a sigh.

Hyung pondered a bit before saying “you're right. Something is definitely off somewhere”

“And these nitwits are playing along.” She smacked her forehead.

“Hey you guys!” Mark's voice drew attention. They looked at him, he was holding a paper and a pen. “Quit whispering to each other. Are you in or not?”

“In what? What are you holding?” Rachael asked

Mark groaned “just answer, are you in or not?”

“Count me out” she said and the voice immediately objected “There can be only seven players, if not seven then no one plays”

“You hear that?” Said Ahmed “Are you seriously just going to pass up eight hundred thousand dollars like that? It's just a game, say yes already.” Ahmed insisted.

Rachael hesitated, “Doesn't that amount seem too-”

“I'm in” Hyung cut in.

Mark smiled “see, even the nerd wants to do something cool. We're in detention class, nothing would go wrong” he assured.

Rachael contemplated, she glanced at Hyung. He looked smart, he must know what he's doing. She sighed in defeat, “oh, okay”

Mark penned down something after she spoke and asked “so…when do we start?”

Instead of responding, the man holding the laptop closed it, the one next to him picked up the paper and they both left without a word.

“Whaaa?” Hope pouted “I'm confused”

“You're always confused,” her friend Noel added with a nudge.

They all exchanged looks. “What now?” Grug asked.

Ahmed, fed up with the teacher's nonchalant attitude walked up to the desk while snapping his fingers “Hey teach, why aren't you doing any-”

He gasped and paused suddenly.

“What's up Ahmed?” Mark asked at his sudden quietness but Ahmed said nothing in return.

“What's going on?” Hope asked in her usual sweet voice but he didn't respond to her either.

Ahmed took a step back, his face drenched in fear and shock. “S..some-” he stuttered

“You're making us scared Ahmed, what's going on?” Hope said again, holding tight onto Noel.

“Move, let's see!” Grug said impatiently.

Ahmed stumbled back and the teacher's face came to view.