Aris picked up the key. A door materialized on the far wall, previously invisible. He walked toward it, the untouched apple still gleaming on the table behind him. As he inserted the key, the robotic voice returned, but this time it was warm.

“Correct. The test wasn’t about willpower. It was about observation. The apple was never the solution. The table was.”

Then, he noticed a detail he’d missed before. Behind the apple, barely visible, was a tiny, almost microscopic crack in the table’s surface. It wasn’t a crack—it was a seam. The table was actually a disguised drawer.

Professor Aris laughed, turned back, grabbed the apple, took a huge bite, and stepped through the door—feeling, for the first time in three days, like a genius.