Phase two

The lecturer let the silence hang for just a moment, letting his words sink in. Then he continued, pacing slowly in front of her.

"The second crucial element," he said, holding up a finger, "is that the candidate must come to the full realization that she is entirely, solely responsible for her own predicament. It is vital that there is no external scapegoat, no one else to blame."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, holding it up for the entire hall to see. Then he turned to Cathrin and placed it directly in front of her face. It was a registration form—her registration form, with her name and student ID number clearly printed at the top.

"Is this your registration?" he asked, his tone calm but pointed.

Cathrin blinked at the familiar handwriting. "Yes," she said, her voice quieter than she had intended.

"And by signing this," he pressed, "you agreed that you are ready and willing to actively participate in all exercises, without reservation. Correct?"

Cathrin opened her mouth, then closed it again. She vaguely remembered skimming the terms—a long block of legal-sized text that she had scrolled past on her phone while waiting for a coffee. She had seen the words "active participation" and thought it meant group discussions, maybe a few questionnaires. She definitely had not imagined this.

She wasn't so sure she had read that part carefully at all. But the entire lecture hall was watching her, and the lecturer was still waiting, his eyebrows raised in patient expectation.

"Correct," she finally heard herself say, because admitting otherwise in front of two hundred people felt far worse than whatever was coming next.

The lecturer smiled—a thin, professional smile—and turned back to the audience. "Excellent. Then we may proceed to phase three."