inheritance
Explanation
This comic parodies the classic "eccentric millionaire's will" trope from horror and mystery stories.
In the first panel, a lawyer reads the will to a group of heirs: "According to your father's will, you will only get his fortune if you spend a weekend in a haunted house." This sets up the familiar premise seen in countless old movies and novels -- a rich eccentric forces the heirs to endure a spooky test to earn their inheritance.
A week later, they have apparently survived the haunted house. One heir asks nervously, "Where's Theodore?" Another replies, "Oh my God we did it."
In the next panel, the group reads a follow-up note from the father: "The note from your father reads: 'Since you survived the haunted house, I will now reveal that the house was really haunted and by overcoming its challenges, you have proven yourselves worthy.'" But then the twist comes -- the characters point out that they are "science-y, just noting the house wasn't haunted. We inherited the fortune."
The final panel caption reads "This is why nobody liked Dad, isn't it." This reveals that the father was genuinely eccentric and believed in the supernatural, while the practical-minded heirs simply saw through the nonsense, survived the weekend in what was just a regular old house, and collected their money. The "haunted house challenge" was never a real test -- it was just the delusion of a wealthy oddball.
The comic subverts the horror genre trope by applying modern skepticism: in real life, spending a weekend in a "haunted house" would just mean staying in an old building, and the heirs treat it as exactly the mild inconvenience it actually is.