Chapter 42: 'Frail Hoang Tuan'
"At 7:23:06 tonight, my mother got angry because I came home from school three minutes later than usual.
"She will eat my flowerpot, and..."
"Hair?"
...
In the classroom window of Class 12C4, the familiar rain kept tapping on the glass, leaving blurry streaks.
Thunder roared.
Occasionally, one or two flashes cut across the sky, piercing through the dark clouds, reflecting on the stagnant water by the road...
At the last row next to the window.
A slender figure sat quietly.
He twirled a pen between his fingers and looked out through the slightly stained window.
Within his sight.
In front of the school gate, colorful umbrellas filled the scene, with crowds of students in uniforms bustling around. A few taxis passed by, picking up and leaving.
The classroom was dimly lit.
Hoang Tuan looked back at the few students left in the class, and they were all packing up their bags.
He pondered for a moment, then looked down at the stack of textbooks and exercises on the desk...
"Sigh."
He didn't know what to say.
He raised his hand and looked at the clock.
It was 6:42 PM now...
A desolate corner of the classroom.
Large and small writings, playfully drawn by mischievous students with pens, smeared on the wet walls...
The chalkboard also bore the dense writings of the teacher inside the classroom.
Desks and chairs were arranged messily.
The mop lay lazily behind the classroom door, not having been used yet...
Other students were also packing up their belongings.
Preparing to leave.
"Hoang Tuan, you have to clean up a lot today! Hang in there!"
One of the tall boys turned around and said to Hoang Tuan.
Perhaps due to the desolate atmosphere, his voice echoed slightly in the corridor.
Hoang Tuan did not respond.
He still sat quietly, watching them leave.
In the dimly lit classroom.
He was left alone...
He took a piece of scrap paper from the drawer and calculated the time he would get home.
After a few scribbles, Hoang Tuan tore a corner of the scrap paper, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
Finished, he straightened up a bit and stood up to pick up the dark blue bag placed under the desk.
Before leaving,
He took the potted plant placed on his desk ...
Straight home?
He wasn't from here.
Whoever liked it could do it.
...
...
The rain was still falling.
But it was lighter than before.
Outside the school building, a girl carrying a school bag and wearing a school uniform was sheltering from the rain under the eaves. After seeing Hoang Tuan, she frowned slightly and walked up to him, then naturally hooked her arm around Hoang Tuan's.
"Brother, are you help them clean up again?" The girl looked a little unhappy, and her tone seemed to indicate that such a thing had happened not just once or twice.
"No."
Hoang Tuan replied straightforwardly.
This answer obviously made the girl even more displeased, and she held onto Hoang Tuan's arm.
"You are lying to me again. I overheard them talking when they were going downstairs before. I told you to call me, and I would follow you to deal with them. Why do you always forget?"
After hearing those words, Hoang Tuan looked down at his little sister.
She wasn't much different from the description in the novel he received.
She was a cute-looking girl who always cared about him.
This was the little sister who waited for him every day after school when she found out he was being bullied.
If he remembered correctly.
Her name was Tran Hoang Lan...
"I won't help them clean up. I just want to wait for the rain to stop before going down," Hoang Tuan explained.
But he discovered that no matter how he explained, Hoang Lan would not believe him.
Hoang Lan sighed. It's not that she didn't want to help her brother deal with those people, but she also knew that every time she helped Hoang Tuan vent his anger, the classmates would say that Hoang Tuan relied on his little sister, as he only dared to stand up to them with her help.
Doing so.
Hoang Tuan would be even more embarrassed in front of his classmates...
Hoang Lan also understood her brother's personality and knew that he wouldn't say anything to her.
She only found out about this incident last month.
What could she do about it?
She could only wait for him and go home with him after school every day.
Those people would behave a little less outrageously when she was with her brother.
In any case, they knew that she wouldn't be as lenient as her brother, so they kept quiet. At least they would tell the teacher and the headmaster.
If they didn't want their parents to be invited, they wouldn't dare to do that...
"Do you have an umbrella?"
Hoang Tuan didn't intend to get entangled in this issue again. He turned to Hoang Lan and asked.
Hoang Lan shook her head.
She didn't have the habit of checking the weather forecast and often forgot to bring an umbrella.
"I'm afraid this umbrella won't be enough to cover both of us. Let's take a taxi," Hoang Tuan pointed to the black umbrella in his hand, then glanced at the heavy rain outside.
"Ahh, I don't think the rain is too heavy. It should be enough," Hoang Lan said, looking a little puzzled.
Their family finances were managed by their mother...
Since mothers always had the idea of not spoiling their children with excessive spending, they usually didn't have money for frivolous things.
Although taking a taxi might seem normal to others, it was quite rare for the two siblings.
"Let's take a taxi in case we get wet," Hoang Tuan said.
After saying that, he handed the potted plant in his hand to Hoang Lan, held the umbrella, and led her out of the school gate.
Hoang Lan didn't understand why her brother suddenly became so considerate. It was indeed raining heavily outside, but Hoang Tuan's umbrella was not too small, so she wouldn't get wet.
Hoang Tuan didn't try to explain.
It was the first time he and Hoang Lan got in a taxi, and they looked at the red digital clock inside the taxi.
It was now 6:50 PM.
There was still half an hour before what was mentioned in the novel...
It took about ten minutes to catch a taxi back home, and the remaining time was probably enough for him to take a shower, have dinner at home, or do some homework.
This was what a normal good student should do.
It was what their mother asked them to do every day after school.
After immersing himself in the world of this novel, Hoang Tuan inadvertently discovered that there were also native inhabitants living in the horror stories within the novel.
Similar to NPCs in a game.
For example, the girl next to him was also...
They had lived in this world, except Hoang Tuan could see that the plot would develop in a supernatural direction, but there was hardly any difference between this world and the real world.
Indeed, besides these things, Hoang Tuan also knew the specific development of his own story in the novel's control panel.
Knowing these things had never happened before.
Like shooting a TV series, he had his own screenplay...
There were relationships between individuals, character settings, and the start of the plot...
Inside the taxi.
Hoang Tuan leaned against the back seat, looking at the scenery passing by the window with a strange mood.
The school gate receded in the rearview mirror.
The five characters "Tran Hung Dao High School" were engraved on it.
The content of this story.
It was his seven-day holiday after the National Day when he was still a student.
When Hoang Tuan realized this, it happened to be the time when the students had finished their lunch break and were preparing for the afternoon classes.
By this calculation, he had been here for almost four and a half hours.
However, until now, he hadn't encountered other people being dragged into this world...