The Villain Is Too Popular

Real World, Station 13.

Seeing Chen Kong so easily swayed by Tendo's few words, the audience's attention shifted elsewhere.

For instance... Chen Kong's fixed gaze as Isabel departed.

"It's over, Kong, you little rascal, you've fallen in love!"

"Regarding My Encounter with a Cold Noble Miss at a Prestigious School."

"Is it a poor boy falling for a rich girl trope? A bit cheesy, but that's fine, I'm cheesy, I love it... Woof woof woof!"

"No way, Ah Kong, she just flicked her hair, and that's enough to steal your soul?"

While the dimensional audience heavily criticized Chen Kong's "easy to fall in love" behavior, Tendo hummed a tune as he walked towards the teaching building, clearly in high spirits.

He couldn't help it. His little bit of extra flair earlier not only gained him considerable popularity but also ensured that the main storyline of the first season remained within a relatively stable framework, preventing him from losing his foresight advantage.

Because according to the original plot, the one who should have come to Chen Kong's rescue was none other than the tsundere twin-tailed Miss Isabel.

Not only that, but Tendo's move of splashing De Cora with soda was actually a trick Isabel had used on De Cora in the original story.

Although Tendo's appearance had caused some changes in the meeting scene between the male and female leads in this first season, Tendo felt he hadn't really disrupted the original plot, nor would it affect the main storyline later in the first season.

Everything... was under control!

Afternoon, Teaching Building, Class 1, First Year.

Chen Kong walked into the classroom through the back door, carrying two boxes of "Blue Tune Mountain City" drinks by himself.

The nearby students of Class 1 were curious as to why he suddenly brought so many drinks. Still, due to their unfamiliarity with each other, they ultimately didn't ask further, only glancing curiously.

Suddenly being watched by so many people made the already introverted Chen Kong immediately uncomfortable.

But when he saw a golden-haired back sitting at the front of the classroom, Chen Kong suddenly changed from his usual low-key self, took a deep breath, and loudly announced, "Cl-Classmates, these are drinks bought for everyone by another exchange student from our school, Tendo Si Ming."

"He said that although you'll only be classmates for a month, brief classmates are still classmates, and you should all get along well."

"So he asked me to help him bring these drinks, hoping to quickly build good relationships with everyone."

Out of goodwill, and some inexplicable sense of self-esteem, Chen Kong not only failed to claim the drinks as his own, as Tendo had instructed, but he also took it upon himself to say some pleasantries that Tendo had never uttered.

What made Chen Kong incredibly awkward was that after he finished speaking, the classmates, who had been chatting amongst themselves, all fell silent and and looked at him with incredibly strange gazes.

The air... seemed to completely solidify at that moment.

And this scene, let alone for Chen Kong, the person involved, even the dimensional audience outside the screen, who were uninvolved, could clearly feel the awkward atmosphere, as if their toes were curling up.

It wasn't surprising that this situation occurred. Trilane was a renowned noble junior high school in the near-sea area.

Apart from a small number of specially recruited students with outstanding talents, the remaining students came from wealthy or influential families.

A mere bottle of drink was naturally not something they cared about, nor did they need a stranger to give it to them.

Furthermore, Chen Kong had only been in the class for half a day, he was new and unfamiliar with the surroundings.

At the same time, he didn't have any particularly outstanding qualities or charisma.

As a result, most of the classmates, while not bullying him, also didn't interact much with him.

Calling him half an outsider wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.

Therefore, it would be strange if they weren't surprised by an outsider's sudden display of kindness.

Chen Kong, who had grown up in the Ember, clearly hadn't anticipated this situation.

Because if this happened in the Ember, even if it was Chen Kong, the acknowledged nobody among the Children of the Stars, delivering the message, as long as it was said that Tendo brought the items, no matter how unwilling the others were, they would eventually choose to take the drinks without offending Tendo.

This habitual thinking had undoubtedly led to Chen Kong's current predicament.

After all, this was the unfamiliar Trilane Junior High... not his familiar Ember base!

Just as Chen Kong lowered his head, embarrassed and wanting to rush out the door, a strand of bright golden hair suddenly entered his field of vision.

"Give it to me."

Chen Kong looked up in surprise, only to see Isabel, who had been sitting in her seat, standing in front of him at some point, extending her hand, gesturing for him to give her a bottle of drink.

Undoubtedly, Isabel was actively helping him out of a difficult situation.

Coupled with what happened in the cafeteria earlier, Chen Kong, who already had a good impression of Isabel, completely fell for her.

This... perhaps this was an angel...

However, Isabel saw that despite her having spoken, he still stood there foolishly, not handing her a bottle of drink. She immediately frowned unhappily.

To be so slow and lacking in discernment, no wonder this guy was bullied by that guy De Cora, it really couldn't be blamed on anyone else.

However, for some purpose, Isabel ultimately chose to ignore Chen Kong's minor rudeness and casually pointed to a boy sitting in the back row.

"Leo, you and the others distribute these drinks."

"Oh, okay, Class Monitor."

With Isabel's intervention, the awkward atmosphere in the classroom instantly eased.

Watching his classmates actively helping to distribute the drinks, Chen Kong finally came back to his senses.

He shyly avoided Isabel's gaze and whispered, "Th-Thank you..."

Isabel calmly said, "It's nothing. Maintaining a harmonious atmosphere in the class is my duty as Class Monitor."

At this point, Isabel suddenly changed the subject, casually saying, "By the way, you just said these drinks were bought by that exchange student you mentioned, so can you tell me what that guy named Tendo was like at your previous school?"

"Don't misunderstand, I just don't want the situation in the cafeteria to happen again, so I need to understand the situation of you exchange students in advance."

Hearing Isabel's words, Chen Kong, who had been completely "IQ-reduced," didn't notice anything unusual about her words.

He immediately blurted out his opinion of Tendo within the Ember.

Fortunately, Chen Kong wasn't the kind of fool who would spill everything asked.

He cleverly replaced "Ember Base" with "previous school" and "Children of the Stars" from the Stars Project with "classmates."

Thus, after Chen Kong's artistic embellishment, the bully Tendo, who ran rampant in the Ember Base, often preying on the weak, was twisted by Chen Kong into a sunny, benevolent, and academically excellent student.

Though from Chen Kong's perspective, all of this was his genuine opinion of Tendo.

While Isabel didn't know Tendo's past, she chose to believe Chen Kong's words, based on what had just happened in the cafeteria.

After all, if Tendo wasn't a good person, why would he risk being isolated by others to stand up for his former classmate in an unfamiliar school?

Thinking this, Isabel immediately interrupted Chen Kong, who was about to say something else, and said politely yet distantly, "Alright, you don't need to say anything else. Thank you very much..."

Isabel had intended to call out Chen Kong's name, but she suddenly realized she hadn't remembered it at all.

Fortunately, Isabel wasn't Chen Kong; she didn't have that cautious fear of saying the wrong thing.

She directly asked, "By the way, what was your name again?"

"Chen Kong, Chen as in dust, Kong as in air."

"Chen Kong, huh... Thank you very much, Classmate Chen Kong. I will help you and Classmate Tendo integrate into the class as soon as possible and try to prevent what just happened from recurring."

"Don't worry, with me here, that narcissistic De Cora won't be able to cause any trouble."

"Alright, class is about to start. Hurry back to your seat. I need to rest for a bit too."

With that, Isabel returned to her seat without looking back.

Chen Kong was left standing there, smiling foolishly and rubbing his head, secretly delighted that she had called him by his name.

Upon witnessing all this from a God's-eye perspective, the dimensional audience couldn't help but complain.

"Bro, don't smile anymore, your house is about to be stolen, and you're still smiling!"

"Oh my god, Kong, don't you feel like something's wrong here? You've been here all morning, and she didn't remember your name, but Tendo hasn't even come to class yet, and she's already remembered his name. How can you still smile?"

"It's over, it's over, I smell the scent of tragic literature."

While Chen Kong was secretly delighted and the audience was speechless, Tendo, who had just finished his registration, was pulled to the school rooftop by Caroline the moment he stepped out. He had no time to check the dimensional screen, naturally unaware of what was happening in the classroom.

"What's up, Caroline? Why did you suddenly want to see me?"

"Here, this is the mission intel Instructor Yun Meng asked me to give you."

Tendo took Caroline's tablet, pretended to read it seriously for a moment, then handed it back.

"So, you're saying someone wants to kidnap Isabel during the week-long retreat?"

"Mhm."

"What did Sister Yun say?"

"Instructor Yun's意思是 that rather than tipping them off, it's better to play along. She wants us to stay calm for now and just be prepared."

"Okay, then we'll do as Sister Yun says. They're just a few Dark Star Envoys operating in the gray areas anyway. I can handle them all by myself. It's no big deal."

Just as Tendo thought Caroline had finished saying all the important things, he suddenly noticed Caroline looking as if she had something more to say. He immediately asked curiously, "What's wrong, Caroline? Is there anything else you want to say?"

Caroline thought for a moment, then said with some uncertainty, "Tendo, today... you didn't cause any trouble, did you?"

"Huh?"

Tendo looked at Caroline in shock, seemingly surprised that she would say such a thing.

"No, Caroline, you don't trust me to handle things?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Tendo's words, Caroline said matter-of-factly, "Tendo, precisely because it's you, I don't trust you. After all, getting you to behave is harder than getting you to quit sweets."

Hearing Caroline speak about him like that, Tendo immediately clutched his chest, putting on an exaggerated display of being deeply hurt.

Unfortunately, Caroline wasn't buying it.

And seeing that playing the victim wasn't working, Tendo immediately changed tactics.

"Caroline, I know you have some misunderstandings about me, but this time, I can guarantee you, I really didn't cause any trouble today."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Alright, I'll take your word for it."

"No, what do you mean 'take my word for it'? Caroline, don't go. You need to explain that."

"Hehe."