The Turnaround
When Erlen returned to his classmates, it was safe to say that he wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms. They couldn't hear what he had said, and we're all confused why he had quit the match.
When Erlen went through the glass door, he had returned to the others, and everyone was staring at him.
"Tell me now Erlen!" Aden shouted. "Why didn't you attack the student from the Cursed house and just forfeit the match like that. Did Hardy pay you off!?"
With everything going on and what he had seen and learnt of Hardy so far, Aden was starting to think he was just some person who had money. One who had reached such a position in the faction due to connections or something else, and now he was suspecting that Erlen had been paid off as well.
"I just thought I was going to lose a lot more if I attacked him," Erlen said, walking past Zhen, who glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Erlen had wholly ignored him going forward.