Plot Twists 단편 소설 & Bias Campus 소설

The college entrance exam began, and I waited nervously for the papers to be handed out. Just as I was about to take the test paper from the invigilator, a floating line of text suddenly drifted across my vision. [Don't take it. The paper is coated with deadly poison. You'll die the moment you touch it.] Before my mind could even process what was happening, pure survival instinct made my hand jerk back. The paper slipped from my grasp and fell to the ground. I stiffly met with the invigilator's lifeless, mechanical eyes. He stared at me without blinking, then slowly bent down, picked up the test paper, flipped it over, and placed it back on my desk. "Good luck on your exam." His cold voice snapped me out of the fear brought on by that strange message. Just as I was starting to think that it was nothing more than nerves playing tricks on my eyes, the exam hall speakers started playing instructions. "The listening test will now begin. Please mark your answers on the corresponding answer sheet. The papers will be collected in 15 minutes. Anyone who fails to submit on time will be eliminated!" A wave of terror instantly overwhelmed me.

Perry Hughes' desk was stuffed with love letters again. He sent me $40, as usual. "Tsk. Take care of these for me?" I nodded. That night, I was about to throw the love letters away. Then I noticed that the letter at the very bottom was signed by the girl Perry had a crush on.

It was the day before SAT. I made a video for my time capsule. If all went well, I'd be watching the video 10 years later, and all did go well. A bit too well, really. The moment I opened the video call app, I was connected to the future me. The one living a decade in the future. "Did I get into Harland U? Got a PhD? Is Johnny still my best friend? He has a very short temper. No one else can stand him. I bet you've gotten your PhD and married Zoe." The future was a bright, hopeful place in my mind. Unfortunately, the future me flew into a rage the moment Zoe's mouth left my tongue. "That bitch is giving you pens filled with vanishing ink so Johnny gets to be the state's top scorer instead of you! You're not getting into Harland! You're forced to repeat the year! "That bitch is going to act sorry and down and promise to get into an LDR with you only to go steady with Johnny right away! The whole campus knows about them! They're the perfect couple! "You're an idiot, Seamus! Your girl's going to cheat on you, and you'll thank the guy who railed her for fucking taking care of her!"

My boyfriend Noah Carter and I had a plan: turn our college's fourteen-day outdoor orientation into a fourteen-episode documentary series about us. For the eleventh time, Noah left me alone on the training field. His childhood friend Claire Moore had called him in tears, saying she'd been vomiting and was lying in the camp clinic alone and scared. Waiting for him to come back, I missed the camp's only sunset team drill and the closing long take I'd spent two weeks preparing. That evening, he sent me a photo. Claire sat in a dessert shop outside camp, a smoothie and a slice of strawberry cake in front of her, cheeks pink and looking happier than anyone else in the place. Noah texted back: "The nurse said it's just stomach cramps. Relaxing will help her recover faster. I took her out for some air. Don't overthink it." Before, I would have asked when he was coming back. This time, I crossed "Couples Finale" off the Day Fourteen script and replaced it with two words. "Just me." The next day, he came rushing over to tell me Claire had a fever. I set up the camera for a solo shot without even looking up. "Noah, you don't have to report to me every time. From now on, where you go and who you choose to be with have nothing to do with me." He finally panicked. What he didn't know was that that night, I hadn't just canceled our orientation series. I'd scrapped every plan I'd ever made for a life with him.

The first month of school, I found out the whole school was calling me a leech behind my back. That vicious nickname was coined by my childhood friend Sebastian's new influencer friend, Chloe. Because as far as they were concerned, I always rode to school in Sebastian's car, spent his Venmo, and lived near the old Rivers family estate. But that wasn't the truth. I brought my ruined homework to Sebastian and asked why he let them smear me. He just laughed. "It's a high school joke. Chloe just likes to joke around. Don't be so sensitive." "Besides, you're always riding in my car, following me around. People thinking that... well, it's kind of normal." I froze. Cold went through my whole body. So this. Over a decade of quiet company and quiet protection. In his eyes, I was just a leech. I didn't explain anymore. I applied for early graduation. Off to Columbia University. But when he found out I was leaving, Sebastian went insane, searching everywhere for me. "Maya, where are you going?!"

On the day of the Dragon Bloodline Awakening at the Magic Academy, I became the laughingstock of the entire school. Lucia, the most popular girl in our year, awakened the rare Phantom Dragon, while my boyfriend, Miles, resonated with the noble Frost Dragon. As for me? My entire skin was covered in a thick layer of brown mud. I looked like a stray beggar. Pictures of my disastrous awakening were pinned to the top of the academy’s forum. The comment section was howling. "Covered in mud... definitely the lowest-tier Swamp Dragon!" "Oh my god, a Swamp Dragon Knight? Might as well be a normal person!" "Can she please wear a mask from now on? Just looking at her makes me want to throw up my dinner!" Lucia intentionally recorded my miserable state and put it on a loop online. Miles even started a betting pool on the forum: "Taking bets! Do you think our Swamp Loach will dare to show up at the Contract Ceremony tomorrow night?" "I bet 5,000 crystals she won't dare! She might even drop out tomorrow, hahaha!" The whole academy went crazy placing bets, the mocking comments rolling in one after another. Everyone was waiting for me to become a joke, hiding and crying in my dorm room. I stared at the soaring prize pool and couldn't help but smirk. They bet I wouldn't dare to come. I was only worried that when my dragon appeared, they’d wet their pants. After all, the bloodline I resonated with was the Primordial Divine Dragon.

Marie Hail had been groomed since childhood to be the perfect good girl. Every aspect of her life was tightly controlled. Her parents approved the colors she wore, forbade her from wearing skirts above the knee, and insisted she take small bites and chew each mouthful thoroughly. She was little more than a marionette, with her parents pulling the strings and dictating her every move. However, everything began to change when she turned eighteen and met Rylan Stafford, a boy who burst into her carefully controlled world like a blazing sun. Rylan had striking features, bright, lively eyes, and a wild, uninhibited laugh. More importantly, he was everything Marie had never dared to be. He took her on reckless motorcycle rides to the beach and drove her across the mountains to watch meteor showers. He even gave her a tattoo, a symbol of freedom inked onto her back. Through him, Marie discovered a world beyond the suffocating rules that had governed her life. As he encouraged her to challenge every restriction holding her back, she gradually found the courage to break free and embrace a passion she'd never known. Rylan was a living flame, and Marie willingly let herself be consumed by him. One day, he asked, "Princess, how about we turn in blank exam papers together during finals?"

There had been a shortage of faculty at the start of the freshman year, so I had temporarily stepped in to take on the role of a student advisor. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I had deliberately dressed down in the plainest shirt I could find and put on a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses. However, a troublemaking student brought a group of people and blocked me on the field just as the opening ceremony ended. "Hey, old hag, you're done being a faculty member in Salt-U. How dare you dress like that on purpose to mess with my eyes! Strip and get on your knees, and I might let you off this once!" I narrowed my eyes, irritation rising. Then, I reminded him of the student code of conduct. He immediately blew up. "Cut the act! Who do you think you're fooling? My dad's the Director of Academic Administration! He's the one in charge of your evaluations!" The field suddenly fell silent, and all the freshmen began sneaking glances in our direction. I unhurriedly took off my glasses and let out a low chuckle as I looked down at the meeting notes in my hand. His father was a director, he thought that was enough of a reason for him to behave so imperiously. In that case, I supposed that the first item on the board meeting agenda that day would be the dismissal of the Director of Academic Administration.

We can't settle on our holiday plans, so my girlfriend, Janine Simpson, starts a group chat with the three of us. "Let's roll the dice. Whoever gets the highest number decides. That's the fairest way." My friend, Mitchell Stone, rolls a six and wants to go to Marisport. I roll a one. I wanted to go to Rosemont. Rosemont isn't a random pick. It's the place my late mother had always wanted to visit but never got the chance to. This year marks five years since she passed away, and I've promised her I would see Lake Azure for her. Janine knew that, too. Three months ago, she held my hand and promised she would go with me this year. "Fair's fair. You lost the bet." She sends a little pat-on-the-head sticker in the group chat. This is the 27th time this year that I've rolled a one. The week before, I'd lost when we were choosing a restaurant for our team dinner. The week before that, it was a movie. Then yesterday, I used Janine's tablet to look up travel guides and accidentally came across her synced text messages. Her chat with a friend sat right at the top. "I sent you the dice plugin. It can roll whatever number you want." "Thanks. Cameron can get quite stubborn. This is the only way to get him to agree to things." I stared at those messages for a long time and placed the tablet back where I found it. She has known all along what Rosemont meant to me, and it turns out I haven't been losing because of sheer bad luck. I've been losing because she has already taken someone else's side. I leave the group chat and book a direct flight to Rosemont. On the first day of the holiday at 7:00 am, I will board the plane alone.

I sold my $3,500 top-spec laptop for scrap for seventy dollars. In my last life, my roommate Caleb's laptop crashed right before his senior thesis deadline. "Noah, the submission portal is about to close. Please lend me your laptop!" I agreed without hesitation. Then he forgot to save his work, downloaded malware by mistake, lost his entire thesis, and had to repeat the year. Afterward, his parents and relatives stormed the university, accusing me of sabotaging his laptop because I was jealous of his graduate admission slot. The story blew up online. Everyone called me a vicious, scheming college guy. My father tried to clear my name and was beaten to death by extremists who thought they were defending justice. Because of that stain, every job search collapsed. In the end, I jumped from a building in despair. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the eve of graduation defense. I had just sold the laptop cheap when Caleb came running in, covering his face and crying. "Noah, my laptop died. Lend me yours!" I kept playing on my phone without looking up. "If you're writing your thesis, go use the computer lab. Why come to me?"

In my previous life, Jackson Miller, a poor student, framed me and drove away the three women who had once cared for me. Meryl Duncan, the school beauty, who has always been close to me, stands firmly in front of Jackson, protecting him without hesitation. Kara Jensen, who has a crush on me, along with the female professor, Sally Robinson, who has always treated me with warmth, also believes Jackson's lies. They demand that I kneel and apologize to him. No matter how much I try to explain, no one believes me. In the end, they lock me inside a classroom to reflect on my mistakes. Later, someone pushes me off the building and kills me. Fate gives me a second chance. I'm reborn. This time, whenever I see them, I choose to walk away. Yet the moment they learn that I have applied for an international exchange program and am leaving the country, the three women who have abandoned me are ruffled.

The most popular girl in school, Mona Culver, could only apply for the city's worst community college because of her poor school results. My childhood friend, James Holden, got our entire class to fill out application forms for community college too. It was his attempt to negotiate with Northrind University's admissions department to make an exception for Mona to study there. The top thirty students in the city shared pictures of their amended application forms to community college. Back in my past lifetime, I tried my best to talk them out of it. The application submission deadline was the next day, and no amendments would be allowed after that. If they wasted their time threatening Northrind by applying to community college, and the deadline passed, nothing could be done to change the results, even if they were the city's top thirty students. Their dreams of attending an Ivy League school would be quashed after ten years of hard work, and no one knew what their future would hold after that. James got angry and berated me, "You're just afraid Mona will be better than you once we start classes at Northrind. Stop pretending like you're doing this for us!" The rest of my classmates were also upset with me, and they turned their fury on me. "Our high school results mean nothing. With our abilities, we would still be able to attend Northrind next year if we repeat the year. You should just mind your own business!" We had been classmates for three years, and I could not let them compromise their futures. I informed our principal and their parents of their plans, and their application forms were amended. I managed to stop them from threatening Northrind's admissions department. All of them were accepted by Northrind in the end, and they became elites in their respective industries with bright futures ahead. Mona ended up getting pregnant with a thug's child while in community college, and she suffered from both physical and mental issues. She fell into deep depression and even attempted suicide several times. James broke down when he learned the truth, and he blamed it all on me. He worked with our classmates to fabricate evidence that I committed plagiarism, and they poisoned my drink. Even my parents were burned to death by a patient from a mental hospital. When I was reborn into this lifetime, I saw James change our group chat's name into 'Fight for True Love! Let's Go to Northrind Together!' I left the group without hesitation and blocked everyone's numbers.

With spring break approaching, a post offering a cash reward went viral on our campus message board. [Offering $500 for a travel itinerary that will help me spend $20,000 in seven days.] The poster had even added a note. [I need to spend most of it, because if I don’t, then my parents, my brother, and my childhood best friend Ethan will think that I didn’t enjoy myself.] Someone in the comments asked why all four of them were funding her vacation. She posted four screenshots of bank transfers. [Because they didn’t check with each other first, and each sent me $5,000.] The comments were full of people telling her how lucky she was. I recognized that profile picture immediately. The person behind the post was my younger sister. As it happened, the $500 she was offering for a travel itinerary was exactly what I would earn working seven days at the convenience store over spring break. I smiled bitterly. My family always had a system to divide up the responsibility for supporting us. My parents, my brother, and our childhood friend were split into two pairs. One pair would cover my sister’s allowance and give her a credit card linked to their account. The other would do the same for me. They said it would keep things fair and make sure that neither of us would be overlooked. However, after the semester started, I realized that I had received neither an allowance nor a card. When I asked Dad, he frowned. “Didn’t your mom send you the money?” I went to Mom next. “Wasn’t your dad supposed to take care of you?” she asked. With no one else to turn to, I asked my brother if he could add me to his credit card account. He looked surprised. “Hasn’t Ethan already done that?” When I tracked Ethan down, he said, “Your brother already got you a card.” At first, I thought they had simply gotten their wires crossed. Only then did I realize the truth. There had been no mix-up. Every single one of them had chosen my sister first. After a moment of thought, I left a comment under her post. [I’m her older sister. Anyone got a survival guide for getting through a week of spring break on $32?]

My roommates booked a New Year's Eve light show table—five hundred per person—and started urging me in the group chat to transfer the money. I quietly sent a screenshot of my account balance. "You guys go ahead," I wrote. "I haven't even scraped together my tuition yet." They replied with a string of mocking "haha"s. Our dorm leader, Giselle Murdoch, even posted on her social media with the caption: [The first step to crossing class boundaries is distancing yourself from people who kill the mood.] Just after midnight, they sent me a photo from the light show and said, "Too bad you're not here." I frowned, confused, when my counselor's call cut in—her voice tight with urgency. "Did you invite your roommates to the light show? The organizers said they never even checked in! They're missing!"

My roommate, Megan Williams, stole the thesis I had spent 187 days writing and revising through twenty-seven drafts for my grad school recommendation. She put her own name on it and submitted it to the college, taking my recommendation spot and deleting every original file from my computer. When I confronted her, she dropped to the floor and started crying. She said I had no right to slander her when I failed to get recommended for grad school. Then she posted a long message in the class group chat, claiming I had plagiarized and had a messy private life. Hundreds of messages flooded in, all of them scolding me. I went to the student counselor. He simply sighed and said, "You're classmates. Let it go." Megan became emboldened after that. She stole the materials I prepared for the competition and ripped up my application form. She smiled as she said, "No matter how hard you try, it won't matter." I stared at her without saying a word. What she did not know was that I had left the model and drafts on my desk on purpose. She took them as expected. Three days later, she pranced through the dorm with the first prize certificate from the university's Outstanding Achievement Awards. "Nelly, look. This is what real talent looks like." I only smiled and said nothing. Because that first prize would be what landed her on the disciplinary list.

During my junior year, the university opened five spots for an overseas exchange program, and my childhood friends invited me to go with them. When I refused, Sean Copley, the childhood friend I had secretly loved for years, kissed me outside my dorm. “Once the program’s over, we’ll make it official.” For him, I gave up my chance to attend graduate school and signed the exchange agreement. On the day before we were set to leave, I happily wheeled my suitcase over to meet them, only to overhear their conversation. “If we’re all staying behind, how’s she going to manage on her own abroad?” “But if she stays, how will Katelyn get into our research group?” “She’s always been a loner. We’re all she has, so she’ll come back eventually.” My hands trembled as I pushed the door open. Everyone else looked flustered, but Sean merely frowned and said, “We can’t leave Katelyn here alone just for your sake. Yeah, just head over first. We’ll join you in six months at the latest.” The others quickly chimed in with reassurances. “When have we ever really abandoned you?” I watched them close ranks around Katelyn Schiff, then slowly nodded and left. Unbeknownst to them, I had applied for a joint research training program with the National Deep-Sea Research Institute. I would spend the next eight years at an overseas base and aboard research vessels. Since they had tricked me into leaving alone, I would go even farther on my own.

A new app has recently gone viral online, called "Talk to Your Future Self". Minutes before my SAT, I decide to give it a try—mostly because everyone else is doing it. I type, "Dear Future Me, did I end up marrying Winona Lane?" The screen flickers, and a second later, a text from an unknown number appears. "Yes. You did. The wedding is spectacular." My heart pounds. I tighten my grip on my phone and immediately type another question. "Was Benjamin Scott my best man? He's my best friend!" The reply comes almost instantly. "Yes. But he isn't just your best man. He's also the man who spends your wedding night with your wife." The smile vanishes from my face. Another message appears. "You never have to deliberately lower your grades or sacrifice your future just to stay with her. She intentionally fails her exam so she can apply to the same college as Benjamin—the guy who is always at the bottom of the class." My fingers tighten around the phone. "She asks you to give up your dream school for her. Not because she can't bear to be apart from you, but because she doesn't want Benjamin to feel inferior to you just because you do better than he does." Just then, the warning bell rings, signaling that it's time to enter the exam room. But my entire body has gone cold, and I can't move. Then another message appears. It's the final one, also the one that shatters everything I think I know. "If you don't believe me, go to the motel behind the school after the exam. You'll see the truth for yourself."

I used to be the cockiest rich kid in high society, but somehow I became the biggest simp in the whole circle. It was all because I was bound to a heroine conquest system. If I failed, I would be finished. To stay alive, I had no choice but to do everything Samantha said and constantly try to please her. Knowing I could give her anything she wanted, she took the sports car I gave her and went for a drive with her childhood friend, Charles Lindsey. Then she left me alone on the highway in the middle of a violent storm. "Samantha, my asthma is acting up. My medicine is in the car. Can you come back and get me?" She gave a cold, mocking laugh. I could also hear Charles laughing on the phone. "Walk home yourself. There’s no room in the car for you." With only ten seconds left to live, I finally snapped. "You stupid system! How can a woman this cruel be the heroine? I want to switch targets!" The system froze for a long moment before a notification appeared. "Target has seriously deviated from the assigned character profile. Select a new target within five seconds!" In a panic, I pointed at the thin, miserable-looking figure in the distance. "New target selected: Destined Villain. Confirm?" I shouted with all the strength I had left. "Her! I choose her!"

Several comments suddenly float across my vision on the day the college entrance exam results are released. "I can't believe that he's still in the mood to laugh. Your girlfriend is using the exchange system to swap your college entrance exam results with Hugo's!" "I feel so sorry for Daniel. He's the genius of the school, and yet he's only going to score 400 points for the college entrance exams." "That's not all! Taylor's system has the ability to absorb Daniel's luck. She's going to use his entire family as stepping stones to pave her own future." "She's so ruthless. I can't believe that she's going to 'annihilate' her boyfriend's family just because his better background makes her feel inferior." A chill runs down my spine as I stare at the strange comments scrolling past my eyes. I'm the "Daniel" the commenters are referring to, the unlucky sap whose college entrance exam results were swapped with the poor student Hugo Powell's. I have no idea that my good-natured girlfriend, Taylor Wakeham, hates me so much. However, what the commenters don't know is that I've already secured a special invitation from Woodrow University's Department of Science long ago. I only take the college entrance exams purely because I want to experience what it's like. Not wanting to take up space on the rankings, I write all my answers on a spare piece of paper instead of the actual answer sheet.

Snowie Walton, the belle of the class, claimed she could hear my thoughts. When a classmate gained weight from hormone medications, she pointed at me and shouted, "Why did you call Eva a disgusting fat pig? Do you think you'll never be ill in your life?" The others believed her right away. They surrounded me, relentlessly demanding that I apologize publicly. From that day onward, I was isolated by the entire class. Later, during a lesson, the teacher mentioned her family. Snowie suddenly turned on me again. "What do you mean that our teacher only got this job through connections and that she has no capabilities at all? Show some respect!" I desperately explained that I had never thought such things, but the teacher didn't believe me. Not only was I written up for disciplinary action, but my scholarship was also revoked. Then, confidential documents from the school labs were stolen. Once again, Snowie blamed me. "How could you sell those files to foreigners and say that they were only worth a hundred thousand?" I was arrested by the police and convicted of leaking state secrets. I was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the end, I died in prison, consumed by depression. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the very day Snowie accused me of insulting Eva. By this time, she didn't know that I had uncovered her secret behind her so-called ability to hear my thoughts.