เรื่องสั้นแนว Reborn Imagination และนิยาย Bias ในฉาก Face Slapping

I opened my eyes and found myself back at the matchmaking event again. Grandpa pointed at seven jacked jocks and said, "Pick one. They've all been trained." Remembering how they had shared and humiliated me to death in my past life, I threw up on the spot. This time, I pointed at Grandpa's sworn enemy instead. "I want to marry that terminally ill guy who can't have children." Later, that powerful man wrapped an arm around my pregnant belly, while we watched them all go to prison with that spiteful woman.

I'm a noble wolf woman. As soon as I was born, I'm destined to become a candidate in pursuit of the future Wolf Queen's position. In my past life, Louis Hanover, the heir to the Wolf King, hated the fact that I had given birth to a black pup, which was viewed as an inferior lifeform. So, he killed the pup with his own hands. After that, he whipped me to the point my body was all mangled and squished. Only then did he order to have my body tossed to the mountains so that the beasts could feed on me. Before I breathed my last, I vowed to the heavens that I'd make Louis regret everything in the next life. When I open my eyes again, I find out that I've gotten reborn to the day Louis is bound to choose his wife. This time, he chooses my cousin, Chloe Dunn, who happens to be a brown wolf woman. Brown wolves' social status is second to white wolves. When Louis shoots me a look filled with hatred and disgust, I realize that he has gotten reborn as well. In my past life, Chloe had gotten married to a brown wolf man, and yet she was able to give birth to a prestigious white pup. Everyone showered her with praises because of that. This time, Louis thinks he'll be able to sire a white pup just by choosing Chloe as his wife. Little does he know that only pureblooded wolves can give birth to pureblooded kin. How can he, a mixed-blooded wolf man, possibly sire a noble white pup?

The new intern in our department, Astrid Stokes, had a soft, harmless look people viewed as innocent. She also claimed she could see a countdown over people's heads, ticking down to their deaths. Most of us just laughed it off and told her she had been reading way too many web novels. When an elderly man was rushed into the ER, she told the department head, Melanie Brooks, not to bother. She said the man wouldn't make it through the day. Melanie ignored her and pushed ahead with everything we had. The old man still died. The attending doctor even got slashed by the patient's family during the fallout. After that, people started to waver. During a team outing, Astrid suddenly screamed and told us not to get on a specific bus. She said if we did, we would all die. With no other choice, we switched vehicles. By the time we reached our destination, news came in. The bus we were supposed to take had lost its brakes and gone off a bridge. After that, almost everyone believed her. Everyone except me. The next day, she pointed straight at me. "Ruth shouldn't be a doctor anymore. If she stays, she'll get caught up in a medical dispute, and the whole department will end up dead or injured." Just like that, Melanie reassigned me. I went from doctor to janitor, handling medical waste. One day, I got scratched by a contaminated needle. Yet, no one would treat me. "Astrid already said it. This is her destiny. Anyone who gets involved will die, too." My body rotted from infection, sores breaking open across my skin. I died alone on the street, full of fury. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Astrid first claimed she could see those death countdowns.

Although I'm the ace translator of my company, I let the receptionist, Janice Cartman, take charge of a translation project that's worth over 100 million dollars of my own volition. In my past life, Janice is the childhood friend of my boyfriend, Nicholas Sanders, who has dropped out of middle school. Yet, she suddenly masters eight languages overnight. Not only that, but she claims that she simply taught herself the languages. I need to research the technical terms beforehand every time I take on a translation project, but Janice is able to easily translate anything that she hears on the spot with 100% accuracy. Everyone praises Janice for being a translation genius while calling me a worthless loser in private. Janice stops me when I'm about to go on stage to fulfill my duties as the translator for the 100-million-dollar project. I've spent the last two weeks preparing for it, sacrificing sleep to ensure that I'm completely ready. "This isn't the time for you to show off, Giselle. This project will determine whether the company will become publicly listed. Your foundation isn't as good as mine, so I'll take your place!" Nicholas and my other colleagues fully support Janice's suggestion. I do everything I can to change their minds, but in the end, I'm still forcefully replaced. Janice's translations are flawless. She's lauded as the hero of the company. Meanwhile, I'm demoted to a cleaning lady under the pretext that my skills are lacking. I don't understand. I've spent the last decade working myself to the bone to hone my skills, yet I still lose to Janice, who becomes a translation genius overnight. In a daze, I accidentally lose my footing and drown to death. Seconds before I breathe my last breath, I find out that Janice's translations are a hoax. She simply repeats the words that she hears in my heart. When I open my eyes again, I realize that I've been transported back to the day when Janice claims that she's a translation genius who knows eight languages. This time, I don't stay up all night to prepare my translation materials. Instead, I start memorizing a funeral speech!

My best friend, James Swift, went back to the day he was supposed to reconcile with his extremely wealthy birth parents. He was unwilling to be a puppet controlled by the rich, so he was unwilling to return to his birth parents. Hence, he asked me to be his replacement without any hesitation. I looked at his mother, who was wearing a lot of diamond rings, and his father, who was dressed in old-money clothes. I immediately replaced James’s position. It was as if any hesitation would be a huge disrespect to this unexpected wealth. Five years later, James showed up with a DNA report and asked me to leave the Swift family. However, he was too late. After five years, I was no longer just a replacement for him. I was already the right-hand man of Swift Corporation. No one would threaten my status in this family.

After my boyfriend risked his life to save me in a fire, I proposed to him. But he refused, saying he was burdened with massive debt and wasn’t worthy of me. From then on, I worked five jobs a day, just to pay off what he owed as soon as possible. But fate had other plans. I was diagnosed with brain cancer. When I finally saved enough and went to say goodbye, I overheard his conversation with his friends. “The heir of the Law family, pretending to be broke in front of some poor girl. Seriously?” “She’s worked herself to the point of coughing up blood. You really don’t feel anything?” Landon Law curved his lips into a faint smile. “This is just a test for her. Once we’re married, I’ll treat her well.” “And what about Clara Shaw? She’s coming back soon. That rich girl has been talking about marrying you for years.” After a long silence, he finally spoke. “They’ve both been through hard times with me. I can’t let either of them down.” “But Clara’s fragile. She can’t handle any shock. She wouldn’t survive without me. I have to protect her. “Stella is understanding. As long as I give her the position of Mrs. Law, she’ll accept it.” The moment I heard that, everything went black, and I collapsed. When I woke up again, Landon was gripping my hand tightly. “Stella, don’t be afraid! Even if I lose everything, I’ll make sure you get treated!” A mechanical voice suddenly echoed in my mind. [Congratulations. You have been granted the ability to detect lies.] [Accumulate more than five detected lies from the male lead to exchange for a full recovery from brain cancer.]

All it took was a single sip of my new roommate's welcome milkshake on the first day of college for everything to spiral out of control. My mom suddenly decided to transfer the one million she'd originally set aside for my living expenses to her instead. My brother even planned to give her the luxury car that had been intended as my go-to college gift. I was so blindsided by their irrational actions that I rushed to stop them, only to be scolded in return for not knowing how to treat a classmate with kindness. When my roommate said she wanted to break into the entertainment industry, they poured every last resource into launching her career. It drove the company into bankruptcy. In the end, they all jumped to their deaths. Meanwhile, I suddenly fell gravely ill for no apparent reason, left barely clinging to life. It wasn't until my final moments that I learned the truth—the milkshake had been tied to a Usurpation System. After I drank it, everyone around me began treating her with unconditional devotion. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment my roommate handed me the milkshake. This time, I took it from her. However, I held the straw up to her lips instead of drinking it.

At the company's eighth-anniversary livestream, the host asked Derrick, "Mr. Waterson, you started in a tiny 12-square-meter shop and built all this. Who deserves the most credit?" At that time, he took my hand in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers and said, "My wife, of course. I wouldn't be where I am today without Lydia." The comments flooded with praise for our perfect marriage. However, he pinned a "Co-Founder" badge onto Natasha's chest himself while mine was just a "Mr. Waterson's Wife" badge. In my previous life, I had confronted him right after the livestream. "She has shares. What about me?" Derrick pushed a 5-million-dollar guarantee agreement toward me while saying, "Natasha is an outsider. Why would she work hard for me if I don't give her any shares? On the other hand, you're my wife. Are you really going to keep score with me?" … That night, I signed it. Six months later, the company went bust. Natasha took her 35% shares and the key clients to a new company, while Derrick moved every asset he could. By the time 12 creditors showed up at my door, I finally saw the shareholder register. Derrick: 65% shares. Natasha: 35% shares. Lydia: 0% shares. All I had was the title of legal representative and five million in personal debt. … When I opened my eyes again, the livestream camera was pointed straight at me. Derrick smiled and handed me the microphone. "Darling, say a few words." I took it and pointed at the badge on Natasha's chest. "Mr. Waterson, you just said there would be no success without me. In that case, would you care to tell everyone exactly how many shares I own?"

I had regressed ninety-nine times, and it all started because I brought home an injured man. Every time I came back, strange floating comments appeared in front of my eyes. I could also hear my baby brother's thoughts. The moment my brother saw Tristan Price, he screamed and refused to stop crying. "Send that man back! He's going to get our whole family killed!" I reached out hesitatingly toward Tristan, and the chat overlay flickered to life again. [The man lying in your bed is your future husband and the prince regent. He never forgets a kindness. Save him, and he will make you his princess consort. Your entire family will be protected and well provided for.] The first time, I followed my heart and did what the messages told me to do. I saved Tristan, and he used me as a human shield. The assassins hunting him found us, and my entire family was slaughtered. The second time, I listened to my brother instead and sent Tristan back where I found him. His men came to our door anyway, accused me of leaving him to die, and killed everyone. The third time, I found Tristan's closest aide before the assassins arrived and quietly handed Tristan over. Then Tristan went mad without warning and stabbed me himself. When my family tried to avenge me, they were killed too. I tried every approach I could think of to avoid my family's tragic fate, and every single one ended in failure. This time, I chose to wait for death. Then the comments appeared again, and something about them caught my eye.

My sister-in-law, Alicia, insisted that her son was a chosen fighter, blessed by God and immune to harm. The truth was far darker: every injury meant for him was being transferred onto my daughter. His congenital heart disease disappeared overnight. While most children his age were still carefully protected, he was already taking part in extreme sports and never suffered so much as a scratch. Meanwhile, my once-healthy daughter weakened day by day. She began to suffer unexplained fractures throughout her body. There was not a single place left uninjured. It was impossible not to see the connection. When I voiced my suspicions to my husband, Jeff Charlton, and my mother-in-law, Kelly Freeman, they dismissed me as delusional. They accused me of being jealous that Alicia had given birth to a prodigy, while I had nothing but a "worthless" daughter. Later, Alicia's son completed a trek across the Saharain Desert and became an overnight sensation, a child star adored by millions. At the same time, my daughter suddenly collapsed from heatstroke and died without warning. Alicia went live on her platform, accusing me of making false claims out of envy. Her followers believed every word. They hunted me down and ended my life. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back at the moment Alicia first proclaimed her son a miracle child. This time, I was no longer a powerless mother. As a specialist doctor, I calmly pulled on my gloves. "Alicia," I said with a smile, "Let me examine my nephew and see if he's truly cured."

My fiancé, Julian Vance, was the definition of a prince charming—the kind every woman in town would kill for. He was stunning to look at, a devoted lover, and looked at me with eyes so sweet they seemed to drip with honey. Chloe Mercer, my best friend, was a ray of sunshine. Whenever I needed a pick-me-up, she would show up with a strawberry crepe cake—sweet, soft, and comforting. They were the two most important people in my life, my sanctuary, whom I trusted with all my heart. Until the iron doors were welded shut. The screech of rusting metal scraping in the dark sounded like the wailing of damned souls from hell. Gasoline came seeping in through the crack under the door. When the flames roared to life, I heard Julian’s voice. He was standing right outside. Through billows of thick, suffocating smoke, his voice was gentle, caressing. “Hazel... I’m sorry. “Sterling Group’s ten-billion-dollar empire... “Starting today, it would be under the Vance name.” Chloe stood right by his side. The inferno cast a sickening crimson glow across her face. She didn’t utter a word. But the corners of her mouth were curled upward. Her eyes were overflowing with triumph. I choked down one last breath of heavy, toxic smoke. My lungs felt like they were being sliced up under a blade. I died—but did I?

"Sienna, he looks so pitiful." In my last life, I listened to my younger sister and chose the black fox who hadn't even taken human form as my fiancé. I poured everything I had into helping him take human form, but he carved out my inner core and presented it to my sister to curry her favor. When I lived again, at the mate-selection ceremony, my sister once more pointed pitifully at the black fox. In front of everyone, I chose the four-tailed white fox she wanted most. Then I "gifted" the black fox to her.