Cerita Pendek After Death Imagination & Novel Hypocrisy

Three years after I landed on the wanted list, all 88 pieces of my dismembered corpse were thrown in front of the police station. After the forensics team put my body together, they identified my body as Julian Colt, the fiancé of the Organized Crime Department, Captain Kyra Schneider. Everyone, from elders in their eighties to young children, wanted me to see justice because not only had I betrayed Kyra and her team, but I had also publicly joined the criminal organization and become the lover of its leader. I was fired from the police force and hated by my loved ones. Kyra hated me the most, and she used the most cruel method of retrieving my memories to be broadcast to the world. On judgment day, the city square was filled with spectators, but when my memories were retrieved, along with the huge word 'innocent' splashed on it, everyone went crazy. "Traitor! A man like him should have been executed." "The evidence clearly points to his guilt. How is he innocent? Everyone knows how he helped the criminal organization to kill numerous police officers!" "Don't be tricked by him! He must have altered those memories!"

After completing my mission in conquering Audrey Hayes, I choose to stay behind in this other world for her. Before the system checks out, it warns me that I have burned through every single point to keep her alive. If I ever find myself in danger again, I won't have the points to bail me out. I don't care, mostly because Audrey has held my hand and given me her word. "I'm a doctor. No matter what happens to you down the road, I'll be the one to save you." But ten years later, my twin brother and I are caught in a car accident. When Audrey rushes onto the scene, she walks right past me as I lie bleeding out on the pavement, choosing instead to load my brother onto the ambulance for nothing more than a few superficial scrapes. "I know all about those weird abilities of yours!" she snaps. "You aren't going to die, but Owen might." Watching her leave, I close my eyes in absolute despair, only to hear the system's mechanical voice echo in my mind. "Host, your vital signs are dropping rapidly. In light of your exceptional past performance, a new option has been unlocked. If you can collect enough regret from your family, you'll be granted a chance to return to the real world. Do you accept this mission?"

My younger sister and I shared a single body, though we each had our own souls. Ever since we were kids, our family decided who got to inhabit the body and who had to hibernate by drawing lots. I always drew the long stick, while Stella always drew the short one. Our family held a new draw every month. Whenever she was the one in the body, our parents and older brother would take her on vacations and road trips around the world. She got to see places I could only ever dream of. Whenever it was my turn to inhabit the body, they locked me inside the house and forced me to stay up all night, studying. I had to endure every hardship in life, from high school entrance exams to college entrance exams. Every challenge that mattered was my responsibility. However, whenever I succeeded, they made sure the next draw favored Stella. She effortlessly walked away with everything I had worked for. One day, she severely injured the daughter of a powerful local thug at school. My brother did not hesitate for a second to make the decision. “Tomorrow’s the first of the month, anyway. Since we’re the ones who decide the draw, switch Stella out. Let her wake up and take the fall for Stella.” Our parents did not object. Trapped deep within our shared body, I let out a bitter laugh. As I watched them protect my sister without a second thought and offer me up as the scapegoat, the last piece of my heart shattered. They did not know I had the choice to enter permanent slumber. I looked at them with a broken heart. From this moment on, I would never again live as Stella’s stepping stone or take the blame for her mistakes.