เรื่องสั้นแนวMale POV Imagination และนิยาย Face Slapping

I was attending my daughter Wendy's autumn camp when I overheard her whispering to her best friend, "Don't be picky with your food, or Ms. Adams will kill you. That's why she killed Carl." Shocked, I scooped her up in my arms and ran to Carl's mother. However, she pointed at a healthy Carl who was hopping around, grinning, "What? But Carl is no longer a fussy eater. He eats everything I cook these days!" Relieved, I was about to turn and scold my daughter when she hissed, "That's not Carl! Carl is allergic to shrimp!"

"How can you say that about me, Nathan? I never had a kid!" Aaron Fuller protests. My wife, Jenny Green, stands protectively in front of him. "That's enough! You can't slander Aaron just because you're jealous of him. Just you wait, Nathan. I haven't settled the score with you for calling Aaron this afternoon and insulting him!"

As the son of Harbor City's casino magnate, I willingly handed control of the World Cup book to my stepsister, Sophie Bell. It was only because, in my last life, Sophie, who had never watched soccer seriously, suddenly turned into the family's lucky charm and called sixteen World Cup matches in a row. Every single night I stayed up breaking down each team's tactics and studying the players' habits and tricks. Yet Sophie could always predict the exact score, a step ahead, saying out loud the very answer in my mind. "Admit it, Adrian. I'm just stronger than you! Everyone, listen to me and go all in!" After that, the whole internet worshiped her as a goddess and praised her as a natural-born betting queen. Everyone mocked me as nothing but a fraud who'd never deserved his name. I was driven out of the family, and in a daze, someone shoved me off a high-rise. Only in that moment did I finally learn the truth: my stepsister could eavesdrop on my thoughts in real time. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the night the World Cup began. This time, I didn't watch the matches. Instead, I looped through my head: "Darling, hold my hands. Nothing beats a jet 2 holiday, right now you can..."

On the day Dad made me draw lots to choose a wife, I was about to draw a number when comments started flashing past. [Don't do it! The whole thing is rigged. You’ll only end up married to a hideous woman and be stuck in a cold, heartless marriage alliance with the Wests!] [You’ll end up the target of enemies of the West family even before you marry their daughter. You’ll fall into their devious trap and get burned to ashes in a fire!] [Your childhood sweetheart Mindy Sullivan has a bark that’s worse than her bite. Her disdain and disregard is just a farce. She really loves you. Marrying her is the right move!] My hand froze in midair. I told my dad that I wanted to marry Mindy. On my way to fetching Mindy on our wedding day, someone kidnapped me and threw me into a fire. Mindy, on the other hand, inherited her grandfather’s inheritance of 50 thousand dollars because she married me. Her ulterior motive was to transfer all that money to my adopted brother. Before I died, I heard the mocking laughter of Mindy and my adopted brother. That was when I realized they had written all the fake comments I saw. At this second chance at life, I saw the same comments as I was drawing lots again.

I had been dating Lily Foster for three years, and she strictly insisted on splitting every expense. When my mother needed surgery and I was short twenty thousand dollars, she looked troubled. “Aaron, we agreed on financial independence.” I went everywhere trying to borrow money, while she turned around and bought her brother a Ferrari outright. When I confronted her, she answered without a hint of guilt. “That’s my money. What does it have to do with you? “And besides, you’re a man. You can’t always expect a woman to support you, right?” Her brother drove the sports car right up in front of me, showing off. “My sister said it herself—your money is her money, but her money is still hers.” I laughed. Because just a moment ago, I had activated the “Malice Cashback” system. For every trace of hostility someone directed at me, I would receive a hundredfold cash return. Lily stood in front of me, frowning in disgust. “What are you laughing at? You look like an idiot.” [Ding! Received 20 hostility points from Lily Foster. Cashback of $2,000 has been credited.]

It was the apocalypse. A zombie apocalypse. We should've been running for our lives, but my girlfriend, Yvonne Brown, refused to. She wanted to buy as much time as she could for her incompetent childhood friend, Yves Claude, to hop into the last helicopter that would take survivors away. But the retreat was our group's only way to survive in this apocalypse. Yves was not showing up anytime soon. I had no choice but to knock her out and drag her into the chopper. And Yves, the one she could never seem to forget, died in the swarm of undead. I, however, survived thanks to what I did. Yvonne and I lived happily in a safe zone. And then that fateful day came. I was going to take over the territory and lead humanity on an attack against the zombies. The night before that decisive strike, Yvonne spiked my water with anesthetics. When I was caught helpless, she tossed me into the horde of zombies. The swarm of undead tore my flesh open, and the pain killed me. Yvonne? She stood on the wall coldly, a sneer decorating her lips. "Yves could've lived, but you took that chance away from him! You selfish monster, you killed Yves! I will make you suffer what he suffered! You'll pay for it with your life!" Death took me, but it tossed me all the way back to the day of the retreat. The day Yvonne adamantly insisted on waiting for Yves. Well, if she was so happy to live through a world like this with her friend, who am I to say no? I would grant her that wish, even if she would end up as zombie food.

I'm a man of principle who doesn't curse someone else without good reason. Even if I do curse them, the curse is only active for three days. In elementary school, my seatmate steals my eraser. When I flippantly tell him that he'll slip and fall in the next three days, he falls into a cesspool on the third day. The class representative accuses me of cheating during an exam during middle school. When I say that the entire school will learn something humiliating about him in the next three days, his love letter to another female student is pasted on the notice board. A bully kicks my desk during high school. When I tell him that his family will fall to ruins in the next three days, his father is arrested for embezzlement on the third day. When my boss, Frank Gordon, refuses to pay me after forcing me to work overtime, I calmly say, "You'll become bankrupt in the next three days." Frank scoffs indignantly before he grabs my resignation letter and tears it to pieces. "Get out of my sight! Either you continue working, or you can kiss your salary for this month goodbye!" He scatters the shredded paper over my head and continues, "I'm curious to see what will happen in the next three days. Will my company fall? Or will you starve to death first?" I lick my lips and say, "You must pay me within the next three days, Mr. Gordon—" However, Frank kicks me out of his office before I can finish my sentence.

I understood babies. The baby in Room 403 cried out, "My butt itches! It is not a stomachache!" A newborn in the ER screamed, "Something is stuck under my belly button!" A preemie babbled softly, "I want my mommy..." None of that prepared me for that day. Dr. Margot Aldrich, the country's foremost authority in pediatrics, stood before a packed auditorium and examined a baby who had screamed himself purple. "We will keep observing." The mother fell to her knees. "Please, my baby is dying..." Margot let out a short laugh. "Am I the expert here, or are you?" The room went silent. In my ears, a tiny voice raged. "Are you grown-ups blind? Something is stuck under my belly button! It is not a stomachache! Somebody cut me open already!" I did not stop to think. I pushed through the crowd, dropped beside the crib, and looked Margot in the eye. "Dr. Aldrich, let me try."

My CEO wife, Bianca Bennett, who used to love me to the point of obsession, blew out the candles on her birthday cake, opened her eyes, and looked at me like I was a stranger. "Who the hell are you?" she asked. "Where’s Connor? Even if I have to get married, he’s the only one I’ll ever marry." She screamed and bolted out the door. As I stood there, utterly paralyzed, a stream of floating text suddenly flashed across my vision. [Looks like the side character is totally clueless. The female lead swapped souls with her eighteen-year-old self! She’s heading out to find her true love now.] [Honestly, he should just be grateful. If his face didn't look so much like the male lead's, he never would've married into a rich family in the first place.] [Too bad the soul swap only lasts for thirty days. Go get him, teen female lead! Win back your first love, so when your older self comes back, you’ll get a nice little surprise!] My blood ran cold. Two weeks later, Bianca walked back through the front door, dragging a guy who was a dead ringer for me right behind her. She slammed a set of divorce papers onto the table in front of me. "The house is mine, and the money is mine," she sneered, "You’ve been living off Connor's likeness for years. Sign the papers and get out."

I'm the unluckiest real heir to the Hoffman family. I have been reborn 99 times now, and each time, it's on the exact same day—the day I'm brought home for the first time and immediately sent away by a single question from the fake heir, Dexter Hoffman. "Whom do you love more, Dante? Mom or Dad?" "If Desiree and I both fall into the water at the same time, who will you save first, Dante?" No matter what my answer is, my whole family will think it's wrong and judge me as a horrible, malicious person. And then, I will die under mysterious circumstances. When I'm reborn for the 100th time, I decide to give up on giving any real answers and just slack off. Dexter stands next to Mom and Dad and asks me the same question again with a smile on his face. However, I remain standing in place and say nothing in response. Dexter flies into a rage. "Are you deaf or mute, Dante Hoffman? Why aren't you saying anything?" I happily bring out my handy notebook and write, "Are you welcoming me home, Dexter? I'm sorry, but I'm deaf and mute, and I can't hear your beautiful voice. "I'm so happy and touched. You're the first person who doesn't despise me." I even draw a crying face at the end. Dexter is shocked. Even Mom, Dad, and my elder sister, Desiree Hoffman, are utterly confused.

I was always sleepy when I was working. If I were working an eight-hour shift, I would sleep the entire shift away. Initially, I thought that I was too tired. My boss only fined me because I was the top sales performer. It was not until I got caught dozing off for the 38th time last month that I realized something was wrong. I scheduled a medical appointment. However, on the way to the hospital, I died from a car accident. When I opened my eyes again, I realized I had returned to the day the new male colleague first joined us. In the past, I had also started to suffer from lethargy on the same day. I suspected he had something to do with my symptoms. Hence, I started to stalk him in secret. As expected, during lunch time, I caught him and my girlfriend conspiring against me. “Once I plant this sleepy bug on Nick, you can transfer your sleepiness to him.” Justin Smith wrapped his arm around my girlfriend Heather Reid’s waist. He said in a fawning tone, “Heather, you’re the best. Once Nick gets fired for oversleeping, I can take his position!” I sneered when I saw them acting intimately. They did not know that I had returned to the past!

Bad news: I'm dead. Good news: I transmigrated into a novel. Bad news: I end up in a peasant woman's womb, and I'm about to be born as a fake heir. Good news: My little sister, claiming that it's better to be safe than sorry because the novel's main character shares my name, has forced me to read this novel cover to cover. I already know that once the real heir, Isaac Reed, comes home, he'll use our parents' guilt toward him to set me up. He'll frame me at a family acknowledgment banquet, making it look like I've taken liberties with the family's precious only daughter, Kiana Reed. My adoptive parents will be so furious that they'll disown me and kick me out of the house. In the end, I'll die miserably in an alley on a rainy night. So, the year I turn five, I empty out my savings to hire a young beggar to show up at our door, claiming he's the real heir. When I'm eight, the second beggar enters the stage. When I'm ten, the third one arrives. By the time I'm 15, the manor is packed with eight so-called real heirs. These people in ancient times don't know that their supposedly reliable methods of testing kinship can be tampered with. All they know is that all eight boys seem to share blood ties with my adoptive parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of Eterna. I play it off as a miracle from the heavens. Then, when I'm 16, the real heir returns.

I accidentally spent the night with a wealthy heiress from Kingscourt after she was drugged. The next morning, I panicked and slipped away before she woke up. The following day, her childhood friend came to find me. He handed me a check for one million dollars and told me to leave the country. My eyes practically lit up. Just as I was about to take the check, I suddenly heard his thoughts. "Once he accepts the money, I'll report him for extortion and send him straight to prison. "Then I'll tell Valerie Cooper that I was the man from that night, marry into the family myself, and let him rot in jail." A chill ran down my spine. Well, he should've said so earlier. I can still tell the difference between one million dollars... and a lifetime of wealth and luxury.

The altered invaded after civilization collapsed. I awakened no ability at all. My body was weaker than an ordinary person's, yet the director of the Federal Anomaly Command personally invited me into Meridian Bastion's SSS-level sanctuary in the Blackridge Exclusion Zone. Because I was the world's only "Reality Anchor". As long as my emotions stayed stable, the dimensional breach above the city wouldn't collapse, and millions of altered creatures couldn't cross into our world. Everyone treated me like something sacred and avoided giving me even the slightest shock. Then one day, a newly awakened S-class destruction operative kicked through the sanctuary's ballistic glass and crushed my limited-edition Nova-9 figure beneath his boot. "The soldiers outside are bleeding to hold back the altered, and command is spending public resources to pamper a useless man who can't even fire a rifle. What makes you worth it?"

Five minutes before the graduate admission exam began, the campus heartthrob quietly slipped a crumpled piece of paper into my pencil case. Lines of floating text drifted across my vision. [The paper is filled with answers. The school heartthrob has reported it, and the proctor will be here any second!] [As long as they find it, his admission slot will be canceled immediately!] [Serves this bookworm right for standing in our heartthrob’s way. The proctor is his aunt. He’s doomed today!] The next second, the proctor stormed into the classroom and headed straight for my seat. “Someone has reported you for cheating,” she said sharply. “Empty your pencil case. We’re checking it.” Without a word, I turned the case upside down. A few pens fell onto the desk, but there was no paper. The campus heartthrob’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How is that possible? I–” Before he could finish, a slip of paper covered in answers slid out of his own pocket and dropped onto the floor. What they didn’t know was that I was born with a weird power called “Misfortune Rebound.” Anyone who tried to harm me would end up suffering the consequences themselves.

On Christmas Eve, my uncle, Garrett Wayne, takes a sip from the fancy whiskey I bought. Then, he points at me while grinning. "Well well well… I've been watching you since you were a kid, Flint. You were a bed-wetter when you were a little boy, and now that you're all grown up, you stay cooped in your parents' shop while running that social media account of yours. You don't have any skills at all. "My Ronnie, on the other hand, has an amazing job that will continue paying him and keeping him around no matter how hard times get. Small businesses like your family's will definitely crumble as soon as the tiniest change happens in the global economy!" All of my relatives roar in laughter at Garrett's quip. My cousin, Ronnie Wayne, pretends to be playing on his phone, though his grin has already become ear-splitting. Mom and Dad can only laugh along as well even though deep down they are very uneasy and anxious. I just gaze at Garrett coldly. In six hours, the blizzard apocalypse will descend onto this world. At the same time, a zombie outbreak will occur across the globe. In my previous life, Garrett, who had looked down on my family and me, didn't hesitate to push us into the upcoming zombie horde just to take over my parents' grocery store. In this lifetime, I swear that I will never let him off the hook! I'm about to pick up a plate of food and smash it onto Garrett's head when I hear a mechanical voice chiming in my head. "Ding! You have been bound with the Rage System! You may talk back and retort to others to your liking in exchange for supplies. The more arrogant you sound, the better supplies you'll receive!" As I look at Garrett's insufferable face, I let out a chuckle. "Oh yeah, I'm not skilled at all. But I suddenly remember this funny little thing. Uncle Garrett, you claimed that you had gone on a business trip to Brimstone eight years ago. But the truth is, you got arrested by the vice squad, right? "Does Aunt Cassia know about this?"

A month before the SAT exams, I was finally brought back to the Bowen family. In fear that I would take back all the love and attention, Archer Bowen, the adopted heir, pouted to his childhood sweetheart. "Keira, Zane pissed me off. Teach him a lesson. Go after him and make him fall for you. Then get photos of him naked and ruin him completely." The next day, the school queen, Keira Johnston, showed up in front of me with a huge bouquet of roses while smiling like a dream. "Zane, I like you. Be my boyfriend." At the same time, a cold mechanical voice rang out in my mind: [Target has appeared. Host, begin conquering Keira Johnston immediately.] I looked at Keira, who had once bullied me, and curled my lips into a faint smile. "Sure."

Legend had it that Shaffer Mansion was haunted. Only I knew the stories were true, because I was born with the ability to see through paranormal illusions. When a reality show moved its production crew into the mansion, the only thing anyone noticed was a little boy in overalls. He looked innocent and harmless, but he was actually a puppet controlled by the demon lurking inside the mansion. Behind that innocent face was the most dangerous presence in the entire house. The first time I'd lived through this nightmare, I'd done everything I could to protect the girls I'd grown up with. I'd warned them to stay away from the boy and throw away every gift he gave them. Instead of listening, they had thought I was jealous of the child and accused me of bullying him. Eventually, the boy had left behind a letter claiming he couldn't take my abuse anymore and threw himself from the roof. When the filming had wrapped up, all of them had walked out of Shaffer Mansion alive. But then, they had joined forces with their fans, destroyed my reputation, and eventually dragged me back to the mansion. They had pushed me from the same building and watched me fall to my death. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back in time. This time around, I was quitting the show and letting them deal with the consequences of their own choices.

I've just booked a restaurant for my seventh wedding anniversary with my wife, Melanie Rowland, when several lines of text suddenly appear across my vision. "Would you like to take part in a loyalty test? "We'll randomly give your wife a system. If she tells you about it, you win, and the two of you will receive one million dollars." After seven years of marriage, I have no doubt Melanie loves me. As far as I'm concerned, that million dollars is already in the bag. Still, I'm curious enough to ask one question. "What if we lose?" "If you lose, it proves your marriage has failed. In return, you'll receive a mystery prize big enough to let you start your life over. "The price of participating is allowing people from another dimension to watch you. Choose carefully." I couldn't care less about the mystery prize. I'm already planning to use the million dollars to buy Melanie the condo she's had her eye on for ages. After I agree to join the game, I hurry home. The moment I walk in, I catch a flash of panic on Melanie's face. She brushes me off with a few vague excuses and hurries into the study. Through the closed door, I hear her talking to Hayden Locke, the guy she grew up with. "Hayden, I just got an apocalypse system. It says the end of the world is coming. I'm going to find somewhere to build a safe house, and I promise I'll keep you safe. Don't worry. I won't tell Alex a word. "When the world ends, it'll be you and me together." I freeze. Her apocalypse system is fake, but the countdown to my mystery prize has probably already begun.

Whitney Lund throws me out of the base on the day my ability test results come out. "You were tested three times, and all three results show that you're a non-ability user, Maverick." Raven Lincoln, her second-in-command, stands nearby with a look of disdain. "Whitney has kept you around for three years even though you're just an ordinary person. She's done more than enough for you. You've already received the expulsion order from the base, so get out of here and stop being an eyesore." I grip the expulsion order tightly, a lump forming in my throat. I've spent three years following Whitney, and just last month, I nearly died in a mutant rat horde just to gain enough points for her S-rank protective gear. She held my hand back then and said, "I'll protect you for the rest of my life once I become the strongest ability user, Maverick!" It turns out that everything I've gone through and risked my life over for the past three years means nothing to her. I'm nothing more than a resource dispenser to her. One year later, the base's founding anniversary celebration is held. Whitney walks onto the stage to accept the Apex Hunter Award, but as soon as she sees the person presenting the award, her composure instantly shatters.