Melodramatic Imagination Short Stories & System Novels

After transmigrating through three novels in a row, the hardest thing I ever suffer through is drinking iced long black. But when I open my eyes again, I somehow become the pathetic simp side character in a trashy romance novel. Just as I debate whether to file a complaint against the system, the trembling system hurriedly explains something to me. Although this is a trashy romance novel, it is also an unfinished abandoned novel. I ask, "So you're saying I decide how the story develops?" The system replied, "Yes. Everything is completely under your control." Satisfied, I lazily stretch and begin checking the original Jacob's background. He has a trillionaire father and a billionaire mother. On top of that, he has seven rich and beautiful older sisters. With such a ridiculously overpowered setup, how can he go around simping for a broke college girl with no money? What a complete waste!

For the 999th time, the system in my head issues a warning: [Warning! Your infatuation level has exceeded the safe limit! If you do not leave Eleanor Hayes within one hour, you will be erased!] I look up to find my CEO wife, Eleanor, standing protectively in front of her secretary, Charles Beaumont, in the hospital. He has falsely accused me of stealing his paintings, and she believes him without question. Right in front of me, she slashes the paintings I have spent three years creating and then orders me to apologize to Charles. "You stole Charles' paintings in the first place," she says coldly. "Everything I've done is to make it up to him. All you have to do is apologize. What's so hard about that?" I stare at her in silence as she shields Charles from me. I take a last glance at the paintings I have spent three years creating, then calmly speak to the system in my head. "If this obsession with her is what's causing the problem, then I want the highest level of authorization. Remove all the love I have for her. Immediately." The system replies, "Authorization request received." One hour later, I am cleared to leave the hospital. Eleanor is waiting outside. The moment she sees me, she blocks the door and grabs me, her eyes burning with anger. "Daniel, what kind of game are you playing now?" I look at her calmly. There is none of the anger, hurt, or love I once would have felt. Then I say evenly, "Ma'am, you've unlawfully assaulted me. Would you like me to call the police?"

In my seven years of my marriage with the Regent, I had risked my life bearing him five children. Every single one had died. My husband grieved so deeply that he collapsed. He knelt for three days and nights before the chapel in the bitter cold, praying for my well-being. He even spent a fortune to build a memorial tower in my honor. Everyone said the Regent loved his wife more than life itself. But the System's childbearing progress remained stuck at 90%. Then came All Hallows' Eve. I walked to the river alone to float a memorial candle for my fifth child, who had only just passed. What I found instead were four children carrying turnip lanterns, gathered around my half-sister, tugging at her skirts. "Mommy! Daddy said he's lighting a bonfire tonight!" Alaric Montague stood behind her, arms looped around her waist. His expression carried the same tenderness I knew so well. Even my father, as stern as he had always been, was chuckling beside them, more relaxed than I had ever seen him. My mother held a swaddled infant nearby, wiping the corner of the smallest child's mouth. "Odette is too frail to carry children. Thank goodness Alaric came up with a way to swap them." "Watch your words, Mrs. Devereaux," Alaric cut in at once, his gaze turning cold. "Laurel owed this to Odette. The debt is paid. I'll let her keep the next one." I bit down on my lip hard enough to taste blood. In my mind, an electronic tone stirred to life after years of silence. [Laurel, five registered offspring detected alive. Childbearing mission for the heirless Regent is complete.] [Portal activation imminent. Confirm departure?]

On my wedding day, I find out my wife has a system that lets her swap two people's lives. Once my love for her reaches its peak, she can make me switch lives with the man she's always loved. She makes me fall for her on purpose, all so she and that man can take everything I own. But after the swap, she comes to me with red-rimmed eyes and begs me to switch back. I smile and shove her away. "It's just cancer. Why should that stop you two from being together?"

The System told me that, as a player, I stood a chance of reviving my beloved if I played the game enough times. As such, I gave my heart to charm Mila Gibbs, even if it meant dying ninety-nine times. When I played the game for the hundredth time, Mila sent me into a room with a deviant just for her true love's fancy. "You're not going to die anyway. Just make Julian laugh, and I don't mind marrying you." She didn't know that once I played the game a hundred times, my wish would be granted, success notwithstanding. I shall hence disappear from her world without a trace.

After my fiancée, Morgan Sweeney, ran away from our wedding with her first love, Leonardo Bloom, I failed my mission, and the system erased every memory I had of her. Morgan, however, believed it was just another attempt to get her attention. Hence, she accepted Leonardo's proposal, posted their engagement photos on social media, and announced their honeymoon plans. She was certain I'd eventually kneel at her feet, admit I was wrong, and beg her to love me again. What she didn't know was that I would never be able to love her again. The day I announced my own marriage, Morgan finally panicked. She rushed to my wedding in tears and begged me not to leave her behind.

Seven years after waking inside a novel, I had confessed to Claire Monroe ninety-nine times and been rejected every time. The moment I told the System I was giving up on my mission, Claire suddenly confessed to me instead. I was about to say yes when I started hearing my family's thoughts. [In our last life, this monster nearly got Ryan killed. Thank God we were all reborn. Once they're married, I'll cut off his arms and legs!] [Why wasn't he the one who died instead of my Ryan?] [If it weren't for Ryan, I would rather die than marry this bastard.] A flood of vicious thoughts crashed over me, and the world started to spin. The redemption I'd been so sure of was nothing but a joke.

Everyone in Chama Bay knew that the mafia boss, Dakota Thomas, loved me with her whole being and was terrified I would leave. She would walk through a field of bullets to keep me safe. Yet, on our wedding night, she did not even come home. When she got back, she was holding a weak and dark-lipped man and said, “Jackson, Pierce got poisoned to save me. I can’t watch him die!” Worried that I would not forgive her, she cut six gashes into her arm. Blood stained her shirt. When the wedding ended, I heard her underlings teasing her. “You went to see Pierce before even taking off your wedding dress. How tempting must that man be?” Dakota let out a low chuckle. “The last time I was with him, we didn’t leave the house for three whole days. So, what do you think?” I was stricken and summoned the system in despair. [I wish to leave this universe.] The system’s cold voice sounded. [Once you depart from this universe, all memory of you will cease to exist.] [Counting down: Seven days until universe departure.]