เรื่องสั้นและนวนิยาย

The system transports me into an alternate historical world. After waiting for ten long years, I am finally notified that I can leave this world. Before my departure, the system grants me three days to say goodbye. So, during those final three days, I become the person that the empress, Bella Barrett, has always wanted me to be. When she hands the royal seal to Harry Johnston, I smile and present it to him myself. And when she decides to build a shrine in his honor, I support the project wholeheartedly. Later, I go to the treasury and select a few precious treasures to take with me. One of my attendants asks curiously why I need so many valuables. I smile and answer, "I'm going home." Bella suddenly turns toward me. For the first time, panic fills her eyes. "But Josiah, aren't you an orphan? Other than your home here with me, where else could you possibly go?"

On my third year anniversary, I've whipped up a feast. Now I'm waiting for my wife, Cindy Kirk, to come home so that we can celebrate the occasion. But that's when I accidentally find out that Cindy has transferred the deed to our home to her brother-in-law, Andy Campbell. "Kevin will be attending elementary school next year. If he can't stay in a school-district property, which our home is, he won't be able to attend the school in this district! "Andy and Kevin have had it rough as it is! Do you have the heart to watch them live on the streets?" I just gaze at Cindy with a stony expression. Then, I ask her calmly, "Then what should we do if we lose our home?" Cindy is very satisfied with my attitude. She responds by passing me a blanket. "You should sleep on the shop's floor for the time being. I'll stay at home and take care of Andy and Kevin." After leaving my home, I head over to the court right away to file for a divorce. Since Cindy is greedy enough to have her cake and eat it, I'll make sure that she loses everything in her life!

My dad has been waiting for a kidney for three years. Finally, we receive word that it's his turn to receive a kidney. But when I arrive at the hospital and am about to go through the procedures, I find out that someone else has snatched the slot away. It turns out that my own uncle, Spencer Irwin, is the one who has replaced Dad in receiving the kidney. With bloodshot eyes, I decide to confront Spencer, only to see him scroll through the reels on his phone leisurely while hanging out in his ward. He tells me coolly, "Your dad is dying anyway, so having a kidney transplanted into him is basically a waste of said kidney. You might as well give it to me. "Let's not ruin our relationship, eh? Take this 5,000 dollars and buy something nice for your dad." I'm so furious that my body is practically shaking like a leaf. Then, I turn on my heel and storm away. Spencer thinks that I've decided to reap my losses. Instead, I track down the doctor and sign some paperwork as the primary decision-maker. That's how I've changed the anesthesia plan from general anesthesia to local anesthesia. This time, Spencer and his family are the ones going ballistic. As for me, I just laugh heartily at them. "This is supposed to be my dad's surgery, to begin with. It's on you for replacing him in this surgery!"

I fell in love with a mysterious stranger online. Morpheus. For three months, I’ve fallen asleep blushing at his blunt, dirty texts. "Can you feel how much I crave you, sweetie?" "I saw you in my dreams again last night. Writhing beneath me, screaming my name." I was finally ready to ask him to meet. Then he sent a photo. Just a casual shot of his desk. But right in the center sat an ancient book. Stamped on the cover was a crest I knew all too well: the Ouroboros of the Valerius vampire clan. And I happened to work at the exact museum where the Valerius clan stores their immortal relics. For three whole months, I had been sexting an immortal predator. A vampire who was probably watching me from the shadows every single day. While my brain was spinning, trying to piece together his face, my eyes landed on it. The custom blood-garnet signet ring I had helped "Morpheus" design... was currently gleaming on the finger of my boss, Alistair.

My mother-in-law, Olivia Austin, stands out and performs a heroic deed, only to get stabbed 99 times by the human trafficker she's apprehended. Needless to say, she's in critical condition. On the way to the hospital, I'm about to inform my wife, Elaine Russell, when a voice interrupts me. "Don't call Mom!" I'm stunned, to say the least. Right now, the only other person besides me is my son, Enzo Burke, in the back seat. But he's only three months old! How can he possibly talk? The next thing I know, the voice rings out again. "Mom's male best friend's company has filed for bankruptcy, so he's threatening to kill himself right now. If Mom ditches him and goes to the hospital instead, he will definitely kill himself!" At that moment, Elaine's impatient voice drifts from the other end of the line. "Since your mom is already dying, no miracle in this world can save her. What else can I do? You might as well use the time to prepare her funeral right now! Stop pestering me already!" I feel my heart sink to the pits of my stomach. To think that Elaine actually thinks my mom is the one dying! "Dad, Grandma can't make it anymore. If anything were to happen to Mom's friend, she'd definitely kill both of us!" As I listen to Enzo's choked-up thoughts, I decide not to say anything. After ending the call, I caress Enzo's cheek with a smile. "Darling, from now on, you and I are the only ones in this family."

My mom calls me on Friday. "Don't forget to attend the family dinner tomorrow. Your brother loves shrimps, so you should buy more of those at the seafood market in the southern district. "Your sister-in-law loves lamb chops. Why don't you go scour for more in the eastern district? Also, your nephew loves imported strawberries, so you mustn't forget them now." I say yes to everything. But as soon as I end the call, I see a new message in the family's group chat. "I already told Alan the things that we love to eat. It's hard for you all to earn money, so you shouldn't buy anything at all." One second later, the message is swiftly deleted. Still, the sight renders me stunned. I've been married for two years. During every Saturday dinner, I'm the one putting in money and effort just to organize said dinner. I've been thinking that I don't have to count every little favor, seeing as we're family and all. But it seems that I've already become an outsider a long time ago. Well then, I shall not be attending the family dinner this time.

My mother constantly berated me for being lazy and fragile, claiming I couldn't handle a single shred of hardship. Her resentment stemmed from a terrifying symptom I couldn't control. Without warning, my body would begin to convulse, and my mind would go entirely blank. I would collapse into pitch darkness. Yet, every time she took me to the hospital, the medical tests came back frustratingly normal. My teachers eventually noticed my frequent episodes of zoning out and fainting, and they desperately urged my mother to take me for a more thorough evaluation. But my mother, a respected doctor herself, brushed their concerns aside. To her, it was an open-and-shut case: I was a lazy child faking an illness to skip class. From then on, she strictly rationed my diet. Whenever I felt dizzy, grew drowsy, or began to convulse, her response was swift and cruel. I was subjected to sharp slaps across the face and hours of forced standing, while she towered over me, screaming that I was a disappointment who was intentionally trying to ruin her life. Everything came to a dead end on the day of our school-wide physical exams. My mother happened to be the doctor manning the blood-drawing station. When my turn arrived and I sat across from her, that familiar, agonizing tremor seized my limbs. The entire room began to spin, and my torso pitched forward, nearly crashing onto the examination table. Instead of checking my pulse, my mother violently yanked me upward by the arm and shoved me away. "Stop acting!" she hissed, her voice dripping with disgust. "Faking a faint over a routine blood draw? Can you be any more pathetic? Get out into the hallway and stand there. Stop humiliating me in front of my colleagues!" She shoved me out the door before turning back to her work. The moment my back hit the cold hallway wall, an icy chill enveloped my body. My consciousness began to splinter. For the first time in my life, I couldn't fight the weight. Half out of it, I thought to myself that this was good. If I passed out completely this time, she would finally believe that I wasn't lying.

My brother had bonded with an Academic Prodigy System, and its mission was simple: get into Northbridge for graduate school. If he failed, the system would erase his intelligence and leave him permanently disabled. To save him, my parents told me, "Aaron, you're smart. You still have options, but your brother doesn't." So they secretly switched my guaranteed admission file and gave my place to him. My fiancee, Vivian Harkins, a professor at the university, personally helped him forge the records. She touched my face with the same tenderness she always used. "Aaron, everything has an optimal solution. Sacrificing one year of your time to protect this family is worth it." My brother held the admission letter with his own name on it and became the star of the celebration banquet. I stood in the corner and watched the system panel in front of me as the [Hope Value] hit zero. The cold voice in my head asked, [Host, you have reached the threshold for extreme injustice. Confirm activation of the death program?] I watched Vivian, with her own hands, fasten the pair of cuff links she had once promised me onto my brother's sleeve. I smiled, swallowed the taste of blood rising in my throat, and said, "Confirm." "Use my life to trade for the rest of theirs... beyond redemption."

When my sister, Danielle Campbell, and I are born, our parents hire an astrologer to read our futures. The astrologer says Danielle will develop severe depression because of my success. After the SAT scores are released, she'll jump from the roof of our school and end her life. To save Danielle, my parents spend 18 years tearing me down. On the day of the SAT, they even confiscate my exam permit. I fall to my knees and beg them, slamming my forehead against the tile floor over and over. Dad kicks me into the walk-in freezer and locks the door from the outside. "You know your sister will die because of you, and you still insist on taking the exam? Are you trying to drive her to her death?" The freezer is set to -22 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm wearing nothing but my short-sleeved school uniform. I pound desperately on the door. "Mom! It's so cold in here! Please let me out!" "Oh, stop pretending." Mom's voice is sharp and cutting. "The refrigeration isn't even turned on! Danielle is only one step away from escaping that prophecy, and all you can think about is yourself?" Their footsteps fade into the distance. Blood keeps streaming from the wound on my forehead, soaking into my uniform before turning ice-cold. I curl up in the corner. Little by little, my body grows stiff.

On the day I become an actual heir of a wealthy family, the fake heir, Andrew Scott, tells me that he wishes to return the marriage contract to me, his eyes red and puffy. Thinking about my girlfriend, Elyssa Grant, who has just gotten pregnant, I reply softly, "It's fine. I already have someone I love." As soon as my words fall, I see comments floating in front of my eyes all of a sudden. "What a joke! The villain might be swift in rejecting the marriage contract right now, but once he sees the female lead, he'll definitely regret his decision!" "But the female lead still chooses to be with the male lead at the end of the day. That's when the villain starts pestering her." "In the end, the male lead is forced to slit his wrist, leading to the villain getting hated by the entire Scott family. He'll die a tragic death after that." I lower my gaze, finding it absurd. Why would I pester a woman I've never seen before in my life? At that moment, I hear footsteps echoing from behind me. As Andrew wipes his tears away, he approaches the newcomer hastily. "El, this is my older brother, Eddie Scott. This marriage contract is originally his." I turn around to meet a pair of familiar eyes. It's Elyssa, my girlfriend of five years who has supported me and is currently pregnant with my baby.

As Mom and Dad arrive at the company to hand it over to their biological son, Nick Yeager, I throw myself off the 30th floor. Blood splatters everywhere, and the crowd scatters in panic. Mom and Dad also scream in horror at the sight. But the moment they realize the dead person is me, the fear drains from their faces, replaced by nothing but disgust. "Back then, we brought home the wrong baby, so Nathan got to enjoy 20 years of wealth and privilege for nothing. Instead of being grateful to us for raising him, he kept making things hard for Nick after we acknowledged him and brought him home. And now he's killed himself at the office? What an ungrateful bastard!" The onlookers curse at me for having no conscience, saying that even in death, I won't let the Yeager family have a moment's peace. But in the end, no one expects Dad, who despises me more than anyone else, to hold my urn in his arms and beg me to come back with tears streaming down his face.

Every year on the day the SAT results are released, I spend the entire day kneeling at my mother's grave. Three years ago, I fell for a phone scam and transferred all of the tuition money she had saved through years of diligently saving up to the scammers. Unable to take the sudden blow, Mom suffered a fatal heart attack. After she passed away, debt collectors began showing up at our door. Only then did I learn how much money she had borrowed just to keep us afloat. I have no choice but to give up my admission offer from Jaloria College. Working five jobs a day, I finally repay every last debt today. On the subway ride to the cemetery, I suddenly come across a streamer whose voice sounds strangely familiar. She blabs, "How do you teach kids the value of earning money? In my experience, extreme circumstances work the best. I deliberately created a scenario for my daughter where both her parents are supposedly dead, and she inherited a million dollars of my debt. "She's almost finished paying it off now. Tell me, can your kids do that?" Someone in the comments section questions her methods, saying it is too insane. She only grows more smug as she gloats, "So what? She's the one who was stupid enough to get scammed. I was just teaching her a lesson. As a reward for doing so well, I'll tell her the truth on her birthday five days from now. Any sensible child will understand their parents' good intentions." As she gestures animatedly, a crescent-shaped birthmark on her wrist comes into view. It's identical to my mom's. My hands tremble as I create a new account. I switch the profile picture to a man in a suit and change the background to luxury cars and mansions. Then, I send her an expensive virtual gift. While she excitedly thanks me, I leave a comment. "You're absolutely right, ma'am. If only I had a smart woman like you around to help me raise my children."

My cousin, Jeffrey Coleman, whom I haven't gotten in touch with for years, suddenly shows up on my doorstep. "Chris, if I remember correctly, you have a Toyota Crown parked in your garage, right? Lend it to me as my wedding car, alright? "We're cousins, so I'll pay you 500 dollars. Aren't I generous?" The Toyota Crown Jeffrey has mentioned is an original model from the 90s. It's still coated in the same paint it was produced in. My grandpa has left it to me. Over the years, I've already sunk in more than 100 thousand dollars just to renew every part. And now, Jeffrey thinks he gets to drive the car after paying me 500 measly dollars? I turn him down tactfully. "The car's far too old, Jeffrey. I'm worried that it might break down halfway to the wedding venue and cause a delay on your big day." Unexpectedly, the moment Jeffrey gets home, he's quick to issue everyone in the family group chat e-invitations. "I've already booked the wedding car! It's a Toyota Crown that's produced in the 90s, and it's still in its original glory! This car is definitely better than Porsche and Mercedes! "On the big day, this car will be in charge of picking up the bride and groom twice! Of course, the newlyweds get to ride this car. If there are any other relatives who want to share the ride, leave a message here!" Everyone is quick to praise Jeffrey for his quick wits. To think that he's capable of borrowing something vintage from the older generation! On Jeffrey's wedding day, he shows up outside my garage with a dozen or so people. "Open up, Chris! Where's the car key? We're in a hurry, you know!" Soon, the garage door is opened from the inside. The Toyota Crown isn't there. Instead, a police cruiser is parked in its place. A traffic officer can be seen crouching on the ground while taking photos for evidence. "You guys plan on driving the Toyota Crown? Someone has reported this car for not meeting the qualifications, and that it's suspected to be used in an illegal business. I'm going to need all of you to make a trip to the police station with me." Jeffrey panics immediately. "We didn't even get to drive it yet! How is this illegal?" The traffic officer glances up at him. "The report has included tens of hundreds of conversation screenshots. You've publicly posted the routes and even invited people to ride with you in the group chat. "Please explain to me what your actions mean, if not advertising your ride to get more customers."

After Mom stabbed Aunt Serena and was sent to prison, Aunt Serena became our new mother. The same Serena who used to “wrestle” with Dad in bed every afternoon at three o’clock. Everyone praised her for being kind and virtuous. They said she treated her husband’s children from his first marriage as if they were her own. She was practically the perfect stepmother. I believed them too. So when she told me there was a way to get to heaven and see Mom again, I believed her. I even carried along the baby brother she had just given birth to. And together, we followed her lie all the way to heaven.

My wife, Ula Grove, was best friends with a man named Jordan Loof. On the day we all gathered to celebrate Eira, Jordan’s daughter’s birthday, our own little girl, Faye, made the silly mistake of taking a bite of the cake ahead of time. Ula flew into a rage and locked Faye in the basement. “Why do you have to compete with Eira over everything? You even made her cry on her own birthday! It was just a piece of cake, yet you acted as if you had never seen a cake in your life!” Ula then taped Faye’s mouth shut with adhesive tape. “Stay right here and think about what you’ve done. You’re not coming out until three days have passed.” The basement was pitch dark with no light at all, and there were poisonous spiders, too. Faye would not last half a day in there. I cried and begged Ula to let Faye go, but Ula remained unmoved. “What other tricks are you trying to pull? How many times do I have to tell you that Jordan has it hard enough raising a kid on his own? I asked you to be considerate, but you couldn’t! You and that little monster insist on doubling down on bullying a single-parent family!” I clutched her sleeve and begged her to just let Faye out. I even swore that I would take Faye and vanish from her life. Ula pulled away before kicking me to the floor. Then, she said coldly, “Since you can’t stand to be away from her, then go rot in there with her! I’m sending Jordan and Eira abroad in three days, so you two can stay locked up until there’s no way you can bully them anymore.” After Ula sent Jordan and Eira abroad to enjoy themselves, she finally remembered Faye and me. She picked out gifts and was about to come pick us up when she received a call from her assistant, Alex Quill. “Mr. Elwood and Faye are gone!”

Two months after I joined the company, I sold off every stalled real estate project it had been sitting on for three years and pulled the failing business back from the edge of bankruptcy. To keep me, the chairman sold me a thirty-million-dollar sky penthouse for one dollar. On handover day, the new colleague, Ryan Wells, snatched my contract and sneered, "Connor, buying a sky penthouse for one dollar? Keep dreaming." I told him to look at the company seal on the contract, but he burned it on the spot. "Connor, don't think a few sales achievements mean you can use the back door to buy property. "Even if the company really had a benefit like this, Lydia should be the first person to enjoy it!" My girlfriend, who was also the sales manager, looked at me coldly. "Connor, have some principles. The company is struggling, and you're still trying to take advantage?" "Since reporting misconduct deserves a reward, I've decided to give your sales commission to Ryan. "If you have a problem with that, don't come to work tomorrow!" Furious enough to laugh, I took out my phone and called my sister directly. "Victoria, cancel every purchase contract for the Eastbank project. I'm done here."

On our fifth wedding anniversary, I nestled in the arms of my vampire husband, Alaric, and offered my neck to his lingering kisses. My breath caught as my hand fumbled in my pocket for the pregnancy test crystal. It glowed faintly, showing a clear positive result. I planned to reveal my pregnancy as my final surprise for the night: we were going to have a half-vampire child of our own. Alaric's confidant, Roman, grinned suggestively and asked in the Old Tongue of the Kindred: "Your Highness, and what of your childhood friend, the beautiful pureblood Elise? Does she satisfy you?" Alaric's mocking laughter rumbled against my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied in the same Old Tongue: "Like fire, wild and intensely hot. The harder you bite, the sweeter she yields." His fingertip was still tracing the bite marks on my neck, but his gaze was far away. "Just be sure to keep this quiet. I'd be ruined if my dear wife found out." The clansmen chuckled, raising their blood-filled goblets to pledge their secrecy. The warmth in my blood ran to ice. They had forgotten. Born of a noble human line that had intermarried with the Kindred for generations, I was fluent in their Old Tongue. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect hostess's smile plastered on my face, but the hand gripping my glass began to tremble. Alaric probably thought that if I found out, I would cry and demand to know why he treated me this way, just as I had before. But what he didn't know was that this time, everything was different. The marriage contract was void. I sent a message to my father: "Father, I've lost the bet. I am coming home to inherit the family estate."

Mom always said I was dead to the world when I slept. I would suddenly doze off in the middle of class, while eating, even halfway across the street. My homeroom teacher suggested I get checked at a hospital, but Mom brushed it off with a scoff. "She just stayed up all night on her phone!" After that, my phone was confiscated, the lock on my door was removed, and every time I showed the slightest sign of drowsiness, I got slapped awake. I did not want to be hit, and I did not want Mom to get angry, so I started pinching my thighs, yanking my hair, even downing medicated oil just to stay awake. But when that wave of sleep hit, nothing could stop it. On the day of the final exam, Mom happened to be assigned as one of the proctors. I bit through my lip, silently begging myself, 'Just this once. Just hold on.' But in the end, I still couldn't fight it. The desk was suddenly flipped over. I went down with my chair, crashing hard onto the floor. My head struck the edge of the desk, and darkness swallowed everything in an instant. Mom stood beside me, furious and disappointed. "Cecelia Thorne, are you really so obsessed with sleeping that you don't even care about your final exams? If you're that lazy, then lie there and keep sleeping!" I lay sprawled over my exam paper, my vision dimming bit by bit. Mom, this time, I might really sleep for a long, long time.

I've devoted everything to sponsoring my deceased best friend's daughter, Lara Sandfield, so that she can learn dancing for the past ten years. Thanks to my efforts, she's able to get into the most prestigious art school. My only condition is that Lara has to wear the dress that was sewn by her mother, Kiara Cruz, prior to her death, when it's time for Lara to perform her first dance after her graduation. But on the day of the rehearsal, Lara actually starts a livestream and cuts the dress into shreds with a pair of scissors. Tears trickle down her cheeks as she accuses me of using this torn, old dress to humiliate her and guilt-trip her for the past ten years. "Look, everyone! This is Eliza's so-called 'blood, sweat, and tears'! She wants me to perform my first dance in this bunch of rags! "I'm the principal dancer who has been nominated by a prestigious director! If I were to perform in this dress, it'd ruin my future! I no longer owe Eliza anything!" As I stare at the derogatory comments aimed at me in the livestream, I leave a like there quietly. The dress that Lara has ruined is actually woven by Kiara using gold threads back when she was still alive. The internationally-renowned mentor, whom I've spent a fortune hiring for the past ten years, is actually my older sister, Lucy Newman, who has already retired for many years. Meanwhile, the prestigious dance director has only given Lara the position of principal dancer because she respects Lucy far too much. I leave a comment of my own in the livestream. "I hope you have a glorious future ahead of you." I wonder how Lara can continue dancing, now that she's lost everything in life.

The High-Ed Aptitude Test (HAT) was fast approaching. My father had reserved the entire hotel next to my exam venue so I could study in peace. While I was registering my accommodation with my school's HAT committee, I overheard Ashley, my roommate at the school dorm, giggling with her friends. "You know who has more money than IQ? Regina Fairfax. That's who. She's soft in both the head and the heart. If I tell her I'm worried about leaving her alone in the hotel, she'll immediately invite me to stay there too, no questions asked! "I've had it all planned out, girls. I'll be staying in the presidential suite for free, and I'll throw a party there! Talk about getting a return on my amazing social skills! "Now, any of you who can pay me 80 bucks can secure a spot at my fabulous party!" She was talking about me! How dare she?! I immediately called my father. "Dad, cancel the reservation. Shutting down the whole place isn't good for business. We should be making more money!"