Short Stories & Novels

After completing my system mission, I give up the massive reward and choose to stay in this world because I have a happy, loving family. My sister, Naomi Sullivan, is a world-renowned genius scientist, and every one of her discoveries bears my name. My mother, Gloria Lynch, heads a financial empire that controls the global economy, and she transfers every share she owns into my name. And my father, Arnold Sullivan, is an action star. He's a legendary screen icon, but he retires to watch me grow up. I'm the golden child everyone envies until Daniel Sullivan, their biological son, shows up at our door. Overnight, their love for me vanishes, and I become the outsider who stole the rightful heir's place in the family. Daniel stages a fall down the stairs, and Dad breaks my ribs to make me pay. I take a single bite of Daniel's leftover cake because I'm starving, but Mom locks me in the basement with an attack dog for three days. Then, she has a gold cake made just to cheer him up. All it takes is one offhand complaint that his chest feels tight, and Naomi removes my heart to give it to him, replacing it with an artificial one. "It's just a heart. You're strong enough to handle it. Daniel needs it more than you do." Naomi stands nearby with a tablet in hand, coldly logging the results. "Don't worry. Artificial heart technology is already well established. The survival rate is excellent in theory. You won't die." After my soul leaves my body, I watch Daniel casually toss my heart into the trash. Then, the long-silent system finally awakens. "Clifford, would you like to take back everything you bestowed upon them in exchange for a chance to be revived? This includes your mother's fortune, your father's extraordinary physical gifts, and your sister's incredible mind."

After finishing the buffalo wings, I casually pick up an iced beer to cut the spice. My stepsister, Zoe Cruz, tries to copy me, fanning her mouth and sticking out her tongue from the heat. But my boyfriend, Luke Nash, snatches the beer away. He pinches her cheek playfully and says, "You just ate all that greasy, spicy food, and now you're chugging ice-cold beer? Are you trying to wreck your stomach?" Then he turns his head and frowns at me with displeasure. "Same goes for you. You know Zoe has zero self-control, so why do you have to drink that right in front of her? Go outside. Come back in after you finish your beer." My grip instantly tightens around the beer bottle. Furious, Zoe wraps her arm around his neck, pretending to strangle him. "Since when do you get to boss me around? Mia, tell Luke off! Luke, I'm older than you! Watch your tongue, or I won't give Mia permission to marry you." Refusing to back down, Luke sticks his hand into her clothes to tickle her. "Mia, you tell a certain someone that if she doesn't listen to me, she'd better not call me crying in the middle of the night complaining about a stomachache again." I watch the two of them fall back into their seats, laughing. All of a sudden, everything just feels pointless.

On Christmas, I prepare a feast and wait for my wife to introduce me to her family after nine years of being married in secret. Just as I wait with anticipation, my wife walks through the door, holding her first love's hand. Their fingers are interlocked, and their eyes are brimming with affection. "Mom. Dad. This is Henry Cooper, my husband. We've been secretly married for the past ten years." "What a handsome young man. You two look perfect together!" My mother-in-law is grinning from ear to ear. They stand there chatting, looking like a happy family. Then my wife turns to me, her gaze icy. "This is my live-in housekeeper. Come try the food and see if you like it." My wife invites her family to take their seats, but Henry Cooper looks at me with a hint of disdain. "The host hasn't even sat down yet. How can the housekeeper sit first? Where are your manners?"

I'm scheduled to work overtime for all five days of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. However, I decide to just put up with it because I remember that I have a 200,000-dollar year-end bonus at stake. On the first day of overtime, the HR manager, Karen Beech, deducts 200 dollars from my pay, citing "lack of attention to personal image and affecting the company's overall reputation" as the reason. I look at my neatly pressed dress shirt and slacks and frown. "I've strictly followed the company's rules regarding my appearance. What's the problem?" Without saying another word, Karen grabs a cup of hot coffee and splashes it all over me. "Well, you've got a problem now." That day, an official message is pinned on the company's Slack channel. "Alex Sutherland violated our company's policy, affecting the company's overall reputation. Thus, he's fined 200 dollars." Nobody speaks up for me in the channel. That's because the newly appointed General Manager, Remy Lincoln, says that he wants to reduce costs and increase the company's efficiency, which would mean random layoffs. As a result, the entire office has been thrown into a state of panic, and everyone is looking out for themselves. As for me, I am the highest-paid employee in the company with a monthly salary of 10,000 dollars. On the second day of overtime, someone locks my front door from the outside, making me almost a minute late for work. When I reach the company, Karen writes me up for being tardy and fires me on the spot. I look at another sales associate behind her, Sandra Leach, who is pretending to be busy with work to avoid my gaze. She is the only person in the entire company who has ever been invited to my home. I refuse to leave without a fight and request to see the company chairman, Mr. Richard Lincoln. However, Karen scoffs disdainfully at me and says, "Don't think that you have any influence on the company's decisions just because you're a sales manager. "Mr. Remy Lincoln is Mr. Lincoln Senior's only son, which means his will is also the chairman's." She then glances at my chest and adds, "Did you seriously think that a woman with zero assets like you could even attempt to seduce the chairman into changing his mind? In your dreams!" I'm at a complete loss for words. For starters, I am a man, and Karen has to be completely blind not to notice that. And secondly, if Remy really were my dad's only son, then who am I supposed to be?

Our butler, Cal Pinkham, was determined to marry his daughter off to some rich young heir and have him take her family name. So, when my nearsighted son, Christopher Settle, who was working on his PhD, accidentally glanced at his daughter one too many times, Cal somehow convinced himself that Christopher had fallen for her. His daughter was forty, unemployed, and still needed her food blown cool and spoon-fed to her at meals. Even so, Cal kept trying to parade her in front of me like a prize whenever the opportunity presented itself. “Becky looks like the cutest little piglet when she eats. She’s absolutely adorable. I took pictures. Here, take a look. You wouldn’t understand the joy of having a daughter, not when you only have a son. These days, daughters are the ones who actually show up for their parents when they get old. “But don’t you worry. As long as your son takes my family’s last name, gives us a $100,000 wedding gift, and agrees that their children must have our last name too, I’ll even let my precious little girl look after you in your golden years too.” I shoved his hand away in disgust and immediately called the agency to find me a reliable replacement butler. Before I could find a suitable replacement, the $15,000 designer necklace I had bought for Christopher suddenly went missing. I confronted Cal about it. He answered without a hint of guilt. “Oh, I took it. We’re practically family now. Anything you buy for Christopher will belong to Becky sooner or later anyway. I just cashed it in early and used the money to buy your future daughter-in-law a car, so she won’t have to ride around on that scooter anymore in the rain or cold. Christopher would never stand for seeing her like that.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, teasing as if we were sharing some private joke. I was so furious I nearly saw red. “Who cares about that overgrown pig you call a daughter?” Then, I picked up my phone and called the police.

To get back at me for taking one extra piece of lettuce at dinner, Simon Quinn drugged me right after my surgery and left me with a stomach perforation. My wife finally managed to book a specialist appointment for me, but Simon suddenly claimed his own stomach hurt so badly he couldn't stand it and stole my slot. I begged my wife to take me to the hospital first. She told me to endure it. Then, when I called an ambulance myself, she punished me by having someone hang me upside down in the bedroom. "If we hadn't had to eat those awful health meals with you, why would Simon's stomach hurt? "I heard hanging upside down helps stomach pain. After a few minutes, you'll naturally feel better." The pain made my body convulse. I cried and begged her to send me to the hospital. Instead, she kicked me hard in the abdomen. "Stop acting. Don't think I don't know you're just jealous of Simon! "Someone as kind as Simon would never drug you. If anything, you're the one who might've slipped something into the food to make his stomach hurt. Once the results come out, I won't let you off!" I grabbed her pant leg in agony. "I'm not lying. He told me himself he drugged me. Please, for the sake of our eight years together, give the specialist appointment back to me." She stepped on my hand in disgust. "You just had surgery. How could anything happen to you? Stop trying to drive a wedge between us. If you weren't such good househusband material, I would've divorced you long ago." Later, after she saw that Simon was perfectly fine, she finally remembered me. But the housekeeper was trembling all over. "Mr. Bowman died a long time ago..."

My sister, Delilah Sorrell, and I are now in our third year of captivity after being trafficked into Northern Marovia. Her whereabouts are unknown—whether she is dead or alive, no one knows—while I am tortured until I am nothing but a living corpse. The rotting flesh on my body constantly gives off a stench, the old iron chains on my feet cut deep into my skin, and I even compete with pigs for food just to fill my stomach. I finally quit resisting after countless cries for help went unanswered. I become completely consumed by despair, with only one thought left in my mind—to die. Suddenly, I hear a fierce argument happening nearby, just as I swallow a handful of pills and wait for my life to fade away. "Bennett is your younger brother! You already ruined his bright future after the SAT just for the sake of an underprivileged student! Why are you still putting him through this torture?" Delilah, my missing sister, suddenly shows up, speaking in a rushed, irritated tone. "He knows perfectly well that I am always here to back him up and that his grades don't matter. He still deliberately went out of his way to beat Nathan's scores, triggering a relapse of Nathan's depression! "I'm merely punishing him to teach him some humility. I'll be bringing him home once Nathan graduates in a month, so this minor hardship means nothing." I finally realize the truth now. I have risked my life searching every inch of the compound and still can't find her. It turns out that from the very beginning, all of this is just her punishing me for the sake of Nathan Baker, that underprivileged student. I cough up a mouthful of blood as I laugh through my tears. "Your punishment for me is finally coming to an absolute end, Delilah. I won't be returning home with you ever again."

Five years after my parents, Ian Smith and Sophia Wright, get divorced, I run into Dad at school. He has just finished attending a parent-teacher conference for his stepson, Eugene Moore, who ranks first in the grade, and he's beaming with pride. The moment he spots me, his expression instantly darkens. "Is this what you usually wear to school? Is this how your mother is raising you?" He hands me his business card, his tone dripping with condescension. "Here, take it. Tell your mother that if she's willing to swallow her pride and admit she was wrong, I'll transfer you into the international class right away. In any case, it's better than rotting away in the regular class." I don't take it. In fact, I simply take a step back. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Smith." His brows draw together, his eyes filled with disgust. "You really are just like your mother—a lost cause. From now on, don't tell anyone you're my daughter." I tighten my grip on the paper in my hand and calmly watch him leave. He has no idea that this isn't a report card. It's my withdrawal application, because since Mom died, there's no one left to pay my tuition.

After graduation, I post something online without really thinking about it. "Does not relying on you anymore count as growing up?" My childhood friend's comment pops up almost instantly. "That's cause for celebration." I don't understand, so I send him a question mark. After a while, his reply comes through. "Mara, do you know everyone says you're like a leech I can't shake off? "School's over. You don't need to be stuck to me every day. "Learn to stand on your own. No one in college is going to put up with a big baby." Then, without missing a beat, he sends me a download link. "Got a question? Ask AI. It's more useful than relying on me." Just like that, the boy who has looked after me for 12 years hands me off to an AI app. I sit there stunned for a long time, then quietly download it.

I have been secretly dating Abigail Zimmerman, a female esports player, for three years. During a match, she openly flirts with an esports commentator named Nolan Carter. On my birthday, she shows up with her arm around him and asks to break up. She says, "How could a loser like you, who can't even play games, possibly understand my inner world?" I try to change her mind, but she mocks me mercilessly. "You can't hold a candle to even a strand of Nolan's hair. Get lost!" she barks. I am disappointed and give up on her completely. Right away, I remove her from the club. Abigail has no idea that I am the one who invests in the club she plays for.

The final race would decide everything: win, and I'd make the national team; lose, and I'd be kicked off the racing team. Twenty-eight years ago, my father was crippled by the same man. His spine was broken, and he never stood again. Two hours before the race, I saw him crouching beside my car with my own eyes. When I went over to check, I found the brake line had been cut and the brake fluid had been mixed with alcohol. The method was exactly the same. My father had waited in his wheelchair for twenty-eight years. I crouched down and stared at the severed brake line for a long time. Then I stood up, wiped away the fingerprints, and put on my helmet. I didn't report it. I didn't change cars. I didn't tell anyone. Because I wanted him to watch with his own eyes— To see how he'd be sent to hell by the "loser" he despised. The engines roared. The green light came on. I released the brake and floored the throttle. The moment I shot forward, I knew— This car's brakes wouldn't last past the seventh lap.

My roommate, Andrew Hayes, has become obsessed with this viral tiramisu place off campus. Every night without fail, he brings a box of it back. He tries to sell us on it more than once. Supposedly the texture is silky and rich, and it melts in the mouth. I just can't be bothered to care. Everything changes on the day before the grad school recommendation list is posted. My pen is moving across the page of a paper when something at the edge of my vision suddenly catches my eye. A few lines of text have appeared. [Tonight, your roommate, Andrew, will ask you to help him buy tiramisu from that viral dessert shop. After he eats it, he'll rush out of the dorm. The next day, the police will take you away on charges of aggravated assault. [Online exposés will say you attacked your roommate out of jealousy, and the Internet will explode with outrage. Relentless cyberbullying will consume your life. Even your parents will get dragged down with you and lose their steady jobs. Ultimately, you'll be driven into a mental breakdown and die from depression.] I figure I've started hallucinating after finally cracking under the pressure, so I toss the workbook aside. That night, Andrew pushes open the dorm room door. His tone is easy and familiar as he asks, "Luke, grab me a tiramisu on your way back, okay?" My brain blanks for a second. This scene matches the prediction word for word. Andrew's smile is bright and sunny as he walks closer, but I only feel a chill down my spine because of one of the prediction's sentences. [After you're taken in for questioning, you'll miss your interview. The guaranteed grad school spot will fall right into Andrew's lap.] Is Andrew really going to ruin my entire life over a single guaranteed grad school slot? My grip tightens around my pen. I say, "Sorry, Andrew. It's not really convenient for me."

My wife, Yasmin Lowe, falls in love with my pet snake. Every night, she claims she is too tired and refuses to let me touch her. In reality, she secretly climbs into the terrarium and spends intimate moments with the snake. After she leaves on a two-day business trip, the snake's temperament changes drastically and it nearly bites my father to death. Furious about this, he has the snake euthanized. What no one expects is that while the snake dies by euthanasia, my entire family dies at Yasmin's hands. "You killed the love of my life. All of you will go to hell with him!" When I open my eyes again, I am back on my wedding night. Beside me, Yasmin quietly lifts the blanket. I smile. Euthanasia? That would be letting them off far too easily.

I was a ghost hunter. My client had bought a haunted manor. Everyone who moved inside ended up losing their minds, so they paid me a huge sum to exorcise the place. However, I had a feeling that I had bitten off more than I could chew. After moving in and fighting against the evil ghost for half a year, I could not handle it anymore and decided to move out to rest for a bit. Before my mind even cleared up completely, Ronald Durkin, my uncle, called me. “Apollo, Jessica just finished sitting for her SATs. I want the entire family to go with her on her graduation trip, but hotels are just too expensive. I heard that you rented a huge manor in the capital. Why don’t you let us stay there?” He then gave me some money, saying that it was rent. When I checked, I found that he had only given me a single cent. My mouth twitched, but I still patiently explained the situation to him. “Uncle Ronald, the manor is haunted. No one can move inside. Why don’t I give you three thousand dollars so that you could book a hotel?” I certainly did not expect him to hang up on me without another word and tag everyone in the family group chat. [Guys, everyone will be going dutch for the trip this time. Apollo will be providing us free lodgings in a ten thousand square feet manor in the capital.] The family group chat went wild, and everyone praised me for being a good boy. I simply could not laugh along with them. That place was uninhabitable!

Every time my mom, Miranda Turner, comes over to clean my apartment, something goes missing. The first time it happens, a silk scarf I bought goes missing. Not long afterward, my younger sister, Sheryl Colson, gets a promotion and a raise after giving a scarf to her boss as a gift. I think it's just a coincidence. The second time, every premium apple I store in the refrigerator disappears. That very night, Sheryl posts photos on Instagram. She writes, "Thank you, Mom. You're the best. Authentic purple star apple! And eight of them!" I can't help asking about it. Mom hides herself underneath the covers and cries all night, insisting I've wrongfully accused her. Later, several bottles of mineral water labeled "Imported" mysteriously vanish from my apartment. Coincidentally, Sheryl, who's been trying to get pregnant for five years, finally conceives. She proudly tells everyone that even the water she drinks is flown in from overseas. This time, I shudder at the thought of how dire the situation may be. What's missing is imported water from Esithra. It is water from the Gorga River, where there have been corpses floating around. Anyone who drinks it is asking for trouble.

My mother was a veteran HR director, so she built a performance scorecard for my entire childhood. A perfect test score earned me ten minutes on my phone. Finishing first in school earned me a milkshake. Whatever I wanted, I had to earn with grades. After I entered Crestmont Institute of Technology, I spent three straight years at the top of my program. According to her rules, that was worth one thousand dollars. When I came home, she tossed a single dollar bill at me. "So what if you're still first? Your GPA has slipped by a tenth of a point every year. You have the nerve to ask for a reward?" Beside her, my brother lounged with the keys to his new Hawthorne sedan spinning around one finger. My stomach sank. "When I got into Crestmont Tech, you said I wasn't valedictorian, so all I deserved was a used scooter. "Why does he get a new car for barely making it into community college..." Mom's eyes flashed. "You and Tyler are completely different. "He went from having no chance at college to getting accepted somewhere. That's progress. You're moving backward. "Since you've chosen to coast, I'm cutting off your living expenses next semester. We only invest resources in people who improve. "Raise your GPA by finals, then come trade your grades for money." I walked outside without another word and made a call. "You really are me, ten years from now. You were right. Her performance system only applies to me." Future me answered calmly. "Tomorrow, sell the artwork Dad left you. Three of the pieces are genuine old masters. "Put every dollar into your research project. No matter what anyone says, don't abandon it. That project is your way into Crestmont's tech elite. "Let this family lose a future multimillionaire over one thousand dollars."

On the day my wife, Rachel Carter, receives her Ph.D., I rush back from overseas. But when I approach her with a carefully chosen gift, she slaps me in front of everyone. "I'm a married woman with a family of my own. Stop trying to make me your lover!" I watch as she turns away from me and makes her way over to a family of four. "Honey, Mom, Dad, don't mind him. This man is crazy. Let's go," she says gently. Refusing to give up, I catch up to her and grab her arm. "What happened, Rach?" I ask. "Who's this scary man, Mommy?" a child asks. "Why does he keep bothering you?" Rachel yanks her hand away and pulls out her phone. "I've already called the police. Stop harassing me, you piece of trash!" As I stare at her retreating figure, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washes over me. I pull out my phone and make a call. "Notify headquarters, William. Cancel all plans to relocate our global headquarters back to Jekovia." After I hang up, I toss the gift into a nearby trash can and walk away without looking back.

Lately, my seatmate had been looking at me strangely. Whether we were going to the cafeteria or heading to P.E., she kept her distance like she was afraid of me. I finally couldn't take it anymore and asked her, "Did I do something to offend you?" She flinched, backed several steps away, and avoided my eyes. "No. It's not your fault!" But the next day, she voluntarily transferred out of the honors track and into a regular class. Confused, I went to ask her what was going on. The moment I arrived at the door of her new classroom, she'd been chatting casually with other students. Then she saw me, started shaking all over, and screamed in terror. "It really has nothing to do with you. Please stop looking for me. Please!"

In my previous life, Jackson Miller, a poor student, framed me and drove away the three women who had once cared for me. Meryl Duncan, the school beauty, who has always been close to me, stands firmly in front of Jackson, protecting him without hesitation. Kara Jensen, who has a crush on me, along with the female professor, Sally Robinson, who has always treated me with warmth, also believes Jackson's lies. They demand that I kneel and apologize to him. No matter how much I try to explain, no one believes me. In the end, they lock me inside a classroom to reflect on my mistakes. Later, someone pushes me off the building and kills me. Fate gives me a second chance. I'm reborn. This time, whenever I see them, I choose to walk away. Yet the moment they learn that I have applied for an international exchange program and am leaving the country, the three women who have abandoned me are ruffled.

When I start middle school, Dad quits his job to become my full-time study coach. He devotes every ounce of energy to monitoring my academics and refuses to let a single distraction near me. My best friend in middle school has average grades, so Dad goes straight to his parents for a talk. "My son is going to a top school. Don't let your kid's low IQ rub off on him." I lose my closest friend after that, and the rest of my classmates start keeping their distance too. In high school, the class rep asks me a math question one day, and Dad sees it happen. Without a word, he slaps her across the face. "Already flirting with boys at your age? I'll have the principal expel you! "Just asking a question? My son's study time is precious. If you're too stupid to figure it out, hire a tutor!" After that, I have no social life left at all. I finally get into a top university out of state. Dad even agrees to let me live in the dorms. I think this is my chance to break free. But on move-in day, he shows up at the campus gate, suitcases in hand. "Let's go, Tyler! I thought it over and decided to move here with you!"