NOVEL NEXT [25] Carnivorous Carnation
Carnivorous Carnation
Premise Tags: Transmigrators,
Original Hosts, Halloween Night,
CEO, White Lotus, Spurned Lover,
Systems, Subversive, Dark Humor.
Content Warnings: Non-physical Death,
Vague Sexual Acts.
In a large and luxurious looking hotel room stands two individuals, both breathtaking, otherworldly beauties. The taller man has sharp, masculine features, and dark hair outlining a pale but fierce visage. His expression is cold and his posture is solitary and alienating as he stands in a neat, crisp suit. He faces the window, refusing to look at the other individual in the room.
The other man is shorter, but his presence is no less. He has enchantingly pale and delicate features framed by thick, curly, golden locks, outlining his large baby blue eyes. Currently those eyes are wide and watery, filled with desolation as his gaze remains glued to the other man’s back.
“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” The young man’s voice is heart wrenching, like the desperate mewling of a cat. A voice like that would break anyone’s resolve... but not the man in the suit’s.
“You said that last time.” The older man’s voice is as frigid as his appearance, sharp and cutting.
“This time I won’t, I really won’t!” The smaller man cries but the taller one refuses to spare him a single glance.
Somewhere above the two, a pair of spectators watch the dog blooded drama.
“Wow, what a scum.” A voice replies, sounding rather like a young man in his early teens. “Well, I guess that’s why I’m here, right Counteracting Scum Boyfriend System?”
“Yes, host.” A robotic voice answers.
“Alright, let’s go down and counteract, hurry up and send me into the body of that pitiful guy! Why chase someone who won’t even spare you a glance? I’ll take over and show him what it means to abandon scums and become a winner in life!” The young voice responds, enthusiastically. “Oh wait, System?”
“Yes.”
“I get overtime rewards for working on Halloween, right?”
“Yes Host.”
“You know, it’s weird how there are so many more rewards for working on Halloween. It’s not like it’s harder or anything, right? Whatever, let’s go!!!” With that, the two presences vanish from the top of the luxurious hotel.
Meanwhile, down below the sobbing man freezes as his gaze is downcast. Slowly he lifts his eyes, but something has changed. That hopeless, desperate gaze is replaced by another one, a more steely, fiery, and determined gaze. As if sensing something, the colder man finally turns around and meets the blond man’s transformed gaze. Seeing it, the tall man raises a brow but doesn’t say anything. Instead the smaller man speaks.
“I won’t stand for this anymore! I don’t care about you anymore, I won’t stand you treating me this way!”
The taller man stares at him for a moment, then quirks the corner of his lip into a smile. Seeing this, the smaller man becomes even more enraged.
“What are you laughing for?! I’m telling you, I won’t stand you treating me this way anymore!”
The taller man purses his lips, as if holding back laughter.
“You? Or the body you’re in right now?”
“What?” The younger man freezes. “What are you talking about?! I’m leaving!”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The taller man calls out, his voice nonchalant.
“Shut up!” The shorter man bellows.
“Well, I warned you.” The taller man shrugs. “I suppose it’ll start in... three... two... one.”
The shorter man stops dead with one foot outside the hotel room. His face distorts, then he starts gasping like a drowning man struggling for air. Slowly he sinks to his knees as his gasps get softer and softer and finally... vanishes. The taller man watches uncaringly as the shorter man simply sits there on his knees for several moments. Finally, he looks up and opens his mouth.
“BUUUUUUURP.” Behind him, the taller man slowly clicks his tongue.
“Tch, tch, tch... how was it?” The shorter man continues looking down and slowly a smile blooms on his lips. The smile should look innocent and sweet on his angelic visage, yet something about it is... off. Unhinged, or perhaps grotesque is the correct word to describe it. He opens his mouth.
“It was... delicious.” He spends another moment reveling in the delicacy before freezing, as if realizing something. He slowly turns around, the smile gone and replaced with a look of horror.
“I-I didn’t mean to…” He meets the taller man’s seemingly smiling, yet freezing cold gaze. “I really didn’t, I promise! It just happened!” The other man simply stares at him and, under his gaze, the smaller man grows increasingly antsy.
“I really, really didn’t! I-”
The taller man cuts across him, his voice frigid. “I’ve told you time and time again not to consume random souls that come out of nowhere. In fact, I was just telling you, and guess what you did a moment later?”
“I-I-I-”
“You do know we’re only legally allowed to be out in the human world one night a year? And you just had to consume a human soul on that one night. If the authorities find out, do you know what’ll happen? Maybe I should send you to them myself-”
“I didn’t mean to!” The shorter man springs up, grasping the taller man’s clothes as if clinging onto a lifeline, his already pale fingers looking even whiter with how tightly he clutches the other man’s sleeve.
The taller man simply purses his lips and looks down, the expression in his eyes hidden. Meanwhile, the other man’s grip becomes tighter and tighter as his eyes grow increasingly hopeless. Finally, the taller man looks up and his eyes are filled with... mirth?
“Forget it, you’re a helpless glutton.” He says, reaching out to ruffle the other man’s hair with a smile. For a moment, the shorter man is frozen. Then, after a moment, he reacts.
“You mean... it’s fine?” He asks looking up, hope glistening in the depths of his baby blue orbs.
The other man smiles coldly. “As long as we get rid of all the evidence.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, the smaller man leaps onto the larger man, sending him tumbling to the floor. On the ground, the two notice the ambiguous posture and something turns hot and molten in their eyes. They pull close to each other, the shorter man winding around the taller man’s surprisingly muscled frame as their lips meet.
Meanwhile someone else in the room isn’t feeling as cheerful. As soon as the words “get rid of all the evidence” came out of the taller man’s mouth, the system began sweating despite having neither sweat glands nor emotions, finally realizing why there are so many rewards for working on Halloween. Now, it senses that there’s a mental barrier in the room preventing it from exiting as easily as it came. Meanwhile, increasingly lewd noises arise from the duo entangled on the ground. The system shivers, realizing that this R-18 scene may be the last thing it ever sees... so it decides to take a closer look. But before it gets the chance, it’s gone. On the floor, the young man whines: “Why did you eat it? It was fun having an audience.”
Hearing this, the taller man’s arms tighten around the smaller man’s frame. “No one but me can glance at even a hair on your body. No one.”
Hearing his possessive tone, the young man giggles and winds tighter around the other’s body.
🎃
Author's Account:
CynicalStrawberry (SH).
Moral of this: sometimes the original soul actually doesn’t appreciate a host jumping in and taking over their life (also don’t go transmigrating on Halloween, only trick-or-treating ;) ). This short story is derived from the idea for another story I’m writing on SH called “True White Lotus”. The two stories are similar in that they explore an idea I’ve wondered about for a while. Transmigration is a whole genre. There are so many novels where a new “better soul” just jumps into a “useless” person’s body and takes over their life.
What about the original hosts, are they really okay with their lives being taken over like that? So what if they’re weak or useless or vicious? That’s still their lives that someone else takes over. That’s one thing I appreciate about the light novel “Don’t Pick Up Boyfriends From The Trash Bin”. The host fixes the original soul’s lives but then returns their lives to them. I still think it’d be better if the original souls grew and fixed their lives themselves but oh well, we all need a little help sometimes. So this story and the “True White Lotus”, which I will eventually finish, are rather like retribution tales. Sometimes the original souls will bite (cue the maniacal laughter).
The title of this piece is a play on the idea of the white lotus. A white lotus is a Chinese light novel term referring to people who are externally pure and kind but internally scheming. Our main character is an equally beautiful flower compared to those white lotuses, however, he’s not ashamed to show his dark side proudly and clearly like a vibrant carnation. Plus, he’s carnivorous (he literally ate that transmigrator), hence: “Carnivorous Carnation”.