Hello, everyone. This is 별불꽃 (Starfire).

···There are so many things I want to say in this afterword. I don't even know where to start.

So I'll just talk about whatever comes to mind.

It might be all over the place···.

But I have so much I want to share with my readers. Please bear with me.

Let's start with the simple reason why I began writing this novel.

It was nothing special.

I wanted to read a story with a protagonist who uses this kind of power.

I thought it would be unique to create a story while interacting with the author.

Those were the small, insignificant, and random thoughts that led me to write this novel.

There wasn't any other reason.

The reason this novel is a pure romance (순애물) is also nothing special.

My previous work had no romance, so I was deciding between a pure romance or a yuri genre for this one.

In the end, I just went with pure romance.

In another universe, this could have been a yuri story.

Some of you might be wondering about the plot.

There wasn't one.

From writing the prologue to this afterword, there was no plot.

When writing the prologue, I only had two things set:

The protagonist is a reincarnated TS (transsexual) female character who uses threads from clothes and is misunderstood as a villain.

And she communicates with the "author" to create the story.

That’s it.

I didn’t know what kind of ability Siwoo would have, who the author was, or how the two would end up together.

Amelia, Dorothy, Hayul, Laira, Spira, the club president, and other numerous characters.

None of them were planned.

It all started from a blank slate.

All I had were Arte and the author.

I'm reminded of a famous line from Bong Joon-ho's movie, Parasite.

"Do you know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all."

That's right.

Although it wasn't intentional, it turned out exactly like that.

I hadn't even decided on the protagonist's name until around the first or second chapter.

I took inspiration from the Greek mythological prophet, Tiresias, who is perhaps the first TS character.

The story goes like this:

Tiresias was transformed into a woman after striking two mating snakes and lived as a woman for years until two gods visited them.

Zeus and Hera.

The gods asked, who enjoys sex more, men or women?

Tiresias answered,

"Oh, being a woman is nine times more enjoyable than being a man!"

Arte Isis is an anagram of Tiresias.

Tiresias.

Arte isis.

Haha.

I thought about using this as a hint or reveal at some point, but it ended up only serving as inspiration.

When Hayul asked if that was a prophecy.

That was the only time I used it. It's a bit disappointing.

I had to come up with the name of the romantic interest while writing the story.

Eventually, I went with Siwoo, a common name in web novels.

I decided on his ability impulsively: intuition.

I think it was because the author explained their ability using the example of Schrödinger's cat.

So that's how it was decided.

I can't remember which came first, the author's ability or Siwoo's.

However, the fact remains that Laplace's demon was ultimately defeated by someone close to a god.

The author character was a bit of a sore spot for me.

She always got a lot of criticism.

She was called a nuisance, people asked when she would die, and they labeled her as annoying.

I aimed to make her a character who was annoying but cute.

But when she was constantly criticized, I wondered if I had mischaracterized her.

Since her existence was the reason I started writing this novel, I couldn't just change her.

I had to continue with her, and luckily, there were quite a few who found her cute.

Laira's name was inspired by Laira from "Tales of Vesperia."

"Feel the glory of the new sun."

A 5-cost 3/5 card that’s really annoying.

Don't know what I'm talking about? That's okay.

"Miracle Priest"···. You did well···. Ugh, my head.

But she didn't have any inspiration beyond the name.

···Laira turned out to be a pivotal character in this novel.

You might remember the scene early on when Laira almost died at Arte's hands.

I debated for a long time after writing that scene.

Should I kill her or let her live?

In the end, I decided to let her live···.

If I had killed her, the story might have ended with a bad or normal ending rather than a happy one.

The grim parts might have been much longer.

That was a crucial scene where the entire direction of the story could have changed.

And then there's Spira.

She was also supposed to die.

I kept her alive because of the inspiration from Tiresias.

The idea was that even though Arte should have killed the snake, she spared it, and through Spira, everyone learns that they were all human and not puppets.

That was the idea.

In the Bible, the serpent gives Eve the forbidden fruit.

I took inspiration from that.

The forbidden fruit is often seen as the fruit of knowledge.

So the snake (Spira) gives the fruit of knowledge (the truth that they were all human), and Eve (Arte) eats it and realizes the truth.

That was the concept.

Looking back now that the novel is complete, it feels like a dead story.

I could have explored Spira's story more if I had taken a slower pace.

It's a shame.

Not having a plot led to this accident.

It might sound reckless, but I actually enjoyed it.

I felt like a captain steering a ship called 실눈흑막 (Silnoonheukmak) with you readers as my crew, navigating through the vast, uncharted ocean.

And as you can see, we made it safely.

Thank goodness.

···Of course, there were challenges.

Balancing a full-time job while writing was more difficult than I thought.

Even though your encouragement kept me going, there were times when I had to take breaks because it was tough.

In the early days, I received a lot of harsh criticism.

Why is this TS?

It feels disgusting; put a tag on it.

Isn't this gay?

At this point, I'm used to hearing those comments so often.

But back then, I got quite upset and even reported them to Novelpia.

There was a time when I called out to the PD for help.

For that, I am very grateful to the PD.

If I had truly broken down then, I might have stopped writing.

Looking back now that I've completed this work, it turns out my mental fortitude was stronger than I thought.

Just having someone to talk to and hear standard advice from helped a lot.

That aside, there were no other significant hardships.

Sometimes, writing doesn't come easily, but that's just part of being a writer.

Hmm.

I'm not sure what else to say now.

I have so much I want to share with you all, but···.

If I keep talking, it feels like it will never end.

So let's talk about the next project.

Thankfully, this time I have a rough plot.

The next work will also be set in an academy.

However, this time the protagonist won't be a student.

Instead, we'll follow the perspective of a teacher.

Not just any teacher, though.

Yes? Then it's not a teacher?

Don't worry. Even a counselor stationed in the academy is a teacher, right?

In 실눈흑막, there was a lot of feedback about Arte being reluctant to kill people.

So the protagonist in the next story is a kind kid? Also, I like kind protagonists.

But it would be a bit dull if it were just a counselor.

···What if we add a touch of hypnosis?

A teacher with a kind face who is always nice to the students.

Students who trust and follow this teacher.

But then the secret of the teacher's hypnosis ability is discovered.

The students, filled with betrayal, tremble with rage.

They trusted and relied on the teacher who always treated them kindly···!

Teacher, did you really hypnotize us···!

Something like that.

Isn't it good···? I like it···.

Of course, this will require some build-up, so it will come out much later in the story.

But I could write several chapters just for that scene.

So, from now on, I'll be working on "I Became an Academy Counselor." (read on Novelight)

But with a touch of hypnosis.

When will it start?

Next Monday.

Someone once said,

"You can sleep when you're dead."