Chapter 462: BONUS - Afterword

Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 462: BONUS - Afterword

Hello. This is Yangja Tongsinn, the author of Evil Organization Extra A.

I’ve been waiting for the day I’d write this afterword, yet at the same time, I wondered if this day would ever actually come.

Now that I’m finally sitting down to write it, so many thoughts are racing through my mind.

How should I write this? What should I say? I worried about it quite a bit, but now that the moment is here, I can’t seem to organize my thoughts at all.

First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the readers who stayed with Evil Organization Extra A from the very beginning to the very end. This was my first long-term serialization and the first story I’ve ever brought to a complete conclusion in my life, so it holds immense value to me personally.

Naturally, I cannot help but be thankful to the readers who shared that journey with me.

While my own motivation played a part, the truth is that without you, the readers, Extra A would never have reached its conclusion. Thanks to all of you, I was able to make it this far, serializing consistently with only one scheduled break per week and without a single long-term hiatus.

I also have several fellow authors who provided a great deal of help and strength during the serialization of Extra A.

There is Alcoholic, who is currently serializing Future Letter while pushing his already wrecked physical health even further. He never held back on telling me that things would go well and that I was doing a good job. He served as a goal for me to work toward. Even though my results didn't come close to his, having him as a target allowed me to run as hard as I could.

He recently took a break because his health took a turn for the worse. In my opinion, the cause isn't the alcohol, but rather insomnia and mental health. I think the problem is trying to solve those things with alcohol, but the alcohol itself seems fine. Anyway, I hope he gets plenty of rest and continues his serialization well.

(Though I’m still annoyed that he didn't use a single one of the protagonist names he recruited when preparing for Future Letter.)

Then there is Mak-sseuneun-gyejeong, who would always tell me to "Go write" whenever I said I’d finished today’s chapter. As a veteran author, he gave me a lot of help and encouragement when my friends and I first started serializing on Novelpia. I learned so much just by talking to him and watching him interact with others. I think he was the person who helped me understand the concept of "web novels" the most.

There is Kamasutra, who hasn't started a new project since finishing his last one. I’ve never told him this personally, but he was actually the biggest source of strength for me during my serialization. When my views started dropping after a period of doing well, I worried a lot about whether I could keep going. Seeing him continue to serialize steadily made me realize I wasn't in a position to be ungrateful. Seeing him push through to the end made me realize how incredible his grit is. He was the biggest driving force behind my continued writing. I still pester him occasionally about when he’s starting his next work, but it seems he has no plans yet.

There is Tiktiritok, who always says he needs to finish his story but hasn't quite managed to yet. I think it’s truly amazing to write while holding down a full-time job. Among those who started serializing around the same time as me, he is one of the few still going. I think he’s proof that as long as you have grit, you can keep writing regardless of how popular the work is.

And Macmillan, who started a new project after finishing his first but has since gone silent. I still remember the day I gave him a harsh reality check regarding his serialization. Now that he’s a regular office worker, it’s hard to expect a new work from him, but you never know.

Aside from the thank-yous, I thought it would be nice to share some behind-the-scenes stories that I never got to mention.

※ The Start of Serialization

I mentioned this early on, but the preparation period for Extra A was less than a week. I had been preparing another work for quite a while and decided to write Extra A just to test the waters with a sudden idea. Ironically, the work I had prepared was dropped, and Extra A became a hit.

My head was spinning from that point on. All I had planned were three things: a villain extra, Team Hunter Killer, and a harem romance. Since I had to keep serializing, I had to rack my brain in a hurry.

The individual settings for the members of Team Hunter Killer weren't all created from the start, either. Initially, only Red and Pink had completed settings. Blue, Green, and Yellow followed, and I remember Yellow’s setting giving me a massive headache.

At first, I worried a lot about the story's progression. Since I started with the harem tag, I was stubborn about sticking to it. Fortunately, it went well in the beginning, but I struggled a bit after passing the midpoint. I had a lot of thoughts as the views began to dip, but looking back, I think I learned a lot. I finally understood why male and female leads in romance stories take so long to get together.

I learned a great deal about what kind of writing works best. Of course, even if you asked me to write Extra A again, I don't think I could do it better than I did. I believe the current version of Extra A is the best form I could have given it.

At its peak, it climbed high in the rankings, and though it’s nowhere near the top now, I have no regrets. I am satisfied that I finished the story I wanted to tell.

Maintaining the characters' charm was also quite difficult. Personally, I felt that while I could capture their charm during their introduction and initial arcs, that charm tended to diminish once the relationship was established and the story progressed. I was somewhat confident in my character designs, but they weren't necessarily built for a long-term serialization.

※ Direction

Initially, Extra A wasn't planned as the harem romance it is now. I had envisioned a "spicier" plot where Team Hunter Killer suffered on all sides and Mr. Extra A simply used them. However, that plan was scrapped immediately during Red’s episode. As I built their narratives, I realized I couldn't bring myself to put them through that.

I did consider "shipping" them off to other characters at one point. Not just handing them over to some random character who appeared out of nowhere, but building up a relationship after some character development. But it felt like someone in my head was screaming, "If you do that, you're fucked." Of course, that idea was also scrapped before I fully committed to the harem route.

As a result of these shifts, some characters changed from their initial concepts. Blue was originally intended to be a married woman, but I scrapped that. There were many reasons why that could have been controversial, but the biggest reason was simply that I didn't want it. It wasn't that I disliked the "married woman" trope, but I felt it didn't fit Team Hunter Killer’s background. This was changed before Blue even made her debut. The reason Blue was initially described as if she were married wasn't because the setting hadn't changed yet, but because I wanted to throw in a fake-out.

The core of the story is: Mr. Extra A meets the heroines, forms relationships, and then acts for their sake. The ending where they head into space was also decided during the stage where I was fleshing out the scenario.

You might have felt the overall atmosphere shift as the focus moved toward Mr. Extra A. To be honest, it didn't work out perfectly. However, it was part of my plan, and as someone who finished the story according to that plan, I am satisfied. I do feel it’s a shame that I couldn't make it a better work by structuring it more effectively and highlighting the characters' charms more.

※ Superhumans

The setting for "Superhumans" was finalized around the time Red’s episode ended and Pink’s began. This led to a plot hole. In Red’s episode, it was stated that no children had ever been born between Earthlings and Spacetroans, but then what do you know? In Blue’s episode, a child born between an Earthling and a Spacetroan appeared plain as day.

It was an error that occurred while I was trying to create a setting to prevent immediate pregnancies. By the time I wanted to fix it, Red’s episode didn't have any mention of Superhumans, and fixing it would have required changing the entire framework, so I ended up leaving it as is.

If I were to make a late excuse now, it would be that while there are precedents for children being born between Earthlings and Spacetroans, there has never been a case of a child born between an Earthling and a Superhuman. Yeah, that really sounds like an excuse...

The initial design for Superhumans was people who manipulated superhuman abilities—essentially psychics. I considered making it a "superpower battle" series, but I scrapped that quickly, fearing it would derail the story.

※ Spacetro

There isn't much to say here, but "Spacetro" is a portmanteau of Space and Astro. If you write it out, it becomes Spastro, which translates roughly to "Space-Space." Yes, it has no real meaning.

Spacetro’s goal is the maintenance of civilization. This is the biggest difference between them and space pirates. Because their goal is to maintain other civilizations as well as their own, they chose a method of invasion that doesn't quite feel like an invasion.

Actually, talking about "invasions" is quite awkward. Who would have thought an actual war of invasion would break out during the serialization? Since anything I say could be sensitive, I will omit my personal views on Spacetro’s invasion.

※ Characters

This is probably the most important section. I plan to talk about the characters at length, so this might be a bit long.

1. Hong Yubin (Red)
The main thing I thought about while creating Red was "fresh, youthful love." As I developed this, all the "spicy" elements I had originally planned vanished. I envisioned her as a character with ideal abilities but who wasn't necessarily an ideal leader. At the time of her debut, Red was only 20 years old—just barely an adult—to be shouldering so much responsibility. I wanted to show her growing through her flaws, but she didn't show as much of that as I expected. Instead, I think she helped Mr. Extra A grow mentally. If even that didn't come across, I have nothing to say.

The reason I initially made Red a convenience store part-timer was to show the hardships of a Superhuman's life. She continues to appear in that role, but I’ve never seen Sentai-style heroes who actually get rewarded for their actions. I wanted to portray that aspect as a harsh reality. While they might be cooler because they aren't rewarded, Extra A wasn't headed in that direction. She became socially isolated, which led to her connection with Mr. Extra A. That was the initial plan, and I think it worked out well. The date scenes were adapted from a true story. Not my true story, though...

2. Kwon Yura (Pink)
Pink is a character who heavily reflects my personal tastes. From her physique to her personality, she’s the kind of character who is hard to dislike. My preferences were especially reflected in her body type. And you can't talk about Pink without mentioning the illustrations, right? I happened to come across Chopark, who handled all the illustrations for Extra A. After the positive reaction to Red’s illustration, I commissioned Pink the very next day. That was already a year ago. Since she reflected my tastes so much, I think I provided the most reference material for her. Thus, the illustration was born, and Pink became a legend. I love all the illustrations, but I still marvel at Pink’s occasionally. It might be because my tastes were reflected so well.

What I focused on when creating Pink was the "friend-like lover." The reasons she often bickered with Mr. Extra A were always trivial. I think the effort I put into that showed well. Somehow, her vibe ended up matching her color perfectly. If there’s one thing I can say for certain: she is not a "Pink Slut." She is completely devoted to Mr. Extra A, so how could she be a slut? She isn't. She just isn't. So there.

3. Kang Eunha (Green)
If Pink reflects my tastes externally, Green reflects them internally. To some, she might seem frustrating, but I really like the way her lack of confidence and shyness can be strangely tickling and stimulating. If she were a real person, she’d give you a lot to think about, but as a character, I think she’s great. Of course, that’s just my preference speaking. Since the illustrations were released in the order they became lovers, hers came out quite late compared to her debut.

What I focused on for Green was the "low self-esteem girlfriend." She acted that way consistently, and I put a lot of thought into the gap that appears when her other sides come out. If I were to rank who would be the most unable to live without Mr. Extra A, she’d probably be number one. Along with Red and Pink, she was a character who remained unchanged from her initial setting to the very end.

4. Yoo Hayoung (Blue)
As I mentioned before, she is a character whose setting changed significantly between creation and debut. After scrapping the "married woman" setting, I envisioned "sweet romance." The difference from Red’s "youthful love" is that while youthful love is clumsy in every way (and that clumsiness is part of the charm), Blue’s sweet romance is about showing a couple that everyone can see is a match made in heaven.

Perhaps because the discarded "married woman" setting lingered in my mind, her "Mommy" traits became more prominent, but during the narrative buildup, I focused on showing her soft and comfortable side. Both as a character and in the story, Mr. Extra A felt most at ease when he was with Blue. Of course, I don't dislike the established "Mommy" image. If you asked me, I’d say I like it. I ran with that vibe for the rest of the story. It’s ironic that the result turned out so well despite shifting slightly from the original plan.

5. Han Su-ah (Yellow)
Yellow is the character I put the most effort into designing. It wasn't that I worked hard out of pure passion, but rather that she was so difficult to create that it required a lot of effort. In the planning stage, I thought of an "unrestrained lover." You know those couples who bicker so much you wonder if they’re even dating, yet they’ve been together forever? I hope they all explode.

Personality-wise, she has a lot of rough edges, but she became a lover because her partner was Mr. Extra A. Honestly, if you just look at Yellow’s personality, that’s all you can say. And I intended for it to be that way. At first, I only had her sharp personality in mind, and I struggled with how to balance that and create a connection with Mr. Extra A. Then I thought of gaming. A gamer and a homebody. Once I thought of that, all my worries vanished, and Yellow was complete.

6. Luche
In terms of Sentai positions, she’s a villain, but as a heroine, her color is Silver. Because of Team Special Force, the color settings for the female executives became somewhat redundant, but I initially thought of her as Silver. There are many reasons for this.

Originally, Luche wasn't meant to be a heroine. In the initial setting, Mr. Extra A’s lovers were only the Sentai heroines. In other words, his lovers were supposed to be Team Hunter Killer and Team Special Force. However, as I went along, I ended up making Luche too well. I don't know how many times I wondered, How did it end up like this? It was flustering to find myself in that situation even though I was the one writing it. Her relationship with Mr. Extra A developed so well that it became hard to remove her, so I eventually added settings to the female executives (who were originally supposed to drop out halfway) and created the group including Luche.

When planning Luche, I thought of the "close younger sister who became a lover." That is exactly her position, and that’s how it ended up in the finale. Additionally, after the ending, she gets treated like a younger sister even by the members of Team Hunter Killer, who are younger than her.

7. Seira
She’s the childhood friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Seira was designed early on, but I wasn't going to include her because the female executives were supposed to leave. However, when the executive setting was expanded, she was added to the story. She’s a childhood friend, but she and Mr. Extra A were out of sync so much that she stumbled a lot at first. Even though, if you think about it, she loves Mr. Extra A more than anyone. Her heroine color is Black. Mr. Extra A has black hair, making them the only ones with the same color. Seira’s personality alone might make her easy to dislike early on, but one look at her illustration and all is forgiven.

8. Angelica
She is probably the heroine I feel for the most. Blue, who was originally the focus of "sweet romance," took on the "Mommy" attribute, leaving Angelica—who was originally planned for that role—in limbo. It might be because her full debut was a bit late, or perhaps it was a lack of skill on my part. I couldn't change her concept midway because of the narrative I’d already built. What made her even harder to portray was combining the "Mommy" concept with the element of "falling in love naturally."

If you look at Angelica’s narrative, there isn't a specific moment where she falls for Mr. Extra A. The setting is that she naturally developed feelings while watching him work hard for a long time. Unfortunately, because the past arc for the female executives also became a point of regret, I didn't have a chance to portray that separately. Her heroine color is White. I got the feeling of someone who had wandered but eventually matured mentally, and that mature vibe came through in the bonus illustration Chopark drew for me. I finally found my footing with Angelica’s character when that illustration came out, but by then, it was too late.

9. Esmeralda
When planning the female executives as heroines, Luche’s concept was finished first. Next was Esmeralda, not Seira. Since Seira had an initial setting, I actually worked on her later and designed Esmeralda first. Her heroine color is Gold, and the focus of her design was "older sister" (Noona). I envisioned a boyish, charismatic older sister, and she turned out exactly as I planned.

She is the only heroine with a history of marriage, though she never even saw her husband’s face. A misfortune created by coincidence caused her relationship with Mr. Extra A to go awry. Or rather, "losing her way" might be a better expression. Later, she found her way and took her place as a heroine. While Team Hunter Killer were the first ones Mr. Extra A truly saw as romantic interests, if he had a first love before that, wouldn't it have been Esmeralda? She has a prosthetic eye on the right, and I originally considered giving her a prosthetic right arm as well, but I decided against it. I also wanted to show how she got injured in the female executives' past arc, but that fell through.

Extra: The "Main" Wife?
This is a topic that can't be avoided in a harem story. It was mentioned at one point in Extra A as well. There is no definitive "main" wife. I believe the heroine each reader liked the most is the main wife. To me, the author, they are all equally precious characters and heroines. It sounds cliché, but if there were a specific main wife, I wouldn't have written a harem ending in the first place, right?

Based on the order they formed relationships with Mr. Extra A, I categorized Team Hunter Killer as the main heroines and the female executives as sub-heroines. Of course, since Team Hunter Killer is the primary driving force for Mr. Extra A, they are the main heroines in terms of the story's structure.

10. Team Special Force
They were originally positioned to become heroines after Team Hunter Killer, but their full debut was extremely late. Part of that was because the female ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠executives took over the heroine spots, but that was also their original intended debut time. However, by then, all the relationships had already been formed, so there was no room for Team Special Force to connect romantically with Mr. Extra A. Since I needed other Superhumans besides Team Hunter Killer, they appeared consistently and eventually formed bonds with the Spacetro soldiers. I wouldn't call it "shipping them off," but rather "placing them in the right spots."

11. Spacetro Soldiers (Kruger, Theo, Alt, Lloyd)
I had planned to cover the process of connecting the Spacetro soldiers with Team Special Force in more detail. For example, the comrades helping Lloyd, who couldn't even say a word to Gold. Or trying to somehow hook up Theo, who persistently insisted he was just friends with White. Due to length issues and the fact that the story centered on Mr. Extra A and Team Hunter Killer, I didn't include those parts.

[Kruger] was created as Mr. Extra A’s rival and friend.
[Theo] was created as the one who gets along famously with Mr. Extra A.

[Alt] was originally intended to be mentioned only as a Bioroid handled by Extra A in the past, with no plans for an actual appearance. However, I added him to balance the numbers with Team Special Force. He was supposed to have a moment of glory during the final battle, but I completely forgot about it while writing... My apologies, Alt.

[Lloyd] is a character created to clearly demonstrate the existence of Kaijin.

I could have used Luche for that description, but I felt that Luche, being based on a human from Earth, wouldn't be enough, so I created Lloyd. I also designed him with the specific purpose of using his sense of smell to find the hidden laboratory during the underground base battle.

The reason I’ve grouped these two together is that they are antitheses of each other.

[Indigo] is pure evil. I portrayed him as pure evil itself, devoid of any other intent.

In the end, he became a Bydo and vanished.

[Dusk] is pure good. I portrayed him as pure goodness itself, devoid of any other intent.

While the other Superhumans were branching off into either becoming Bydo or becoming Supermen, he was the only one among all Superhumans to truly level up as a Superhuman.

Furthermore, because he possesses all the elements of goodness, growth, and awakening, he is my favorite character among the supporting cast I designed.

If Indigo is pure evil, Dominator represents absolute evil.

The commonality between the two is the lack of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any description regarding their pasts.

While there are several characters whose pasts aren't described, the reason I specifically mention it for these two is that I didn't want to give them a "story."

Evil is simply evil. I didn't want to leave even a sliver of room for the sentiment, "Actually, he might have been a decent guy," by attaching a tragic backstory. Depending on the portrayal, they might have become more multi-dimensional and charming characters, but for the Dominator I envisioned, absolute evil was enough. Therefore, I didn't bother describing other facets of his character.

Bydo is also the name of the cosmic lifeforms that appear in the shooting game R-TYPE.

It’s a game I played a lot as a kid, and since the world-building itself is so devoid of hope, I decided to use the name.

Additionally, for their setting, I drew a lot of inspiration from the "Invaders" in Getter Robo and the "ELS" from Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

Hazard, Forbidden, Carla, Strophe, and Disaster, who appeared toward the end, were originally Superhumans. I had planned to describe their days as Superhumans and have them be defeated one by one by the members of Team Hunter Killer.

They were meant to be the enemy executive-tier characters who appear before the final boss. However, I realized that if I did all that, it would be difficult to finish the story within the year, so they ended up being consumed without much significance.

I think only Hazard and Carla were used in a somewhat meaningful way.

As a side note, I had considered a scenario where an awakened Dusk uses all his power to turn from a Superhuman back into a normal human, and Carla also turns from a Bydo into a human, leading to the two of them ending up together. I scrapped it because it felt like I was trying too hard to "redeem" Carla.

He is the protagonist of the romance but an extra in the Sentai-style setting. As is the case with most "extra" stories, even though he is an extra, he inevitably becomes the center of the story, and it was impossible for him to remain just an extra.

If you ask, "Is A strong?" I can definitively say no. Without the performance of his suit to back him up, his martial prowess is barely enough to handle an average enemy.

His combat ability changes when he has the suit, but A’s role is that of a supporter. He assisted and aided Team Hunter Killer through elements other than direct combat. I wanted to make him a character who was smart rather than just strong.

Still, wanting to maintain his position as an "extra," I never gave a description of his physical appearance, but toward the end, I started wondering what the point of that even was.

His appearance was modeled after the character Tsuneo Suzukawa from the animation Josee, the Tiger and the Fish.

※ Next Project

The reason I stayed up all night writing the final chapters and uploaded them all in one day was to start working on my next project.

I don't think I can handle simultaneous serializations, and since I had been thinking for a while that I needed to wrap this up, I was able to push through with full strength.

My next project is neither an adult novel nor a romance. A genre I’ve wanted to write has come to mind, so I’m going to give it a challenge. If it doesn't work out, I'll worry about it then.

※ Closing Remarks

While serializing Evil Organization Extra A, I wanted to achieve exactly two goals.

The first was to get illustrations for all the heroines. As you can see from the notices, I succeeded.

In the middle of the run, I worried about what I’d do if the story flopped and the revenue was too low to afford illustrations. Fortunately, it was a success. I even managed to make desk mats. I learned that making merchandise as an individual is quite difficult. I want to express my gratitude once again to Chopark, who put so much effort into the illustrations. Truly, without Chopark’s illustrations, Extra A would not have received this much attention.

The second goal was to reach the conclusion. I succeeded in this as well.

I’m not sure if it’s a "good" ending ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or not. That judgment belongs ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the readers.

Personally, I think it’s a decent, reasonably good ending.

What matters to me is that I made a plan at the beginning and achieved my goal.

As I’ve often said in the chapter afterwords, I was only able to write because of you, the readers.

It wasn't a specific goal, but seeing an entry created for this work on Namuwiki was truly amazing.

To the readers who personally wrote all that content—thank you so much. It’s not popular enough for updates anymore, but I still search for it on Namuwiki from time to time.

The same goes for being able to reach the end. Many readers came, and many readers left. In the midst of that, because there were readers who ran with me until the very end, Evil Organization Extra A is able to lower its curtain.

I can't thank everyone individually for the donations, but every time a donation came in, I read the messages and gained strength from them.

I would like to express my gratitude to all the readers as Evil Organization Extra A comes to an end here.

Thank you.