Chapter 405
Chapter 405
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: Afterword
Chapter Title: Author's Afterword
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Hello, this is the Writing Shark.
It's been nearly two years since I wrapped up Cheonmubok.
A lot has happened in that time.
A great deal of time has passed.
Yet even so, those days of writing Cheonmubok remain etched in my memory like a vivid beam of light.
I generally try to refrain from writing anything that might show my personal voice as an author, believing it's a virtue to let the work speak for itself.
I don't know how many more stories I'll write from here, but this may well be the last time I leave behind such a personal reflection tied to one of them.
Still, with this particular work, I felt I had to leave something behind, so here is my reminiscence.
As some of you may know from the comments I occasionally posted—and then later deleted—
starting my life as an author feels like a miracle among miracles to me.
I was juggling four jobs a day, to the point where the slightest lapse in focus would make my nosebleed and flow.
In those days when I was seething with resentment, feeling like my soul was dying, I set aside thoughts of money and started a fifth job—this one.
I was filled with questions like, What am I really? How should I live to be true to myself? That's when, purely by chance, I caught sight on TV of a singer group making a comeback after decades.
I thought, Like them, let me shine one last time for what I love. Burn my entire life for it if I must—somehow, no matter what... even if everyone laughs.
That was the resolve that led me to become an author.
As a result, without any proper stockpile of material, no know-how, no guidance, I powered through nearly two years of live serialization while holding down those four jobs—purely on spite.
Looking back, "desperate struggle" is the only phrase that fits how I felt then.
At times, the emotions woven into Cheonmubok might have seemed contrived...
But every one of them came straight from feelings I experienced firsthand.
I wrote without any tricks or devices in mind.
So even if my future works achieve greater success than Cheonmubok,
Cheonmubok will always hold a special place for me—it was the story I began amid ridicule, written in the midst of a life-or-death struggle.
And reaching this level of success—especially in a male-oriented work where comments are hard to come by—with nearly 14,000 readers cheering me on, and especially the comments left on the final chapter, gave me tremendous strength.
In particular, every long comment left sporadically under the final chapter—each one with its name—I've copied by hand and treasured them all separately.
Those words aren't just fragments of text on the internet; to me, at least, they are guiding lights in life, beacons I turn to whenever I waver.
Two years have passed.
I want to ask those beacons.
Ask each and every one of you.
How have you been? What kind of life have you lived? Any hardships?
Are you holding on? It must be tough.
Truly, far beyond what I deserve... even after my debut work ended and more than two years have passed since its completion, so many of you have kept asking via email and comments when the next one will come.
In those two years, not a single moment went by where writing didn't occupy my mind.
Determined not to repeat the regrets from writing Cheonmubok, I saw those two years as time to either fade away in the fast-paced web novel trends or emerge stronger. It was time enough to produce two works if I'd chased money and quick trends, but instead,
I must have written and deleted dozens of stories during that period.
And amid all that, reading those supportive comments—far more than a thousand—renewed my resolve.
Let's do this. Let's move forward... even if everyone laughs.
Even though everyone said it wouldn't work. Even though everyone called it a pointless, money-losing misstep...
Still, let's try.
With thoughts like that, one step at a time.
Now, after two years of preparation, I continue with this new work.
While I'm borrowing this space, let me also address the title. As many of you pointed out, the previous work's title... as my first, it was something I had no choice but to settle on myself.
Even after deciding it, I spent a week sleepless with self-loathing.
That's why for this next new work, I wanted to pour everything into it and proceed exactly as I envisioned.
This has been a long post.
Given how it's tacked on long after completion,
fewer than ten people might even see it.
But that's precisely why I can write it more sincerely, pouring my true heart into it.
After all, people can only express their true feelings when they have nothing left...
If any readers from the previous work happen upon this by chance,
if any of you who left comments and cheers see it,
consider this my personal reply to you all.
Thank you for reading this long piece.
And on December 26,
I will embark on a new journey with the new work 'Heavenly Killer's Nangong Invincible Emperor'.
I wish you all good health.
—From the Writing Shark, at the very end of the weary journey of Moyong Bi, departing from everything......
A final letter to my precious, dear, and eternally precious companions.