Ch.160Goodbye, Outcast Band. (Spoiler Warning)

Hello.

This is author Gaeul.

I’m here to greet you as another work comes to its conclusion.

Today, I’d like to write a rather leisurely and lengthy afterword.

[I’m a Loner, But I Want to Be in a Band!]

This is the shortest completed work among all my pieces.

When I first planned it, I thought it would be about this length.

This novel was meant to capture the story of our protagonist Suhyeok’s 21st year, from spring to winter.

Unlike fantasy works, slice-of-life stories don’t have clear ending points.

There’s no demon king or divine horse, so as an author, I wondered where exactly this story should stop.

In that context, since this work is a “romantic comedy,” I decided to prepare for its conclusion at the moment when the protagonist chooses his heroine.

A novel without Juyeon appearing anymore would be like red bean bread without the red beans.

Continuing a pure love story with Hana might leave readers with an unsettled feeling.

Naturally, those who were cheering for Juyeon would lose their reason to keep reading.

When initially planning this work, there were two main things I wanted to write about.

First was a “traditional romantic comedy.”

Those who have followed the novel from the beginning might have thought, “Ah… this has that nostalgic flavor.”

It’s the kind of story you might have found in manga about 10 or 15 years ago.

Unlike pure love stories that focus on sugary sweet everyday scenes, this work includes many frustrating moments where you might think, “Ugh, that idiot protagonist,” or “No… sigh… no, why did he do that there!”

No matter how much I try to present Suhyeok in a good light, he is indeed an indecisive, clueless guy.

The pacing at which characters develop feelings and fall in love is also quite slow.

Juyeon realizes her love for Suhyeok around chapter 80.

This novel is quite different from the current trend of web novels that progress rapidly.

Though it may not be mainstream, I quite enjoy these types of stories.

Like romance novels that leave you with a heavy heart from beginning to end, or coming-of-age comics where the protagonist wanders aimlessly in confusion.

Stories of young love where characters struggle because they’re young, uncertain, and experiencing things for the first time.

As the author, I think I wrote with quite a bit of enjoyment and satisfaction.

If I had to pick scenes I particularly enjoyed writing, they would be when Juyeon realizes her love alone and suffers heartache, or when Hana and Suhyeok watch a movie together at his apartment on a rainy day.

The second point I wanted to address was, naturally, the story about “bands.”

As I briefly mentioned in the music production notice, I was involved in band activities for quite a long time.

Like Seo-eun, I was also a club president, performed many times, and wanted to someday incorporate all the episodes I witnessed firsthand into a novel.

When writing contemporary fiction, the details are completely different for things you’ve experienced directly.

“Romance” within a band club.

While writing this novel, I don’t think there were many aspects that felt “too unrealistic” in terms of the setting.

That’s because more than 70% of the story was reconstructed from things that happened to me or friends I worked with.

Many parts that readers might dismiss as “Well, it’s just fiction” could actually be based on reality.

For instance, the scene where Seo-eun asks Suhyeok not to date anyone might have seemed frustrating to readers, but surprisingly, it’s based on a true story.

Office romance, campus couples, club relationships.

Personally, I think romance within group settings is like a time bomb with a very low chance of not exploding.

The military story follows a similar logic.

The reason there’s something like a bomb necklace hanging over the plot is because of the unavoidable element of “military service” for Korean men.

Dating or having a crush at 21 while facing military service.

I think the anxiety Suhyeok feels is something only Korean men can truly empathize with.

Those who haven’t been to the military yet might have wondered, “Is it really such a big deal?”

The sudden disconnection from the world.

The regret over things you have to leave behind.

The person asking you to wait.

The person promising to wait.

Promises that things won’t change.

Fear that promises won’t be kept.

When Suhyeok suddenly says “dating Hana wouldn’t be good” with less than six months left before enlistment, I rationally sympathized with him.

A protagonist who says one thing but gets pulled here and there by girls he likes, doing all sorts of things.

I thought it was exactly like a naive young adult who just graduated high school.

As an aside, when writing contemporary fiction, I spend a lot of time thinking about the protagonist’s age.

Compared to my previous works, even though this is also a campus story, “Loner Band” rarely shows scenes where characters seriously contemplate their “future.”

What they’ll do for a living, what their future holds.

Generally, many men think, “Let’s think about it after military service,” or “I’ll think about it during military service.”

The same goes for thoughts about specific groups.

In “Loner Band,” the club “Spirit” is portrayed almost as if it’s the center of the world.

Many daily routines revolve around it, and all members put tremendous effort into the club and are cooperative.

But when examined closely, this club doesn’t really help the members’ lives much.

How dramatically can one’s life change by playing in a band as a hobby in college?

But in that moment, when you’re there, it feels incredibly important.

It’s similar to how an elementary school student might be depressed all day for failing a dictation test.

Looking back, it’s not a big deal, but at the time, it’s an intense emotion unique to that period.

Anyway.

I’m only asking this now, but which did you prefer between Hana and Juyeon?

Actually, I wanted to hold a poll about this midway through, but I deliberately didn’t because I was afraid I might unconsciously modify the story based on the results.

I would be very happy to read your comments if you leave them.

For reference, I preferred Juyeon.

When writing scenes where Juyeon suffers from unrequited love, I found myself feeling down all day too.

I thought Juyeon was a character who is completed by not ending up with the protagonist.

In this world, there are certainly things we can’t have, even if we gather courage or make efforts.

But I believe such efforts, even if they don’t bear immediate fruit, become valuable experiences.

In fact, Juyeon wouldn’t have become a singer if she hadn’t met Suhyeok.

I believe the time Juyeon spent loving Suhyeok had its own meaning.

Now I’ll briefly talk about myself as an author before concluding.

I started serializing in September 2021, and it’s been exactly 2 years since I began writing on Novelpia.

It’s been 2 years of writing novels without rest.

Adding it all up, I’ve written nearly 1,000 episodes.

Setting aside the content of the novels, I thought, “I really did work hard.”

After all, it means I consistently wrote at least one episode every day without fail.

Perhaps because of this.

I felt I needed time to stop writing and recharge.

Usually, when a novel reaches its latter stages, I think, “Ah, I should definitely write something like this next!” and start jotting down plots, but unfortunately, I don’t have that feeling this time.

It feels like I’ve emptied everything inside me.

A refreshing yet somewhat empty feeling.

In my recent works, I’ve mainly written about “love” and “romance,” and I’ve been wondering what I could show you next.

I even thought that perhaps I’ve written enough romance stories and don’t need to write more.

So this time, unfortunately, I can’t easily tell you “when I’ll return with what genre of work.”

I think I’ll be taking a break until this winter.

But whenever it may be, I would be happy to meet you all again with a new work.

To the readers who stayed with me until the end!

Thank you so much.

It’s always because of you, who enjoy my novels, that I can write diligently.

Especially for this work, I thought the journey might have been quite challenging, but I’m touched that you stayed with me until the end.

I’ll strive to return with an even more interesting story next time.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Gaeul