episode_0286

hello.

Greetings from Wool Cash, the author of Correcting the Villainess of the Academy.

As I was writing absentmindedly in the joy of its completion, I ended up including some miscellaneous thoughts and the review ended up being quite long.

This review contains various contents such as the author’s personal life and changes in the novel’s settings, so if you do not want your personal impressions to be disturbed, you may scroll all the way down and only check the Q&A section at the end.

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It was quite recently that I first encountered the medium called web novels. Before that, I lived most of my life without even knowing the meaning of web novels.

Of course, you may have come across related content from time to time. News articles, web novel advertisement banners that appear at the end of webtoons, etc.

But just as I indifferently passed over the Bitcoin articles in the newspaper when the price was $1, the presence of the word web novel in my life was so faint.

I heard that the Corona period was a huge boom period for web novels, but even then, I knew nothing about it. (In fact, I still don’t know much about web novels from before the time I first got into them. No matter how famous they are, I can’t read them after a few years.)

If we’re just talking about my web novel career, I think I’m considerably younger than most of the other readers.

Anyway… How did you end up getting into web novels?

I don’t remember exactly, but I think it probably came to me by chance while I was looking for a new hobby to enjoy.

I let it go for a while, but I liked reading books a lot when I was young, so it seemed like a good idea.

So, someone who knows nothing about it has just entered the world of web novels.

But now, I can afford to spend tens of thousands of won a month on web novels without hesitation, but when I first started out, the 100 won per episode fee was a bit burdensome for me.

So, after leaving out the convenience store platform and searching here and there, I found Nobelpia.

In fact, the price has gone up a bit now, but since you can still enjoy unlimited novels for just a little over ten thousand won per month, there is no better place for beginners.

The problem, however, was that even though I had decided on a platform, I had no idea what kind of novels I should read. At the time, I was still a young child and didn’t really know what my taste was.

So this time, while I was searching here and there and diligently getting recommendations for novels, I stumbled upon a certain word.

It was the word ‘4 drone’.

When I first discovered this term, I was quite curious. After all, 4Drone was a word used in a game I occasionally played when I was younger.

Even for me, who only played with Yuzmaps, this was one of the few builds I knew for sure, along with 2-gate.

A build that is easy for beginners to use, and although it is raw, it can still produce some results.

And I found out that the reason why that word was suddenly used in a web novel that seemed to have nothing to do with the game was exactly the same.

Perhaps because of this, when I searched with that keyword, I honestly found more negative stories than good ones.

But for some reason, I became more interested in that.

I don’t remember the exact reason, but it might have been because I found something familiar for the first time in an unfamiliar web novel.

That’s how I came to know about novels belonging to the genre called 4-Drone, commonly known as Whoopijib, and eventually, I was introduced to web novels for the first time through a novel by a famous author.

And what came over me was a wave of intense sensation I had never felt before.

Regret, exhaustion, obsession.

An overwhelming shower of dopamine created by the combination of three tags.

I still clearly remember how I felt when I first read that novel.

It was an intense sensation that I had never felt in any movie, novel, comic, or leisure activity I had ever experienced in my life.

And because of that first experience, I became completely hooked on the genre of whoopee houses.

Now I enjoy reading novels of various genres, but back then I was really crazy about Whoopijib. That was still the time in my life when I read web novels the most.

I’ve probably read all the novels in the novelpia at least once. I’ve written all the novels that come up when you search for them with the regret tag, and I’ve read them all whenever I have time.

And as you all know, there are some novels that are really delicious that don’t even have the regret tag attached to them.

I also made an effort not to miss those gems from time to time. Sometimes I would just watch the excerpts of certain scenes and get lost. Thinking back now, I wonder what I was really doing…

Anyway, as I read, read, and read again, time passed by.

And as my eyes began to see more and more things, my taste buds began to develop.

I guess I started to select things carefully in my own way. If other people saw it, they might laugh and hold their stomachs… Anyway, there was a change like that.

The most fun Whoopie place I’ve ever been to was my childhood friend’s Whoopie place.

The protagonist is of low status and has little possessions.

On the other hand, the heroine is a childhood friend who has special abilities or is of high status, or is somehow better than the main character.

The two become close to each other as they go through various events, but the heroine, due to unavoidable circumstances or out of necessity to protect the protagonist, ends up hurting him and leaving.

The main character, who has become a man who cares for no reason while carrying a wound in his heart. Other heroines who are attracted to such a main character. A childhood friend who suffers alone while watching them… Something like that.

What I liked was that the fun of the Whoopi House was maximized while the awkwardness that is unique to other Whoopi Houses was minimized.

For example, a warrior party that doesn’t recognize the protagonist’s abilities, or a hunter that kicks him out and later regrets it.

Or maybe after being NTR’d, he wants to come back to the main character.

It’s like being possessed by the body of a person who died from betrayal.

Although this is the most common type of post-apocalyptic fantasy that melts the brain with dopamine, there are parts of this type of development that inevitably feel uneasy.

I think I made a mistake too big to forgive, and I feel bad for watching those who were once close to the main character fall to ruin. (I’m not trying to judge other writers’ works, this is just my personal preference…)

But my childhood friend Hoofie didn’t have to feel all these awkwardness.

The reason why he hurt the main character was because he had no choice but to do something for him, and eventually the circumstances will be revealed and they will reconcile (as long as they don’t cross the line).

Just enjoying the heroine working hard and ending with them reconciling and living happily ever after. It’s comfortable, really.

That’s why I came to love my childhood friend’s Hoofie house the most.

But at this point, another problem arose.

What I’m saying is that there weren’t many childhood friend clubs that fit the type I mentioned earlier.

I really searched and searched, but in the end, I only found three or four childhood friend Hoofy houses. (If there are any other writers who are reading this review, please make your next work a childhood friend Hoofy house… I sincerely ask you.)

Despairing at the wall of reality, I finally began to dream a bold dream.

Then, I thought, why don’t I try writing it myself?

‘Correcting the Academy Villain Young-ae’ was a novel that was born against such a backdrop.

And after a journey of nearly a year, we have finally reached this conclusion.

Right now, I am in a state of extreme happiness, beyond satisfaction.

When I first decided to start writing, my goals were to get a million views and ten thousand impressions.

In fact, it was a distant dream that seemed absolutely impossible to achieve at the time, even though it was just a goal. At the beginning of the series, I seriously considered the rest of the year because the grades were so low.

But now the number of views has exceeded five times that dreamlike goal, so the joy I feel is bound to be even greater.

In addition, I received an overwhelming amount of love from readers.

Readers who support us with large sums of money so we can watch dozens of episodes.

I’ve received so many fan art and typography gifts that it’s hard to count them on one hand, which is something that even a decent writer would hardly receive even once.

One of the characters I created, Yeonmin, even made it to the finals in last year’s Novelpia character vote.

And I found out later that it was also made into a Disicon, but I was really surprised. (I always regretted not having an emoticon. If I had thought of an emoticon sooner, I think it would have been really nice to have made one as a souvenir…)

These were gifts I could never have imagined when I first started serializing them. What more could I ask for? If I did, I would be a thief, haha…

What I find most satisfying is the fact that I was able to achieve the happy ending I had in mind when I first conceived the novel, almost exactly as it was, without any modifications or changes.

I really liked that about the fact that I wanted a post-apocalyptic house with a happy ending from the beginning.

Oh, to be honest, there were many things I regretted.

Even now, when I think about it, I realize that I could have done better and that this is even more so in the sense that it is a reflection.

I think that’s especially disappointing in the heroine’s sculptural part.

Originally, the novel was planned to have a ending with Yeon Min-ha and Baek Seo-yeon, Flowers in Both Hands, as the villainess’ correction.

I was also thinking of the total volume to be around 150 episodes. As a first-time writer, I thought that I didn’t have the ability to introduce too many heroines and write a long series.

But as you get used to it, the human mind starts to become a little greedy… Ah, it’s not greed for grades, it’s greed for characters.

First of all, in the case of Jin Ye-seo, she was originally planned as a villain who was the very embodiment of poison.

She has a misandry tendency and follows Baek Seo-yeon very much. It feels like the older sister who can’t admit that she’s fallen for the main character and gets beaten up after teasing her, and is eventually abandoned by her older sister and retires.

But one day, the idea of a relationship called ‘adultery and purity’ suddenly popped into my head.

Between the older sister she likes and the guy she hates, she gradually starts to like the guy, and when she finds out that her older sister likes the guy, she somehow rationalizes it. She is afraid that her feelings will be discovered by Baek Seo-yeon, but she cannot let go of the love that has blossomed.

I thought it would be okay just thinking about it, so I immediately switched to the heroine.

Hayena was also originally supposed to be a villain who causes trouble at the academy by plotting evil under her good-natured facade.

Originally, she wasn’t supposed to have her body taken over by Regulus, but rather she herself caused the core to go berserk. And in the end, she was killed by the protagonist who found out her true identity and felt betrayed.

But does this villain character continue to be close to the protagonist and remain friendly with him? And does the protagonist continue to not notice it?

I thought that readers might feel frustrated, so I decided to change the narrative a bit.

The setting of a good witch who wants to become human was inspired by that idea. I also included a redemption story that intertwines with the main character.

Baek Seo-yeon and Yeon Min-ha. Since the two main heroines have quite vicious personalities, there was an expectation that Yena might be able to play the role of licorice, comforting the physically and mentally exhausted protagonist with her gentle personality.

But things in this world don’t always go as planned…

Personally, I think Jin Ye-seo’s case was quite successful, but Ha Ye-na’s case is disappointing in terms of narrative.

I still feel regretful that I wish I could have presented Yena to the readers in a better light.

I wonder if it would have been better if the episode had been planned from the beginning and had a more coherent plot, rather than hastily changing the settings in the middle… ㅜ

In addition, there were some disappointing parts in the story of Baek Seo-yeon, one of the main heroines and a childhood friend who hurt the protagonist.

When I first conceived the novel, the part that I put the most effort and racked my brain for was the breakup scene between Baek Seo-yeon and Lee Hyeon.

Why did Baek Seo-yeon have to leave Lee Hyeon, why couldn’t she tell Lee Hyeon the reason, and how much hurt would she have caused Lee Hyeon in the process?

In that sense, I thought the first two were pretty good reasons.

Seo-yeon, who had learned the language of the demons, overhears the conversation of the demons who attacked and realizes that the current attack was a conspiracy planned by someone, and concludes that the protagonist needs to be separated in order to resolve the situation.

The protagonist at that time was just an insensitive person without any magic or anything. But he wasn’t the type of person to leave Seo-yeon alone and go to the enemy territory.

Since he had a stubborn personality that would follow Seo-yeon even if it meant dying, he would have no choice but to get rid of her by hurting her with a cruel mind. As long as he survived, he could always ask for forgiveness later.

The problem is how to do it… I really struggled a lot here.

As I mentioned above, in order for Seo-yeon to remain the heroine, she has to commit a mistake that is for the sake of the main character, but is still within the scope of forgiveness.

It’s not an unforgivable sin, and it definitely hurts the protagonist, but it’s not a sin so minor that it makes the protagonist feel like a bastard…

After struggling with the subtlety of it, the method I eventually chose was verbal abuse.

Actually, when I first uploaded that scene, I thought it was a bit too weak of a mistake.

I wonder if readers who see this scene will react like this: “The main character is hurt by something like this? Did he speak too harshly? Isn’t that too petty?”

And the comment response was explosive, in the exact opposite sense of what I was worried about…

Wouldn’t it be a little sympathetic? Wouldn’t it be the main character who gets cursed at instead?

But Baek Seo-yeon became a bitch who could be killed in an instant… Hahaha.

The enthusiasm of readers that I never expected… That’s why I think I put too much thought into describing Seo-yeon’s actions. Still, since she’s one of the main heroines, I hope she doesn’t get too much hate from readers.

Because of that, it seems a little bit spicier than the original plan…

However, I have no particular dissatisfaction with Yeonminha.

We used all the settings and episodes as prepared, from the personality, meeting the main character, and the process of becoming close, and the response was also good.

Except for the minor fact that she lost some of her presence in the latter half of the story because she was the first heroine to join after entering the academy (even this was not a design flaw, but rather because other heroines were added that were not planned, making the original amount of screen time longer), I was truly satisfied.

I think it was none other than my readers who felt this most keenly. Not only did they feel pity for the heroine who made it to the final round of voting, but they also felt pity for the heroine who received the most fan art.

I also think that if we had spent a little more time on Jin Ye-seo and Ha Ye-na, like we did when we first conceived Yeon Min-ha, we could have made them better heroines… haha.

Anyway, I finished this novel, but perhaps because of these regrets, the thirst for my childhood friend Hoofie’s house still hasn’t gone away.

In my next work, I hope to write a better childhood friend story by improving on the regrets I felt this time.

As a reader and as a writer, I have my own thoughts about whoopeejip. People like whoopeejip, but they also hate it.

Perhaps it is because of its two-faced characteristics of lacking plausibility, a unique gloomy feeling, and yet an addictive taste that feels like a hole will burn through your brain.

I wonder if that’s how the middle-aged women who can’t stop watching soap operas while swearing feel? Well, I’m the one who does that. But I can’t help but find it fun, haha.

I will work harder on my next work so that it will receive more praise than any other work.

Below is a Q&A that summarizes the comments from the previous episode.

1. Jin Ga-ryeong said that Jin Ye-seo was her clone. Is she a clone?

No. It was just a cliche that was used to describe a daughter. It probably meant that she resembled her mother in looks.

2. What does it feel like when Seol Yu-jeong talks about the laws of the universe? Like seeing reincarnation or the existence of the afterlife?

I’m not a witch so I don’t know… I’m just joking, and I don’t have any specific details in mind. I hope you’ll think of it as me saying that because I know a hopeful future.

3. Are there any episodes or settings related to Hyun’s mother?

Yes. He was a really ordinary person. His real name was not mentioned, nor did he appear in flashbacks, perhaps because it was not necessary for the development of the novel.

The main character’s powers and magic were received from Peanut, so it has nothing to do with his mother.

I think he’s probably happy to see the main character living happily in the afterlife now.

4. Do you plan on writing a spin-off?

I would like to proceed with the side story without any particular break. For now, I am planning on making it roughly 10 episodes long.

I also realized that I was unable to show much of the small details, such as daily life or character parts, as I was speeding up the story towards the end of the main story…

Anyway, the theme of this novel is the Hupi House, and at the point where the reconciliation between Baek Seo-yeon and Lee Hyeon is complete, I decided to show all the scenes that the readers were expecting, but… there were more readers who felt regretful than I thought.

I will try to make up for those shortcomings in the side story.

However, the serialization date or upload time may be more irregular than when the main series was serialized.

5. So, do you plan on writing a 19+ scene?

I’m sorry to say this, but full-fledged 19+ scenes, such as love scenes, will not appear in the side story.

The problem is not that I don’t want to write, but that I can’t write…

I tried practicing separately, but the conclusion was that it was worse to not use the 19+ scenes that I couldn’t use. I wonder how many times I had to change them and get dizzy… ㅜ

However, I plan to express those parts as much as possible, even indirectly. For now, I will continue to try…

6. What happens to Hayena, Kwon Yuri, Haewolhwa, Jin Ga-ryeong, etc.? Isn’t it a 6-part ending?

I’m thinking about a side story of Haewolhwa, but I’m not sure about the other characters besides the main heroine. I don’t think the characters who aren’t confirmed as heroines in the main story will be given special episodes. Even if I were to see the main character’s changed appearance, I’d be amazed or blush a little?

However, I may add more as inspiration strikes, and I will actively reflect any comments you leave that I like.

7. Do you have any plans for your next work?

As I mentioned above, I have plans for a follow-up project. However, it won’t be released right away. There are personal reasons, and writing Hoofi House was more emotionally draining than I thought…

I plan to write a childhood friend’s house again someday, but right now, I want to write a novel with a lighter atmosphere, other than a house of Whoopi. Of course, I might suddenly change my mind.

The next work, which has not even a set topic, will probably be released in a few months. Maybe when the readers have forgotten about me…

The last one is a commemorative fan art sent by Sepier-nim.

Yeonminha in a wedding dress… Are the two shooting stars falling above Baek Seoyeon and Jin Yeseo? (Just kidding)

This concludes the review and Q&A.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the readers who have loved and supported the correction of the Academy Villain Youngae so far.

See you in the next side story.

Wool Cash Olympus.