Afterword

Afterword

 

NICE TO MEET YOU. I’m Reia. Thank you so much for picking up this book. I originally posted this book to Let’s Be Novelists; it was then edited and revised for print.

The heart of this book is the working woman. A woman giving her all for something is wonderful, isn’t it? Then I combined it with a variety of my favorite situations and settings.

Speaking of web novels, I absolutely love all kinds of novels. As I wrote in my profile, as a kid, when I got hooked on a book, I’d forget to even eat or sleep. When summer vacation ended and I went back to school, people often said, “You look ghostly pale rather than just pale. Everything okay?” With my biorhythm destroyed, it became a yearly thing for me to battle with exhaustion and sunlight on my first day of school.

Even now, the piles of books I’ve collected threaten to overwhelm my room. The other day, as I was sleepily lying in bed thinking, “It’s really late. I should sleep,” a truck passed by the street in front of my place, causing a slight tremor. “That was a big noise,” I thought, but I put it out of my mind and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I discovered a cruel sight; the pile of books I couldn’t fit into my bookcase had collapsed. However, I was busy that morning, so I pretended I didn’t see it and left the room to get ready to go. That’s when I realized the truth: the pile of books was preventing the door from opening.

“Isn’t that obvious?” you might say. But my pile of books wasn’t that high, so I thought I could just jump over it. So I did, and when I put my hand on the door, I remembered: it swung in. So, with tears in my eyes, I was forced to spend my morning moving my books. Thankfully, it was just a truck that time, but if I had been in my room during an earthquake, I might not have been able to evacuate. I realized I had to do something quick… But here I am, still collecting books.

It was ten years ago that I first met web novels. They were super popular back then, and once I read one, I too was hooked. I ran out my phone battery reading, and I was always worried I would lose power. Because the novel wasn’t finished, I enjoyed imagining continuations in my head. As a result, I started to think, “I want to read this kind of novel,” and tried writing one. That’s how I started writing this series.

I never imagined back then that I’d get an offer to publish a paper version and that the day would come when I’d write a book. Even today, I still think I’m dreaming.

To my friend, M, thank you for giving me the push I needed when I was struggling. Thank you so much as well to my friends and family who supported me.

But most of all, thanks to everyone who read and supported my internet novel, I was able to publish a physical version. Allow me to use this space to express my profuse thanks.

Also, to my editor, K: Thank you so much for reaching out to me and continuing to offer support.

Haduki Futaba, thank you for your wonderful illustrations. They’re so good that I can’t stop feeling excited about them. I put one in a frame and hung it up so I could look at it with a stupid grin on my face.

Last, but not least, my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who picked up and read this book. Thank you ever so much.

 

—REIA