AFTERWORD

Hello!  Hans here...

Well, volume 18 is the hardest book I've written so far, not because of the plot but more on the 'outside factors' that influenced me while writing.

See, the entrance of the new year, 2024, has been bad for me.  January brought me at odds against my co-workers, who are appalled at the 'high grades' I gave my students.  As an educator who came from a public school, I've seen the hardships of my charges going through in their lives.  I think it's only reasonable for me to be kind to them; for, aside from the difficulty of trying to do ALL activities of eight different subjects within a week, they also have to balance home and school...and many of them come from 'hellish' homes. (Broken families are a trend nowadays...)

February entered with me dealing with personal issues.  I'm still living with my parents, unmarried, though with a job (I'm a public school teacher irl).  As such, I was affected when their marriage broke down, and--while I'm already a full-fledged adult (@ 34 years)--the pain of watching your family end up destroyed is still painful.

Those issues, and I also have to deal with my students' parents, who are slowly passing the responsibility of 'taking care' of their kids to me.  A good example of it is when they'd look for their child who hasn't gone home yet, dropping calls and phone messages deep into the night, and outside school hours.

Honestly, I'd like to apologize for the delay.  I promised this book will be done by the end of January.  However, stress from all those problems made me paralyzed and unable to think much.  It's been hell, I admit, though I'm not giving up.  I'll see this story to its satisfying conclusion.

Thank you for staying with me, dear readers.  Thank you for supporting me.  Even a slight increase in view count keeps me going.  I really appreciate those small gestures.