Happy New Year, everyone!
Lately, readers have often asked me what stage this book has reached. Taking advantage of this bonus standalone chapter, I'll briefly talk about the book's progress.
To be clear, Beyond the Deep Space has entered its later stages.
Before I started the book, I planned for it to be between three and four million characters long. Perhaps it was the aftereffect of writing several long novels in a row, but as I kept writing, it ended up exceeding that length.
Recently, some readers have probably felt that I've been working hard to connect all those earlier foreshadowed clues and gradually resolve them.
At present, Beyond the Deep Space is divided into Old Chapters and New Chapter. I originally wanted to end it with New Chapter, but after looking at the chapter count, Old Chapters had over 500 chapters, while New Chapter already had over 600. It felt better to open a separate Final Chapters for the later portion.
Clearly, the next part will be far shorter than the first two; comparatively speaking, it will be a short story.
I'm opening a separate, not overly long Final Chapters simply to show how much importance I place on the ending—to write it with utmost seriousness and bring it to a perfect close.
So, to those few readers who worry about a rushed, botched ending whenever they hear the book is about to conclude, please rest assured. There will be no such thing as wrapping it up in a hurry; Final Chapters exists specifically to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion.
As for the timing, at the earliest, one or two months; at the latest, three or four months.
Once I finish writing this Supernatural Center arc, I'll begin Final Chapters.
Also, I need to take a day off