Hey y'all. I'll start by apologizing, cuz this is totally a dick move.
Long story short, this story is gonna have to be rewritten.
I said last chapter that I'd do this if the readers didn't like the direction I would be taking the story, but then I thought, "What's the point of promising it's gonna get good later if it's not good now?"
Now that isn't to say I don't like this story. Quite the opposite, in fact. There are plenty of elements that I still like to this day, and I'm kicking myself for letting them go to waste like this. My biggest issue is that I started to escalate things way too quickly (and strangely, in some cases), and I lost track of some of the source material's key themes.
Look... I was being hardheaded about this. You guys were trying to let me know that the way I was doing things was kinda killing the vibe, and I was excusing that fact because I knew why I wanted things to go the way they were. Regardless of whether I was right or wrong, however, the truth of the matter is that this story wasn't as enjoyable as it should be right now.
As for how the rewrite is gonna go, I'm still not sure how much I want to scrap, twist or recycle. Is it gonna look anything like this one? I dunno.
The bright side of all this is that I've grown a lot as an author since I first started this fic (or at least I hope I have). I'm sure that the end product will be something that everyone will be able to enjoy much more than this story as it currently stands.
Again, I'm sorry for doing this. I seriously don't like when people leave these sorts of projects unfinished, so I totally understand if anyone feels frustrated. That said, I'd rather say something now and let the readers know what's going on rather than awkwardly leave you all hanging without an explanation.
If you have any questions or aren't clear on something, don't be afraid to reach out to me. I'll make sure to answer you directly since there won't be a following update until I get the reboot on its feet.
I hope to see you all then!