Villain Retirement

Chapter 1197: Thank You For Reading

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I'm not trying to be dramatic here, but I can confidently say, without any shame, that I cried while writing the last few chapters. And I would probably cry while writing this too—I wasn't going to make this letter, but here I am.

I am going to be very intimate with you, and I do hope you've read the entire book.

The truth is, it's really been an adventure for me. Villain Retirement was four years of my life—and I have to say, as much as Riley almost didn't grow as a person, I didn't either.

Throughout these four years, I made a lot of mistakes and then did them again and again.

I even fell out of love with writing in that span of time, and honestly, I might not even be back yet.

If you've reached this far, then you know that I write for money. That's always been the case, and I've never been shy to admit that. But I also write because I love it. I truly love doing it, and I can't see myself doing anything else. And honestly, I can't do anything else. I'm useless.

Anyway, like my previous books, VR fell because of my mistakes. And it fell hard, both in quality and earnings. And it did so at a very crucial part of my life.

Do I deserve it? I don't want to say yes and be a defeatist, but I am going to be a realist and say yes. I deserve it.

I am broke and broken, and I needed a rest that I know I didn't deserve to take. But I did.

I suppose I was just delaying it. The inevitable.

But here it is, Villain Retirement has… retired. And thank you for supporting it.

I believe a book doesn't truly exist without its readers, and as I consider my books a part of myself, then that means I wouldn't exist without all of you. So, really... thank you.

Life has been tough the last four years for me, and probably for you, too.

And… that's not okay. But still, here we are.

I've been trying to revive my passion for an entire year now, and I've written more books and abandoned them.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm just growing old and not growing up. I am as impulsive as I ever was.

I've been trying many different things, venturing into different… areas head-on without any plans.

But what I do know is that I am very grateful to VR and to all of you who supported it even when it fell hard. I truly do—thank you.

I don't want to name names, but there are people here who have supported me since day one and never truly left. If I name them, then someone else I didn't name might think I forgot about them. Lol.

There are also a couple who might not have been there at the start, but they've stuck with me until the end, even though I myself didn't. You know who you are, and thank you. Really.

You guys were actually the reason why the book didn't just abruptly die.

Admittedly, the ending was a little rushed—but not really?

I feel like this is the most fitting ending for it.

Unceremonious.

Away from the grand battles, a glimpse of a normal life. Just a glimpse for Riley… and then it ends right at the moment he turns human. A fitting end for a villain.

But yeah, I'm done sharing glimpses of my tragic life. And sorry you had to read all of that, if you did read it.

Once again, thank you.

And now, it's time for me to make the same mistake over and over again—because like Riley, I am an irredeemable idiot.

When I said Riley Ross would return, it was actually an announcement for a reboot.

Well, not exactly a reboot—because as you've read in the final chapter, Riley remade everything and… rebooted his story himself.

Is it a mistake on his part and my part? Probably, but…

Riley Ross will return in Riley Ross.

And as of this writing, the reboot titled 'Riley Ross' already has 160,000 words, and it starts with Riley at twelve years old.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say… or type.

Thank you, and I do hope you truly enjoyed the book.

Now, I'm off to make more mistakes. See you again.

Pavoom.

…

…

You're still here, and that is because I need a thousand words since this is technically a chapter. So, if you are interested, I am just going to share how Villain Retirement was born.

And no, it's not because of The Boys. Admittedly, I've also taken inspiration from it, but my main inspiration for this book was actually a found-footage film called Chronicle.

It's an entirely different kind of story, and the MC there couldn't be more different than Riley—but the entire aesthetic of the movie just resonated with me.

A telekinetic with unbelievable strength.

And as for Riley Ross. Believe it or not, my inspiration for the character was mainly the Man of Tomorrow, Superman… and his villains.

Darkseid and Doomsday, hence… Darkday. If you didn't catch that, that's not on you since not everyone reads comics, lol.

Doomsday grows stronger every time he dies, which is Riley's entire thing at the start.

And Darkseid, well, it's not really him per se, but the Anti-Life equation he always wants to like… get. But instead of stripping everyone of free will, I took it at face value and turned Riley into an actual Anti-Life.

He was always meant to be an irredeemable villain, and I showed that without remorse by exhibiting him killing even innocent children.

That is the idea of Villain Retirement. He's not an anti-hero; he is a villain with a story through and through. Nothing less, nothing more.

I know some people were expecting Riley to change, and he did, but he was never going to be anything else but a villain in everyone else's stories.

Villain Retirement is not a story about redemption, but the story of a villain and his punishment at the end of it.

Riley is… akin to an addict who goes to rehab, only to relapse immediately the next day.

I don't really know if there's a lesson to be found here, I think there is. I actually think there's a lot—but that is up to you to decide.

Villain Retirement is a story about an irredeemable villain.

But maybe Riley Ross is not?

Who knows, let's watch Riley's new adventure at the same time.