hi
yall we did it!! we reached the end of afflicted & DAMN does it feel wack

afflicted is probably the lengthiest and most high maintenance fic i've ever written and completed. originally, i began writing it just for the hell of it with really no end-goal or expectations for it. i did have one goal in mind, however, and it was that i wanted afflicted to be a little more complex than a murder mystery—and that's why i focused so heavily on characterization, relationships (both the good and bad sides), and protagonist/antagonist imbalances (that's where wonchol kicked in; i'll explain more about him later). hopefully i reached it🤩

but the feedback and (hella entertaining) comments i've received seriously made afflicted the story it now is. basically, you readers are AMAZING and you helped me
complete this story with how involved you guys are. i've really got to thank you sincerely for sticking with afflicted and reading it out til the end :)
(also u guys are fkin hilarious like i'll read a comment on a paragraph where jimin's gettin beat up and it'll b like "u think ur safe and then ur protein shakes betray u" or smth and i'll hoLLER)

i'll jump into more of the sappy shit later but first onto the q&a!! be warned for long ass explanations🤧✊

1 ■ WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE AFFLICTED?

yall remember the gif in the very first chapter, the preface one
so funny story literally all it took for me to start writing this book was to look at that gif n be like "yo. wot if tae had wings like a demon hahaha" & then go "....shit that ain't half bad an idea" and so yeah, thus afflicted was born!

yeah it's kind of anticlimatic
but what inspired the themes of afflicted was mainly bts's wings concept—specifically boy meets evil, the short films, and blood sweat & tears—, and hesse's "demian" (the book that wings branches off of). i'll explain more of this in the next question.

2 ■ WHAT ARE THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE DEMIAN/BS&T CONCEPTS AND AFFLICTED?

/cracks fingers alright SO

the most obvious parallel is the use of abraxas. in gnostic philosophy, abraxas has a pretty complex meaning/conceptual appearance, mostly being used to represent evil; in demian, hermann hesse expands on the concept of abraxas, which loosely inspired afflicted's version of abraxas and the other world. instead of using it as a symbol, however, i used abraxas as an easily hatable antagonist instead.

as for bts's wing concepts themselves, i focused somewhat on the whole "boy meets evil" concept (which is pretty self-explanatory), and the short films influenced many of the member's roles in the book specifically. for instance—yoongi's "first love" short film featured some sort of a store (and, guess what, a broken door!); on more thematic lines, taehyung's "stigma", jimin's "lie", and namjoon's "reflection" inspired a lot of the concepts and struggles i focused on through their respective characterizations in afflicted.

the mv for "blood sweat & tears" also played a role in the whole taehyung-as-a-demon concept, but it was only on a visual sense hrfnnfnf i just thought tae looked hella cool as a demon

(there's also a bit of a parallel from "the ones who walk away from the omelas" if you squint—for instance, taehyung being the one to sacrifice his life to keep the world in balance, aka the caged boy.)

3 ■ HOW MUCH PLANNING DID AFFLICTED TAKE TO WRITE?

uh
so another funny story
most of my planning was done at odd hours of the night on purple sticky notes. like i'd wake up randomly and be like "damn that's a good conflict trope" or smth and i'd jot it down and yeah!! 20+ sticky notes later here we are

why were they only at 2am. why did i randomly wake up at 2am only to think about afflicted. why were they only on sticky notes. why were they purple these are the questions that will forever remain answerless

but to answer your question a SHIT ton. like bruh afflicted rly made me pressed sometimes it was such a damn hassle

like i said i began afflicted with no clear blueprint so i figured it out as i went ig??? bad idea sksksks

(i did have things i knew would happen in the plot regardless, though—one bein that tae would die :// oops)

4 ■  I LOVE?? YOU???

ummm😳😳😳🏃‍♂️
nah jk i love u too u geek

5 ■ IF A FIRST WITNESS PRETENDS TO NOT BE ABLE TO SEE ABRAXAS IN ITS PHYSICAL FORM, WOULD ABRAXAS STILL BE ABLE TO DETERMINE IF HE/SHE IS A WITNESS OR NOT? (CAN ABRAXAS PINPOINT OUT HIDING FIRST WITNESSES?)

yall ask the smartest questions goddamn

but yes, abraxas would be able to—regardless if you pretend not to be a first (or second, but it's impossible to pretend from birth) witness or not, it has the ability to pinpoint out witnesses the moment it sees them. it likely won't, however, target you specifically if you are a first witness that stays out of its way; if you remember what wonchol said in 2.8, he left the society because abraxas only purposefully pursues first witnesses that get in its way.

6 ■ IS ABRAXAS COMPLETELY DEAD? (WILL IT EVER COME BACK TO THE REALM/PLANET?)

don't worry homie abraxas is DEAD its ugly ass ain't ever comin back

taehyung broke the bond completely when he himself died, so abraxas in turn died with him; and like he explained in his note, abraxas's space in the realm has been filled, so neither it nor any other "other world" demons will return to the planet.

7 ■ IS TAEHYUNG REALLY DEAD?

yes chief😔🤜

8 ■ CAN NO ONE BUT WITNESSES SEE ABRAXAS EVEN THROUGH PICTURES/VIDEOS?

unfortunately, yes🤒that is why no one saw abraxas in the subway explosion footage, and why the society only takes pictures of abraxas for society members themselves to view. if eyes themselves can't see abraxas, then camera lenses definitely can't either.

9 ■ WHAT EXACTLY IS THE OTHER WORLD?

put simply, the other world is a different realm entirely. obviously enough, information for society members, much less the world itself, on the other world is limited because of how enigmatic and invincible abraxas was. i won't delve into specifics because that would take a fuckin novel in its own, but the other world is just the realm from where abraxas and its kind comes from.

10 ■ DID SEOKJIN BECOME A DOCTOR IN THE END?

i left the epilogue somewhat open ended for readers to make their own assumptions, but i do believe that after several years, seokjin did end up achieving the career he's always wished for :>

11 ■ WAS WONCHOL EVIL?

jesus fuck this was a question asked way back but it deserves to be in this q&a because godDAMN

at the beginning of this author's note i talked about how i played on the concepts of antagonists/protagonists, and wonchol plays into this. abraxas was evil; it acted purely on malicious intent with no reason other than to destroy and live parasitically, thus becoming the main "villain" of this story, and it was an easily despicable character.

enter wonchol as a second antagonist. as the writer, i don't believe wonchol is wholly evil—though his actions are completely wrong. he did, however, lose a loved one in the subway explosion, after assuring himself that if he—as a first witness—left the society, he and his girlfriend would be left untouched. it should be noted that canonically (though i wrote it very vaguely), wonchol's girlfriend was the only form of family he had.

losing his girlfriend led to his loss of sanity, trying to desperately shift the blame onto someone. even while cornering jeongguk in the alleyway, wonchol was accusing the younger of lying to him, and constantly referred to taehyung as the one to kill his girlfriend afterward.

wonchol was willing to kill a human alongside himself in order to satisfy his desperation and grief, which is an unforgivable act in itself. but he was no where near as evil as abraxas was; he acted on emotional pain, rather than complete malice.

12 ■ ARE THERE ANY CANON ROMANCES?

sksksks i hate yall
canonically, no (unless you count that like 5-lined interaction with that one gal from 1.8 and guk)—i wrote most of their relationships platonically. the boys considered each other as brothers, more than anything.

however, i did say i left the epilogue open to interpretation, so it's up to you whether you think any of the relationships turned romantic.

(but if u reread past jimin interactions with taehyung and the end of the epilogue, u miiiight notice a bit of ambiguous non-platonic vmin in there if you try real hard🤥🤙)

13 ■ IS NAMJOON SINGLE?

LITERDJALY SHUT UP SIY A

14 ■ WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO CONTINUE WRITING?

it all depends if i'm writing a story with a plotline and concept i truly enjoy. i hate crankin out chapters i feel forced to write ya feel

listening to the right music always helps writing a chapter as big as the ones afflicted demands!! it's an easy moodsetter, & planning out the chapter beforehand saves my ass

but honestly, the kind of comments i get from yall truly motivate me like. you give me the sweetest notes and the best commentary and i LOVE YOU FOR IT
feedback is an author's best friend. you guys rock my socks off ex oh ex oh

15 ■ WILL THERE BE A PREQUEL/SEQUEL?

i'm sorry pal but nope😔🤙

i ended afflicted with most loose ends tied; both taehyung and abraxas are gone, and with the main villain defeated, i don't see a reason to extend the story into a sequel. it would just be dragged on as hell—i think leaving afflicted as a stand-alone is best.

there isn't much material for a prequel either. i mean aside from fried eggroll boy. damn fetus jimin was wildin

16 ■ WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS/WORKS?

big news yall! this ain't the end of box's wackass books is that good or bad? the world may never know

firstly: BLOOD RUSH

i'm writing an apply fic! if you guys wanna check it out that would be LOVELY with a capital lovely
it's somewhat of superhero au, & it has the same dose of action that afflicted did c:

and: PRANKED!

box back at it wit another bts mystery/thriller YEET
essentially bts is framed for a series of increasingly dangerous pranks, & they have to find the "prankster" before they. u kno. go to jail
this one is much more humor centric than afflicted however, & it takes place in a high school setting🤩

both works are published as of now!

also, quick notes!!
• if you want some good ass bts fics to read, i suggest visiting fennbluu and self-regret because godDAMN do they write masterpieces. yall won't regret it i love them wit my whole ugly heart
• pls don't plagiarize me or i'll whack u ://
• u should follow me on instagram @/metaseok i have bts art on there🤩🤩🤙

anyway. onto sappy shit y a l l
i cannot express how thankful i am that you picked up this book and stuck with it the whole way. just seeing the amount of people that have read this literally makes my heart comBUST and your comments/votes?? i go soft every time i see one u w fkin u
but seriously. i am so so happy that you found this book to be an enjoyable read!

with that i'm out, and i hope you have many more wonderful days to come! as our good man kim namjoon says love myself love yourself peace😳🤜

i love you!!❣️

AFFLICTED
28/12/16 — 28/06/18