FYI, the current raw chapter of this series is 23. Deer A started work on the series when the latest chapter released by Whim was 18. They were five chapters behind. Now they're three chapters behind. We got impatient. The very first message I ever received from them about this series was hostile to begin with, so when they send me an accusatory DM, yeah, my response was that for-profit scanlation like they're engaged in is morally bankrupt.
We didn't contact them in advance because scanlation groups don't own series (this is all copyright infringement to begin with), they were (and still are) way behind, and we don't look kindly on groups that take money in exchange for scanlation.
There is no scanlation "war" or drama. They can release their chapters. We'll release ours. Our work has no impact on theirs, and vice versa.