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"What is this? Is that it?" May cried. She pressed the power button on her phone, the screen now turning black and her pouting face reflecting on the surface.

She had recently picked up a new webnovel last week and had since become deeply engrossed with it. During the first few days, she stayed up until dawn to binge read. In the morning, with her pandalike eyes and exhausted face, she would continue again from her last stopping point.

The cover wasn't much to look at—it was a simple blue background with the title of the novel displayed in a golden font. However, once she read the synopsis, she felt drawn to click the icon. From the first page alone, she found herself subconsciously clicking the "Next chapter" button over and over again.

The novel was called "The Gates of Gahenna"—a fantasy story that revolved around the theme of demons and magic. The main reason she liked the novel was because of the two main characters. Well, technically there are three main characters but, May mainly focused on the story of those two—Malakai Caelestis and Elijah Soleil, two holy mages who had grown up together since childhood.

In the novel, the demons were destructive and horrifying creatures that came from the deepest abyss of the underworld. Fighting against these supernatural creatures were the holy mages, who were tasked with the safety of the citizens. 

Every half a century, three representatives would be chosen to conduct a sealing ritual on the gates of the underworld, Gahenna. With every successful ritual completion, the seal becomes stronger than the last seal, until finally one day, it would permanently stop the demons from escaping through the cracks of the gates. The setting of the story is when the final seal would be placed.

"I didn't expect Elijah to suddenly betray the kingdom and his friend," May muttered angrily to herself, leaning her head against the window of the bus.

Thinking about it further, May puffed up her cheeks in anger. Her favorite character in the novel was Malakai Caelestis, the male lead who hailed from a ducal household. Not only was he said to be really handsome, he was also kind, and outgoing—the number one, most sought out bachelor in the kingdom. Malakai was also extremely skilled in swordsmanship and magic. In the kingdom of Amaranthea, where all the characters lived, Malakai was the top holy mage who had completed many successful missions before the ritual.

But, because he blindly trusted his childhood friend who was also the second male lead, Elijah Soleil, it all went south at the final chapter. He didn't even suspect Elijah of possible betrayal until he was stabbed in the stomach by him. May was incredibly upset by this development—she didn't want Malakai to die!

Even though Malakai was her favorite main character in the novel, up until the last chapter, Elijah came to a close second. The author made him sound so innocent and gentle—the kind of character that activates your inner protective instincts. Plus, he was very charming and hardly ever made any enemies. However, to her surprise, it turns out that Elijah had been holding a dagger behind his back all along!

May pursed her lips, unsatisfied with how the latest chapter went. What bothered her the most was the fact that the author had not posted an update for several months. 

"Why did it have to end exactly at a cliffhanger?" May groaned. She knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep because of the latest development.

If she had known that the author stopped posting at that exact chapter, she would have never started the book in the first place—

—Or not!

May circled her forefinger on the window. She didn't regret picking it up on a whim and despite probably never knowing what will come next, she'll just have to suck it up and imagine how the ending went.

'Maybe I can send a message to the author?' she thought. The author's last seen was also several months ago when she last posted the chapter. It was likely that she never came back online since then.

May sighed inwardly. Maybe the author felt like it was no use to continue the story, seeing as there was a lack of response. It wasn't unexpected that the author probably gave up, thinking that nobody enjoyed it.

But—!

The book was a hidden gem to May. It was so addictive to read and she really liked the story setting and the main characters!

"Well, almost all of the main characters—"

There was only one exception to that claim but, she didn't want to think about that useless waste of breathing space.

"Despite how good the web novel was, isn't it kind of weird that nobody else viewed it?"

In fact, it was only May's clicking that added to the number of views and likes. The novel's first chapter was posted a year ago and yet, after all this time, not a single person, other than herself, had checked it out? It couldn't be that she was the only one who came across it, right?

"Hah! Of course it's not possib—"

May couldn't finish her sentence because an extremely loud noise shook her eardrums.

SCREECH! BANG!