Chapter 1

Love x friendship x courage

That is the title of a Japanese novel that is being discussed on websites and social media. This novel has a clichéd story like any other novel. It tells the story of a modern world that undergoes drastic changes, where cracks appear in the air and cause a gate to appear. The gate is connected to another world. And inside the gate there are monsters like in RPGs. Some of these monsters are goblins, orcs, kobolds, and others.

Modern weapons and combat vehicles are ineffective against these monsters. And those who can face it are humans who are endowed with superpowers. The human gets the nickname 'Knight'. Each knight has different abilities. Knight has a duty to protect the world from the invasion of monsters to earth. And the focus of this novel is about a teenage boy who wants to become the number 1 Knight in the world. He gets into the best academy in the world. However, he encounters many obstacles and problems. However, he meets many people and befriends them. They support each other to achieve their goals.

This novel is much loved by its readers. Not only in Japan, this novel is also a bestseller around the world. Although, it doesn't rank first on the list of number 1 bestselling novels. It consistently ranks among the top 10. Despite its clichéd plot, this novel has many fans due to the execution of each volume that always invites the curiosity of readers and illustrations that spoil the eyes.

After 10 years of publication since the first volume, finally today the last novel is published. And I will read the novel. The reason why I haven't read the novel is because I read novels and comics that have finished before. Also because I was too busy, so I only read novels and comics with a small volume. Now that I'm on vacation and the novel is finished, I'm going to spend my time reading the novel until it's finished. That's exactly what I was going to do, until news of this novel appeared on websites and social media. This news was quite shocking for fans of the novel. Because the ending of the novel is enough to make its fans turn into blasphemers of the novel. This is because the ending of the novel really far exceeded the expectations of the fans.

'Trash' is an expression that can be described on the novel. A tragic ending for the protagonist of the novel. Where the final battle of the protagonist's comrades-in-arms died and several female characters who belonged to the protagonist's harem died. And the protagonist's strength is gone, he is also completely paralyzed, and he can only lie in bed. Not only that, the end of the novel explains that some of the surviving heroine had affairs with other men without the protagonist knowing. That left only one heroine, but unfortunately the heroine's father wanted her to marry someone better than the paralyzed protagonist. And the remaining heroine left the protagonist and married another man. Shortly after the marriage of the last heroine, the protagonist found out that the other heroine was having an affair. And after all that, the protagonist is depressed until he dies.

The ending of this novel made fans of the novel and ordinary people who knew about it furious. They started searching for everything about the author and eventually found the author's social media accounts.

Staring at my computer screen, I looked at every comment on an article I read.

"Wow!!! This really shook up the writing world. What did the author eat to make the novel end like this?"

'Really, I've been waiting for a long time to be able to read the whole novel.'

I slowly scrolled down the article to see all the comments. Then I moved to the novel's website.

"Hah! It's only been half a day since the news about the novel's ending went viral and the comments have already reached thousands."

Looking at every comment on the site, all I could see were blasphemous comments.

("Trash! Even worse than a pile of garbage.")

("Hey, writer if you're on drugs, please don't write! You're just giving your fans a stroke.")

("I'm not one to berate someone's work, but this deserves to be called shit.")

("I regret buying all the volumes of this novel, I'm going to burn it.")

("If you want to cuss the author, you can use the link below, the author's account name is...")

My hand stopped scrolling through the comments on the article. Staring at the link there, I clicked on it.

"Wah! Wow! Every post on this author's account is full of heart-piercing comments."

There were no positive comments on the post. I was really confused as to why so many novelists or comic creators managed to build a solid story but also managed to create an ending that provoked the anger of their own fans. Some of the endings that have angered fans include the protagonist dying, the protagonist and his girlfriend dying together, Harem endings where no one is the protagonist's partner, the main female character marrying another man who is not the protagonist, the protagonist suddenly marrying a woman who has no developmental relationship with the protagonist, and so on. I'm really confused as to why so many end up with such bad endings. However, we don't know what the author is going through, maybe the author is stressed or having a dilemma and is taking it out on the story itself.

"Maybe I should also write something to encourage the author. Wait! I'd rather send her a direct message to her account than post it in the comments. I'll probably get attacked by people for defending the author."

After typing for a few minutes, I sent a message containing words of encouragement and a sentence not to give up to the author.

"Ah! I hope the author reads my message!"

Just as I was about to shut down my computer, a message appeared.

"Eh!! That...? Isn't that from the author?"

I hurriedly looked at the message that came.

Author

"Thank you for your warm words and support. You are the only one who sends positive messages like this to me. Thank you very much again."

"Wow, the writer read my message and sent a reply. I should reply too."

"You

're welcome writer. I don't know about your situation, but everyone makes mistakes. Although, I haven't read your novel, it has been praised by many people. You probably had too much on your mind and created a bad ending. Therefore, I hope you won't give up."

"Huh! It's simple."

Soon the reply came back.

The author

"May I ask you a question? If you had the power to change the ending of the novel, would you want to change it?"

"Hm! He suddenly asked. Change the ending? Of course."

You

"Of course, I would and I would make an amazing ending."

"I see."

After that message, replies didn't come again. I stretched my body and looked at the wall clock.

"It's already midnight? I have to go to bed soon. I have to clean the house on a vacation like this."

Turning off the computer, I immediately lay down on the bed. I closed my eyes and finally fell asleep.

The next morning.

I woke up from sleep and saw an unfamiliar ceiling. I straightened my body on the bed and looked around.

"I'm ... Where is this?"