**I read this book through unofficial translations from Korean to English**
[Using this listing as my marker for chapters 1-144 (Part 1 of THGLL)]
The plot is pretty interesting and got me hooked early on. I liked that there were hints of a deeper story line going on when Lee Sa-young wondered if he's met Cha Eui-jae before. As the story progressed, a lot of powerful moments/reveals happened, like when Eui-jae decided to come back as J, Sa-young slowly realising that Eui-jae was J, and Eui-jae finding out that Sa-young was the boy he saved many years ago. Throughout these events and reveals, the author does a good job of showing us the gradual character and relationship development between the two male leads and how their relationship stems from something deeper.
The best part of this web novel is definitely the characters. I like how they all have such unique personalities that differentiate them from each other, and how there's no character that is portrayed as perfect or flawless - not even the main characters. I think each character having their own little flaws makes them all the more likeable, and I found it amusing that Awakeners are all described as having some sort of screw loose. It really checks out for this cast!
I think my biggest issue with the story so far is the pacing. For the most part it's well paced, but there's a few moments I assumed would happen later on in the story that ended up happening pretty early on instead. The main example I'm thinking of is the first kiss between Eui-jae and Sa-young. It happened so abruptly and it was only to stop Sa-young from hyperventilating - not to mention that at that point in time, Eui-jae still viewed Sa-young as the boy he saved and saw him with some sort of familial bond. These factors together made their first kiss a bit unsatisfying for me - but I was still shocked when it happened.
I also think the way their relationship started off was pretty fast too. Sa-young was immediately interested in Eui-jae after the first time he bumped into him, even though he didn't know he was J at the time. But this is just a nitpick of mine.
Overall, I'm enjoying this novel so far and I've been binging it non-stop. I can't wait for all the mysteries to unravel and see how their relationship progresses.