marielovesmints

[marielovesmints]

Cale and opening himself again

I have been rereading TCF and I want to talk about something I realized.

Cale Henituse, previously Kim Rok Soo, accepts easily his new reality. His new "him".

He keeps everyone at arms' lenght, just like in the past. But why the change?

1. Thanks to reading Boah, Cale knows the characters and the world, so doesn't have high defensas and in survival mode at every instance. He has data, to his relief.

2. He isn't on Earth, so his trauma fades slowly. He isn't confronted by records of destruction, despair, blood and deaths every moment of his day. He isn't in the Company, where he has made many memories with his first Team. There aren't monsters in Nameless 1, so, in someway, he is "able to move on".

3. He thought Boah was just a book, so he (at first) sew the people there as characters. He knew them like that, so there was already a connection (reader and character). Moreover, Cale knows how strong they are, so they can protect themselves. To be powerful is important to form part of Cale's group.

4. The kids! The kids are the ones who made him to be soft and to start to care for— and be close— to others again. He did care for his old Team in his own way, but they weren't close. Also, it isn't the same type of care. He—because he assumed the responsibility of taking care of them—has to do it right. Cale knows what children need so well, and in that way, he provides them with physical touches and words to make them feel safe and confident about themselves.

5. He doesn't feel attached to his past world. (Which I believe it isn't just because of the transmigration, but something that was inside of him since a long time ago. He was just surviving, not living at all.) He begins to see himself as Cale, he sees Roan as his kingdom and the Henituses as his family. He acts as trash (well, tries to), because that's how it's supposed to be.

He detaches himself from his past since he embraces "Cale Henituse". Who was he? Kim Rok Soo, orphan and an office worker. He doesn't mention the apocalypse at all when thinking about his past. While it makes sense that it isn't mentionated at all at the start (because for readers it would very confusing and the surprise factor later would be lost) I believe it’s because Cale didn’t want to remember that, it was painful. He was leaving that behind.

(I want to make another post about this, about how Cale views reality. First is Boah, second is despair test, third is the rest of god temple test. Then, we have his dreams and wind test, which doesn't classify as reality for him.)

[marielovesmints]

I have such a soft spot for Earth 2!Kim Rok Soo, you guys have no idea.

He's like an adorable, wrapped-up little bundle of everything I love about our protagonist Cale, just younger and a tiny bit less traumatized - but no less oblivious or self-sacrificing for it, mind you.

He's the stubborn bugger who kept refusing to call Park Jin Tae "the king of the shelter" (because that title should belong to its founder Lee Soo Hyuk), even if all he got for it was getting beat up.

He's the sweetheart who chose to sleep under a leaking roof just so that others wouldn't have to.

He's the guy who got to see his alternate self's memories and witness him saving his future, and his response to it all was basically an empathetic "Damn dude, your life sucks! ...Also I wanna beat up a god too" 😂

He spilled blood alongside Cale and his reaction to others freaking out over it was a confused "What's their deal?", because he's just as much of an emotionally stunted idiot. You never change do you, Kim Rok Soo?

I know he's a freaking 20-year-old man, but I wanna adopt him so bad. I wanna hug him and squeeze his cheeks and feed him an apple pie to make him less skinny and beat him over the head for being such an oblivious moron.

Please let him return in Part 2 at some point I am b e g g i n g

[marielovesmints]

Knowing TCF, it's pretty much certain that we'll eventually see Alberu come clean about his origins to the citizens of Roan at some point, right? Probably at his coronation itself, even. He'll tell them that he's a quarter dark elf and the citizens will accept him because of all the contributions he and the dark elves have made during the past year in fighting evil and protecting their country.

So with that cat out of the bag, what if... Alberu's plans for retirement go awry?

As a quarter dark elf, he wouldn't have shown signs of aging for a long time. He'd still look youthful even in his nineties. Tasha looks 29 even when she's 290 years old. But she's a pure blooded dark elf. Alberu is only a quarter. So I don't think his life span would be as long as an average dark elf. Unless Cale finds another method to extend his life that is.

Anyways. His initial plan probably was to rule for a couple decades and hand over the throne to his brother's kid before people started to suspect his anti-aging. Or maybe he would have used a disguise magic spell to gradually look older and handed over the throne when he reached his sixties. But with everyone now in the know, there's no reason for him to quit early. In fact, with how much he has done for the kingdom, the citizens themselves wouldn't want another ruler.

It's a pity for his retirement plans but Alberu is probably gonna end up ruling for at least a couple hundred years as the emperor of Roan at this rate. So what I'm tryna say is, uh, good luck your highness, the shining sun of the Roan Kingdom (soon to be Empire).

[marielovesmints]

We all know that TCF is still a novel full of secrets and mysteries, and many of us talk about them and wonder about them, but I see some mysteries that no one talks about, and I'm very curious about them. For example, we have Grandma Kim. Why does she hide her name and why was she so interested in Rok Soo? I know she's kind, and Rok soo loved her and was kind to her, but it's clear their relationship wasn't just one of sympathy; it was more like a real grandmother and grandchild. Second, KRS and the speeches. Why was he the only one who didn't give any speeches or lectures? I don't see it as linked to a curse, but I thought he might be under the watchful eye of a hunter or a god, who is careful not to reveal him to the world. Third, his meeting with God. When he met Him, I remember that he secretly wrote down many things he wanted to ask Him, but God asked him to erase them because they were under surveillance. Since Cale knew about the Soo couple, what questions did he want to ask? Fourth, the fake Hilsman. That man came to meet Deruth amidst the chaos. He said he wanted to tell him something and get something from him. What was it? I'm betting it had to do with Jour or the Hunters. After Cale was robbed, he was told that the fake Hilsman had left him a message. What was it? Did the writer forget it or intentionally ignore it? Finally, the entire Henituse family. I have my suspicions about Deruth, and I think he may have already known about the powers of his wife, her family, and the Hunters, just as Zed did. I think he knew about his son's soul transfer. The writer hinted several times that Deruth resembled Cale in personality, so he could be a skilled actor and a fearsome manipulator. And we have the history of the Henituse family. Why would a family like this give up any influence and live in a corner of the kingdom, choosing to protect a forest teeming with monsters? Why is their law, which they insist on upholding, to protect themselves and their families first, not necessarily to be recorded in history? And why have they been so keen on accumulating wealth for decades and more? The more I think about it, the more I find these values ​​to be identical to Cale's, as if he were their founder.

These are the things that make me wonder, and there are more, but this is what I remember right now. 😅 If anyone has an idea, please share it with me.

[marielovesmints]

I am the adult. I am the guardian of these two children. I need to take full responsibility since I chose to take them in. I need the Super Rock’s power.

LCF Part 1 Chp 244 "I will ..... you"

Man, this part. First time reading it, it was like, he is an adult. Adult protect children.

Common sense and all that.

And then, after rereading it. This lines hurt so much. Imagine Child!KRS being so apathethic towards adults because almost no one helped him as a child. Knowing child him probably wished for an adult to help him.

And now he decided to become an adult he wished for for these children he took in.

Cale: I'm not their step dad, I'm their dad that stepped up

[marielovesmints]

TCF animatic- Part of me- Dear Evan Hansen bonus track

Yt Version- https://youtu.be/1na_auQwGIs