#tcf world tree

[blueteller]

So. Cale has officially become a farmer.

...A World Tree farmer. He literally just, walks around multiple dimensions, farming and planting World Trees??

What even. Only you, Cale.

[hee-hee-hoo-ho]

If I had a nickel everytime Korean novel mc I read stabbed their own heart because they don't consider it too harmful and think it's beneficial, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice

[m3-kk]

ARE YOU SEEING THISSSSSSSSSSS??????v

Haiciwiwjfhiwiaiwkqbf r va grojdiwoqoqwing

THE LAURAL WREATH ON HIS HEADD!!

HONGS LITTLE FACEEEEE

(>^ω^<)

This man is just laying there peacefully with his babies all around him looking at them like they’re his world and omg and Raon’s little claws and omg hands and WAIT OMG UIS HAIR I JUST NOTICATED ITS LONG OMG IM FERAL

I CANTTTTTT ITS AMAZING

[mytragedyperson]

Okay I know, every time I talk about TCF it's some small detail from the first few chapters, I promise at some point I will talk about stuff from later in this novel.

But there's something about Cale looking at an old man in a baker's uniform, thinking 'I like his fitting outfit' and then just giving him a coin. He really gave this man for having style and looking the part. For some reason it's so precious to me and kinda funny. Like this is why i love Kim Rok Soo Cale Henituse. He literally loves spending the money. I dare say the only reason he likes getting money (other than it being nice to have money, especially if he didn't have much before) is because it allows him to spend said money: whether that be on his people, things he needs or just because he feels like it. It wasn't even a matter of 'oh yeah, their bread looks good', which is fair considering he's not the one eating it. It's literally just 'wow, this man really looks like a Baker, here have a million gallons for looking like a Baker. Wonderful. Good work. If war wasn't about to break out, im pretty sure Cale would actually dedicate himself to trying to find ways to end poverty in Western City, because this man is a workaholic who hates seeing people in pain, dying or suffering (unless they attack him and his people and even then he might let them stay, depending on the situation) and there's no way he's actually slacking off. I'm also pretty sure that's what he'd do after rebuilding from the war and helping with that. Like I can so clearly see him just looking at the starving people in the slums, saying 'yeah, no, not on my watch', and somehow ending or at least improving poverty. No one will convince me otherwise.

Edit: I always forget how many people are watching him. Like to be fair, most of them probably watched Cale too but, he has Hans keeping an eye on him and reporting to his dad when at home, the drivers reporting to Deruth on where he goes when not home, Billos watching him both when he's in the tea shop and from windows, Ron always being around and keeping an eye on him as much as he can, Beacrox watching him buy bread and go to the slums, the citizens watching him to see if he'll do anything crazy. The only time thus man is not being watched is when he's in the bathroom and when he's sleeping and even then Ron comes in every morning and for all we know people are checking in on him to make sure he didn't sneak out, but that last one is admittedly and exaggeration. Like this man gets very little privacy. Can we stop stalking him? Probably not. They're all just so curious what he's doing and Cale is just there like man, I gotta get back to the tree. Even in the slums he has On and Hong spying on him from the shadows to make sure the tree doesn't eat him. I was wrong Billos doesn't spy from windows, he just gets his subordinates to watch him then report to him. Cale, Cale, seriously, so many people are watching you at all times and reporting back to others. The first like tabloid magazine is gonna be created exclusively for stories about Cale and to keep up to date with what he's doing, and literally his entire friends and family members are gonna be subscribed to that magazine and sending in stories. The first RPF fanfiction community in this fantasy world is for Cale and his friends and family. The first paparazzi in this world are created just to follow Cale. And you know who the creater of all these things are? Clopeh. This is how Caleism spreads.

[tryingahandinholdingapen]

this is absolutely just my obsession with misunderstandings in fiction coming through, but whilst I greatly enjoy fics where characters from TCF and/or TBOAH react to KRS!Cale's life, what I really want is a reaction fic that does NOT tell them everything. I want a fic that, instead of letting absolutely everybody know about everything KRS!Cale has done so that they more or less know the truth of things, creates new and exciting misunderstandings, and have THAT be the focus

Like most of the reaction fics I've read have an ending (or presumed ending in the case of WIPs) where all misunderstandings have been pretty much dispelled. There might still be some secrets in some cases, but all the misunderstandings are pretty much cleared up and a shit ton of secrets have been revealed

Fuck that. Give me a reaction fic where what they do/don't react to has been selectively chosen to cause MORE misunderstandings. TCF canon+fandom are both rife with misunderstandings it's kind of inherently part of it all at this point but look at me. Look at me. I PROMISE we can make it worse

(edit: I'll limit myself to one example of how that could be played per bulletpoint but trust me I have like 3+ examples for every bulletpoint)

Here's a few options I can think of just now, there's probably loads more, assuming we're starting with the premise of some form of reaction fic:

- knock out or don't include KRS!Cale in the reacting side of things, therefore all other reacting characters have to rely on what they see/hear and discussions with each other, with nobody there to clarify things. this would probably rapidly snowball into bizarre assumptions + interpretations that nobody corrects (or only corrects with weirder versions of what might be going on) very quickly

- you could easily create a billion misunderstandings about Kim Rok Soo and/or Cale!KRS. for example: simply not explaining the transmigration + regression

- what if you simply didn't let the characters know that TCF/TBOAH was another world. leave them thinking both things have happened/will happen in the same world they all live in. what then. for example: no duplicates of the characters you choose to react, take them from earlier in their respective timelines and/or people who have otherwise had no reason to meet, be extremely selective about what scenes you show, result: allow both worlds to think "woah. all this has been happening without me knowing about it? what the fuck"

- disproportionately show scenes in which a character has or acts on an inaccurate belief. do not show said belief being cleared up. let's have a montage of people assuming KRS!Cale is not human and scenes that inadvertently support that assumption and then clear none of that up, for example. let characters go home after this shit side-eyeing KRS!Cale and/or TBOAH Cale like no one's business

- show less scenes than most reaction fics choose to. for example, I know it's interesting to think about how characters react to Raon's rescue, but consider: how would they react to NOT seeing Raon's rescue? what if they just saw several scenes where KRS!Cale has no dragon and then suddenly scenes start showing up where there IS a baby dragon, and everyone in said scenes acts like that's normal, no explanation. I want to see the resulting conspiracy theories for that

- show roughly the same scenes/same amount of scenes as reaction fics tend to....but show less of KRS!Cale's thought process for such. for example: generally people either don't know abt it at all or they know he did it to get an Ancient Power, but please imagine a huge room of people trying to figure out why they've spent the last ten minutes watching scenes of KRS!Cale buying truly obscene amounts of bread only to dump it into a hole beneath some tree

- instead show MORE scenes than most reaction fics tend to include. for example, throw in a scene of baby!og!Cale listening to his mom tell him his time is warped, maybe alongside a scene of White Star's wild theorising about KRS!Cale, to maximise confusion. Now I'm gonna be honest and say that I've seen several fics with Jour telling og!Cale about his time but I legitimately do not know whether that's a canon scene I haven't read up to yet or a fanon idea that several people liked, so in case of the latter I'll add a second, alternate example of how the extra scenes thing could fall it. So, second example: let's include scenes of KRS!Cale talking to gods through whatever methods, and scenes of him talking to Cale!KRS and Jung Soo and Sui Khan. For added misunderstandings let's make whatever controls the scenes use the same method to clarify "this being is not a mortal originally native to this world" for all of those beings, because then if that's never explicitly stated then we could have the characters reacting assume that that mechanic actually indicate "divinity" and therefore assume that Cale!KRS, Jung Soo, etc, are gods. For even more added misunderstandings, keep that assumption but add "hey, KRS!Cale isn't a mortal /originally native to this world/ either, he transmigrated, ditto for Choi Han" and have the reacting characters wonder if they've made a mistake somewhere or if they have two gods (Choi Han and KRS!Cale) just....around. Maybe have them try to connect nonexistent dots with how in TCF Choi Han follows KRS!Cale and in TBOAH Choi Han and Cale met and immediately hate each other

- have them see a few scenes that just, are nor relevant to anything. not often but occasionally thrown in there there'll be a brief clip of Random Citizen 251 walking through town and then buying some fruit from the market or something. then let the reacting characters scramble to try and figure out the relevance of this because surely if they're being shown this scene it must be important somehow, right? right???

- whoever said these scenes had to be in clear chronological order, or let the characters have any idea of what happens when? no one. we don't have to do that. fuck, you could even show a few scenes from when KRS!Cale's Ancient Powers were alive, let them try to decipher THAT. you could for example show them Henituse County being attacked by wyverns and then show bits of the Plaza incident, which would probably result in the extremely unfortunate assumption that the celebration that will get attacked is a different later one than the one that actually gets attacked (...nobody said reaction fics had to have 100% easy-ish happy endings either-)

- most reaction fics I've read either have the characters reading something (TCF, Wikipedia, etc) or they have the characters watching TCF like it's a movie. Either way they figure out very quickly that KRS!Cale is at the heart of everything going on. New plan! They don't get to know who the 'main character' is for a long time. For example, have them watch TCF as though it's a movie BUT it's in first person perspective (from KRS!Cale's point of view) and minimise the number of scenes in which people actually use his name. Let's see the reacting characters be like "uhhhh well we're looking v slightly UP at the crown Prince of Roan so whoever this is is shorter than him by a tiny bit", "does anyone recognise this fancy place we keep waking up in? no? fuck [talking abt Super Rock Villa]", "do we even know what country this person' from? I was assuming he was at least from the Western Continent but then the last several scenes have all had him casually in the Eastern Continent..", it'd be really funny. Hell have them assume for a brief period of time, until another scene dispels that belief, that with KRS!Cale's nonchalance around Alberu, Witiria, Litania, etc, maybe the person whose perspective they're seeing these events through is a ruler from an unknown region, or something

- have all scenes be about/memories from past or future of Cale BUT interpret "Cale" really generously. What I'm saying is there should be scenes from Kim Rok Soo, TBOAH Cale, og!Cale, KRS!Cale, and Cale!KRS's memories/future events and it should be real fucking unclear what's what. Ideally in a way that maximises confusion

- reaction fics often include bits of KRS!Cale's thoughts, at least, the bits we see in the narrative of TCF. Why don't we also include random snippets of record? But without context. KRS!Cale knows that that snippet he suddenly remembered is from a novel he read three years ago, because he remembers yk reading the whole novel etc, but do the characters reacting to these scenes know how to distinguish between "random snippet remembered from (fictional) source" and "random snippet remembered from (nonfictional) source" and "KRS!Cale's actual, often random or seemingly off-topic thoughts"? No, no they don't, because they don't have the necessary context to do so

Okay now onto reasons the above bulletpoints could be included:

- whoever is in charge of showing the scenes genuinely just didn't realise it would be an issue; this could for example be how that last bulletpoint happens it just didn't occur to them that someone who doesn't have Record might struggle to discern what was that ability and what was usual thoughts/memories

- whoever is in charge of the scenes is trying to create misunderstandings on purpose. often people writing reaction fics elect a god to be in charge of that, so we could for example have a god of mischief trying to cause maximum chaos (I think I've actually seen that before, though they were trying to chase chaos by revealing secrets not by causing more misunderstandings) or maybe it is SOMEHOW One Final Hurrah from the god of despair who thought maybe causing enough confusion would make KRS!Cale feel misunderstood and isolated and miserable

- technical difficulties/someone fucked up the process of letting them read/see scenes. oops

- Neither Cale (KRS or og) can be here to clear up any possible misunderstandings because there's some inherent incompatibility with having them present and showing scenes/memories of theirs at the same time. Just can't do it. They can be here or you can have smth to react to but not both

- whoever is in charge of the scenes just doesn't have enough power/energy to present things in a clearer way (chronological, more scenes, etc)

- they could have done it in a way that was less confusing way (third person POV instead of seeing through KRS!Cale's eyes, for example) but they thought this was better for emotional impact, which they deemed more important. Maybe they thought the characters would figure out who it was eventually anyway and the emotional impact would make them more likely to understand+sympathise with KRS!Cale which was the ultimate goal orrr thought it would make TBOAH characters more likely to take this shit seriously and stop fighting each other to instead take notes and plan which was the ultimate goal

I'd also really like to not only see reaction fics that increase confusion/misunderstandings/etc but to then have the fic continue PAST when they've reacted to stuff. I want to the characters dumped back where they came from and I want to read at least another 10 chapters from there about the fallout

I feel like there was something more I wanted to add to this post but I forgot so I'll leave it here

more reaction fics that tell you stuff but clarify nothing! maximise confusion rather than minimise it! cause all the problems in the world! yeah!

[slackerlifewhere]

random thought #3

[Minor SPOILERS for the first part of TCF]

Cale treats his ancient powers like they're his friends. Some would say he "stole" them for his own benefit but I just can't see it that way after everything I read in the novel.

Cale, former Kim Rok Soo, made a connection with these people. To me, they're not just powers to him. In fact, it feels like he understands what happened to them and if he doesn't, he quietly listens to their stories. And the way he talks to them also feels less like a selfish person who wants to use them for his own protection and greed for power but more like giving them the chance to see a beautiful world that became peaceful because of them. It's like he's comforting them after they suffered so much in the past (which is also connected to the healing thing I talked about in my other post).

Like yeah, he's annoyed at them most of the time but he doesn't blame them whenever he gets hurt or bleeds way too much as a backlash after using them. Instead, he simply helps them achieve what they couldn't do when they died.

“I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Cale said goodbye to the rumbling tree as if it was a person and exited the fenced area.

- Chapter 5: They Met

If he truly didn't care about them, he wouldn't get angry for them or at one point, he would've let their voices disappear in favor of getting stronger.

I like his relationship with them. Like they're the voices inside his head (lmao) and it might feel like he has wireless headphones attached to his ears 24/7 but he treats them the same way he treats the rest of his friends and family and it's really nice to see.

This is kind of the reason why I feel a bit weirded out(?) when fanfiction authors would completely erase Cale's (OG KRS) existence in the fic and replace him with OG Cale and give the other the ancient powers. Like I get people like OG Cale, I do as well, but it feels kinda wrong to see them with another person after seeing Cale bond with these people. In fact, I can't imagine them being with anyone but Cale, this chaotic little shit who gives Super Rock huge headaches and makes the others go violent for or with him whenever he's fighting with an asshole. Aside from one ancient power (if you know, you know), I just can't see him having none of them with him after everything he went through with them.

I keep remembering his almost one-sided conversations with all of them because most of the time it's chaotic but the rest are just as emotional with a feeling of deep understanding coming from him. It feels like he always has someone with him so whenever they're silent, I feel like the air is too heavy (like those few incidents when I just want to hug Cale).

I think the best description for Cale is that he's full of empathy.

So yeah, this is a random topic I thought about chaotic Cale and his equally chaotic ancient powers. Yes, I'm including Super Rock who isn't normal either. He's tamer than the rest but he's definitely not normal 🤣 I swear some people who think they're normal in the story are probably in denial like Cale is.

It just popped in my head when I saw the line about the tree in Chapter 5, which I quoted above ☝️

[Note: I'm not saying these authors are doing anything bad, by the way. This is just my opinion and I usually just skip those fics when I see them. I won't stop others from reading those fics just because I feel weird about this one thing about the ancient powers]

[Second note: This is about the first part of TCF, I dunno what happens in the second part yet but I hope to see more of his interactions with them]

[cruzerforce4256]

I'm feeling like writing lately, so I've thought of a scenario where the reader, who always jokes about their friends, will court Cale to the ends of the earth if ever they get isekaid into TCF (lol, this is me to my friends; they are really concerned at this point). Then some god heard this and was like, Alright, bet. They send the reader to the TCF world as a personal maid of Cale for fun and tell them that they need to make Cale fall in love with them before the story ends (just part 1), or else they will go back to their world with all of their memories about Cale gone. 

So in order for Cale to feel a bit relaxed around them, they told him that they were from a different world and read 'The Birth of the Hero' instead of the TOTCF since we all know Cale will faint if that really happens. They also told him that they felt like he was the same as them because of the changed attitude he was showing recently, and with him going out to feed the dying tree basically confirms it.

Their conversation be like:

Cale: I'll just let you know that I don't plan on getting involved with the protagonists and the war.

Reader whose laughing their ass off inside: Great me too! I'll just stay as your personal maid since I don't want to get involved with all the drama. ♪⁠～⁠(⁠´⁠ε⁠｀⁠ ⁠)

So Cale became a bit more relaxed than before after knowing that they are on the same page then the reader started throwing their cringy pick up lines to him.

Reader: Young master, are you a bank loan?

Cale: *ignores them and continues relaxing on the couch while reading a book and petting the sleeping children*

Reader: Because you have my interest, and I'm willing to pay the high cost.🥰🥰

Cale looked at them with eyebrows furrowed: I'm literally the one paying you to work how are you going to give me a large sum of money

Reader: *Gasps exaggeratedly" does that mean you have an interest in me.

Cale: Go take your meds.

Later on, the reader confesses to cale that they love him, but although Cale is feeling something towards the reader at that time, he is not sure what it is. He isn't really sure if they just see them as a close family who they trust the most or something more than that, and if it is, he is scared of the possibility that something might happen to them, especially with the war going on. So he rejected the reader.

The reader accepted it and told him that he didn't need to reciprocate their feelings, but that doesn't mean that they will give up. They always give him flowers when he wakes up, always stand by his side, supporting him, and, of course, always throw pick-up lines at him. And slowly but surely, cale became clear with his feelings for them, but he still didn't want to confess because of the fear that something might happen.

As his feelings grew clearer and deeper, the reader's time became shorter and shorter. Though they truly love him and want to be with him, they don't want to force him to love them. When they only had a few months left, they started distancing themselves bit by bit from everyone, especially Cale. 

But Cale is observant; he notices how the reader doesn't throw cringy pick-up lines as much as before, which he didn't know was a blessing or not since their pick-up lines were cringy most of the time. On the other hand, it makes his heart flutter. He also notices how they don't really play much with the kids anymore, no longer cheering the wolf kids on the sidelines while they train as much as before, no longer going out with Rosalyn, Mary, and Hannah as much as before, and no longer teasing Beacrox with Choi Han whenever you are together as much as before (I just want to add the last part, lol).

He is suspicious, and Bud, who just wanted to visit, sees him always looking at you and teases him, saying, "You know, if you don't confess now someone might take them.". 

He just gives Bud an irritated look, but deep inside he is panicking. Is this why you don't interact with everyone as much as before? Who is it? Is he worthy of you? Do you know him well enough?

So he confronts the reader if they like someone else in which they just laugh at him, telling him that he is the only one they like. But when he asked about how the reader doesn't interact with them as much as before, they told him that it was nothing and they were always feeling tired lately.

So Cale forced them to have a paid leave. While they were on that he made a plan to confess to the reader after everything is clear. No more possible threats to their lives and just them slacking off with the whole calefam.

When the day finally arrives he can't sleep and just waits for the reader to come to his room to wake him up. As he waits, he reviewed the plan in his mind again and again to make sure that everything goes right and to lessen his nervousness. He is going to take them out in the afternoon in disguise of checking the improvements of the harris village and when the night comes, he will invite them to eat dinner and confess.

Time flies, and it is finally afternoon. He stares at the door, waiting for the reader to come in with a loud noise to wake him up. But hours came, and you were still not there. Feeling restless, he called for Ron. When the scary butler is finally by his side, he asks where the reader are, but Ron also doesn't know. His heart started to pound. He feels like something is wrong.

He got up off his bed and walked straight to the reader's room. As he opens the door he notices a paper sitting on the top of the bed. His heart pounded more heavily as he walks towards the bed and grabs the paper.

He notices that it is a letter from the reader dedicated to him. In this letter, they told him the whole truth about how the book they read is actually the trash of the count's family not the birth of the hero and how they were a huge fan of him. They also state how they love him so much and they always tell their friends about it which led to a god hearing it and sending them into this world.

After reading it, he immediately ordered everyone to look for the reader and for saint jack and cage to come. The letter didn't state where the reader is but knowing that a god put them in this world means that the god had a deal with them.

His mind goes through a lot of questions. Where are they? Which god did they make the deal with? What is the deal that they made with that god? Are they safe? What are the conditions of the deal? Everybody is restless looking for them everywhere

Saint jack and cage finally came with Hannah. Though confused, Cage told him what the God of Death said to her before she came to the villa, GoD said that some god wants to talk to him and to not worry because GoD will be there to facilitate the meeting.

Hearing this, cale immediately told them what's going on while the kids stayed closer to him in order to help calm him down.

Knowing that the god that wants to meet him is the same god that you made a deal with, he agreed to talk to them. When he told the others about this, he suddenly fainted.

Waking up, he saw the GoD looking at him apologetically for making him suddenly faint. Besides GoD is the god that you made a deal with.

Although he is irritated with the GoD for making him suddenly faint he is more worried about you. He immediately asked where you are and what the deal is about.

And though that god wanted to tease him a bit, he decided against it after seeing his glare. The god just smirked and told him all about the deal.

Hearing this made cale devastated. He is too late. If only he confessed sooner instead of making them wait..........If only he became more clear with his feelings sooner...... If only he accepted your feelings the moment they confessed to him.........

There's a lot of what if in his mind.

Seeing him devastated and a lot of regret the god also offers him the same deal he gave to the reader. This time he is the one who will go to the reader's world and is given with the same amount of time that they spend in his. His condition is that needs to make them fall for him even without all their memories about him. If he manages to do so then they get to go back to his world with the reader who have all their their memories back but if he doesn't then he goes back alone and the reader will forever forget everything about him. Though the god wanted to add more consequences if cale isn't successful, he decided not to since he doesn't want to anger the God of Death more for hurting GoD's beloved child.

Cale immediately accepted the deal

This time he is the one who will come to them. This time is the one who will make them fall for him

Note: i'm not really good at writing so sorry for the errors 😅😅 but i still want to share to you guys this scenario that i've just imagine and damn imagining it is 100000% easier than writing it😭😭😭

[zharaely]

The Birth of a Hero was weird...

Putting aside the fact that it was actually written to be a guidebook for Kim Rok Soo, it was so obvious how weird The Birth of a Hero was as a 'novel' looking back, especially when you re-read the early chapters of TCF. It was weirdly detailed and descriptive about what should've been minor or unnecessary information if it was actually a novel.

For example, The Indestructible Shield, which was an ancient power that wasn't owned or found by anyone in the novel but just so happens to be in the Henituse Territory. It wasn't related at all to the main characters, but TBOAH went into detail about the ancient power's history, its original owner, its location, how to obtain it, and the response to expect once you feed the man-eating tree. I wonder whether Kim Rok Soo ever questioned why Nelan Barrow would write so much about something 'not important' while reading TBOAH, if whether or not the author just decided to ramble about world lore he made up but couldn't tie into the main story. Kim Rok Soo is better than me because I would've gotten really bored.

Also, TBOAH didn't just get into detail about the Ancient Powers either, since it also had a LOT to say about the Original Cale Henituse, his family, and the territory in general. From the very beginning, when Kim Rok Soo wakes up in the body of Cale Henituse, he goes to the bathroom to find the full body mirror the Original Cale Henituse had that was mentioned in the novel. That is INCREDIBLY random information to mention about a minor villain whose sole purpose was to get beaten up by the protagonist. But it doesn't happen just once. When Cale asks Deruth for an allowance, he recalls that the Original Cale also received a large allowance but the exact amount was never mentioned in the novel. Later on, when Ron serves Cale lemonade instead of cold water, he recalls again how the Original Cale hated sour things just like himself.

If he really was inside of the novel, he knew that there should be a large mirror inside.

As expected, the full body mirror was inside the bathroom. Cale Henituse, who had a lot of interest in his appearance and physique, had this mirror set up in here. Nobody else in the household had such a mirror.

The novel did mention that Cale received a large allowance, but it did not mention the exact amount. However, he could realistically understand how large it was based on the amount listed on the cheque.

He really is an insidious man. He knows that, just like Kim Rok Soo, the original Cale hates sour things. But he still chose to bring lemonade, which would take more work to prepare than cold water. [...]

It's pretty obvious by now that TBOAH went deeper into the Original Cale Henituse's character than a normal novel should have in just the first volume, like how he despised gangsters and scammers or how he had horrible aim when drunk, and his relationships with Ron and his family. Kim Rok Soo would recall reading about flashbacks to Cale being woken up by a servant that wasn't Ron which led to a ton of swearing, Cale breaking everything at his spot in the bar once, and Cale getting a scar on his side while drinking the night before meeting Choi Han. The novel also mentioned things that no one else but the Original Cale Henituse knew about, such as how he had high alcohol tolerance but just flushed easily which made people assume he was lightweight. if I were the one reading TBOAH, I would've started to wonder whether the author was planning to make Cale Henituse an important character later on (and maybe he was, but there were only 5 volumes).

The Henituse Family wasn't mentioned as much as Cale was, except for how people pushed the 15-year-old Basen to be the head of the family and how Basen started acting as the family's successor since 2 years ago, but it's odd enough that Nelan Barrow decided to describe characters that Choi Han never even meets (if we assume he only encounters Cale and Deruth and no one else in the family). There were even descriptions of the slums in the Henituse Territory and the Henituse Family business, like???

All of it further cements the fact that The Birth of a Hero was very much a guidebook written for Kim Rok Soo, who was going to swap bodies with Cale Henituse, and to help him adjust to his new life and plan for the future. The novel was fucking suspicious from the start!!!

[weirdsht]

I really love characters with the tendency to bleed and be some human sacrifice. Tysm kdj and krs. 😭 i have a new idea altho I'm not sure if somebody's already done this. Cale and the group with someone who coughs out blood everytime they spill spoilers from the tcf novel? Like she's been transmigrated/reincarnated (whatev you desire (⁠^⁠^⁠). Bro is trying to help so bad bc they hate war so they do it subtly and carefully (imagine having to be careful with your wording, I can't even--) but can't help but shit out blood sometimes or most of the time cos they forget and get frustrated

Forgive me for i love miserable characters...

Hardbound (Paperback pt. 2) - Cale x Reader

notes: I decided to link it to another oneshot I did before because I think it fits. I hope that's okay!

tags: blood, like the whole fic is blood, heavy cursing, Cale might be ooc, NOVEL SPOILERS (near the end of book 1)

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are open and welcome

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Paperback Navigation Masterlist

Crimson, the colour of Cale’s hair.

That was the colour Cale can see right now. However, he is not looking at his hair.

“Ugh!”

Instead, he was looking at the blood dripping from your mouth.

“Stop speaking. This is not good for you.”

“Why not? You cough up blood all the time. Why can’t I do the same?”

You joked lightly but Cale didn’t like how weak your voice sounded. Indeed, he always coughs up blood. Especially whenever he overuses his ancient powers. But the blood he coughs up is dark red. Dead blood from his regeneration powers cleansing his body.

Not the vibrant crimson blood dripping from your chin. Blood from a beating heart, a sign of vitality as Eruhaben would say.

“I need to continue, you need to know about this. We must hurry up so just- ugh… so just listen.”

When you told Cale you were going to pull a “World Tree-nim and a Cale combo”, he didn’t know what he expected. 

It certainly wasn’t you trying to give out spoilers from your beloved book and coughing out copious amounts of blood.

“There will be monsters. Ones too hard to– Ugh! Fuck! I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

Drip

“That’s two out of five. Those things will be in a pit. It’ll look like statues, you will also see… you will also see an altar there…”

Drip

Drip

“You don’t need to speak anymore. Please, the rest of us will figure it out.”

“No, no. I’m fine really… Bear bastard, you know who it is, hostages. He’ll– Ugh!”

Drip. Drip. Drip

“It’s Tasha’s people. For a summoning– Fuck that one really hurts! I'm trying to speak as vaguely as possible already, what the hell…”

“Please… I’m going to tape your mouth shut if you don’t shut up.”

Drip

Drip

Drip. Drip. Drip

“I’d like to see you try. The tape won’t stick with all– with all this blood.”

“Haaa”

“Enough jokes. The fourth and fifth ones are connected. In Endable, watch out for bears and black– watch out for black mages. And avoid– Shit! Avoid using instant. But I'm not sure if it's… if it's possible… I need to speak… to speak to Raon. The last spoiler is for him– ugh..!”

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Cale wanted to refuse. He wanted this to end.

At first, it was just from your mouth.

The blood that is.

Then it started dripping from your left eye. Naturally, your right eye was next.

Then your nose. Then your ears.

Before the commander knew it, your entire face was covered with blood. He tried to wipe it, but they were dripping so quickly that it did nothing.

Cale doesn’t know how are you still conscious. He isn’t even sure if you’re still breathing. That was why he wanted you to shut up. That was why he desperately wanted this to stop.

But it can’t

Cale can’t refuse nor can he end this.

It was because you already made up your mind. And since you did, there’s no stopping you now.

So he gets Raon. Warned the toddler that the sight inside the room would not be pretty, but he must listen. Because their futures are resting upon the words you are about to say.

Upon the words written in your beloved book.

“Human…”

“I know… If you can’t listen I’ll listen for you and rely on the message.”

“No… I’m great and mighty. Because I’m great and mighty I shall listen to this conversation myself.”

Raon flew over to where you were. Placing himself on your lap as he uses his stubby paws to hug you.

“Ah, it feels comforting to have such a great and mighty being comforting me. But you’ll get blood on you– Ugh..!”

Drip. Drip.

The black dragon didn’t care about the blood. He just hugged you tighter at the sound of you coughing up more blood.

“Raon Miru-nim remember this well. Things might get messy and despite my meddling things might still go awry. So I’m telling you right now. In Endable, Cale might become incapacitated to fight– Fuck! Ugh, I promised to not curse in front of you…”

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drip…

Drip..

“It will be hard, you will need to do everything yourself, without Cale. In fact, you will have to do his job– ugh… but you must do well. Remember, the first thing you have to do is have Mila-nim on standby. She can heal him.”

Cough

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip

“I want to say more… but I’m reaching my limit…”

Raon tightened his hug and you weakly reciprocated it. You aren't sure if the wetness you feel in your shirt is from your blood or the dragon’s silent tears. Nonetheless, you still tried to hug Raon tighter.

In the meanwhile, Cale was already calling for servants and healers to attend to you as soon as you admitted your limit. His voice was laced with unusual panic. It made the others who didn’t know what was happening move with urgency.

“Raon-nim…”

“Yes?”

“You are strong, smart, great and mighty, always remember that.”

You weakly stroked Raon’s back, trying to comfort him in advance for the things about to come.

“Young master what’s going on–”

Beacrox and Ron stopped in their tracks when they saw the condition you were in.

“Ahahaha, you guys are right on time. I think… I’m going.. To…”

You couldn’t even finish your sentence for you already fell unconscious. Your body dangerously swaying to fall off from your sitting position on the couch. Luckily, Cale was nearby and managed to catch your falling body.

Cale glanced at you, then he glanced at the open book on the table.

As usual, he couldn’t see what was written on the pages. He could only see the cover title at the front and the synopsis at the back.

But that doesn’t stop him from hating that damned book that put you in this state.

If only you haven’t read that book before coming here.

If only there wasn’t a restriction placed on you by that damned book.

If only…

“Fuck, after this war is done I’m going to try and burn that shitty book one way or another. I don’t care anymore if it’s your favourite.”

note: in case it wasn't clear, the placement of the drips signifies how fast the reader's blood was gushing out

[noxiousgrace]

Tcf part 2 and 1 spoilers for kim rok soo & earth 1

It just clicked for me why ppl in korea started getting abilities

So in p2 we find out that worlds are sentient (at least some of them are)

Kim rok soos world was also probably sentient considering it was registered as "earth 1"

And every world with a name so far has been able to communicate at some level

While the world cale henituse lives in isn't registered under any name and never showed any signs of sentience either (as far as we're aware. Plus the world tree said it was complete darkness when she first started existing)

For some reason the world can't communicate with the people living in it, maybe the hunters cut off that connection so that they could plant the god of despairs temple/creatures there?? And spread more despair?

So, earth 1 started giving people abilities in order to survive the attack

Maybe the deal earth 1 made (cuz it was a non-fantasy world before the cataclysm as krs states) forced it to go into hibernation

For now we know that earth 1 wasn't razed completely to the ground because krs told us society was slowly getting built back up

It'll be interesting to see krs revisit his real homeworld and not just an alternative version of it that the god of despair showed him during the tests

It also makes sense why some of the abilities are personalized and some aren't so much

The important figures received more attention from earth 1

[blueteller]

People be like: "But Cale isn't farming World Trees! He's just planting them!"

Me:

Oh Cale is definitely farming, trust me🤣

[zeighost]

Another 3am TCF yapping session!!

I'm currently at the chapter 640 (I'm reading online, so all the books are combined) but I still know the ending of the story- or at least i know about how White Star dies and I think that's the most funny, creative, dumbfounding, and yet fucking hilarious way ever.

Sooo like. Spoilers ahead

Cale stabbing WS in the heart- but not before stabbing himself in the heart with a stick sword from the World tree 😭

I do have a petpeeve and that's that the author apparently made Choi Han a big more stupid than in the "Birth of a Hero", because how didn't he connect the fact that Cale WAS going to use it? He was there when the sword was handed to him, listened when Patrick (I think? Was it him?) told Cale that the sword from a branch of the World tree would only be effective with Cale's blood- since apparently everyone has forgotten that he has a healing ancient power that basically has enough power to revive a man.

But anyways

Back to the comedy, my guy Clopeh- fucking hate him, he annoys me so much but that was a power move to bring alot of communication tech, broadcasting Cale's ultimate stab in the heart 😭❓❓❓

Fucking insane but you get it yuh

I don't know if Sui Han (aka Lee Soo Hyuk) saw it and if he had his memories at that point but. I cannot imagine his reaction holy shit

[m3-kk]

TCF NOVEL SPOILERS- My TCF notes

Hmmm it’s been a minute since I posted any of my TCF notes about the chapters.. so here ya go! THIS IS PART 2 SHAWTYS!!

Ch. 1- YESSS CHAPTER 1!! Not the Kings Palace going kaboom 😶 Cale needs to rest!!! Slacker chan!!!

Ch. 5- AHHHHHHHHHH LEE SOO HYUKKKKKKKK LETSS GOOOOO! BLACK HAWKK OOO

Ch. 6- His name is now Sui Khan 😮

Ch. 7- 🍪 Cookiess! So we have to travel different dimensions now? Cale needs a break 😭😭

Ch. 8- World with the white mages = Xiaolen Planet

Ch.9- YAY DIVINE ITEM MIRROR LAPTOP THINGY! We are definitely going to like the other worlds people evil smirk 😏

Ch. 10- HAH CALE HUNG UP ON DUKE FREDO LOL! Sooo Cale is a god. 😀

Ch. 12- Dead mana is purer AND Cale’s power is more efficient here? Interesting..

Ch. 13- Hey we have a spare world tree!

Ch. 15- Mary is registering as a candidate to be a necromancer empress GO MARY!

Ch. 16- AW HER FAKE NAME IS “Heni Wishrop” HENI STANDS FOR HENITUSE!

Everyone thinks our Mary is powerful hehe!

Ch. 21- Working with Zero & the 4th Prince for the Harmony test :D

Ch. 22- OOooo Black Rain 🌧️

Ch. 24- Now we actually need to kill those hunters. How dare they lay a finger on our family. Let’s flip them over immediately.

Ch. 25- Yay! Hong & On <3 Let’s go to the infected area! 2nd Princess?

Ch. 26- the 2nd imperial princess has been converted to Caleism hah m! Tree-bush monster ye fire, destruction, protection!

Ch. 27- Are you human? HAHAH CALEE

Ch. 28- That Marquis guy is smart. Cale really is acting like a purifier so funny!

Ch. 31- Blood Message! How scary!

Ch. 34- Attacking the bad guys >:]

Ch. 36- BURNNNNNNN 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Ch. 37- 50% power to get 2,500% as a result! SO EFFICIENTTTT WEEEEEE

Ch. 38- THE HUNTER WHO HUNTS HUNTERS! GO CALE SO POWERFUL HA!

Ch. 39- Cale.. not everyone is a super powerful ultimate other worldly being like you! I feel bad for Goldie Gramps 😭

Ch. 40- In Prison with the fam 😜

Ch. 41- We are going to loot!! Goldie Gramps is angry and that dragon is timid but crazy. I love our family! CHAOS LOVE

Ch. 42- DESTROY THE ESTATE MWAHAH

Ch. 43- So sad that we couldn’t loot 😭🥲

Ch. 44- Ooo Opening the safe 💰

Ch. 54- ooo revealing us to the empire?

Ch. 58- Choking? Reminds me of Adin

Ch. 63- HAH I KNEW IT THE FAKE WT IS STAYING YOOO

Ch. 64- INFOOO! Not the Patriarch blowing up that’s crazy! We could’ve gotten so much more info! But oh well! Five Colors ooo!

Ch. 65- HAHAH THE GOD OF DEATH IN THE GROUP CHAT HAHAH I LOVE HIMM HEHHEHE (I love this chapter)

Ch. 66- AWWW Chatting with fire of Purification in puppy form!

Ch. 67- This is so cute I’m glad we get a lil’ rest just chatting with the nice puppy ❤️ I love!!!

Ch. 69- Almost the end of this arc!

Ch. 71- HOME WITH THE MONEYYYYY

Ch. 73- Ron, Beacrox! I missed uuuu!

Ch. 75- Aw the Henituse Fam! Billos!

Ch. 76- You get a mine, you get a mine. EVERYONE GETSA MINE!!

Ch. 78- YOU HAVE BEEN PROMOTED YOU ARE NOW ONE OF MY ELITE EMPLOYEES!

Ch. 79- @CP we have a mommy on our side? Mummy’s boy emperor as well???

Ch. 81- CENTRAL PLAINS?! The sworn brother goodbye was cute.

Ch. 83- We meet CP’s clone?? Cutie??

Ch. 85- The disrespect! They can’t pronounce our Cale Henituse’s name!

Ch. 86- NEW NAMES LETSGOOO

Ch. 90- YOO we got a golden plaque!

Ch. 91- Cale ignores Toonka but not Roan!

Ch. 93- We found the living jiangshi!

Ch. 94- enlightenment is crazy****

Ch. 97- Talking with the Sword Sainttt

Ch. 100- Purification! Chapter 100!

Ch. 101- One word, blood. SHITTTTT NOO

Ch. 102- AWKWARD! Yay Choi Jung SOO

Ch. 106- LET HIM EATTTT

Ch. 108- So many ally’s yay !!!!

Ch. 112- We. Are. Going. To. EATT! (a elixir)

Ch. 113- 70% shield 53% water

Ch. 116- The Alliance leader is being bitchy SHOW EM’ WHOSE BOSS! (Roan misses Alberu)

Ch. 118- Don’t hurt our Cale! Please!

Ch. 119- Aw I love when Choi Han & Beacrox talk together about family

Ch. 121- Ah the god ole trash bastard days

Ch. 123- Green Forest Bastards try and mess with us?! Angry Cale! >:(

Ch. 124- OO Cale is the BOSS MAN

Ch. 127- 68% then 72% of fire!!

Ch. 128- Pfft Caleism has a poem now lol.

Ch. 129- HUHH Big complicated lore??

Ch. 131- WOAHH The Heavenly Demon is a smart cookie fr fr wow intelligent!

Ch. 135- The Left Guard is so cute awe

Ch. 136- Oh no the Heavenly Demon ain’t doing so good :[

Ch. 137- Helping out the HD again. Spy?

Ch. 139- Aw Choi Family spars. I love it

Ch. 141- HD is being healed yay

Ch. 142- I was so concerned about Cale the whole time! Bloody Battle

Ch. 146- (I hope everyone at home is ok)

Ch. 151- TALKING WITH ALBERU YAYAYAY

Ch. 152- Pinnacle Demon is poison crazy

Ch. 153- We going to destroy things now?

Ch. 154- YAY DESTRUCTION DESTROY

Ch. 155- FINALLY FLIP THINGS OVER KYA

Ch. 157- OO WATER AP FOUND SOMETHIN

Ch. 158- OMG DRAGON LORE?? YAHOO

Ch. 159- “Raon’s lackey” I got the chills!

Ch. 160- OOOooo I’m hooked! Dragons<3

Ch. 162- Oh DAMN! We got a mf jackpot! Water is 300 percent stronger than the OG. No blood shed! Dragons are great!

Ch. 163- HAHA LOOTING ANCIENT STUFF

Ch. 165- Scale+Crown+Crown=Red Crown

Ch. 169- Shit is going down! TSUNAMI!

Ch. 171- How dare she think to threaten us, she shall die by Choi Hans sword.

Ch. 176- Old man Baek describes Cale’s world and “reads” him

Ch. 183- I love that we can run wild!! 😜

Ch. 185- THE PRIESTESS the youngest daughter of Orsena!

Ch. 186- The Dominantung Aura

Ch. 187- Our little Han got stronger (I’m so fucking proud of him 🥲)

Ch. 188- We killed her.. Last words?

Ch. 189- The Formation Collapsed!

Ch. 190- Raon’s MC moment. (Cute bond)

Ch. 191- Using water AP to Max! Or not?

Ch. 192- the Punto Banhui and Tears💧

Ch. 195- You got games on your phone?

Ch. 196- Everyone wants Cale to be a god

Ch. 199- WE LEFT!!! NOW WE ARE HOMEE

Ch. 200- Awww so cute at Alberu’s casa

Ch. 201- That actually so funny 🤣

Ch. 202- Zoom Call with Ahn Roh Man talking about gamess. Similarities?

Ch. 206- Aw it been a bit since we chilled

Ch. 209- Speech ruined! (So every time Cale has to do a speech it’s interrupted)

Prev | Next

[murasaki-cha]

Tcf part 2 chapter 287

-Okay, Cale, I understand now. The Super Rock started talking seriously. -When a blizzard rages for several days and the whole world is covered with snow and turned white. -Even though you think it makes no sense, the beautiful green color of the tree is the only thing left out in the white world. -When the snowstorm suddenly stoppes and the sun appearea between the clouds, casting its rays on the snow. -When the sunlight shines on the only green leafs that still stand. -That sacred feeling. The Super Rock was very serious, as if all his doubts had disappeared.

-That sacred feeling is basically built into that man’s smile. Ha. It really was a long explanation. Cale was shocked, but just kept his mouth shut. It was because he was too lazy to refute, but he couldn't help but crumple at Super Rock's next words. -Of course, your smile when you're scamming isn't enough. What are you talking about, you idiot?

SUPER ROCK MY DUDE WHAT THE FUCK!!?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Not only did he wax poetry about Clopeh's holy smile but he also dragged Cale's ass at the same time WHAT A GUY🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[we-stan-cale]

This is definitely spoilers for tcf part 1, just saying.

I keep thinking about how Cale handled the calebab situation.

In particular his friends suspected something was up, and asked him about it. He told them most of it, but chose not to mention that he needed to stab himself in the heart in order to defeat the White Star.

Of course the World Tree told him that he wouldn't die, and that it would even be beneficial for him. But still. Stabbing. In the heart.

And Cale's thought process when he decided to hide that was interesting.

Because he knew, if he told them, that one of two things would happen. They would either insist on finding another way (and who knows how hard it would be to defeat the White Star while they looked for an alternative?) or they would insist on being there while he did it.

And he didn't want them to see such a gruesome sight.

I... Can kind of see his reasoning. And yet in deciding to keep that knowledge, to not even let them have the choice, it shows... Something.

A lack of trust? A level of consideration that fails to see why his friends and allies would rather see such a gruesome sight, than discover he did something like that without even telling them?

If you finished part 1 then you know that his plan to take care of things on his own failed. And failed miserably. Rather than finding a place where he could stab himself and then the White Star in private, it was all put on display by the temple... And even caught on video by Clopeh. And poor Choi Han made it out just in time to see it too.

But if he had succeeded at keeping it secret, would that really have been okay?

Yes, he was fine. Even better than fine. But still. Stabbed himself. In the heart.

And because he knew he only had a short period of time before the White Star would recover from escaping the seal and be able to fight (and that it'd be worse to fail at the stabbing and have to try again), he did it with no hesitation.

I also keep remembering some of what he said about his own scars. Some of it's the hypocrisy we all know he has, where Mary and Hannah should be able to show their scars proudly... But he considered his disgusting, and always wore long sleeves and covered them. Even if using his Record ability to the point that he overheated.

I think some of that is that he saw his scars as a sign of failure? But he also said something else about them.

However, Cale was quite relieved as he undid his buttons. He could not undo his buttons nor pull up his sleeves in front of his subordinates when he was Kim Rok Soo, no matter how hot and sweaty he became. He didn’t want to show them the scars on his body. It’s not like they were anything to be proud about. It would just scare the people who were doing the same jobs as him.

Cale looked down at his body that was now visible and started to think. ‘…This is nice.’ This body did not have any scars. Even if it did, the Vitality of the Heart would quickly get rid of them. That was good. Scars were records as well. Terrible records. It was better if those disappeared. It would only cause pain to those watching and those nearby as well.

He thought his scars would scare them. Not only that, but he knew they were a reminder that hurt the people around him to see.

(I love our boy, but he has issues).

Probably because it was a reminder that he got hurt protecting them, and not something they'd want him to hide...

But we all know he's dense when it comes to things like that. It does seem like he noticed that they were pained by the scars.

So he chose to hide them.

I think calebab was something similar. He was trying to protect them from that type of pain, and in the process hurt them far worse.

But then again - did he have a duty to tell them? I mean, it's not a good thing to do as a friend, but it was kind of his choice to make...

Well. He did what he did, and he completely failed to hide it, and to there's now a few underlying trust issues that they got a bit too busy in part 2 to really address. Yet.

I suspect it'll come up again at some point though.

[nonexistentirl]

Just curious, are Vampires in TCF mortal? Because Vampires in other media are immortal. But when Cale needs the power of an immortal to kill the White Star for good, it's not the vampires he thinks of, but the World Tree. So, do Vampires have a limited lifespan? Aren't Dragons the ones with longest lifespans in that world? So vampires are probably mortal with lifespan of less than a thousand years.