#tcf analysis

I just read chapter 166 of LCF manhwa, and... I kinda forgot how much I like Choi Han as a character?? Seriously, I think he's severely underappreciated in this fandom sometimes.

And I get why. There are so many complex characters to love: Cale, Alberu, Mary, Rosalyn, Eruhaben, Raon... any of them are interesting and deep enough to write a story entirely focused on them.

But, back to Choi Han.

He had this moment in this chapter, where he contemplates the reason WHY exactly their enemies are trying to kill all the strong people in the world, instead of making them their allies (which, as we can plainly see by Cale's example, is all more rational, effective and ethical). Whale Paseton tells him that it's probably easier to control the world that way, and that it doesn't really matter to understand their motives. Choi Han agrees and decides not to think about it anymore, ominously foreshadowing to the audience that there IS a deeper, darker reason as to why exactly ARM has the modus operandi that they do.

So, there are two reasons why I really love this moment. First, like I just said, it's the foreshadowing that there is something going on behind the scenes of it all; that ARM has other goals other than generic "world domination". You can already see the first seeds of the larger universe of conspiracy that eventually leads to the exposure of the Hunters organization and so on. There is so much more going on under the surface and it's hinted on so early on. That's just good writing.

The second reason why I like this scene so much is how much it shows of Choi Han's character.

First of all; he's such a good guy. No matter how vicious and "crazy" he is, his main concern in this situation is: "Why? Why even do this?" As in, he wonders why would those guys do these terrible things? Why hurt so many people with the power and motivation to stop them, once they unite under one cause? Why not do it like Cale and make allies instead? He knows it makes no sense to do such evil, terrible things, when the consequences are so obvious. It says so much about him that Paseton's answer – that they just want to get rid of the top dogs to BECOME the top dogs – doesn't occur to him immediately. It doesn't make Choi Han dumb; quite the opposite. Because he would never do such dumb things as ARM does. He's too good of a man to ever understand the blind greed that must drive those people to commit atrocities like that.

Secondly, as much as Choi Han "blindly" follows Cale, it's clear he is still using his own head instead of trusting without reason. If Cale was actually the "terrible selfish bastard" he considers himself to be, and was ACTUALLY using Choi Han for his own ends with no regard towards morality... Choi Han would have sussed him out very quickly. Heck, Cale already KNEW as much when they made the Vow of Death: "this guy might trust me for know, but he's the type of person to take charge if things are not the way he disagrees with, so I need to give him SOMETHING to base his trust on".

This kind of introspection shows us that Choi Han is very much worthy of Cale's earlier regard, and why Kim Rok Soo admired him as a protagonist of a fantasy novel. Choi Han is a person who has a strong sense of justice, who would only follow someone he respects. Seeing him analyze this situation and their enemy makes me believe that if he ever found himself on the opposing front for whatever reason – like for example, he was picked up by ARM right after transmigration – he would quickly realize they were the bad guys and betray them, no matter the consequences. Choi Han is not someone to be manipulated easily.

He is in this place, on this battlefield, because he can see the truth this his own eyes, and sees who the real bad guys are here. By trying to understand their point of view, he show that if there WAS something else to ARM and their motives, he would have at least felt bad for them. If there was a compromise and a peaceful resolution, Choi Han would have supported it. The only reason why he's here, happily serving as an agent of chaos and slaughtering human beings with no remorse, is because he KNOWS those people deserve the wrath of everybody else. They had it coming. So much so, it's hard for him to comprehend WHY they dared in the first place.

Cale acts mature and fatherly, always protecting and caring for younger children and teens because that's how he wished the adults in his life behaved towards him when he, Kim Rok Soo, was young and he doesn't want another child to go through that.

Like kicking and screaming cursing about how his slacker life keeps getting away from him. Like we know how hilariously devastated he is as readers, but I don’t think those around him understand just how OBSESSED Cale is with achieving his slacker life.

Like I want them to know the batshit decisions this walking disaster has made for the sake of a peaceful slacker life rolling in money.

He has scammed, looted, burned, fought, bled, fainted, stabbed himself etc. just for that stupid slacker life. Or maybe just once, even though I know this may be OOC, I want Cale’s thoughts to be broadcasted out loud.

I don’t know, maybe he gets cursed or something and suddenly Alberu, Choi Han and company are in on the batshit insane voices in Cale’s head plus the terrible choices he makes to get his slacker (which only makes his slacker life go far away haha).

Like do y’all REMEMBER that one scene in Part 2 where Alberu asks Cale to tone himself down lest he births another religion in ANOTHER WORLD.

This dude’s thought process is an instant 0 to 100 percent. Bro does not know moderation.

Cale, feeds some kittens: Welp you’re part of the family now.

Cale, free a dragon who follows him around: Guess you’re my son now.

Cale, meeting feral Choi Han: Oh? Hi, protagonist of the novel who kicks my ass canonically that I could definitely just avoid meeting at all instead going out of my way to stalk to the gates of Rain City. Want a meal, a bed and mental stability?

Looking back at his backstory as Kim Rok Soo, KRS!Cale deals with the loss of LSH and CJS with an impassive face, and it seems that it doesn't bother him at all, misleading others to think he doesn't feel any sign of grief or remorse. He even eats and sleeps normally like what an ordinary person would do contrary to a grieving person.

In reality, he's deeply affected by it and so he represses his emotions. Because it's easier to avoid it than to process it. Because he always has to move for survival, not giving him the room to just process all of his emotions in appropriate ways. In that one sidestory, when he laid down on his apartment floor doing nothing, records begin to stab him painfully and he can feel himself spiralling — until a call rang and asked for his assistance in a monster attack if I can recall correctly. Relieved, he went to do that, because then he wouldn't have to focus much on the grief that is wracking both his mind and heart.

He focuses intently on working, so much that the director in one of the side stories said he's the most passionate worker/ability user in the company (he doesn't want anyone in his team to die anymore).

KRS!Cale represses his emotions by distracting himself with work — because he can't find it in himself to come face-to-face with it (because he always has to be on the go and he doesn't have time for it — he has to focus on things that actually 'matter' more after all).

Then we have Og!Cale who he lost his mother at a very young age.

We don't know exactly how he reacted towards his mother's passing, but knowing how attached he was to his mother since she was all he could ever think about throughout his 40 years of life — well, we can assume that he reacted greatly. He might have cried loudly and lashed out since he was just an 8 year old child — but when he saw his father somehow being in a much more dire state than him, he probably tried to shove his emotions away temporarily to comfort his father instead, pretending he was alright. He prioritises the other's feelings and well-being than his own, very evident with how he is willing to act as trash for his step-family.

But...maybe with his trash act, it isn't just for his step-family and maybe it isn't also because he has no desire to be the young patriarch of the estate — but playing a role by throwing tantrums and drinking alcohol daily is how he copes with the loss of his mother because he didn't get to show his grief outwardly in healthy ways, prioritising his father's instead. That doesn't mean he feels good whenever he does.

When his family died in the war, what did he do? He enlisted as a soldier. To get revenge on the White Star. Fighting as a soldier and battling against enemies in war actually makes him release all his emotions, similar to his trashy act — and so he does exactly that. It doesn't matter if he dies in war so long as he rightfully gets revenge for his family, and it aligns perfectly with his sacrificial nature (like how he willingly ruined his reputation just for his new family to get accepted in high society, if that isn't sacrificing idk what).

So we can conclude that he probably deals with loss with self-destructive coping mechanisms and aggression.

Unlike KRS!Cale, he isn't fanning down the the flames that threaten to choke him, he's bursting into large sparks of flame that can get anyone — and even himself — get caught in it.

But contrary to his outbursts, it isn't loud — it's quiet. It seems loud but it is all just a pretense or a mask to make himself look strong, deep down he's just bone-tired and weary.

He probably knows how he copes is unhealthy and is hurting him in more ways than one, but the thing is, that's the only way he knows how to cope because he couldn't properly process and assess his emotions when he put others such as his family above him.

You know the saying "Fake it till you make it!" ? Somewhere along the way, that's exactly how it happened with Og!Cale when he acted as trash more often — he might have even genuinely thought that he's trash.

Faking as a trash and then actually becoming one! Like how he didn't need to poke Choi Han's nerves regarding the Harris villagers but he would have felt intense regret swirling in the pit of his stomach because he knows that what he did was absolutely wrong and he shouldn't have insulted the deaths of the person's loved ones because he knows how and what it feels like to deal with loss (even if he has some grudge or resentment against Harris Village because they're somehow involved with his mother's death, he shouldn't have done it).

But hey, his automatic response is to act as trash and he does so, even unwillingly.

That's all he ever knows after all.

So anyway, we start the chapter seeing the people of Rain City react to Cale's shield and they say something important!

"Won't he faint is he uses such a large shield? Why doesn't he just activate it when the northern bastards come?" "Can't you tell? He doesn't want to see us or the territory getting hurt at all."

At first, I thought this was just the regular drama of people reacting to Cale, but then Choi Han, the kids, and Ron tell him he's being ridiculous, and I realize the townsfolk are right.

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 have no desire to become my family’s successor. Basen Henituse, my blood-related younger brother. I am hoping for him to become the successor.”

And we all know that's not true. The part about Basen being his blood-related younger brother. (At least, as far as ik? There wasn't a sudden reveal that they were actually blood related in p2, right? Right??)

And it's such an unnecessary detail to add, too, specifying blood-related? It really felt like he was testing something. Now, I could be looking too much into it... But. Cale Henituse vowed to speak the truth to Choi Han.

"I, Cale Henituse, vow to speak the truth to Choi Han in front of the God of Eternal Rest, and, if what I say is even slightly a lie, I will immediately die in this spot to pay the price."

It very likely refers to what he believes is the truth. And the thing is, yeah you could've brushed it off as him believing that Basen really is related to him, and therefore didn't register as false or incur a penalty. But this is Cale we're talking about?? You can't tell me he didn't at least suspect something???

Like sure, maybe he didn't realise the timeline in which Jour died and Deruth married Violan before he went to make the vow. But with the measly age gap of Basen and Cale, it would either have to mean that a) Jour died when Cale was really young (like baby age) and Deruth remarried quickly, or b) Deruth cheated on Jour. Both of which makes little sense if you consider a) the tense relationship between Cale and his stepfamily and b) Cale's attitude towards Deruth. (Also the novel's uncanny details on Cale)

And, okay, maybe I'm overthinking this, and the author just made a mistake in that part.

BUT ALSO. Later on we learn about Kim Rok Soo's curse. The curse that rubbed off on him from the White Star. It was also made through a vow of death, and he had to live with it taking away everything he ever cared about. But we can clearly see that he still managed to form connections, until they eventually left, too. So it can be circumvented somewhat, if only due to it being a weaker version.

And I (and likely the rest of the fandom) headcanon that KRS's fervent denial and unreliable narration in acknowledging his care for ppl likely stems from the curse. If you believe you don't care for them, then they won't leave. He's a smart kid, he would've realised the pattern.

So stay with me here, Cale/KRS obviously wouldn't know he had a curse or that it was connected to the VoD at that point in time. But he could've been subtly testing the efficacy of the vow?! Like, even this theory is iffy, considering, would he really do something so risky off the bat? I don't rlly see what he would've had to gain from it, but it's the best I've come up with. He makes himself believe, with reasonable justifications, that Basen is related to him, tests out the vow, and he doesn't drop dead straight away.

Well if anything, it felt like a good little tidbit of foreshadowing, unintentional as it may be. Also quoting those bits made me realise that he really did accept his identity as Cale Henituse really fast, and acknowledged Basen as his actual younger brother too. Nice!