Let's Give Him A Reason To Be Scared 🤭

Reading tcf again and I had a realization that blew me out of the water.

Not only is it an unreliable narrator story, the narrator simply... Does not spell things out. You have to pick things up from context clues and body language, like this is some kind of game. It's crazy.

Like, here's some stuff that's NEVER EXPLAINED (in the parts I read, which was up to chap 600~)

Cale's trigger is whenever any child is in danger or hurt. His behavior immediately changes, even if he doesn't acknowledge it to us. It's especially obvious when he finds the crown for the first time.

Cale's gets self destructive when he's stressed. If he starts being weirdly self sacrificial or vindictive? He's stressed out of his MIND.

He's extremely petty about anyone who looks down on him. He convinces himself he's not, but it takes *ages* for him to forgive that kind of slight. And in some cases, it's enough to damn a person for good.

He actually has very obvious emotional tells that other characters have picked up on + they have already realized the points above and act accordingly when they see them.

Like, seriously. I thought I understood the subtleties of the story, but it took until now to see these traits. I was always kinda confused why he acted the way he did.

I want him to talk to his 7 year old self so badly

----

Kid!krs: why is he so mean to me

Krs: *sighs with a bittersweet expression*

Kid!krs: *tearing up* why can't he like me like mom and dad did???

Krs: it's not your fault, he was a terrible person.

Kid!krs: *sobbing atp* what if he's right about me

Krs: absolutely not, don't believe anything that scumbag says. He ruined his own life and is now poisoning yours, don't let him. You will be safe soon, I'm sure.

Kid!krs: *nods and wipes his tears and snot on cales shirt while he's embracing him*

--

Choi han, who saw all of this: ...why do you call yourself trash if you know you're not supposed to believe that piece of shit?

Krs: I never believed him, me being trash was because of my own failures. It has nothing to do with him.

Choi han: please stop doing that

Krs: doing what.

Choi han: you've never failed anybody, that sort of thing has always happened in situations outside of your control! Please open your eyes for one fucking sec-

Krs: i know

Choi han: then why-

Krs: because i failed myself, that little kid spends the rest of his life mourning his dignity because I didn't have the will to confront that piece of shit. And when i did, it was too late.

hjyj yuri

A new understanding of cale’s character

cale henituse is a depressed bastard (we kind of been knew) am currently rereading the novel, so this time I noticed a tea symbolism, where the after the first time ron gave cale lemon tea and he drank it life's kind been giving cale lemons ever since. so of course it got me thinking more about the relationship between cale and ron and find that it would be interesting to study.

what kim rok soo observed of the relationship between og!cale and him was that ron didn’t have any particular like for cale, so could he as cale also operate under that or..?

Of course ron cares for og!cale and the current cale, and cale cares for ron because that just who he is, but rereading while having @azroazizah 's 'cale is a depressed bastard' post I kind of been taking a deep dive on angst and questioning all of cale's throwaway comments, like on the earlier chapters when he was so convinced that

"They will definitely forget about [him]" (212)

yes it makes for great misunderstandings (which I live for), but at the same time I can't but think that he really does believe those kind of statements, and that his actions betray a certain self abandonment that aligns well with her theory

so we kind of know that ron cares for cale and cale cares for ron, but did cale think that he cares for him beyond just a servant-young master relationship, at least at the beginning, even though he read about og!ron's moment's abandonment of og!cale, knowing that he is not even the same person ron cared for like a decade.. erm

I think the lemonade can be another misunderstanding plot too, thinking on cale's maybe real fear of the /power/ of the people around him (not /of/ them specifically, just the fact that they're wayy stronger than he is in general) and not great perception of his personal value to the people around him

it's not far off to say that he really rather not drink that lemonade, but as with most things he does, he feels as though he has to

A new understanding of cale’s character

cale henituse is a depressed bastard (we kind of been knew) am currently rereading the novel, so this time I noticed a tea symbolism, where the after the first time ron gave cale lemon tea and he drank it life's kind been giving cale lemons ever since. so of course it got me thinking more about the relationship between cale and ron and find that it would be interesting to study.

what kim rok soo observed of the relationship between og!cale and him was that ron didn’t have any particular like for cale, so could he as cale also operate under that or..?

Always thought of the idea that Cale, despite being oblivious to everything else, is actually extremely aware of his surroundings all the time.

And maybe this was discovered by the kids when they found out that he wouldn't get jump-scared no matter what they did (he tried to act scared for them but his stoic face couldn't quite convince anyone).

And everyone around him thinking how it must be some sort of trauma response to staying in the front lines of every battle ever.

(They aren't exactly wrong about the trauma part)

A subconscious habit developed as Kim Rok Soo, just another means to live another day.

But now, he lets himself space out for longer durations. Not observing his surroundings like a hawk and just, well, breathing.

And when he does blank out, he ends up flinching at almost every sound ever.

And that led to the belief that their vigilant Commander carries such a burden on his shoulders that he sometimes doesn't even notice his own family walking upto him (who are mostly trained individuals, or a traumatised high schooler, or two kittens–who all had to learn to walk stealthily just to survive, much like he once did).

Ironically, he always gets scared whenever Ron enters, even more so when he's already aware of the butler's presence.

The old man sometimes deliberately makes no noise when entering, just to see Cale flinching so hard and then acting nonchalant afterwards.

But Cale doesn't dislike it. Simply blanking out amidst this comforting safety that he had always wished for. With his family always beside him.

not even just that, i'm in the 400ish chapters and han yoojin deadass tripped bc the building was shaking while checking on song tae won who was taking a bath?? butt naked??? and bro deadass gets up from the tub??? butt naked??? to steady him???? and proceeds to use his body to shield him from the shaking building???? this was described as 'almost as if in a hug' btw??????

It probably sounds like a joke or an exaggeration when fans of The S-classes that I Raised talk about how homoerotic this non BL novel is, but reading this book is wild sometimes. Yeah the main character can't go more than like two chapters without emphasizing how hot the men in his life are, but also some of these characters will have the most intense yandere thoughts about about him. The guy who the main character considers the peak of male perfection deadass thinks to himself "Even if Han Yoojin were collapsed completely, the process of pulling him together and setting him back on his feet would certainly be enjoyable" like he's the black bellied CEO male lead of an imprisonment manhwa

Wrote a thing again:

Alberu & Cale Henituse, Alberu & Tasha

Alberu-centric (1883 words) <t rating>

Summary:

Alberu Crossman was used to living in an empty palace. There were servants, there were workers, knights, record keepers and mages, yet ultimately it was empty.

He was surrounded by undercover dark elves risking everything to help him, his aunt giving him unconditional love and support yet he still felt alone.

He wanted to make the future a better place but did not think himself worthy of existing in it. He learned and trained and did everything in his power to live up to the title of ‘crown prince’ and be better than everyone around him. After all, if he himself is not needed he just had to make his skills indispensable and earn his right to exist through them.

And then, he met Cale Henituse.

......

Or inspired by the stupid feeling when you wanna go home but you're already there, so now what? except it's Alberu and he found his home in the people around him

yes unrequited love calberu but also hero x prince choiberu