We Must Not Forget About Eremophobia.

We must not forget about eremophobia.

It was clearly demonstrated during the Wind Island test, and although it is not exactly traditional eremophobia (which is more than anything the fear of being physically alone), unlike this, Cale fears more than anything being the last survivor among his dear ones.

I think the reason Cale is always at the vanguard is that he is afraid of seeing his loved ones die. So, if they end up in a situation where their enemy is stronger than them and they can’t flee, at least he will die before the others.

Trauma will always push him to avoid seeing his people die, lest he be the last survivor. The guilt of having those ideas, of imposing that fate on someone else, can make his already low self-esteem even more non-existent than before.

I just realized I'm rambling, so I'll leave it here. Anyway, even if this analysis is wrong, I think it can be quite accurate in many cases.

Kim Rok Soo!Cale – aka. Poster Child of Trauma

Let's list down all the traumatic experiences of our MC, shall we? :)

Body stolen by the White Star's reincarnation

Being affected by the Curse of the God of Death ("All those you cherish shall die") before being born

Rebirth in Korea, shortly followed by the death of his parents

Taken in by his abusive uncle, Kim Seung Jong, who falls into alcoholism and gambling

Either the uncle dies due to his addictions or it gets so bad Kim Rok Soo runs away – that part was a bit unclear

Gets into the orphanage, where all friends or caretakers he comes to care about leave him, one way or another

Choi Jung Gun shows up when Kim Rok Soo is about to get murdered by the Hunters Park So Jin & Jung Yi-Rang, posing as his counselor & classmate

CJG or the Hunters wipe his memory of the event, which one did it is slightly unclear

Just as KRS's life gets stable enough that he gets a job while studying at a university, the Monster Apocalypse strikes and he loses everything all over again

KRS starves under the wreck of a building for a week before getting rescued by Lee Soo Hyuk

LSH takes him to a shelter where Park Jin Tae is in charge, just for him to turn into an abusive leader who bosses KRS around and beats him up

Then the monster wave shows up, killing everyone KRS got to know and care about at the shelter. Hello, Survivor's Guilt!

Somehow, he survives the rest of the monster wave, but that surely wasn't a pleasant experience, considering all shelters lost power for 24 hours and KRS probably experiences the minor ones failing in-person (who knows just how many different shelters he tried to run off to??)

After a time skip KRS gets into the company and we assume life is pretty good for a while for him, under LSH's guidance and the friendship with Choi Jung Soo, as well as their other Team members... except then the Unranked Monster shows up and wipes KRS's entire Team in one go, leaving him the last and only man standing. Hello, Survivor's Guilt Part Two!

KRS attends the funeral of LSJ & CJS, only to be talked about behind his back how he's not even mourning them correctly because he's not crying (those bastards-!)

He takes upon himself to avenge LSH and the rest of the Team, because they were supposed to have back-up from a Guild which all ran away and left them to die. I suppose KRS going after them went down similarly to how he later toppled Arm and the Mogoru Empire, so let's call it his "practice run on Dismantling Corrupt Organisations"

He takes over as the Team Leader as well, overworking himself to the extreme (not even taking a single day off in the first year) to have a 0% casualty rate

He distances himself from the team in order not to suffer another heartbreak if something happens to them (also, my theory is that KRS subconsciously recognized the pattern of his Curse and made himself believe that he's a bad, selfish person who doesn't care about others... just so the Curse don't kill off his Team members this time)

Once again, he gets his body stolen without his permission – and sure, that turned out well in the end, but still: not just once, but TWICE! NOT cool, God of Death!!

He's dumped with the knowledge and responsibility of the conflicts to come in this new world, which was supposed to be originally CJS's job to fix. Come on, it's not KRS's fault he lived instead!! Not he's gotta clean up THIS mess...

Once again, Cale overworks himself white trying to achieve World Peace, because HOW is he supposed to rest if the world comes to an end around him – AGAIN!?

Cale's body wastes away from continuously sacrificing himself (while claiming that he isn't sacrificing himself) and keeps falling into a coma from Ancient Powers overuse

He breaks his plate in the battle at the Gorge of Death and suffers terribly to get it fixed

He gets a premonition that he's probably going to die around November 8th – THANKS A LOT, GOD OF DEATH!!

He also goes through a traumatic test of seeing his worst fear at the Wind Island

He attracts the attention of several nasty characters: like Adin, the White Star, or the Sealed God... which is definitely NOT a good thing

The Sealed God casually tosses him into an alternate universe to relive his greatest trauma

Cale, once again, has to solve problems in another world because he literally cannot do anything else

Also the White Star is trying to murder him in the meantime, so he suffers great physical AND mental pain at the same time - hurray!

Oh and let's not forget, now he gotta defeat the Final Boss by stabbing himself. It won't hurt, the World Tree says...? WHY DON'T I BELIEVE YOU (Also the Sealed God made sure everyone saw everything, nice going there you son of a-!)

And just when the whole thing with the White Star and the Sealed God gets resolved, the HUNTERS SHOW UP, BECAUSE WHY THE HELL NOT

And now Cale gotta go around MORE UNIVERSES to solve ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS. ..... H o w n i c e

To shortly sum all of Cale's traumatic experiences:

Bodysnatched: x2

Cursed with loneliness and misfortune

Orphaned

Abused

Lived in poverty

Target of attempted assassination (also used as bait for assassins)

Had his head tampered with

Lived through an apocalypse

Trapped under a building (hello potential claustrophobia!)

Starved

Chased down by monsters

Bullied

Survivor's guilt: x2

Betrayed by allies

Forced into leadership

*Body dysphoria due to scars (forgot to mention that earlier)

Impostor syndrome: x2 (for both becoming the Team Leader and becoming Cale Henituse)

Judged for coping mechanisms

Regularly gets hurt and falls into coma

Near death experiences: x[INFINITE]

Forced to experience his worst nightmare

Forced into self-harm

Forced to save the world: x? (at least 3 times and the counter is still rising!?)

Basically, this man's life maybe have gotten better in the past 2 years... but his life is still hell 😅

(I blame you, God of Death – WHY would you consider reincarnation a good punishment?? And a CONTAGIOUS CURSE which affects the victims of your target!? This is all your fault.

...But mostly the Hunters' fault, obviously.)

Tags

trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family cale henituse character analysis :o[ this is a reblog eremophobia it's a serius topic then no kaomojis

TCF the Musical

Fic concept: Cale and his family watch a theater musical based on their adventures (much to Cale's horror and displeasure), "Ember Island Players" style

Raon hears about a theater play featuring Cale's group adventures. Cale really, REALLY doesn't wanna go and see it, but has little choice in the matter, once faced with the pleading faces of his children. Cale disguises himself of course, because he sure as hell doesn't wanna get recognized in the theater.

The play starts: Cale is introduced as a good-natured man, misunderstood and slandered by jealous folk (since people apparently decided that if Adin was the actual scum all along and his rep was a sham, why wouldn't the reverse be possible??) Apparently the musical decided that his past as a trash alcoholic never actually happened.

Choi Han is introduced, and the writers correctly investigated that he's from Harris Village and killed all the attackers, but was the only survivor. Cale is characterized as too righteous to let the matters be, and put this as his starting point to investigate Arm

Cale was portrayed to be humble and due to his bad rep, he wants to leave the Count's position to his brother Basen. (Real Cale is astonished, he doesn't want the position to be a SLACKER, not because of some self-sacrificial mindset!!!) But he requests to go to the capital to investigate more about Arm.

Choi Han comes along to investigate. On the way, they meet Mary. Cale isn't disgusted by her scars, and Mary promises to help the man in the future, should he ever need it.

In the capital, they're shown to meet badly disguised Rosalyn. The writers don't know about the assassination attempt, so they assume she went to investigate Arm, too. Apparently Rosalyn was credited in the musical for finding out about the mana bombs and dismantling them.

Cale and the Prince meet, and they have a whole number how instantly they recognized each other as kindred spirits. (Real Cale is dying on the inside watching this.)

Rosalyn stops the bombs in the background, and Cale stops the suicide bombers. The writers interpret Cale as having this power for a long time, but using it for the first time only in emergency, since he is a humble person who doesn't wish for glory.

Cale denies any rewards (completely untrue, Real Cale says to the kids, he took the Prince's money), and people of the Roan Kingdom start realizing just what a good person he is.

Cale goes to recover to the seashore, where he sees Toonka fighting some locals. (Those were the Whales, says Real Cale, not some mage thugs.) Cale breaks up the fight, and Toonka explains to Cale the situation in the Whipper Kingdom. Cale's idea of buying the magic tower doesn't come up here at all, and the scene makes a point that Cale and Toonka become friends.

The plot introduces us to the White Star, who is a completely crazy, power-hungry, cartoonish lunatic. Real Cale actually likes this representation a lot. He is plotting together with the Evil Imperial Prince, who is also cartoonishly evil. (Real Cale starts enjoying himself for the first time in the whole musical.)

To contrast the villains, the Just and Chivalrous Crown Prince Alberu has a number to drive the point how much he worries for his country, and the incoming wars. He thinks that perhaps with the help of Young Master Cale, they might be able to survive the incoming storms. (Real Cale is inwardly laughing hysterically, imagining Alberu's dumbfounded reaction to this scene, especially the part about Alberu's "unwavering trust in Cale's selfless heart".)

Meanwhile, Cale finished his recovery and goes to the Whipper Kingdom. His decision to buy the Magic Tower is shown to be a spur-of-a-moment thing, as the Whipper Kingdom needs money to continue fighting against the Empire, who the Crown Prince suspects is working with Arm. (Real Cale is disgusted how his very clever scam was turned into a selfless deed in this musical.) Toonka is indebted to Cale and loudly proclaims him his friend (since he does that in real life and the writers had sources)

Then Cale is shown to meet the Cat Children. Real Hong and On are irritated they came in so late. Raon is grumpy he isn't there at all. Real Cale comforts him that he had been hidden this whole time, of course they wouldn't know about him. The children say that the Queen of the Jungle is trapped in the Path of No Return, and Cale heroically helps rescue her. Cale uses his Water Ancient Power, which according to the writers, he found in the Ubarr shores during recovery. (Real Cale is surprised at the accidental accuracy.)

Cale saves the Jungle, and Litana has a number praising him. (Real Cale intentionally falls asleep to stop watching his character being portrayed as embarrassingly pure-hearted hero)

By the time he wakes up, the plot passed his "Heroic Actions" in the Empire and the war arc begins. Choi Han has a whole heroic solo number as he defeats Clopeh, who immediately is dazzled by the grace of his enemies, and joins them. (Real Cale is once again missed how completely off the mark the whole thing is, completely skipping Clopeh's torture and everything.)

We skip past various battles, and finally we arrive at the moment when the White Star shows up. He and Cale have a duet about destiny and all that jazz (mirroring the rumors started by the White Star's nonsense theory about Cale being "the messenger of the gods"). At this point, Real Cale has enough, and completely stops paying attention, to save his sanity.

Turns out, the kids didn't like it. It was much too inaccurate, and Raon wasn't in it. Cale comforts them that of course it was bad, because Raon wasn't in it. Raon decides he should start writing that biography with Mary, Clopeh and Dodori, much to Cale's horror.

Tags

lol trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family tcf au cale henituse :o[ this is a reblog reaction fic

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maria-of-the-waves

11 months ago

From the ashes [재], we rise (TCF AU).

Okay, I have an AU idea that could be a lot of fun to write. (＠＾◡＾)

This is nothing serious, I just thought what if this happened, and here I am. ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

So, this is my AU:

OgCale was a commander of a platoon with whom he formed close bonds.

KRS managed to connect with the team members after JSH (Joo So Hoon) admitted that his father died of old age. The rest of the team (excluding KMA) consoled him, revealing that they also lack close family members.

They offered to be each other’s family, marking their oath by getting matching maple leaf tattoos. (Because the Korean word for ‘one’ [일] can be translated as ‘day’ [낮], and ‘autumn day’ [가을날] can be translated as ‘maple’ [단풍].)

This triggers Rok Soo to spend more quality time with Team 1, subconsciously thinking of them as family.

Simultaneously, an attack by an unclassified monster occurs during the battle in Puzzle City, pushing both Team 1 and the platoon to the brink of death.

The god of death brings OgCale and KRS to his domain, proposing that they return to their worlds and switch bodies. They acept whit one condition: their teams must go with them.

For OgCale’s side, it’s straightforward. The platoon members are easily placed in the younger bodies of Team 1, just before the destruction of the shelters. They receive information about the future situation and their new lives, enough to survive and thrive.

However, Team 1 (+ the Bae family) faces a tougher challenge. All platoon members were born during the war, so they can’t travel to those bodies.

The solution? Create new bodies for them. But there’s a problem: the resemblance to Choi Han.

His mutations in the Dark Forest (because you can’t convince me he didn’t mutate in the 150+ years trapped, surviving with magical beasts and mutated herbs while exposed to lethal poisons and dead mana ┐( ’ д ') ┌) would make him something a little less than human for those who know how to look.

The solution: create non-human bodies that replicate these mutations (bright reflections in black or brown hair, sharp fangs, thicker skin, high resistance to toxins and both live and dead mana, night vision, slightly pointed ears, etc.). This provides a viable explanation for their post-apocalyptic abilities.

Once done, they’re left somewhere between Rain City and Roan’s capital.

Everything up to the start of the journey to the capital happens as in canon, except that Cale’s tattoos (located above his knees) come with him to Nameless 1.

The encounter with the bandits changes everything. In their camp, they find a bunch of cages containing Team 1.

Cale, worried and mentally cursing the god of death, approaches to free them.

Meanwhile, Choi Han is visibly shocked to see a group of Koreans locked in cages (noticed by Cale’s entourage).

Cale frees them using a key he snatched from the leader.

And accidentally, Sejong calls him Timjang-Nim [팀장] (which means ‘team leader-nim’).

Ron asks if he knows them, and Min Ah, carrying her daughter, inadvertently worsens the situation by claiming they’re her clan.

Meanwhile, the knights wonder if this is why Cale brought Choi Han to the Henituse mansion, and they start concocting increasingly elaborate theories.

Tags

trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family kim rok soo tcf au cale henituse :o[ i think it is this is crack i do not regret it team 1 I wrote this AU with only two motivations have Team 1 accidentally gaslight Choi Han and make everyone question Cale's heritage

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maria-of-the-waves

10 months ago

Give Cale the credit he deserves, he named Raon and we all love his name (⌒ω⌒)

Although he get the idea from Jung Soo…

“What is the name of that thing?” Lee Soo Hyuk was asking about the monster’s name. Cale pulled its name out from his memories. “Electric Eel.” “…Ho.” Lee Soo Hyuk let out a short gasp. “A scary monster that is unranked has such a stupid name?” “Yes, sir. That’s its name.” “Did you give it that name?” ‘No. Team leader, you came up with the name later after you survived the attack.’ Cale held back those words. Lee Soo Hyuk interpreted that short duration of silence as he pleased. “You must have come up with that name since your foresight probably only let you see or hear the monster. Your naming sense is terrible.” “No-” “I understand.” Cale felt wronged.

Lol, Cale feels wronged because Lee Soo Hyuk told him that his sense of naming is terrible. But I mean, Lee Soo Hyuk is right - who the fuck would name an inn "Hope and adventure loving Inn"? Both of them have a terrible sense of naming. :)

Tags

trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family choi jung soo cale henituse this is a reblog naming sense

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maria-of-the-waves

11 months ago

Happy Pride Month! ＼(≧▽≦)／

Hc icons happy pride monthhhh

Tags

lgbtq happy pride pride month trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family cale henituse aroace this is a reblog aberu crossman

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maria-of-the-waves

1 year ago

Secondary characters need more love! o(>< )o (Part 2: Hans)

I know that in fanfiction and fanarts he has many fans, but it must be admitted that in the canon, apart from being a cat lover and a good butler, he was not much delved into (￣ヘ￣)

He is known to be good at fighting with daggers and a spear, but at no point in the story is he seen fighting and I feel disappointed in that (＃￣ω￣)

Also, now that I'm rereading the novel and reading the manhwa, I got the idea that Hans could be a good shaman (︶︹︺)

Why did it occur to me? For one thing only, cats (＾• ω •＾)

If Hans becomes a shaman there is no doubt that his animal companions would be cats, something he would definitely enjoy (づ ◕‿◕ )づ

If that ever became canon I would like to see how he and Jopis interact (O.O)

From my point of view there are only two options: they get along immediately or they fight like, well, cats and dogs ╮(￣ω￣;)╭

I would have liked to see him fight at some point and generally have more participation (￢_￢;)

His character has no background, what is his past? Where does he come from? How was he hired? Why did he become a butler? ლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)

I want to know all that and more, even better if he is given a positive character arc, advancement with his abilities, and good development (o^ ^o)

Tags

cats trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family Hans tcf novel shamanism Secundary characters need more love! Princess Jopis

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maria-of-the-waves

1 year ago

"Have you ever felt so much pain that you wanted to die? We call the people who overcame such pain, ‘heroes.’" - Cale Henituse (Chapter 214)

Tags

quotes trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family cale henituse tcf novel

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maria-of-the-waves

10 months ago

What memories…

When I first found this deck online I spent hours searching for it to download.

I have it ready to print if one day I get the paper they use to make the cards for the decks (*¯︶¯*)

Found the Cards

Tags

trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family tarot cards this is a reblog tcf tarot cards

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maria-of-the-waves

1 year ago

This fanart is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life ♡(。-ω-) ♡

🥹 🫶☀️🌙 x

Tags

fanart trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family alver crossman alberu crossman I LOVE IT this is a reblog

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maria-of-the-waves

10 months ago

I think it was something that happened to all of us, after all I discovered TCF thanks to a gacha club video ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

maria-of-the-waves - TCF Ideas I Need to Share or I'll Go Crazy ☆ｏ(＞＜；)○

Tags

trash of the count's family tcf lcf lout of the count’s family tcf novel this is a reblog i love this novel when you find the best novel by a gacha video

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