Yeah, of course i have a plan
Plan:
It kind of bothers me, because in canon, Bud is not stupid.
Yes, he is a at times reckless (like that time he got captured by Jopis). And yes, he plays the "drunk idiot" role very well, to the point he completely fooled Raon when Cale and Bud met for the first time.
The problem is, for some reason, TCF fans remember that interaction between Cale & Bud in the inn and take it as his actual characterization, and not an act. Which it is.
Bud is an interesting character. He's someone who relies on his drunk act – which he does mostly to gather intel, just like OG Cale relied on his act to ruin his reputation – in order to be underestimated. And it works, because everyone is surprised just how much Bud knows, despite being from a different contient than Cale.
However, being drunk and supposedly recklessly talkative (even though I can tell he chose the information he told Cale in that first meeting very carefully, figuring Cale out at the same time), Bud also shows signs of very quick wit and spontaneous planning, just like Cale.
He figures out quickly that Cale and the others are no joke. He's willing to enter an alliance, and show Cale the Directory, and also makes the immediate decision to burn the Directory down, once he realizes that the White Star uses it for nefarious purposes.
We see his competence in the 1,001 mercenary squad rescue, how he's willing to do anything for his men, and isn't too stubborn to ask Cale for help, when he needs it. He's also compassionate and responsible enough to regret putting Cale in danger as he rushes in to save them.
Of course, I understand why the "idiot" part is what the fans actually remember of this character. He got captured by Jopis' "innocent" puppies. That.... wasn't his fault. He has an Ancient Power which should have warned him of potential danger, and yet, the puppies turned out one of the few immune exceptions to his senses. Bud's true mistake was going in alone, and doing so because the wanted to impress Cale. Which is why he gets no sympathy from Cale when they show up to "rescue" him and make a deal with Jopis.
Sorry, Bud, as much as I'm on your side, that was a hilariously stupid mistake on your part.
One incident shouldn't make fans believe that Bud is an idiot, though. The reason it does, however, is because of Glenn. Glenn Poeff's reaction to Bud getting stupidly captured shows us that this was not the first time when Bud was stupidly reckless. But it does fit his overall characterization. Bud is not stupid, but he's not as cautious as Cale, despite his justified paranoia about the White Star aiming to kill him.
Bud's attitude towards Cale's crazy shenanigans also reminds the audience of two specific characters: Toonka, and Archie. Both of which are, at the same time, the "violent thugs" of their society, who contrast Cale in being shocked by his "mad viciousness" and become ironically "the only sane man on board". But just because Bud is also one of the characters who react to Cale as "dude, are you crazy?? Wait, nevermind..." doesn't mean that Bud is at the same intelligence level as Toonka and Archie. In fact, Bud is much, much more intelligent than those two. So it's not really fair to put him together with them in that department.
Bud is also a Sword Master, and a Mercenary King. We can probably conclude two things about his personality from that: one, he loves adventure and swordmanship. Two, he is brave enough to lead and make risks in order to achieve his ambitions. Bud is intelligent and a good actor, but he does love alcohol – he just pretends he's a lightweight (again, just like OG Cale). Bud is a good strategist and fighter, but he does make reckless mistakes from time to time, much to Glenn's exasperation.
The fic is here! ✨
Instead of being able to, very briefly and painfully, fuck with time; he got an ability based on all the absolute bullshit that's happened to him.
From the childhood, to his friends dying in front of him. All the shitty rumors that sprouted up, all the shit luck, all of it. Just, all of it.
So instead of Instant, he got Lament.
Lament is a scream capable of leveling buildings, at the cost of absolutely shredding Rok Soo's throat.
As a result of that power, Rok Soo doesn't talk often, and when he does his voice is hoarse and pained. He also refuses to speak at full volume, because while he's got a handle on his power, he's paranoid that he'll slip up.
So when he transfers over to the body of Cale, people notice.
The Young Master went to bed his usual talkative self, but when he woke up?
Barely a word, and when he did speak, a whisper.
Cale barely speaks a word to Ron beyond the single syllable required. Barely bothers to acknowledge Deruth. Relies on hand-speak and notes to talk to merchants.
Deruth is going crazy trying to figure out what the hell happened to his son, Ron is very close behind him because what the hell got past him? He's Ron Fucking Molan.
Then Cale comes home with a bedraggled punk that smells like the trash the killed Ron's family, and Ron has to listen in astonishment as he says more to this jackass than he's said to Ron in a week.
Basically; Cale's power of Lament is so strong and painful that everything Cale is paranoid of letting it slip, that he's selectively mute. This causes many misunderstandings, in true Cale fashion.
Props to PAN4-nim for staying very on brand and making all the TCF manhwa covers just dad Cale. Like it's just Cale and his kids guys. That's all there is to it. It's their world, us and all the other characters are just living in it. Just Dad Cale and his 3 children✨️👌😭💕
Throw money with mama
Watch two crazy punks with mama
Get praised by mama
Scam with mama
Pose with mama
Snuggle with mama
Inspired by that one person who said kdj is the only one who went to college and has a degree
"why are they all cale" he's main character in tcf and in my heart, okay💔💔
sources under the cut!
picture sources: lout of the count's family manhwa (duh) (chapters are in the ALT)
textpost sources:
okay done :thumbsup: source
blood "loss"? source
the urge to set things on fire source (afa i could tell!)
in trouble source
'you wouldn't pirate a-' source
you're so resilient! source
Cale Henituse is the funniest bastard to have as an MC, he's a unreliable narrator and everyone sees it. He wants to slack off and says world peace needed first before that.
Hates cats yet adopts two and plans to make a third king, scams people constantly, the most skewed perception of how to be a trashy man. Says he isn't a good person, does things that help people constantly, justifies it saying cause he didn't have pure motives for doing it it's not a good deed so he's still a bad person. Adopts a dragon even though he said he didn't want it near him cause he'd be in the middle of crazy situations, said by the guy who puts himself in situations constantly all the time. "I don't care about this old man assassin and want him to leave as soon as possible' several chapters later when said assassin comes back hurt and dying "What the fuck i'm going to blow up an island the bastards behind this are on" Yeah he blows up an island, says 'well the ships can just sail a bit further so it can go no biggie.' Said explosion is several times bigger then it should be, cause of his chronic inability to communicate with anyone ever. Stop saying shit exclusively in your head dumbass! He coughs up blood constantly from rebound his powers cause, fails to understand why anyone is upset by this sight when he's 'fine'. Has a healing power, fails to disclose that too to anyone. "I'm weak." Says this fucking idiot, while blasting his charisma aura that makes you feel like your going to die at people who have no idea it's a buff and take it seriously. While using a giant fuck off shield to block bombs. While blasting people with a thunderbolt that can blow up a forest. He's so stupid /aff I want to bite him like a chew toy and shake some sense but we all know he'll never get any.
Kim Roksu: 10/10, very polite and helpful, worked to save his other self's world while also being thoughtful not to mess up his life and personal connections Kim Dokja: 0/10 tried to stab himself Han Yoojin: 0/10 tried to stab himself
Sometimes I wish Earth wasn't hit with the cataclysm just so we could have OG Cale go live in the modern Korea and we could see him be amazed as he tried out everything he hadn't seen before in his world. No inheriting Kim Roksoo's memories business. Just let him explore this new world on his own. He could spend all the money OG Roksoo saved up on branded items. I want to see him wear Louboutins with heels. I wonder if he'd leave the desk job KRS originally had and go become an ice skater. He learns beat-boxing somewhere along the way. I just get so happy imagining him trying out different sports because they didn't have those in his old world. Tennis, basketball, oh he's absolutely fire at stuff like dart throw and archery. His bottle throwing at gangsters gave him enough aiming practice. He loves going to a bar on Friday nights after work- Wait.
If he doesn't inherit Kim Roksoo's memories, he'd definitely have issues adjusting to the new world because of how different it is from his own. The education, the technological advancements. He's gonna have his work cut out for him once he gets there. OG Cale without Kim Roksoo's memories would be Hoshi levels of technologically challenged. He'd eventually get the hang of it. But the struggle is real.
Gosh, it's just so fun to imagine this magical fantasy world aristocrat getting isekai'd into modern day Korea and getting befuddled with everything here. He's gonna have a field day exploring it all. And when he eventually finds and adopts Jour's reincarnation? How tf is he supposed to help her with her homework if he didn't receive the education of this world?! His cute little niece is gonna judge him so hard!
For all the convenience that comes with the new world, it sure has its fair share of drawbacks. And working overtime is one of them. So is working night shifts. Whether it's an apocalyptic world or not, OG Cale's determination to become to the CEO of the company Kim Roksoo worked at solely to get rid of the night shifts would not change one bit. That is one tenacious man after all.
Gosh! Just, OG Cale in modern day Korea!
He passed out like 10 minutes after this
Cale Henituse [LCF] + wolf pupy tweets (insp)