#cale loves dragons

[blueteller]

Cale (NOT) Being A Dragon

Litana: …Is he the Dragon of the Legend? Cale: (smiling) No, I am not a Dragon Obante: T-that aura! Sir, are you a Dragon?? Cale: (confused) …No, I'm not a Dragon Jeet: That scent of nature…! Are you perhaps-?! Cale: (frustrated) I am not a Dragon! Eruhaben: You must be of Dragon Slayer lineage, I see Cale: (exasperated) No I am not Dragon Half-Blood: …A Half-Dragon like me! Cale: (shocked) What the hell, no! White Star: A perfect Dragon Slayer candidate, then! Cale: (furious) NO! Bakehe: The leader of Dragons… Must be a Dragon! Cale: (tired) For the last time, I am not-! Blood Cult Barrier: Dragon Recognized. Passage Granted! Cale: ………

[birb-catto]

I love the wholesomeness of this fandom

Cale sacrificing himself:

TCF fandom: YES YES YEAAAH MORE BLOOD MOAAAR

DHB sacrificing himself:

TCF fandom: NOOOOOO baby don't die 😭

[alien-slushie]

I'm sorry, but is anyone else flabbergasted that, as far as Deruth knows, his "drunk" 18 year old son randomly brought home and man one night and just kinda...kept him?

Like, Deruth, honey, why did you not question that?

Like, I get it: "it's a story and blah blah blah it doesn't matter in story or in the plot!", but realistically if my child brought home a random man while hammered I would be very concerned.

[youngyoo-apologist]

“Kids what’s wrong-WHAT.”

Quick comic for a future scene of [In the Borderline], everyone is having a bad time, at least Cale isn’t dead !

[noxiousgrace]

Sometimes i stay up late thinking about the times cale had to face his biggest fears in illusions

First time during the wind island test, where he was all alone

I was crying on my knees during those chapters, the fact he kept forgetting what was written in that damn book B R O K E M E.

And the second time during the hallucination elisneh, or whatever her name is, put him in.

The fact that he's scared his newfound family is all just an elaborate dream, honestly twists my heart in directions i didn't even know existed

And how during the sadness test krs just followed a stranger (choi han) to his home cuz that was better than going back to his uncle, bro.

I want to kill everyone who had a hand in fucking up this poor mans life

[samberrybay]

I truly am waiting for the moment Dragon Half-Blood will get a name. Also very much hope Cale or Sheritt would be the ones to think of it.

Because DHB was a dick who have killed lots of people for the sake of killing them... but so did Hannah. And both of them had reasons for doing what they did. Which doesn't forgive their wrongdoings, but does give them the opportunity to change and be better.

It saddens me that Hannah got her redemption arc while DHB- well, not entirely.

DHB suffered for HUNDREDS of years to yearn any ounce of care or affection from White Star, only much later realizing how foolish of him it was.

He was sold by his own parents and then got experimented on to become neither a human nor a dragon.

For god's sake, the first ever time DHB got to experience choosing by himself and for himself was when Cale, the enemy!!!, literally asked "Do you want to die now or do it later?"!!! How fucked up is that?

Plus even after all the fucked things he went through!! DHB didn't destroyed Raon's egg! He is a big reason for our baby being with us! A small rebellion against WS's order that could have literally costed him a life or more suffering!!

DHB gone through years of emotional abuse/manipulation and you know when he felt the happiest in his 900+ years of life? Washing enemy's dishes while feeling constant pain.

And my baby didn't even got to keep his body because he was dying. He is inside a bone dragon now!

(A bit Spoilers for the second part)

I don't read or even see much spoilers after murim arc, but i saw that on the next planet Cale takes DHB with them or smt and it makes me sooo excited for the possible moments!!

Give him a proper redemption arc, i beg!!

[valdeswan]

Cale and his family are so fucking touch starved that it is not even funny. Give them all the platonic physical love they need.

Hugs anytime, because why fucking not? Let the kids run in their room and give Cale hugs at random times in the day. Make him try to awkwardly hug Rosalyn to congratulate her for her achievements. Allow Mary to receive all the hugs from the wolves when she lets them ride the skeleton dragon.

Good greeting cheek kisses and goodbye kisses: This is a tradition that started with the tiger, but everyone adopts it when they see each other after a long time or if someone is going to be far away from the Rock Village.

Forehead kisses, mostly from Lord Sheritt, who shows affection to the kids, but also to Cale because he has this cute and weak appearance.

Nap time with all the wolf kids because they are just big dogs and everyone has a weak spot for them and their puppy eyes. In the nap time, Beacrox puts soft blankets and pillows in the grass and sits with the kids while reading; he says it´s because someone needs to take care of them, but everyone knows it's a lie.

Rosalyn making hairstyles and taking care of Cale's hair. Loving how soft and easy to brush it's.

Cuddling with the tigers—that is just all of them sleeping under the sun in the garden. Cale not very secretly love this moment of the day because is literally big cats with fluffy and soft fur to lie with.

Basically, he and his family fixing and taking care of all the touch-starved lives they had. Alberu, Choi Han, Rosalyn, I bet nobody touched them nicely too much I'm their fucking lives.

[venomgaia]

do you ever set up your workspace and become some sort of brady bunch-adjacent hell

[kuroyuki-kokuyoku]

A while back, I read this post and it may have colored my perception on how the Bat Trash pairing would work out.

(yea, that's my name for it.)

I'm just saying. Rather than the love at first sight, parent trap cliché...

I'm talking 500K, slow burn, enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-rivals-to-friends-with-benefits-to-lovers, and it doesn't go linearly too. They hop back and forth between the statuses like rooftop tag.

Of course, it depends which version of the Batman you're dealing with.

If we're dealing with Emotionally Castrated, Child Soldier Raising, Toxic Batman? Nah, at best I can see them hatefucking from Metropolis to back until Cale and his kids finally have enough and move back to Nameless and never set foot in DC ever again.

Never Stopped Trying and Finally Succeeding as a Good Parent Bruce Wayne from Waynes' Family Adventures? Yes. This is the version of Batman I can actually see making Bat Trash work.

Hell, I can see the kids do the whole nine yards of parent trap shenanigans once Bruce and Cale finally got over the worst of their issues.

Let's be honest, both men have a lot of work (and therapy) cut out for them. I imagine them seeing the same fatal flaws reflected in each other and both learning how to get better, do better, and be better.

Also, Alfred and Ron becoming competitive over who can deliver the most threatening shovel talk is funny.

Batman x TCF AU

SO like

Cale and his kids transport there

they get settled

Headcannon:Cale is a Batman fan

(just makes some things easier on me)

the kids wander off

Bomb the joker

they then say their father is looking for them

but they the kids look like they have been rolling around in garbage for weeks.

The bomb was made in a hurry with some things they found around because they are genius

their clothes are torn because they fell from a height but you know Cats land on their feet and Raon was raised around cats (:

so the bats think they are abandoned and take them to the wayne house saying he can take care of you

do a quick change and welcome them in

(They have foster care? on speed dial)

Cale searches for them

finds Eden(DHB) who has just hatched from his egg and missed Cale and Raon and teleported to them

then 3 days later an angry and worried

Cale comes aknocking

after hearing about what his children did

because A. he knows Joker and that creep reminds him of WS and Cloph combined

B.They deliberately wandered off

C.The Waynes tryin to keep his kids!!!

So at this point the story could go either way

Bruce could either adopt Cale(he does have adult children plus grandchildren)

Or

Bruce and Cale could fall in love

Bruce is probably around 40s? in this world

which would work with Cale who is mentally almost in his 40s

and probably more reasonable is if this is after they defeat the hunters and slacker life time so Cale body is now physically in the 30s and BAM it fits

honestly this is what my brain thinks up during class......I missed so many notes ): XD

[penguin-stars]

I just love the temple trials because they bring out the wildest scenarios:

*Choi Han wakes up as an Office Worker in modern Korea*: What is an "e-mail"? when you say "click" on the tab you mean...?

*Cale, leaving the palace after turning it into utter chaos*: Today was a good day :)

*Clopeh after seeing that Cale, once again saved the world*: And I wasn't there to witness it???

*The Black Dragon after being freed from the mana chains*: I'm going to blow this place up!

*Cale, realizing that that includes him*: Heck yeah! Blow us up!

*everyone in the room*: ???

Choi Jung Gun to Cale: "Don't worry, I don't plan on you getting hurt."

*Gets them into a traffic accident*

Cale: "I'm going to defeat the White Star with the power of friendship and this pebble that I just picked up! I may also beat up a god with it too while I'm at it."

*Choi Han, a random stranger taking kid KRS to his house to feed him*: You shouldn't go around following random strangers to their houses!!

*Kid KRS*: ...Ok....

*Cale, after realizing that CJG used him to lure the hunters away from CJS*:

*Also Cale*: Understandable, have a shit day

[blueteller]

You know... I often think about the fact that out of all events in TCF? Rescuing Raon was the most important.

It wasn't just because Cale got himself a "Draco Ex Machina" at his side that could use OP magic at his convenience. He could have used tools or Rosalyn's magic instead, at the beginning at least. We saw how he planned ahead and used an enchanted tool to make Taylor and Cage invisible to sneak them into the capital.

It wasn't just because through Raon, Cale was able to make connection with Eruhaben and later Sheritt and many other Dragons. They were important for their victory, but Cale could have gotten in contact with them through other ways – Pendrick, for example.

It wasn't just because Raon could detect things like dead mana or magical traps and disguises – even if Rosalyn wouldn't be able to, Cale would have probably figured out Alberu's connection to Dark Elves sooner or later. He already had suspicions about "a secret to his birth" before Raon mentioned the dyed hair.

Yes, those thing mattered, don't get me wrong. But, out of all the changes Cale made after his transmigration – saving Raon was the event that truly changed the whole game... not for the world, but for Cale himself.

Raon was, in many instances, the pushing force behind Cale's motivation to participate in various events. Slacker life? Cale's wishful thinking. But the motivation to actively get people involved – like Mary, for example. Raon was the one who cheered Cale on, kept him company through everything, especially the tough times. Raon was the one who, along with On and Hong, melted Cale's heart the fastest, getting this stubborn, traumatized man to admit they were "family". It's not that he wouldn't be a good man doing good things without Raon; but without Raon he would be in a lot more denial (even more than he already is!!) about why he is doing such things.

Raon represents everything Cale loves about his new life. The joy, the hope for the future, the curiosity and enthusiasm. Yes Cale often acts tired of (or freaks out over) Raon's antics or pretends to ignore him. But in the end... he never actually does. Cale never stops paying attention to him or tells him to go away.

Raon was the one who truly "got under his skin", so to speak. Cale wholeheartedly trusts and respects Raon. Of course, Raon is still a child under his protection... The reason why Cale always insisted on him staying hidden, throughout most of their adventures. I remember the moment Cale got the Dragon Blood Drinking Crown, and his first reaction was "let's throw this away/destroy it". The utter repulsion towards anything that could be a danger to Raon, despite how potentially useful such an artifact could be, logic be damned. Or that moment when they met the White Star for the first time, the villain telling Cale how he would kill the child and feed his heart to him – how Cale outwardly showed terror for the first time in the whole novel, instantly hugging Raon close to him and activating the shield to its fullest.

That's what really gets to me, you know? Raon's protectiveness for Cale is so obvious, but Cale is just as protective of him in return. I truly believe that while all relationships that Cale had shaped him as a person (just like the God of Death stated in his letter to him), the relationship between Cale and Raon is one that shaped them both in equal measure on both sides.

This relationship between them feels like fate, and that's no accident.

Changing Raon's fate was fundamental for saving the world, yes. But it equally important for Cale's own growth. An event which happened right at the beginning on the story, shaped the course of the entire future.

[letcaleslack]

Raon, I love you.

You're the cutest dragon toddler ever.

Don't think I didn't notice that you're always hovering just behind Cale's shoulder.

[forgetme-eternally-blissfully]

This is the color I mean when I say wine-red btw

I like this one the most out of all the wine red variations because it's a little dark, a little purple, a little dull, but it's still red. All things that make it fit into krs's character. If you look, he isn't all dark, he isn't purple, he's not completely dull, but you can't say that he's definitely red either. Your first instinct is red, yes, but you look back at real red and it doesn't quite fit that box too. A special color just for him.

Dragon krs idea- this is before the start of the novel and before Choi Han reaches Harris Village.

He's warm. What had once been the neutral temperature of his house as he drifted to sleep, after reading the novel The Birth of a Hero, became a warm, wet blanket. It wrapped around him slickly. It feels uncomfortable.

That isn't good. Not knowing something isn't good. The wet was suffocating and he stretched out his hand to find the end of the blanket.

Kim Rok Soo shakes abruptly. He frowns, but finds that his face feels strange. His limbs are cramped in a tight space, but the walls begin to give way under his squirming. He shrugs his shoulders, butting his head forward, kicking with his legs.

The wall which is also wet and slippery cracks under his arms and he pushes up with his feet.

His nose breaks into the cold air. Kim Rok Soo breathes, opening his eyes to a dark expanse above him, the stars looming above him. Except the stars aren't the same as he remembers. And he feels strange, in a foreign body.

He looks down to see what are clawed, red paws, and the remains of a wine-red shell. Whatever he had been thinking was happening... it wasn't this. Was it because of his nature, or the environment he grew up in? He didn't bother to think any further about his body when he still didn't know what was around him.

He was in a forest, regular as any that he'd seen before in Korea. Minus the wavering motions of something in the air. It was an odd, instinctive feeling, rather than something he could see.

It told him that something was approaching.

Without any time to think further Kim Rok Soo scampered over the broken remains of his egg and stumbled with chubby little paws over to a bush. Unfortunately for him, he appeared to only be the size of a small dog, or a medium sized cat. His senses expanded naturally to feel across the forest floor and towards what was approaching.

A bear-like creature-- with purple fur, 4 extra limbs, and long horns trailing down its back and a long tail-- emerged from the growth and quickly went to sniffing his egg shell. Then, Kim Rok Soo's heart dropped, it looked directly at his position in the bush. Well, that isn't good.

Kim Rok Soo jumped out of the bush right as the bear leaped forward powerfully. Moving quickly he loops around a tree right as the bear slams into it and hides in the monsters blind spot, instinctively using the strange movement he sensed in the air before to turn the attention of the bear away from him.

It must only work to confuse the bear because while it doesn't follow the motion, it struggles to catch a whiff of Kim Rok Soo again. He skillfully uses his paws to silently move behind and away from the bears line of sight. It must not have very good hearing, and it ambles around, disoriented. In a moment of instinct alone, he uses something to prevent the grass from making any noise, too.

Kim Rok Soo is panicking about how to escape the bear when a black line suddenly appears in his line of sight, and it pierces the bears skull out of nowhere.

The beast slowly falls over, dead.

The black line moved so fast that not even Kim Rok Soo saw it. His red paws tremble. He looks at the felled bear, revealing a small tree branch embedded in its head, bleeding steadily from the fatal injury.

...

Kim Rok Soo stiffly looks around him. Is he going to end up being a snack for whatever killed that bear? The bear has enough meat doesn't it? Can't it leave him alone? He was just born.

Unexpectedly it isn't a monster but a boy, a teenager, that emerges from the trees and stares at Kim Rok Soo. He's wearing makeshift clothes and holding a rusty knife. Kim Rok Soo shudders. Can he escape from this guy? Then the teenager notices the egg shell on the ground and looks back at Kim Rok Soo.

"You..." he speaks in Korean. "You're just a baby." The Korean teenager lowers his eyes. "I can't kill a baby."

Insulted, Kim Rok Soo opens his mouth to argue. He's 36 years old. He isn't even close to being a baby!

The teenager looks at the wine red dragon blankly. The brief emotion in his eyes falls away like an illusion, and he anxiously taps his knife with a restless finger.

...

Kim Rok Soo sees the dead bear out of the corner of his eye.

Actually, being a baby isn't so bad. This guy looks strong, let's piggy back off of his strength and get a free ride out of this forest.

With his mind set, Kim Rok Soo sits his bum on the ground and curls his tail around his waist to sit on his paws, not the floor. It's comfortable. Should he try to be cute or something?

He yawns, tired from running around immediately after waking up from the egg. This is annoying. If the teenager doesn't take him in, won't he have to survive out here on his own? He doesn't know if the monsters here are edible.

Unbeknownst to him, Kim Rok Soo just displayed behaviors identical to those of a cat.

His eyes closed from yawning, Kim Rok Soo opens them to find the teenager crouching directly in front of him.

Way too scary!

"You aren't trying to attack me. You... is it because you're a baby?"

Kim Rok Soo tilts his head. Does this guy expect a baby to respond to him?

Choi Han swallows. In this place... maybe he can have a friend? It has wings, maybe he could teach it to lead him to people like him.

Choi Han stiffly opens his arms, keeping the knife positioned outward, and though his blank expression is unnerving Kim Rok Soo is tired and hungry, so he yawns again and steps closer. It couldn't be too dangerous, right? The teenager carefully wraps his arms around the small, wine red dragon, lifting it up and holding it as if it were a human baby.

Briefly, Kim Rok Soo wonders if the teenager can properly fight if he's holding something, but he decides to not worry about it. If a dangerous creature comes again like the bear, he's sure the teenager would throw him away or something.

Kim Rok Soo tucks his chin into the teenagers neck and shoulder, appreciating the warmth, and slips into a light sleep. Choi Han strokes the baby dragons back. The scales are slightly chilly. Faintly, Choi Han senses a deep strength within this creature.

Maybe it would be better to kill it young.

Kim Rok Soo sleeps, unaware of the rising killing intent.

Choi Han shifts the baby to one arm and taps his knife handle with the other. He should get it some food. It's a baby, so it'll be hungry. It should be fine without milk, right?

-------

Part 1 , Part 2

[corvidaes-crow]

Oh my gosh I love this raon design. He's so Dragon here, like actual fantastical drake instead of chibi baby dragon (love the manhwa too but the high fantasy lover in me is Here for how reptilian he looks here). And long hair Cale on the FIRST VOLUME COVER?? His expression is perfect. That is someone in what he thought was a fictional world who thinks he has his shit together but really it's just repression. The body language too, like that's a confident slacker who's been surviving so long he forgot how to live. Ohhh I'm so excited adfjsdjkf gonna go preorder now

[fireofdestruction23]

I will never get over the fact that, Our strong and magnificent Dragons’ constant source of stress is Cale!!😭🤣 Cale is the Ancient powers, Eruhaben and Ron’s problem child. They love him to death, but the stress is too much!!😭🤣

[slackerlifewhere]

Involving kids in battles

There are a lot of opinions about Cale Henituse, formerly known as Kim Rok Soo. Some readers love him and some readers don't. Some find him funny and some think he's annoying. Some see his selflessness and some judge him as selfish.

He's a very complex character that is just tired of the bullshit the gods did to a lot of people including himself.

But the one thing that some readers do not like about him is how he includes kids in wars and battles against multiple powerful threats.

I've made a post about female characters that slightly mentions this. It can be found during On's part in the post if you're curious.

So here's the thing about the kids in TCF, or rather, the kids in Cale's group. They're strong in different ways.

And most of them, excluding Lily and Basen, are not humans.

To understand why I think their presence in battles are okay, let me first bring up Kim Rok Soo's past to understand the way he thinks.

As we all know, at least the ones who finished the first book, Kim Rok Soo did not have the best life. His parents died from a car accident when he was young and he was left to his abusive uncle. He was mostly alone with no connections to other people (for reasons you need to read about if you haven't yet) until the apocalypse (when he was a young part-timer) happened where he had to survive by himself until he became a member of a team with different abilities. He was a member who had to fight and watch people die when he was young until he's 36 years old.

He doesn't have a normal life and childhood.

'Kim Rok Soo had once had to starve in the past. He did not enjoy seeing children looking so skinny. Although Lock had always looked feeble and his tall height made him skinny from the start, he seemed even thinner now.' - Chapter 234: Something Obvious (3)

So if a person who grew up under these circumstances is suddenly thrusted into another world where anyone can die easily, what would he do?

Basen and Lily

His first reaction to the idea of Basen being sent to the plaza where Cale knows a tragedy might happen, is to agree with Deruth's idea of replacing Basen, knowing full well that his younger brother will not come back completely fine, especially since he's a normal kid. He chose to sacrifice his safety for a brother he barely knows since he recently just got transmigrated in this strange world. Basen is more fit to help in their territory than to fight in battles. And he does not see this as a weakness.

When Lily asks for a sword instead of a normal toy a child of her age would normally want, he easily agrees. This is a kid who wants to learn how to fight. He knows that there will be war coming to Roan Kingdom and their territory will be the first to face this danger. So the idea of her learning how to fight, with the mindset of someone who survived in an apocalypse, made him agree without complaints.

Raon Miru

Fast forward and he gained the trust of three children who are harmed by a tribe and a cruel noble. He pities them but also understands their pain at the same time, especially after everything he went through. He knows coddling them would not make things better since they already know how harsh the world is.

Raon is a baby dragon but he's stronger than all of the people in his group, except Eruhaben. He's a kid who easily talks about destroying the world if Cale doesn't wake up after fainting. He's a kid who wants revenge against Venion and he never let go of that anger even when he was freed by Cale and his group. He knows he's stronger than Cale and does not want to leave this "weak" human despite the strong enemies they face.

But Cale, even with this thought of "putting him to use" at first, told him to hide himself in all battles and when around strangers.

Even though he knows Raon can fight, it's obvious the little dragon will face potential problems if everyone knows there's a dragon in the group. Arm would do everything to get Raon and bring him to DHB, the nobles would probably become greedy, a lot of people will rely on him for things he shouldn't even need to do, and Raon will never be truly free from all the expectations placed on him.

He could leave Raon with Elves and Eruhaben but considering what Arm did to the elves, Eruhaben's lair, and Olienne, there are no safe places to leave him.

Cale gave him the freedom of choice. He can live freely as a dragon without trusting a human. He was fully confident that Raon will not follow him. But he did. So Raon is his responsibility now.

I made a post about liking both Cale and Reigen Arataka and I can honestly see their similarities in this part. They know the kid with them is stronger than them but they also know that fully placing all the responsibilities and expectations on this kid will ruin them.

He, like Reigen, tells his kids that it's okay to run when facing a strong opponent. That it's okay to rely and let the adults handle the hard part of the battle. He respects and relies on them when necessary and pulls them back when they face real danger.

When the White Star first appeared, Cale's first instinct was to hide Raon in his arms and to defend themselves from the man. He was also prepared to fight until Eruhaben appeared. No matter how much Raon wanted to fight, Cale kept hiding him and was genuinely scared for the dragon.

So yes, he cares for the kids in his own way but doesn't treat them in a patronizing manner.

On and Hong

Like I've mentioned in my other post, On and Hong also did not have a great childhood. They were chased from their tribe who wanted to kill them because they're "useless" and mutants.

They did not trust anyone until they met Cale who says one thing and does the opposite. They placed their trust on Cale who may appear indifferent and cold but seems to care for them by giving them bread, medicine, and meat without having expectations from them.

Some readers might find it distasteful but it's obvious that they want to be useful, no matter how small their contribution is to the fight. I think the term "useful" makes it cruel but for them, it's something to be proud of. When he first uses this term, it's when they were saving Raon. But his next instinct was to check if they're okay after infiltrating the cave.

Is it bad to let these kids fight after they escaped death? Yes and no.

They should be safe, away from harm or danger. That's normal to think about children and I agree they need safety like normal children. But once again, these kids aren't human and they are in a different world from us. They grew up in a tribe that expects them to be strong so in every opportunity, they look for ways to be strong.

That's not exactly a normal kid's way of thinking.

And again, Cale's initial indifference to everything around him is the extension of what his former life did to his psyche. He's not a normal person either. None of these characters are normal. Oddly enough, the most normal are Litana and Valentino.

And in all honesty, knowing how he thinks and respects someone's needs and wants, if they want to stay away from danger or stop fighting, there is no doubt he would accept their wishes and let them hide somewhere far away from Arm. But like Raon, they want to fight back against the tribe who wants them dead. In a sense, they also want revenge and to prove everyone that they've become strong.

Lock and the Wolf children

Lock is still a young boy, no matter how much he shoulders after the death of his tribe. I still see him as a kid like Basen.

When Lock was having troubles during the war, Cale did not scold him. Instead, he encouraged him to eat since he noticed how Lock hasn't been eating since he first learned he can't use his berserk form. He told him that he did not need to fight. His only role was to stand and protect Raon. Simple but it made Lock feel relieved and happy that Cale didn't get angry at him for being weak.

I see it as Cale just wanting him to step back and get stronger, to rely on the rest of the adults and to not worry about regressing. I can only imagine what Kim Rok Soo went through to be so wise about this kind of situation.

This part is one of the most memorable to me because of what happens at the end of the battle,

'I am the adult.

I am the guardian of these two children.

I need to take full responsibility since I chose to take them in.

I need the Super Rock's power.'

Cale, despite all his inner complaints and initial reluctance about how he's suddenly involved in a group of children's safety and protection, finally admitted how important it is that he takes full responsibility of those he took in. And the way he does it is by "sacrificing" himself.

When Lock finally overcome his fear and was about to protect Cale, Cale got annoyed and said,

"Children grow up so fast" with a pat on Lock's head.

He sounded like a father or an uncle who was proud of Lock for overcoming his obstacles. This one scene among multitudes of others made me recognize how much he cares for these children. It's happening mid-battle but it doesn't detracts the emotional value but only increases it. It was another reason why I find Cale Henituse so interesting and mesmerizing.

Conclusion

Cale Henituse, for all his self-hatred and low self-esteem, does not bring down a child or person's confidence. He gives them the choice to become strong and protects them when they're weak.

He does not force them to do anything they can't or don't want to do. He knows what he went through as Kim Rok Soo is bad and he doesn't want them to go through the same thing.

Reading between the lines made me see that there's something deeper than what Cale shows.

___

I'm not gonna lie, I sound like Clopeh at some parts whenever I write like this. I felt the same when I was writing about the female characters lmao

I'm sorry if this is so long 😅 I became too passionate about this topic. I understand the people who are worried about the kids but this is still my opinion about it.