I Don't Understand How No One Noticed It Before! ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

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

Can someone please write a crossover of PMMM and TCF?, I don't dare write it because of the angst but I really want to see it o(TヘTo)

The biggest hypocrite in the world that we all love (¬‿¬)

Cale: I want a slacker life.

Cale: But to have a peaceful life, my family needs to have a peaceful life as well, and we need to live in a peaceful world too to not be bothered by anyone.

Cale: So let’s achieve world peace.

Cale: Then let’s do multiverse world peace because other worlds could also bother us and for an unknown reason I HAVE to be the one who does it instead of sending my subordinates and lazing around.

Cale: And while striving for world peace, something that nobody has been able to achieve so far, I’ll complain that I don’t want to work and say I’m weak.

Cale: Ah, I’m weak. *killing the strongest villain who tried to become god*

Cale: I want a slacker life. *trying to achieve world peace and working more than anyone else*

Cale: Sigh…

Reader: Sigh…

I came across some photos of Nyakim Gatwech and remembering the images of Tasha in the manhwa that I saw, I was very disappointed, why doesn't she look anything like this angel of darkness? She is the definition of black pearl beauty! She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life! So why doesn't Tasha look anything alike?＼＼٩(๑`^´๑)۶／／

I really like that the romance and shipping are left for the secondary characters (Mannah, Jax, Hatoonka, etc.) (￣ω￣)

I prefer to read about queerplatonic relationships, family and friendships, that's one of the main reasons I love this book. (*¯ ³¯*)♡

Love all the shipping but i gotta remember why i started reading this manhwa in the first place xD

Does anyone know if there is any difference between the Cat Tribe and the Fog Cat Tribe? I can't find anywhere if there is any difference and I'm sure the novel never makes it clear.

Alberu: Are you sure they will be okay? Cale: The children are going to be fine, the one you have to worry about is the lunatic. Alberu:??? Cale: Hopefully he'll be alive when we get back.

Clopeh: Children, people will criticize your dreams. 'You can’t just secretly film every single battle of Cale-nim and broadcast it to the world'. 'Being a devoted Cale-nim follower is not a real job'. 'Stop trying to register Caleism as an actual religion'.

Clopeh: Ignore them. Be real. Be yourself. Start a Cale-nim cult.

On, Hong, Raon, Lock and all the wolf children:...........

On: Who though it was a good idea to let him babysit us today?

The Kingdom of Life

This is an idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while and was confirmed in my head when I looked at the map of the western continent (o_ _)ﾉ彡

You see this, the desert of death and the Kingdom of Askosan are the same size, that means that there is nothing stopping the City of Life from becoming the Kingdom of Life ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

It has already been confirmed to us in history that attempts have been made to create new cities in the Desert of Death, so it is not crazy to think that if more had been created, it would end up becoming a Kingdom with its own culture.

What's more, in chapter 316 we are told that only a necromancer will be the new king/queen of death because they are the ones who know the most about the pain that darkness can cause and still handle it ╰(▔∀▔)╯

Not only that, the Night's Exultation is a gem that belonged to the Queen of Death and gives us a great clue about what could be the main jewel of a crown or jewel that marks royalty ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Now that I've explained the reason why I came up with this AU, here are my ideas for it:

The divergence began when the Queen of Death founded the City of Life and appointed a family of dark elves to run it when she I couldn't do it anymore.

She designated this family with a magical huadian that would mark who is worthy to rule, so if one day the family were corrupted their right to rule would be eliminated and assigned to some other family that was worthy.

After the final battle againts the Queen of Death and the Church of the God of Sun it became common knowledge that the next King/Queen of Death would only be a necromancer and the most loyal dark elves built a palace in the capital which was sealed only to be opened when their next King arrived.

The ruling family began to rule and was recognized as an archduchy (The highest rank of nobility below royalty) and a branch of the royal family.

With the construction of more underground cities and towns, an aristocracy began to be created that will govern their respective territories, making sure to remain firm in the principles of always being faithful to their people and helping them in every way possible.

When humans began to escape from Dubori territory to the Desert of Death they were welcomed as citizens of the Kingdom of Life.

With each generation the population continued to increase in both humans, half-breeds and dark elves which caused the kingdom to grow and prosper while the culture developed obtaining things such as harem pants, the wearing of veils on the face and hair and hena tattoos

The archducal family remained faithful to the first queen and for generations humans and dark elves mixed, causing that although the most recent generation (Obante and his offspring) were mostly dark elves the percentage will vary.

At some point, Alberu's mother decided to travel the Continent and ended up as King Zed Crossman's concubine, but since they both fell in love, she did not care much about her new position.

Tasha didn't like this very much but accepted it until she found out that her sister was pregnant and immediately went to help her by disguising herself as a maid.

From here everything goes as canon until during a return visit to her native home Tasha ends up rescuing Mary who became a necromancer, the first in centuries.

During Mary's recovery in the capital's hospital someone leaked the information that the future Queen of Death had been born, and the entire Kingdom began to celebrate the arrival of the future Queen.

Due to the social pressure of taking the throne in the future when she is only 10 years old Mary felt overwhelmed and asked Tasha to stay with her.

Tasha accepted and during the time she took a break she and Mary formed a mother-daughter bond which was solidified when Tasha asked Mary if she could adopt her by blood.

Mary accepted and once the ritual was completed she became a dark elf half-blood, maintaining her status as a necromancer.

His web scars turned white due to the concentration of dead mana and he obtained the huadian of the archducal family in the same color.

I imagine that from here things would go as in canon with the exception that Mary would get lessons in etiquette and politics while she travels throughout the Kingdom of Life to meet her future subjects.

Actually, this is something that makes the novel attractive in the first place. After all, in every isekai I’ve read, the protagonist already knows everything.

While there are plot twists and all, usually they’ve already read the entire novel, played the complete game, etc.

TCF is special in that regard ♡( ◡‿◡ )

Cale does not know everything

Why did anyone think he did?

[Note: There will be SPOILERS about the first part of TCF so if you haven't finished the first part or you don't want spoilers, I suggest you don't continue. Thanks!]

When I first read the novel, the most common mistake new readers often make was they all thought that Cale is omniscient. Yeah, I saw the comments. There were a lot.

I think, once again, it's because of how in most KR novels and manhwa, the main character usually knows the whole story of a novel they read or a game they played before they transmigrate to another world. They don't have all the details but it's more than what Kim Rok Soo knows.

Because that's the thing. The difference is that Kim Rok Soo doesn't know the whole story. In fact, he only read up until five volumes of "The Birth of a Hero" before he transmigrated in another world.

He, like us, doesn't know how the story ends.

I might be getting repetitive but the reason why I love TCF is because the author, Yoo Ryeo Han, doesn't share everything to us right off the bat.

They never info dump us with the whole story about how OG Cale actually made a deal with the God of Death, about Kim Rok Soo's past as an ability user, about Choi Jung Soo, and about the existence of the White Star. Instead, all these plot points are gradually revealed later in the story.

And I honestly prefer it like this. This way, we can only guess what will happen next. It's not a boring story but a mysterious one because there's something we won't expect.

The story starts with Kim Rok Soo opening his eyes in another world.

We are never completely told what Kim Rok Soo read before he transmigrated. The most he tells us is a summary and a few details here and there at the start of the novel.

We only find out more by experiencing it through Cale's point of view. We read his thoughts about the novel. And we follow him in his journey around the Eastern and Western continents.

But as mentioned at the beginning, he doesn't know how The Birth of a Hero ends. His knowledge stops at the end of volume five. Everything else depends on him.

But even before the war happens, there are already some hints that Cale doesn't actually have all the information he needs. He is not fully equipped with everything about the book. He, like us, is in the dark about certain factors that can affect his goals.

Indestructible Shield

When the shield was first mentioned, Cale questioned why no one took it.

'No wonder nobody ended up taking control of it. But then why would the author mention something that could be useful but was never actually taken by anybody?’

- Chapter 11: Picked It Up

It's odd because it's found in the territory where Choi Han appears in the beginning of the story. Yet from volume one to volume five, not a single soul knew of its existence.

It's the first ancient power he gets that he finds out because he read the book and he's the only one who knows about it. He doesn't know why it's there nor does he question it any further. His only goal was to get it.

It's only when the Glutton Priestess told him about her past that he finally gets the bigger picture.

The fact that this tidbit was shrugged off by Cale, and probably some readers, as something unimportant only to find out later in the story about its huge connection to the original White Star is just insane. And it's the reason why the books he read aren't informative at all. Because why did it leave out this piece of information if they want him to use it to save their world?

He didn't even know a single thing about the current White Star at the start of the story and here is a random ancient power sitting prettily in the Henituse territory that actually has a connection to the same guy Cale Barrow wants to imitate. He was utterly clueless like the rest of us.

I'm not gonna lie, I was shaking my head by how dumbfounded I was when I first read the novel. I was questioning everything I read in the early chapters, thinking if there's something else that I didn't notice (there were a lot actually).

The fact that the author gives us only a little info about the tree where the shield was found and its connection to the other ancient powers only solidified my respect by how good the author is at hiding this plot until the big reveal.

The Wolf Tribe

‘The novel didn’t say which of the divine items they brought.’

If Cale knew what the divine item was, he would be able to get one step closer to the identity of the secret organization. Unfortunately, the novel only described how the Wolf Tribe became weak because of the divine item. He had no way to determine the identity of the secret organization.

- Chapter 32: You

When Cale sends Choi Han to find Rosalyn and Lock, Choi Han returns with Lock who was about to transform into his berserk mode.

Later, Choi Han explains what happened and Cale realizes that a lot of things changed compared to what happened in the book. For one, Lock did not hide and fought back against Arm. Another is instead of assassins, the ones that appeared are official members.

For some, including me, this can be excused because of Cale's actions. He's a new variable to the story and thus, he ends up changing a lot of scenarios that happened in the story.

But, thinking about it, this is the only thing that is completely different from what happened in the books. Everything else is the same aside from when Cale is actively doing something like becoming a guardian to three kids or getting the ancient powers that originally belongs to someone else. Unless Cale acts, nothing actually changes.

There's the bombing at the plaza that also changed but that can still be excused as Cale ruining Arm's movements early on and them revising their plans.

Lock however, is not influenced by Cale. He could've stayed hidden just like in the book but in this case, he didn't. Arm could've sent assassins but they didn't. There is no reason for them to change from assassins to official members. Plus, instead of killing all of them, the wolf children survived.

This is not because of Cale.

So...does that mean that the book he read is not completely reliable?

Pretty much, yeah. Which already answers the question if he knows everything like a cliche main character does. No, he doesn't know everything. And the books he read can be taken as a guidebook but an incomplete one with a few mistakes here and there.

Let me remind you that this happened before the war started and there's already something Cale doesn't know or expect.

[Side note: I only realized this whole bit about the Wolf Tribe while reading a freaking reaction fic. If I had not read that fic, I wouldn't even realize how weird this one is. Am I dumb? Don't answer that.]

White Star

Another reason why Cale is not omniscient even though he looks and acts like it, is because he didn't find out about the White Star until the war against Arm and the Indomitable Alliance.

This man is like a god to his followers and allies and not a single person in Cale's group and even outside of it knows about him. Not even Ron, who has his whole family annihilated and later loses his arm in the process, knows about him.

Again, the five volumes of The Birth of a Hero never mentions this elusive White Star. The only reason he knows about this guy is through interrogation and torture. So when he finally appears in the Mogoru Empire, all Cale felt was anger and fear.

Because this unexpected factor is dangerous.

Cale knows they're completely unprepared to face this new player in the game. Eruhaben, an ancient dragon, was getting his ass kicked by this man who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the dragon even told them to run. What everyone considers a very strong existence in this world is telling them that there's no hope in defeating him.

And the most shocking out of all this is that Cale never expected how the White Star knows that Cale and Choi Han have their "time warped for them". He knows something about Cale just by looking at him.

So the books by this point are basically useless and he has to rely on himself and others to plan ahead of time. He works extremely hard for it.

He has to dig information using his Record to find out about White Star. He has to talk to the World Tree to get the weapon to use against the White Star. He has to talk to Sheritt to know more about the White Star and his curse. And he has to find out from OG Cale himself on how to finally kill the White Star.

It took the whole book to finally defeat him.

And none of these are mentioned in the books he read.

So Cale, in conclusion, does not know everything like what some readers once complained about. He has some pieces of the puzzle but it's like if he needs a hundred pieces to complete the puzzle and he only has ten, then he's never gonna complete it.

He knew about the first five volumes and the rest were just him and his allies' hard work. It's pretty much why he's so stressed in the whole book, zooming around the two continents just to look for the White Star's weakness while also juggling different problems like more wars or the God of Despair or finding the earth attribute the White Star needs.

So yeah. Don't judge a book by the first few chapters and expect to know everything.

end notes:

Alberu better give him his slacker life when this story ends.

Nelan Barrow and the God of Death really made him work for it.

I'm not gonna lie, I want someone (Cale) to kidnap Choi Jung Gun and interrogate him about why the heck he didn't explain the important bits in his "guidebook" and why the whole thing about the wolf tribe became different from what was written. He could've at least mentioned what the secret organization's name is but he left it to Cale instead. It's just the name, CJG. Why are you hiding it? Is Choi Han in the books really that slow or what? If you want someone to save your world, at least send more information like the name of the secret organization. You talked about the Indestructible Shield's location but can't spell Arm? Shame on you, CJG.

If it wasn't KRS that was transmigrated and it's just a random normal person, that person would've died even before meeting the White Star.

Or maybe Nelan Barrow just wants to be an author like Yoo Ryeo Han and be all mysterious about it.

“I am stupid. I do not know any fancy words and my head doesn’t work very well. However, I do know one thing… Why did you all choose to follow me? Why did you hold up your farming equipment, clench onto rocks, and follow behind me? Why did we fight?! I will only charge forward this time as well! Your opinions are not important. Follow behind me. Chase after me. Do not worry about your back." Toonka (Chapter 280)