So I’ve heard people talk about black turtlenecks as being a uniquely attractive and sexy article of clothing, and I recently saw a fairly popular tumblr post to that effect as well. A black turtleneck Awakens Something in an unusually high percentage of people compared to most any piece of clothing that isn’t something explicitly meant to be sexy—like, say, lingerie or other revealing clothing.
But turtlenecks, especially with long sleeves, are by design meant to cover up as much as possible—which is why Cale wore them all the time when he was Kim Rok Soo. (I’m going by the few images of KRS we’ve seen in the manhwa for this; in the novel he only talks about wearing long sleeves to cover his scars, not necessarily turtlenecks.)
So Team Leader Kim Rok Soo regularly wore a super sexy article of clothing as a staple piece of his normal wardrobe; and I am 95% certain he had no idea it was considered sexy at all. He certainly wasn’t aware of how appealing it was on him, with his sculpted musculature—which he probably thought of in a purely functional sense—and his definitely handsome face.
Cale is very aware of and pleased with the handsome features of his new body when he first wakes up as Cale, but his praise for his own looks becomes steadily less frequent as the novel goes on…as Cale starts to think of his new body more as actually being his body and not someone else’s body that he’s involuntarily occupying. The more he thinks of his face and body as his own, the less impressed and complimentary he is about them. This man cannot naturally conceive of himself as being attractive or beautiful, and self-awareness is a foreign nation he has no plans to ever visit.
Meanwhile the new Kim Rok Soo, who was fully aware of his own good looks when he was still Cale Henituse, is probably adding ‘smoking hot bod’ onto his list of reasons why he’s very pleased with how this whole transmigration deal has worked out for him. 😆
(I fully believe that after adjusting to his new world and culture and adapting to the workload of being the Team Leader that Cale!Kim Rok Soo is absolutely thriving in his new life. I think the combination of being in a new environment, getting to become family with his beloved new niece, and eventually receiving the confirmation that KRS!Cale is doing a fantastic job smacking the White Star in the back is doing wonders for Kim Rok Soo’s peace of mind and general happiness. But I digress.)
