Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Advanced Martial Arts
"Player Han Yeong-min, you should come here. Didn’t you ask me to teach you advanced martial arts?"
"Uwaaa! Monster!"
I was currently running away from a monster.
That monster was the kind that would beat a person to the brink of death, heal them back to normal, and then beat them again until they were nearly dead.
"Who are you calling a monster?"
Estelle took a light step forward.
With just that one step, the distance I had desperately tried to create closed in an instant.
"And by now, you should have learned that you can’t escape from me at this level."
'Damn it, faster...!'
My lungs burned as if on fire, and my legs had already reached their limit, screaming in protest.
But if I got caught now, it was obvious I’d be beaten all day again.
I had to escape.
I squeezed out every ounce of strength in my body to run.
But the moment I heard a sigh-like sound, a strong gust of wind surged from behind me.
It felt like a death sentence—a declaration that I could no longer escape.
"Haa..."
I tried to twist my body to react, but it was already too late.
Estelle’s hand was several times faster than my movement.
The moment her hand touched me, my body froze mid-air.
'No way...!'
Estelle had grabbed me by the hair.
With just one hand, she completely suppressed my movements and stared down at me coldly.
I flailed desperately to break free, but resistance was futile.
My body wouldn’t even twitch.
It was as if I were tightly bound to an iron pillar with chains.
'Damn it... Is this advanced martial arts?'
The way she utilized her body was completely different.
She wasn’t just fast—her movements were maximized for efficiency.
She achieved the greatest effect with the least motion, overpowering strength with minimal force.
It was nothing short of miraculous, like the legendary "Heaven and Earth Great Shift."
Even after ten years of relentless training, she was still half a beat ahead, toying with me effortlessly.
"Do I look like a monster to you?"
This was not the kind of question to dwell on for too long.
It could easily provoke her.
Think briefly, answer quickly. Speed and accuracy were key to survival.
"No."
"Then what do I look like?"
Instantly, a warning alarm blared in my head.
‘If I answer this wrong, I’m really dead.’
I instantly activated all my mental faculties to choose the optimal response.
I found the best path toward the best possible future.
"You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life."
I poured every ounce of sincerity into my eyes, as if I had always thought this way.
Estelle’s face froze for a moment.
She released my hair and quietly nodded.
"Ahem. Good that you know. Good."
But I could’ve sworn her face turned slightly red.
"Are you perhaps embarrassed... Gahk!"
Before I could finish, my hair was seized again.
"Now, now. Let’s resume training."
"Uwaaa!!"
I tried teasing her a little but ended up paying the price.
Dragged away, I was punished with a full day of beatings.
****
Two months had already passed since I began getting beaten day after day.
During that time, under Estelle’s guidance, I gradually bridged the gap between my body and mind.
At first, I couldn’t properly control the strength I possessed.
‘Was it always this frustrating for my body not to move as I wanted?’
When I threw a punch, the power surged at the wrong moment.
When I stepped forward, my speed and timing were slightly off.
It felt like my body wasn’t mine.
But slowly, I began to grasp the sensation.
The more familiar I became with my body, the more I could see Estelle’s movements.
My body started obeying my will.
Her fists, which I had never been able to block before—
Now, I could clumsily deflect them.
‘Ah... Is this it?’
[Skill Acquired: Flowing Clouds of Chaos Evasion (Lv.1).]
[Skill Acquired: Fist of the Shattered Sky (Lv.1).]
[Skill Acquired: Legs of the Heavenly Asura (Lv.1).]
A new sensation flowed through my entire body.
So this was what advanced martial arts were—a technique of this caliber.
For the first time, I felt like I could keep up with Estelle’s movements.
To confirm whether my earlier success was a fluke, I faced her incoming fist again.
This time, I perfectly countered it using Flowing Clouds of Chaos Evasion and Fist of the Shattered Sky.
The wind grazing my skin, the faint vibrations at my fingertips—things I had never noticed before began to come into focus.
‘So this is advanced martial arts.’
And in that moment, I didn’t miss the subtle change in her.
The slight dilation of her pupils.
The hesitation in her fingertips.
Estelle looked slightly surprised.
For the first time, I had managed to startle this angel.
That alone made all the suffering until now feel worth it.
"Have you finally realized?"
Estelle crossed her arms and looked down at me.
I took a deep breath.
My body moved completely differently than before.
"Yes. I’ve learned Flowing Clouds of Chaos Evasion, Fist of the Shattered Sky, and Legs of the Heavenly Asura without missing a single one."
Just hearing the names made it clear—these skills were on a completely different level from basic martial arts like Six Harmonies Fist or Five Elements Step.
They were in a league of their own.
‘Now I get it. This is why basic martial arts were called the foundation.’
Basic martial arts were for building the body’s foundation.
But advanced martial arts were created solely for battle.
Even the same punching motion carried entirely different power, trajectory, speed, and rhythm.
Until now, I had thought of ‘movement’ too simplistically.
But under Estelle’s guidance, I learned the true way to utilize my body.
"Your movements have improved a lot compared to two months ago.
Before, your body was sluggish under the weight of your new traits, but now you’re using them properly.
Not bad."
Estelle evaluated.
I grinned and said,
"You were a little surprised when I blocked that last attack, weren’t you?"
"Tch... This is why I didn’t want to praise you."
Despite her words, I knew exactly who was responsible for my progress.
"Honestly, it’s all thanks to you, Master. If it weren’t for Estelle, I wouldn’t have come this far. Thank you, really."
Even with the same physical abilities, she moved half a beat faster than me.
The difference lay in how we handled our bodies.
She wielded her strength in its entirety, while I had only been using a fraction.
Now, I could feel that difference with my entire being.
This was how someone who truly mastered their body could move.
"You’ve come to understand well."
Estelle hummed lightly, as if singing to herself.
"If it weren’t for me, Player Han Yeong-min, you wouldn’t have learned how to use your body or mastered advanced martial arts in such a short time."
She puffed out her chest proudly, as if inviting more praise.
‘At first, I thought she was cold and scary...’
Now, I found her cute. I even liked it.
The way she looked at me expectantly reminded me of a child seeking acknowledgment for an achievement.
‘But where should I look...?’
With her chest puffed out like that, my gaze naturally drifted downward.
It wasn’t intentional.
I hurriedly raised my eyes to meet hers, trying to lighten the awkwardness with praise and jokes.
"Your face is pretty, your theories are sharp, your body moves well, and you’re a great teacher... Is there anything you can’t do?"
When I asked playfully, she smiled leisurely.
"Hehe. I don’t know either. I’ve never really failed at anything."
As she spoke, she slowly stepped forward.
But her foot slipped on a small crack caused by her earlier attack.
"Whoa—?"
For a moment, her balance wavered, and she began to tilt.
‘I have to catch her.’
Instantly, I used Flowing Clouds of Chaos Evasion to close the distance.
I grabbed her waist to steady her, preventing the fall.
"Are you okay?"
Her face brushed against my chest.
"I’m... fine."
When she looked up, her face was flushed bright red.
Even redder than before.
She stared at me in flustered surprise.
"Y-You can let go now..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
As soon as I released her, she quickly put distance between us.
"...Thanks for catching me, but I would’ve regained my balance on my own."
Of course. She was overwhelmingly stronger than me.
Even if she slipped, she’d have recovered instantly.
"Probably. But..."
I shrugged.
"I was worried. I just wanted to help."
At that moment, her pupils flickered slightly.
"You... were worried about me?"
She muttered as if hearing such words for the first time.
"Yes. Can’t a human worry about an angel?"
If angels were truly perfect beings, they wouldn’t need interaction with others.
A flawless existence would have no reason to be with others.
But Estelle was here with me.
She felt almost perfect, but sometimes made mistakes—just like me.
That’s why I worried.
That’s why I wanted to help.
She pressed her lips together and turned her head away.
"W-Well... I’ll take my leave now."
Awkwardly ending the conversation, she suddenly tore through space and vanished.
I stared blankly at the empty spot.
"...What was that?"
This time, it definitely wasn’t just my imagination.
Estelle had clearly changed.
*****
While Han Yeong-min was bewildered by Estelle’s sudden behavior, Estelle had returned to her personal space, burying her face in a pillow to cool her burning cheeks.
"Estelle, what’s wrong with you... You weren’t this kind of angel."
She wasn’t the type to be so easily swayed by a human’s words or actions.
In thousands of years, she had never experienced anything like this, yet recently, it kept happening. She didn’t even understand why.
She had believed that mastering martial arts and becoming an Archangel meant transcending worldly desires... but apparently not.
She had simply never encountered something that could stir her emotions like this before.
"This is all that perverted Han Yeong-min’s fault..."
The only player among the first summoned to remain in the tutorial for so long.
While other angels had their charges reassigned multiple times—some even handling multiple players—she had been stuck with Han Yeong-min for ten whole years.
‘He was sneaking glances again today, wasn’t he...?’
Han Yeong-min was obsessed with training, but he wasn’t some enlightened being free of worldly desires.
Though he tried his best to restrain himself out of consideration for her, whenever her chest swayed noticeably, his gaze naturally followed.
Of course, compared to other men she’d met, Han Yeong-min was quite the gentleman.
Many male angels had shamelessly ogled her body before.
But Estelle had never cared.
Gender meant nothing to her, and how others saw her was irrelevant.
Han Yeong-min was the first person of the opposite sex she had ever taken an interest in, which made his gaze feel all the more intense.
Not that a pure, romance-virgin angel like her would realize that, of course.
An angel’s emotions burned slowly—and cooled just as slowly.
What felt like a lifetime to humans couldn’t extinguish an angel’s feelings.
That’s why beings who lived near-eternal lives like angels had an unspoken rule: never grow attached to finite beings like humans.
For their own sake.
But once her heart had started burning, it couldn’t be stopped—like a runaway train.
"Why does that pervert keep occupying my thoughts...?"
She had seen him every single day for ten years.
A man with the worst talent, desperately struggling.
After his inferiority complex drove away someone precious, he trained like a madman, as if he’d forgotten the concept of rest.
Seeing him push himself so hard just to grow stronger made her want to help.
No one she had ever seen worked harder, yet his results were pitiful.
‘He’s just like me.’
Earlier, she had claimed there was nothing she couldn’t do, but the truth was, despite being an angel, Estelle had zero aptitude for sacred arts. She had always lagged behind other angels.
So she trained in martial arts harder than anyone, eventually becoming the only ordinary angel to rise to the rank of Archangel.
She was the one who later popularized martial arts among angels.
‘I was only supposed to demonstrate briefly this time...’
She had planned to hand him off to a junior after the first session, but ten years later, she was still stuck with Han Yeong-min—even teaching him advanced martial arts.
‘Nothing better to do... Should I check on him?’
While desperately denying her feelings, she habitually used her crystal orb to watch where he was and what he was doing.
"Training again? Doesn’t he ever get tired? Seriously."
He was repeating the advanced martial arts he had just learned, drilling them into his body.
Even she, who had trained relentlessly to reach Archangel status, had never pushed herself this intensely.
‘Is it because his life is short that he can burn so fiercely?’
Having been born an angel, she couldn’t comprehend the mindset of finite beings.
"But... why do I keep watching this?"
Though she acted indifferent, she kept tracking Han Yeong-min’s movements.
Even as she claimed she didn’t want to see him, her eyes drifted back to the crystal orb.
‘Anyone would think I like him.’
Absolutely not.
It was just admiration—for someone who could throw everything away for a goal, something an angel could never do.
She watched because she wanted to contribute to his journey, not because she had those kinds of feelings.
That’s how it had to be.
She was an angel, not a human.
She had seen the fates of countless immortals who grew attached to mortals.
Those who withered away, endlessly mourning their short-lived loved ones, were no better than the dead.
Acknowledging these feelings would only bring her pain.
So she buried them deeper.
‘Right. I’m not attached. I just pity him a little and want to help.’
But every time her fingers reached for him, that feeling only grew.
I absolutely do not have feelings for him.
She repeated it endlessly—as if trying to convince herself.