The Meaning of the Wind Flow Fist
Ha-rin pouted but took her stance. She seemed to have some persistence after all. Good. If you're asking for teachings, you should show that kind of attitude.
After toying with Ha-rin, I noticed several incongruities in her martial arts. First, her fist technique was far from domineering. Light like the wind in motion, ceaseless like flowing water—if I had to name it, Wind Flow Fist would suit it perfectly. She probably had another martial art originally. Since she had entered the Heavenly Demon's body, she had no choice but to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. That explained why she couldn't properly wield my body.
The other issue was how strangely she executed her martial arts. Interpretations of martial arts vary, but in the end, one moves the body according to the principle inherent in one's own art. Yet Ha-rin was matching the principle to her body's movements. It wasn't that she moved according to the principle to produce the technique—she took a certain action, produced the technique, and moved accordingly. I didn't know who had taught her martial arts, but they had instilled bad habits. Correcting that would require considerable effort. This wasn't something that could be fixed in a day or two.
"Who did you learn your martial arts from?"
The moment the spar ended, I asked Ha-rin, who was sprawled on the floor. I didn't know who had taught this child, but I absolutely had to find out. Seeing someone like that claim to be a martial artist made my blood boil.
"I didn't really learn from anyone in particular."
"You taught yourself?"
That explained the incongruity. If one trained alone, discrepancies were inevitable. How could a single person follow the history accumulated in martial arts? If she had reached this level by herself, I ought to praise her talent instead.
"It's not exactly self-taught either..."
"Explain it so I can understand."
Ha-rin crossed her arms, furrowed her brow, and carefully opened her mouth.
Until VR games appeared, martial arts had been nothing more than fantasy to modern people. They could enjoy them through books, movies, or games, but actually performing martial arts remained pure delusion. However, with the advent of virtual reality games, the situation changed. The fantasy of martial arts was dragged down into reality. Those who enjoyed wuxia could now execute martial arts with their own hands.
Many people dove into the world of martial arts, but they soon encountered obstacles.
"Because it was the first time I'd ever encountered something called martial arts."
They were primitives suddenly handed guns. Moreover, those guns were ones they had to assemble and fire themselves. There were far too many walls to overcome before they could discuss principles the way martial arts novels did. So people chose to rely on the Correction System.
The Correction System had existed since the early days of VR. As long as one moved according to it, they could perform martial arts. Because of this, those who entered martial arts games studied the movements of the Correction System instead of researching the principles of martial arts.
Now that I understood the circumstances, I could see why it couldn't be helped. Still...
"Does that mean everyone performs martial arts this way?"
"Yes."
"Was there no one who tried to understand the principles of martial arts?"
"People who had always read wuxia novels said we needed to find the roots, but principles aren't something you can just search for and find."
So everyone felt the wall and gave up. In a way, it was a natural outcome. Without someone to pass down truths accumulated over hundreds of years, how could modern people discover proper martial arts? Even I would have had to wander for a long time if I'd walked the path of martial arts alone. Of course, someone who grasped the truth of martial arts would appear someday, but it seemed that time had not yet come.
Hmm. I held no sense of responsibility as a murim martial artist. However, I could not tolerate it being accepted as normal to perform martial arts in such a sloppy manner. With that kind of training method, there was no way anyone capable of opposing me would ever emerge!
"Just in case, let me ask, Ha-rin. Among modern martial artists, how skilled are you?"
"Me? I'm probably among the higher ranks, right?"
"Skilled enough to be called a master?"
"Yes."
You? Martial artists of your level? No. This would not do. It must not be like this. A martial artist of that level should not be called a master. A strong person must possess corresponding dignity, yet right now you are no different from a newborn babe. Thinking that other martial artists might be the same gave me a headache. Moreover, most of them planned to use my body. How dreadful. I needed to find a way to correct people's common sense. At the very least, I had to create an environment where skilled martial artists could emerge.
"Hwa-ryeong-nim?"
For now, I would fix this child before me. While teaching her, I needed to consider how to convey information about martial arts to others. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had so many thoughts. No—when I studied, my head had been even more complicated than this. Haah. Since coming to the modern era, there was never a dull moment.
"Ha-rin."
"Yes?"
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"It's Sunday, so I have plenty of time. Will you teach me tomorrow too?"
Let me correct myself. Not tomorrow too. Teach me until tomorrow.
*
Nyangnyang Gwonbeop. Lee Ha-rin was a famous user not only in Apis but across various martial arts games. She had practically lived in martial arts games since the dawn of VR, and in any martial arts game she rampaged as a top-tier user. However, the fact that she was a girl who had just entered university was not well known. It wasn't that she refused to say it. People simply didn't believe her words. "There's no way a girl who's serious about martial arts games exists!" That claim carried enough persuasiveness to win the agreement of other middle-aged men. It didn't take long for the girl who had become serious about martial arts due to her father's influence to be regarded as a self-proclaimed high school girl serious about the concept. How shocked Ha-rin had been when her character—slightly adjusted from her real appearance—was called cute yet disgusting. Anyway, while enjoying various games, Ha-rin had never thought her own martial arts skills were lacking. So when Hwa-ryeong asked her to show her skills, Ha-rin felt a small spark of expectation. She believed that person would praise her. She believed she would be guided to a higher place. Her prediction was only half right.
Ha-rin displayed the results of years of training to Hwa-ryeong. She held nothing back. She knew that even if she poured everything out, she couldn't win against that opponent. She went all out with the thought of landing even a single hit. Yet Ha-rin's martial arts never reached Hwa-ryeong at all. Clearly it was Ha-rin who was dashing about, but for some reason it was Ha-rin who felt frustrated, as if her hands and feet were bound. After the short yet long spar ended, Hwa-ryeong spoke to the exhausted, collapsed Ha-rin.
"Using martial arts that way will lead to no progress. I'll establish your foundation from the beginning, so first, will you tell me the mental formula of the martial arts you've learned?"
She knew there would be great resistance to revealing a martial arts mental formula, and so on. Whatever she added, Ha-rin had no particular thoughts from the start. In this day and age, something like a cheat martial art known only to one person was a story from novels.
"Just a moment."
When she searched online for the phrases of Wind Flow Fist and showed them, Hwa-ryeong looked flustered. As if she hadn't expected her to reveal it so easily. She really seemed like someone who had come from the murim world. Didn't she know that martial arts mental formulas circulated on the internet? It didn't seem like acting. Ha-rin tried to explain but stopped. Hwa-ryeong's serious expression, glancing back and forth between Ha-rin and the mental formula, was amusing.
"Shall I interpret it for you?"
"No need. If I look at it, I'll naturally understand anyway."
Was that possible? Without the Correction System, I wouldn't have understood what those phrases meant for the rest of my life. It was strange, but Ha-rin said nothing more. She thought that if it was Hwa-ryeong, she might truly be able to do it.
Hwa-ryeong read the phrases while murmuring to herself, then soon closed the window. She lightly extended her fist into the air, and following it, a gentle wind blew. That was Wind Flow Fist. In that short time, she had understood the mental formula? Without the Correction System?!
"It's not a bad martial art. What's contained within is quite decent."
"You already understood all of that?!"
"Because I am the Heavenly Demon."
At the remark that seemed to say "what's the big deal about that," Ha-rin could give no answer.
"Ha-rin. What do you think the principle contained in this martial art is?"
"The principle?"
"Even if it's trivial, it's fine. I want to hear your thoughts."
Ha-rin hesitated to answer. Not because she had never thought about it, but because she had thought about it too much. Even during her severe middle-school second-year syndrome phase, Ha-rin had enjoyed martial arts games. At that time she believed she was the most special person in the world, and naturally believed the martial arts she used were special too. Wind Flow Fist was definitely not an ordinary martial art. It would be a superior martial art surpassing any other. So she spent entire days staring at the mental formula, worrying about how to interpret it to make it sound cool. She had filled more than two notebooks just forcing interpretations of the mental formula. Her passion during her middle-school second-year phase had not been light.
Around the time she entered high school, having completely cured her middle-school second-year syndrome, she realized how ugly her childhood had been. Every time she saw it she felt such shame she didn't know what to do with herself, so she burned the setting notes, but the memories from that time still remained in Ha-rin's mind. On nights when she couldn't sleep, the culprit that made her kick off the blanket was always the memories from her middle-school second-year phase.
"Ha-rin. Why are you like that?"
I have to reveal my dark history in front of someone who's like an idol?! Ha-rin's mind filled with chaos, yet she was helpless before Hwa-ryeong's gaze.
"I... thought of Wind Flow Fist as a martial art like the wind that flows endlessly."
It was a voice so small it seemed to crawl away, but the words didn't stop. Wind was like water flowing through the void. When flowing alone it might be weak and unsightly, but when gathered and accumulated, it became a storm capable of toppling any giant tree. That was the wind. And Ha-rin's Wind Flow.
After saying everything she had thought during her middle-school second-year phase, Ha-rin's face turned bright red. Try being in a situation where you must speak your own shame with your own mouth. It couldn't be helped. The only fortunate thing was that Hwa-ryeong didn't mock her at all. Hwa-ryeong listened to the story with a serious expression, then spoke as if she couldn't understand at all.
"Knowing that much, why aren't you loading your realization into your martial arts?"
Are you joking? Are you teasing me? Ha-rin was puzzled, but seeing Hwa-ryeong's serious eyes, she realized it was sincere. My middle-school second-year phase delusion was a realization?!