The Heavenly Demon's Counsel
The Heavenly Demon offers advice. <You want me to explain the principle of martial intent?>
<Yes!>
Han Seo-woo’s request was simple. He wanted me to visit his pro team and make the others understand what the principle of martial intent actually was, and why it was essential when handling martial arts. Furthermore, he asked me to teach them how to apply it. To me, it was an incomprehensible request.
After all, wasn’t Han Seo-woo Baek Hwaryeong’s disciple? Among all the modern people I had seen so far, he was the one closest to being a true martial artist. Why would someone like him need to borrow another’s strength? Though Baek Hwaryeong and I were different people, our foundations were similar. If she had raised a disciple, she would have hammered every fundamental into him from the very beginning. Even judging by skill alone, he was someone capable of founding a small sect. I couldn’t understand why he was asking this of me. At his level, he should have been perfectly able to teach others himself.
When I voiced my doubt, that was the answer I received. From the way he spoke, it seemed he had already tried explaining to the others and failed.
<Try explaining it to me as if you were teaching me the principle of martial intent.>
<To you, Hwaryeong-nim?>
<Yes. I want to see how well you can do it.>
<Uh… well…>
I had asked with the intention of identifying any gaps in his understanding and helping him fill them, but Han Seo-woo’s problem wasn’t a lack of comprehension regarding the void. To put it simply, he was terrible at putting things into words. Extremely so.
Two-thirds of what came out of his mouth when he tried to explain were onomatopoeia like “ah,” “that,” or “like this.” The remaining third consisted of vague terms like “feeling,” “sensation,” “roughly,” or “something like that.”
Since I already understood the principle of martial intent perfectly, I could roughly grasp what he was trying to say. But if I imagined hearing that explanation while knowing nothing, my mind went blank. The worst part was that, despite his clumsy delivery, the content itself was mostly correct. If he had been teaching something outright wrong, I could have corrected him. But because he was explaining it properly yet still making a mess of it, there was no solution.
<Ah, so basically, you just do it like this—>
<That’s enough. Stop.>
Yes. There were occasionally people like this. Those who understood everything in their head and body, yet became utterly hopeless the moment they tried to speak it aloud. No matter how hard I worked Han Seo-woo, I couldn’t fix that. I was someone who taught martial arts, not someone who taught people how to speak.
<Please help me. I feel like there’s going to be a problem in the team because of me.>
Helping him wasn’t particularly difficult. One of the reasons I had started broadcasting in the first place was to spread the principle of martial intent to the world. If those who stood on stages watched by many people could grasp it and demonstrate it, that was something I would welcome.
However, helping him for free felt a little unsatisfying. I wondered if there was something I could get out of Han Seo-woo. While I was thinking, I noticed Seol-ah make a mistake while practicing her martial arts across from me and sent her flying with a strike to the neck.
“Again.”
“Yes!”
A good idea came to mind. Currently, I was sparring with and teaching several children—Ha-rin, Dang So-il, and soon Seol-ah would be joining them as well. Teaching them while facing all of them wasn’t particularly hard, but they needed to taste victory sometimes too. If they only ever rolled around beneath me, their motivation would eventually dry up. Han Seo-woo was at a level where he could provide them with appropriate tension without completely crushing them. Though his realm was still higher than theirs, if the three of them combined their strength, they would eventually be able to defeat him after some trial and error. Since Seol-ah would need time to join the other two, it would be a story for the future, but there was no harm in preparing in advance.
<If you do one favor for me, I’ll help you.>
*
After getting off the bus, I took out my smartphone and searched for the building name Han Seo-woo had given me. It was definitely called QZ Gaming. Following the directions on the map, I soon found myself standing in front of what looked like a seven-story building. The large sign reading “QZ Gaming” in the middle confirmed I was in the right place.
When I texted Han Seo-woo that I had arrived, he burst out the door in less than a minute. Though I had never met him in reality before, I could tell he was Han Seo-woo himself. After all, his appearance here was exactly the same as the one I had seen in Hwaryong Muin. So this guy also set his real-world appearance to match his in-game one. No wonder he was so reluctant to show his face on stream.
“…Hwaryeong-nim?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. You look exactly like your VR avatar!”
“You’re the same way, aren’t you, Han Seo-woo-ssi?”
“Ahaha. I guess that’s true. Anyway, let’s head inside. Ah, have you eaten yet?”
“No.”
After fulfilling his request, I had planned to visit a nearby restaurant that had been recommended to me. My stomach was currently empty.
“Then would you like to eat at our dorm? We’re pretty famous for our cooking!”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s a place that even Enri-nim, who’s close with you, praised before she left.”
Interest sparked when Enri’s name came up. Among all the restaurants she had recommended to me, there hadn’t been a single failure. If Enri had given it high praise, the taste was at least guaranteed. Not bad. Besides, I could visit other good restaurants anytime, but this was a place I might not get another chance to try if not now.
“Sounds good. Please lead the way.”
The QZ Gaming cafeteria that Han Seo-woo confidently guided me to did indeed boast considerable flavor. Even considering that tonkatsu was a dish that was hard to fail at, it was impressive. I had ordered plenty of delivery food while living alone, including many dishes similar to tonkatsu. Under such circumstances, my standards for tonkatsu were inevitably strict. Yet even under those harsh conditions, the tonkatsu here satisfied me. The crispy exterior was so perfect it would have been rude to even comment on it, while the meat inside retained its rich juices and melted the moment my teeth touched it.
Remarkable. Truly remarkable.
“It’s amazing, right? The head chef here tenderizes the meat with a hammer before making the tonkatsu.”
“It’s delicious.”
At this level, it could easily aim for a high spot on my personal list of favorite restaurants. The current number one was still the place run by Ha-rin’s parents, but this came close to threatening that position. I couldn’t understand why someone with this level of skill wouldn’t open their own shop. Just as I was feeling a pang of regret that every bite of tonkatsu meant one less moment of future happiness, someone approached Han Seo-woo from the side.
“Seo-woo hyung, who’s this?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“…Is it the person I’m thinking of?”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re probably right.”
“Holy crap.”
The boy alternated glances between me and Han Seo-woo before suddenly dashing out of the cafeteria. He returned moments later clutching a pen and paper and rushed over to me.
“Please give me your autograph!”
An autograph. That wasn’t difficult. Ever since I had signed for Ha-rin in the distant past, I had been asked to do similar things by many people. Each time, I noticed they preferred when I wrote in the elegant calligraphy style I had used in the murim rather than ordinary handwriting. Judging from the boy’s eyes, it seemed the same this time, so I moved the pen as flamboyantly as possible. An exclamation of admiration came from beside me.
“Ah, and underneath, could you also write ‘To Kim Jeong-han. Keep fighting’?”
“Like this?”
“Yes! Wow! I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d hear Hwaryeong-nim speak formally to me! Those clothes—are they the ones you wore in Enri-nim’s stream?! I watched that broadcast! It was so much fun!”
What an energetic kid.
“What brings you here?”
“Han Seo-woo-ssi asked me for a favor.”
“I asked her to explain the principle of martial intent to the coaches. She’s the person I know who can explain it best.”
“Really?! Wow. Seo-woo hyung, it’s been a while since you looked respectable.”
“Enough nonsense. Where are the coaches right now?”
“They’re in a meeting in the back.”
“Really? Perfect. We can just take Hwaryeong-nim there.”
*
Han Young-soo, a coach at QZ Gaming and a former professional Apis player, let out a sigh after listening to the director’s words.
“So, Director. That theory isn’t something that can be universally applied.”
The point of contention between the coaching staff and the director was singular: whether the theory of martial intent, which had originated from the streamer Hwaryeong, could be applied to all the pros or not. Until now, it had only been mentioned occasionally without any concrete discussion, but everything changed when one pro gamer achieved results through it. The meta for handling qi characters was shifting.
“I don’t understand why you’re saying it can’t be done. Our team’s Han Seo-woo is already achieving results by utilizing that principle of martial intent.”
“I’m aware of that. I’ve known about it long before Hwaryeong even appeared.”
The reason their conversation was going in circles was simple. QZ Gaming’s current director was someone new who had joined after the previous director resigned, while Han Young-soo had been working as a coach at QZ Gaming for a long time.
“I’ve asked Han Seo-woo himself to explain the principle of martial intent multiple times, but it’s not something an ordinary person can understand and apply.”
With a genius like Han Seo-woo right beside him, Han Young-soo wouldn’t have stayed silent. He had asked Han Seo-woo to explain it over and over again—until he could understand those strange words. But in the end, he reached only one conclusion: the principle of martial intent was not an efficient method for anyone except geniuses who could comprehend it.
“That’s right, Director.”
“There’s a high chance that forcing it will only cause confusion.”
When the other coaches who had previously analyzed Han Seo-woo and reached the same conclusion voiced their opposition, the director furrowed his brow.
“Other teams are all trying it.”
“It’s a waste of time. There might be exceptions like Lee Hyun-jin, but that’s all.”
Just as the voices in the meeting room were growing louder, the door suddenly opened.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Two people entered. One was Han Seo-woo, who had just been the center of the discussion, and the other was a beautiful woman wearing somewhat disheveled clothes.