How Am I Supposed to Live Alone?!
Humans have an instinctive aversion to anything different from themselves.
In unfamiliar places, they feel anxiety. They fear the first wild animal they see. And a human with an appearance unlike their own tends to treat them as something other than another human.
In this way, the human nature that feels aversion toward the unfamiliar and the unknown has made her life terribly difficult.
*
She possessed an appearance fundamentally different from the people of this land—blonde hair, red eyes, snow-white skin, and a high nose bridge. Whenever people saw her striking features, they would mutter together.
Monster. Demon. Annoying creature. A being that must not be approached.
These labels, all expressing caution and rejection toward her existence, trailed her like tags wherever she went. As a result, she had no choice but to live a life shadowed by suspicion, suppression, and rejection.
When anything occurred, people would suspect her first. And there were many who exploited this to frame her with false accusations.
Thus, she lived alone, soaked in tears, treated as a monster among humans.
Then, one day.
In the life stained only by pain and suffering, she met him.
On that day, in front of her—who was being sold like a slave or a handyman—appeared the man who would purchase her.
The first impression he gave was fear. A man with black hair and black eyes, his cold demeanor like a sharpened blade.
When she heard he wanted to buy her, she was gripped by unease for a moment but had no choice but to follow him in silence.
After all, she was nothing but a monster different from others. Wherever she went, no matter who she met, she was essentially a being that evoked only disgust in others. She had long believed such treatment was only natural.
Yet, her new master—unlike the previous ones—was the first to call her by the name “monster” with a quiet, warm voice.
“Hyangbi. That’s your name.”
“! Hyang… bi?”
For the first time in her life, she received a name not stained by negation but her own.
And from that day forward, Hyangbi’s life—and her own—changed completely.
She had always lived denied as a person, subjected to discrimination and rejection. But from the moment her new master named her, he began treating her as a pure human being.
He called her by her true name, harbored no disgust, ate with her, smiled when he looked at her, and praised her small achievements.
Through him, she belatedly enjoyed the rights a person should naturally possess. For the first time, she was treated as one person by someone. After half her life spent in pain and ruin, her heart began to heal under her master’s gentle touch.
And to repay that grace, to help her famous warrior master in any way, Hyangbi—now grown and mature—voluntarily received martial arts instruction from him.
Four years passed since she began learning.
During that time, with the help of talent she herself had never known, she achieved remarkable growth.
In just four years, before reaching adulthood, she stood on the threshold of the Peak realm, surpassing First-Class.
Yet, despite the admiration her growth deserved, on that day Hyangbi had to shed tears, truly lamenting her own helplessness.
The desperate war between the Murim Alliance and the Heavenly Demon had reached its end.
Her master, chosen as the key figure in the final battle, looked at her and declared with a calm voice, “Our contract ends here. From now on, live freely as you wish. Avoid entanglement with the Murim Alliance if possible.”
Before the final battle, he announced the termination of their contract.
With such a grave danger looming that no one could ignore, his words sounded like a will.
At that moment, Hyangbi instinctively understood: her master was prepared to die in this battle, and after this, the man before her would vanish forever.
At the same time as realizing the truth, Hyangbi knelt before him and begged with a desperate voice, “Please… please take me with you, Master! No matter what happens… even if I die, it’s fine. So please… please don’t abandon me!”
She knew her current strength was still insufficient even to face the Heavenly Demon, let alone his subordinates.
Following him would only hinder, never help.
Yet she pleaded desperately, tears falling, “Don’t leave me alone. Even if you use me as a shield and I die, let me stay by your side until the end.”
But to her earnest pleas, the master spoke with unyielding resolve, “You must survive. No matter what happens in the future. Even if I disappear. You must… do that. That is the last command I give you.”
Despite her pleas, he remained firm.
She tried to follow him forcibly even without permission, but…
“Cluck! Mas… Master….”
“Forget about me from now on… and live happily.”
“I… I don’t… want… Mas… ter….”
Her actions ultimately knocked her unconscious and ended with the master leaving.
In the fading consciousness, the disappearing figure of her master.
As she watched, thick tears streamed down Hyangbi’s face… and at the same time, the despair she had been unable to forget since meeting her master bloomed anew in her heart.
The despair over her weakness for not being able to stop the master who left with the resolve to sacrifice his life.
*
“Huuu…”
A small shack nestled at the foot of the mountain.
There, a woman sat alone in the room, repeatedly filling an empty liquor glass.
She had snow-white skin unlike others and red eyes. Her blonde hair, left unmanageable for too long, hung rough and unkempt.
At this moment, without rest, she picked up the liquor glass placed before her.
With half-dilated pupils and the appearance of a complete wreck, she gripped the glass as if it might shatter, poured it halfway with a trembling hand, and then poured more straight into her empty stomach.
“Survive… live happily… is that even possible?… How am I supposed to live alone… in a world without Master… how am I supposed to live…?”
Two months had passed since the separation from her master.
Outside, rumors of the Heavenly Demon’s death had spread everywhere, and people laughed with joy and relief.
Yet these rumors only deepened the sadness in Hyangbi’s heart.
According to the tale, among the six masters who defeated the Heavenly Demon, only her master was missing. Despite the extermination and search, no trace of him could be found.
And through this, Hyangbi finally shattered even her faint hope.
Her master had vanished without a trace in this world.
Hyangbi interpreted that he had died in the battle with the Heavenly Demon and that his body could not even be found.
“Hic… huu… Master… Master…”
So, holding the liquor bottle that refused to get her drunk no matter how much she drank, she began shedding tears again.
At that moment—
“Huh? The light is on?”
A man’s voice suddenly reached her ear.
At the same time as recognizing it, Hyangbi unconsciously smiled with a hollow, empty expression.
“Ha… haha… what is this… now hearing hallucinations?… Really, I’m finished… hihic… huuhuhu…”
In this way, she began laughing hollowly, drowning in deep self-loathing.
At that moment—
—Click!
“…Huh?”
The door suddenly opened.
Hyangbi, who had lightly shattered the barrier she had set and entered, wondered what kind of situation this was in this world. She turned her gaze with effort.
But…
“…What? Hallucinations after hallucinations…?”
“Haa… as expected, it was you.”
“…!?”
“I really said you should live happily. What if you got locked up here and turned into a wreck like this?”
“…Eh?”
Through the gradually clarifying vision, the man’s figure entered her eyes.
At this, Hyangbi felt the alcohol completely vanish and asked the man before her with a trembling voice, “Mas… Master…? Ya… Yang Soyu… Master?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Hyangbi asked with disbelief.
Meanwhile, her master—Yang Soyu—showed a slightly awkward expression and spoke to her.
And…
“Uh… uuu…”
“Huh?”
“Aaaaaaaaah!!!!”
The next moment, Hyangbi burst into tears as if the world were ending and threw her body with all her strength toward the master in front of her.