Reincarnated Hero Management 〈 Chapter 14 〉 Demon King, Chaebol Heiress, Baek Ga-eun (4)
A few days after tracking down Baek Ga-eun, I still hadn't found any useful information. Just some old photos with her parents—nothing substantial.
"Mr. Kim, what are you doing? Uh... white hair... Baek Ga-eun?"
I jumped at the voice behind me, quickly closing the search window and turning around.
"Pardon? W-who do you mean?"
"No, I was just going to ask you to do something... but why are you looking for her?"
"Uh, is she the next target after Hyeon Ha-yeon?"
"Yeah, but you just sounded like you knew her..."
"She did ballet~"
"...Ballet?"
I'd found a trace of the Demon King in an unexpected place.
She was a marketing staffer who'd majored in ballet during school.
"So~ I knew she came from money, but I had no idea she was a Baekil Group heiress~"
"Do you have her contact info or anything?"
"She was so quiet and introverted, we weren't close."
Baek Ga-eun had attended school quietly with an introverted personality and hardly any friends. No friends—just like when she was the Demon King.
"Oh! She's probably in that show right now?"
"...Show?"
"You know the famous one, Swan Lake."
* Not sure if it was okay to book the performance with a corporate card, so I asked the accounting team—and ended up hearing even more praise for Hyeon Ha-yeon from them.
"...Mr. Kim, Ha-yeon works so hard, and her manager's off leisurely going to the ballet?"
"It's not like that..."
"Heh heh... anyway, enjoy the show. I'll handle things here."
"Thank you."
The performance was a few days later. I booked the best available seat among the empty ones.
* I dressed in a neat semi-formal suit, styled my hair, and arrived at the theater. Being the most expensive seats, the entrance was separate from the general area.
[♪~ ♫~ ♫]
The lights dimmed, and the orchestra's music soon began. Rather than focusing on the performance, I paid attention to the performers.
Before it started, I'd checked the performer list in the pamphlet for Baek Ga-eun, but it took flipping through for a while before I spotted her name in tiny print in one corner.
[♪~ ♫~ ♪~ ♫ ~♪]
As the performance progressed, the swans appeared. Among the swans circling the cursed princess, one woman stood out.
Baek Ga-eun.
She was made up like the other swans, but her white hair peeked out from under her headpiece, and her makeup was noticeably heavier than the other ballerinas'.
She was a supporting role, hovering around the lead.
Baek Ga-eun wasn't that great at ballet... her skill was barely average at best?
She was just pretty and of medium height, but that hair really stood out—no dye could touch it, so it was fascinating.
It matched what the office staff had told me. Amid all the ballerinas, anyone would think she was ordinary except for the white hair. But knowing her bare face, I thought she was prettier than most celebrities.
Seeing her face caked on twice as thick as the others, I felt it was a waste for her to stay in a supporting role.
* Cheers from the audience and the performers' curtain call echoed from beyond the wall. I got up before it ended and headed to the exit.
There's a passage only staff use after the show, and fans wait there too!
I reached the passage the office staff had mentioned, where fans were already waiting ahead of me.
"Ah... they should be out soon, right?"
"Just a bit longer... oh! There they come!"
A few fans rushed to their favorites, shoving paper and pens at them. The troupe members looked inwardly pleased as they signed happily.
Some were still peeking down the passage, waiting for their person.
After most had emerged, she appeared—hat pulled low over her face. I approached, but she stared at the ground while walking and nearly passed me by.
"Excuse me..."
"..."
Even when I spoke, she either ignored me or didn't hear—I grabbed her as she went ahead. She gave me a suspicious look, as if questioning if I had the right person.
The moment our eyes met, I tensed up without realizing it. Her large eyes had a sleepy allure, and her cute puppy-like face matched the Demon King from my dreams exactly—but she was someone else.
"...Me?"
"...Yes! Congratulations on a great performance—I really enjoyed it. Please take this."
Seeing the flowers other audience members had prepared, I'd hastily bought some at the entrance and handed her a single white rose matching her hair color.
"...Thank you. Well then..."
She glanced between the rose and me, took it, and tried to continue on.
I wanted to grab her and talk more, but no excuse came to mind. Still, letting her go like this felt like wasting the opportunity.
"...Excuse me!"
"..."
I called again, and she turned with eyes asking what now.
"...I'll look forward to your next performance."
"...Thank you."
She gave a slight bow and walked off a bit faster.
I'd blown my first chance.
I didn't think we'd get close on the first try...
"Still... even after giving her flowers, that's all I get?! Is every chaebol heiress like this!?"
Rushing things often backfires...
The goddess soothed me and suggested reviewing the past loops again.
You've made a first impression on the Demon King, so another chance will surely come...
"Another chance..."
There would definitely be one. Her troupe had several more performances in the coming days. Just in case, I'd booked seats for all of them—though not the good ones.
How about checking some other records while we're at it?
"...Other records?"
Yes... As you've seen before, the Demon King doesn't appear in just one record. Her power grew strong enough to cross dimensions multiple times...
"Other dimensions...? So the Demon King went around killing people across different worlds?"
To be precise, it's not just her... ahem, anyway. I found a past record of hers with quite a bit of info. Want to see it?
"...Yeah, her original record had too little info... just stuff like food preferences...
"Shall we take a look?"
Hee hee, as you wish.
The goddess smiled and reached out to me. A warm light filled my vision.
It was an unpleasant experience. Among all the pasts I'd seen, this was the most revolting record.
I'd grown numb to cruel scenes from so many loops, thinking they wouldn't faze me anymore.
Crunch... crunch...
"Guh... guaaaaah!"
A person was eating another person. She'd taken a huge bite from my calf, blood dripping from her mouth.
It wasn't my first time seeing past-me get eaten. But this raw scene was new.
The woman called a "Saintess" in this world devoured me without a care, her expensive gold-embroidered robes staining with my blood.
She'd tried slicing with a knife at first but paused, then strengthened her teeth and bit into my flesh softly.
Chewing mouthfuls of meat, she might've looked cute if not for all the blood.
She used holy power to revive my fading consciousness, forcing me to watch as she ate. Pure torture.
How much time passed? After devouring most of one leg, she magicked it back to perfect condition.
Under a warm, comforting glow like the Goddess of Luck's light, her saintly figure casting the spell for my sake—anyone would've called her a true saintess.
If not for the bloodbath...
She smiled in satisfaction, monologued one-sidedly, and left—repeating for days. I had no breath to reply.
Time flowed; as the saintess matured a bit more, she appeared.
The Demon King, Baek Ga-eun.
She glanced at me like a stranger, showing no interest. To my despairing heart, her white hair and dark clothes contrasted the saintess so starkly—I blindly prayed to her as my savior.
Intrigued, she watched the saintess secretly several times, then comforted past-me after she left.
"Ah, aaah... Demon King..."
"There, there... tough day again?"
"With you by my side, it hurt less... stay tomorrow too..."
"I'll always be here."
This went on for a while until the saintess reached adulthood and started mounting past-me.
It looked like a sweet newlywed night at a glance, but she bit off ears, tore lips, chewed fingers—brutal intimacy.
Eventually, the Demon King's patience snapped.
The Demon King joined in the act, whispering love, then killed the saintess and whisked me away.
At the world's edge where none could reach, we lived together, sharing love. She deliberately hurt me to recall past pain, reaffirming my love for her—and we lived happily for ages...
"...Is this a happy ending?"
...After centuries, she lost to the hero from another world, who took you—and you took your own life...
"Stop! Please stop... I'll take it as a happy ending..."
...
This Demon King record reminded me how crucial my mission was.
A few days passed, and performance day came again. I left my seat even earlier to wait in the passage.
She walked detached as before.
"Hello."
"...Yes."
"Please take this."
She eyed me like I was weird but accepted the flower. A white rose.
"...Thank you."
"Great performance today. It felt totally different from the last one."
"...Yes."
I brought up the show on purpose, but she gave curt replies and tried to leave.
"...See you again."
"..."
She left without a word.
Weeks of performances continued. This time, I booked a different seat. Same stage, but views changed the feel completely.
I bought flowers again and waited in my usual spot.
After giving her flowers several times and exchanging a word or two, she still didn't care about my name or why I waited.
"Hello."
"...You're back again."
"It's almost the last show—wouldn't want to miss it, right?"
"..."
"Great show today."
She stared at the flower I offered, then spoke to me.
"...I have no more room at home."
"Oh, you've collected them all? Good for you."
She gazed at my shameless grin, then took the flower.
Meeting my eyes, she said,
"...You have a lot of money?"
"I'm a salaried worker, but it's fine."
"...You must earn well."
"Not really. But I wanted to see Miss Ga-eun on stage."
"...I'm not the lead."
"Hm... the prima donna is amazing, but to me, you were the closest to a real swan."
"..."
Her large eyes still stared into mine. Beautiful brown irises.
"You've improved so much since the first show I saw."
"...Pardon?"
Her gaze wavered slightly.
"Watching the same performance so many times, even a newbie like me could spot mistakes and improvements."
"Today's movements were the most beautiful of all."
"I could tell how hard you've worked. Great job."
"..."
Blushing at the praise, she bowed her head and stepped back.
"...Next week."
"...Pardon?"
"Last performance next week."
As far as I knew, there were two or three more before closing.
"...My last one is next week."
"..."
"...Come for the finale."
"...Yes, I will."
With that, she left.
Her final performance ended. She watched me from afar, then approached.
"Great show today."
"...Thank you."
"Please take this."
"..."
She looked surprised at the bouquet I held out.
Taking it, she said,
"...It's the end."
"..."
Her eyes urged me to say something.
"...Please take this too."
"..."
I handed her my prepared business card.
Looking at it, she said,
"CG... Enter?"
"Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Kim Cho-in, team leader at CG Entertainment."
"I've come to scout Miss Baek Ga-eun."
"..."
Her delicate brows furrowed. Staring into my eyes, she sighed shortly and spoke.
"Sigh... scouting means you're serious, right?"
"...Yes."
"Let's go."
"...Pardon?"
"We can't talk here."
"...Yes."
She wet her lips with her car key and met my eyes.
"So... you've been coming to see me these past weeks to sign me?"
"Yes."
"...You know who I am?"
"Yes, I do."
"...Fine. Then how'd you find out?"
It felt like I was interviewing for her approval, not the other way around.
"While scouting new talent recently, I saw your photo in a program and decided."
Technically, I'd been searching for her from the start and stumbled on it—but not a lie.
She narrowed her eyes sharply at my words.
"...What if I refuse?"
Then I'm fucked.