Chapter 15 – Demon King, Third Generation Chaebol, Baek Ga-Eun (5)

“···What if I refuse?”

She said to me with a small frown.

There must have been something Baek Ga-eun didn’t like.

“···Then I will do my best to persuade you.”

She frowned and said, as if my answer was okay.

“You don’t seem like a desperate person?”

“I want to bring Ms. Ga-eun to the stage.”

“···Stage? “I am a dancer”

“Of course, Ms. Ga-eun is on stage as a dancer, but I thought of Ms. Ga-eun the moment I first saw her on stage.”

“···Ga Eun is suited to be the main character.”

“···”

She crossed her arms and gave me a look, as if telling me to continue.

“Actually, I was surprised when I first saw Ga-eun on stage.”

“Her makeup was thicker than that of other dancers, and her hair color was obscured by white decorations, so at first glance, she was no different from other dancers.”

“But to me, she stood out more than the prima donna who played the princess.”

“As she continued to perform, her skills seemed to improve better than other dancers.”

“···Ga Eun was seen shining on stage as the main character.”

“···”

When I looked at her eyes, she seemed a little surprised.

“When they said this was their last performance, it sounded like they didn’t know when the next performance would be.”

“If you haven’t given up on being on stage, I want to put you on stage as the main character with my own hands.”

“···”

She lowered her arms and slowly drank her tea and seemed to be choosing her words.
She thought for a moment, then crossed her arms again and said.

“···You looked at it more closely than I thought.”

“···Yes”

“···What kind of stage was I playing the main character when Kim Cho-in saw me?”

“···”

She thought slowly to answer her question.

On what stage should she stand and become the main character?

Fashion show? Movie? Drama? Concert?

The correct answer is…

“Miss Ga-eun was everywhere.”

“···”

“She walked around Paris as a model, stood in Cannes as an actress, and toured the world as a singer.”

After saying this, she laughed as if she was a little dumbfounded.

“···Do you think it makes sense?”

“I believe that Ga-eun can definitely do it.”

At my firm words, she stroked her teacup and began to think deeply.

“···I am rich”

“···”

Although she was puzzled by her sudden words, she decided to listen quietly.

“···Wherever you go in the world, there are Baekil Group products”

“Even when I sit like this and drink tea, money comes into my bank account.”

···What? Are you proud?

She lowered her head and continued her story, still looking at the teacup.

“But I haven’t achieved anything…”

“I know it’s a full story, but… I lived without doing anything and achieving everything I wanted.”

“I thought the role of Odette, who received applause from people in Swan Lake when I was young, looked so cool.”

“But…”

But she did not become Odette.

“… Still, I’m really proud that I put in the effort and was able to stand on stage.”

“I’ve done enough so far, and I don’t want to be on stage anymore.”

“···”

“···I’m sorry”

Baek Ga-eun rejected my offer.

She looked so small and anxious as she looked at me while smoothing the teacup.

···Now it was my turn to desperately persuade.

“Can I say one more thing?”

“···”

“My family doesn’t have a lot of money, and I haven’t found the right talent until now.”

“···Do you know an actress named Lee Ji-yeon? “He is my childhood friend.”

“My only achievement is to make Lee Ji-yeon audition for CG Entertainment and make her the best actress.”

She seemed surprised, as if she knew Lee Ji-yeon.

“But that popularity doesn’t come from my own hands.”

“I want to prove my eyesight again.”

“···I would like to say that I am very fortunate that Ms. Ga-eun has achieved so far.”

“If you join me, Ga-eun may not be able to stand at the end of ballet with what she has honed, but it will serve as a foundation to stand on a higher level.”

“If you believe in me and challenge me for just one year…”

“One year…”

“Yes, one year. In one year, the world will turn Ms. Baek Ga-eun into Baek Ga-eun, not just the granddaughter of the Baekil Group Chairman, but the celebrity the world expects.”

“···”

“Everyone is jealous of Ga-eun’s white hair, so we will dye it and create a world where Baek Ga-eun becomes more famous than Baek-il Group.”

Her gaze was a little shaken by my impassioned speech, but she seemed to have come to her senses and spoke carefully.

“···What if it’s not enough for a year?”

“···I will take responsibility at that time. Please trust me”

“···”

She was lost in her deep thoughts as she looked at herself reflected in the teacup.

···How much time has passed? She put down the cold tea cup and spoke her words.

“···Is it okay if I think about it some more and give you an answer?”

“Yes! Of course. My personal number is written on my business card, so I would appreciate it if you could contact me.”

She adjusted the bag containing her business cards and then stood up as if she was about to leave.

“···Then I’ll contact you later.”

“Yes, I will believe and wait.”

I was able to greet her only after saying one more word to her.

*

A few days have passed.

After helping Hyeon Ha-yeon with her schedule, I bought a can of beer and returned home.

She hated loneliness, so she turned on the TV and sat on the bed thinking.
The cold beer awakened my tired mind.

If Baek Ga-eun rejected her offer, there was no way for her to do anything.
She only handed me a business card, and she didn’t even know my contact information.
However, the fact that she is worried means that she is more than halfway there.
At first, she turned up the volume on her cell phone in case she was contacted, but she only received calls that had nothing to do with her.
A week would soon pass by, and it felt bleak.

Baek Ga-eun is a third-generation chaebol.

She is also the granddaughter of the chairman of Baekil Group, one of the world’s largest companies.

Even in my opinion, there was no reason for her to become a celebrity.

Baek Ga-eun said she wanted to be Odette.
Her genre itself was different from that of celebrities.
This time, she sold Ji-yeon Lee’s name to arouse her interest, but seeing as she didn’t contact him, it seemed like she was only interested.

It reminded me of Hyeon Ha-yeon, whom I brought in relatively easily.

She was already known in the industry as a bright, polite and friendly young lady.

Since she had a good background, the plan to make her official debut as a model was a no-brainer.
Luckily, the goddess’s power returned and things were going in a good direction… But I was anxious about losing Baek Ga-eun, who was clearly the devil.

If you can’t bring them together and make her a top-level celebrity…

‘If you lose them… The hero who is already by your side will regain his memory.’

‘··· Since she has already come into contact with the Demon King, one day the Demon King will regain her memories and powers.’

···Then the world will be destroyed.

It is said that each time they are reincarnated, they grow differently depending on their environment or the events they experience.

It is said that memories from the past flow in and affect her personality.

When I see Hyeon Hayeon smiling brightly and look at her past records, I feel a sense of disconnect.
Sometimes, when she has an expressionless face, she gets startled because it overlaps with the warrior from the past that she saw in her dream.

When I think about past records, the cruel scenes I saw recently come to mind.

Cannibalism, murder, torture, rape… It sent shivers down my spine to think that I was experiencing it all.

···In fact, isn’t this all a dream?

It’s a pity that we lost Baek Ga-eun, but we will support Hyeon Ha-yeon so that she can live a comfortable life until her old age.

What about Lee Ji-yeon?

···Huh?

I imagined that I would be successful with Hyeon Ha-yeon, make money, and start a happy family, but naturally, Ji-yeon Lee was next to me.

We had been together for so long that she knew me very well, but I didn’t know her completely.

Ji-yeon Lee’s actions of not picking up a knife had the same direction as the crazy bitches we saw in her past.

In the past, when she was filming a movie, she slapped a new actor who had given me coffee for her hard work and punched her in the face with sincerity, not acting. She looked truly sorry and apologized to the new actor who was dazed when she stabbed her with her hand, surprising everyone on set.

She said that, funny enough, she still respects Lee Ji-yeon.
Jiyeon Lee was that cunning.

These days, Lee Ji-yeon’s temper is sharp as she spends most of her time with her current partner, Hayeon.
Her ‘leash’ that she had on her was holding her well.
Jiyeon Lee has spent her entire life playing and earning money for food, and she is a woman who would hit up a celebrity right away.

In this situation, if you take Baek Ga-eun…

She must have been nervous, and her hands started to sweat.
···Still, Jiyeon Lee will not destroy the world.

*

I received a call.

A text message came from a number I didn’t know exactly.

[Please come to station xx on X day of X month at XX o’clock]

It was an unknown number, and on the other hand, I couldn’t contact him.

However, she believed it was Baek Ga-eun’s call and went to the meeting place.
It was a sparsely populated station in Seoul because it was close to the highway.

What if my organs are stolen?

···Still, I won’t be tortured!

I felt positive.

The promised day has come.

Not long after the meeting place, a black X-Royce stopped in front of me.

I rolled down the black passenger window to see if I had something to do.

‘Jiing-‘

A slightly older woman sitting in the passenger seat said to me.

“Mr. Kim Cho-in, the lady is waiting.”

“···”

Fortunately, it seemed like the car was sent by Baek Ga-eun, as she knew my name and said she was a lady.

*

It took a long drive across the highway to reach the place where she was waiting.

The sun sets quickly in the mountains, so it was already getting dark.

A large house in a mountain valley… Perhaps it is her villa?

The older woman took me to the study on the second floor.

‘Knock’

“Miss, I brought you Kim Cho-in.”

‘Please come in’

She opened the door and bowed her head as if to go in.

“Welcome”

“… I’m glad to see you again.”

‘Thump’

“Please sit down.”

“···”

Unlike the ones I’ve seen before, it felt a little difficult, so I was nervous without realizing it.
The study was spacious, as if it occupied half of this floor.

She was wearing a black off-the-shoulder blouse, and her cute face, combined with her loose white hair and slightly drooping eyes, gave off a certain sexiness.

As I sat down on the sofa facing her, she invited me to drink her tea.
The tea was moderately warm, as if it had been prepared in advance, and I felt a little relaxed.

She said, looking into my eyes as I sipped my tea.

“I called… To give you the answer at that time.”

“···Yes”

“Of course, there was no reason to call Mr. Choin this far, but I wanted to return the favor.”

“… Are you saying it in return?”

I had doubts about her words.

“···Yes, Mr. Choin has given me flowers and visited the concert hall so far, so I wanted to repay him.”

“···”

I didn’t know that if I said it was okay here, it would be like denying her kindness in calling me so far, so I decided to accept it.

“···After the performance, there are a lot of after-parties, right? But I haven’t gone out since then.”

“The only person who congratulated me on my performance was Mr. Choin… So this was the only place I could think of. “Will you understand?”

It seemed like he was talking about the day he broke up with me.

I felt once again that Baek Ga-eun was the daughter of Baekil Group.

It could have been burdensome to eat alone with a man who lived outside my home.

“···Yes, I completely understand.”

“Great. Well, I’ve prepared a meal, so let’s eat slowly and talk.”

“··· Drinking is okay, right?”

“···Good.”

*

She prepared her meal without moving her place.
The workers came in and brought out the food and set up the table, but it was prepared in such a luxurious way that it would have been burdensome for two people to eat.

“This is Chateau Margaux. The vintage is 2009.”

The employee poured the wine, and you could feel the scent just by pouring it, so it was clearly an expensive wine.

“That’s the age I started ballet”

“If it’s 2009…”

“When I was in elementary school, I went to see ballet for a school assignment… Anyway, shall we get started?”

“···Yes”

‘Jjang’

··· Since she was twenty-four, she must have been in her upper grades of elementary school.
When I picked up a snack and ate it, I thought it would be okay to eat it slowly since the food was okay even when it got cold.

As the alcohol went in, the tension eased a bit and the conversation began.

We filled our empty glasses several times and talked about each other’s past.

“···I started working as a manager at a young age.”

“How early did you start?”

“I started in the second year of high school. “I was there for 9 years, not including the military, so I was there for quite a long time.”

“···How did you start working?”

She picked up the bottle and filled her glass, and I poured some alcohol into her glass and started talking while wetting our mouths with alcohol.

“It was summer.”

“My childhood friend Jiyeon Lee came to me with a bunch of business cards and asked if I knew any places.”

“At that time, I had no interest in the entertainment industry, but the only name I knew was CG Entertainment.”

“We went to the audition together, and the company said they would accept Jiyeon Lee on the condition that she become her manager, so that’s how I entered the entertainment industry.”

“… You must have worked together for a long time.”

“···I’m currently going back and forth because I’m also in charge of Shining Boys.”

“Hmm… Okay… Come on, have one more drink.”

She seemed to drink quite well.

I took the wine she handed me, sipped a little, and glanced at the bottles on the floor.

She took a few bottles from the wine cellar in the corner of the study and drank them, and she still looked fresh.
I was concerned that the wines had quite a bit of alcohol, but it wasn’t enough to make me lose my mind yet.

She stood up and said, as if she had already emptied this bottle.

“One more bottle, okay?”

She seemed to be a little dizzy, as if she wasn’t feeling well either.

“···I will bring it.”

“No, I’ll bring what I like.”

She walked slowly towards her wine cellar.

‘Woo-Woong-‘

The cell phone placed on one side of the table vibrated.

I glanced at Baek Ga-eun and saw that she was still choosing the wine to take out.
We haven’t talked about the contract yet, but the atmosphere was good, so I think it would be best to hang up the phone if possible.

“I’m getting a call?”

Before I knew it, she had finished selecting the wine and came to the table.

“Ah, yes”

She put down the two bottles and uncorked them, glancing at me.
She reached for her phone, flipped it over, and saw her familiar name.

[Lee Ji-yeon]