Chapter 01
I May Be a Demon, But I’ll Be an Actor
Demon.
A spiritual being that grants humans what they desire with all manner of power, and in return, reaps their souls.
In short, an existence born solely to toy with mankind.
Among them, the Marquis of Demons, Gremory, stroked his chin with a grim face.
“So you’re saying you lost your power and authority after being ambushed by angels, lived a human-like life, and only just barely returned…?”
Before him knelt a demon in a ragged cloak, gaunt and pitiful in appearance.
Sunken eyes, a frail body with veins protruding starkly.
Suppressing his sobs with all his might, trying to answer with dignity yet failing, the demon Lucer let a few tears spill as he bowed his head.
“I… I am so sorry… My strength… was not enough…”
Perhaps moved by those tears, the young demon in charge of testimony beside them flared up.
“Lord Gremory, this is no less than a declaration of war from the Heavens! How dare they attack a demon of the Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Demons!”
“…”
“Who knows how much torment and humiliation this poor demon must have suffered… As a fellow demon, I cannot stand idly by!”
Gremory sighed heavily.
“Lieutenant, how long did you talk with this one?”
“Eh? Uh, maybe… five, ten minutes?”
The lieutenant tilted his head, wondering why he asked. Gremory just shook his head.
“Lord Gremory! Hard as it is to believe, it’s the truth! Just talk to Lucer yourself and you’ll see! Those vile, filthy angels, the things they did to him—”
“Leave.”
“Eh? No, please! Just listen! At least hear him out! If you only knew what those despicable angels—”
“Out.”
“…Yes, sir!!”
Gremory was dumbfounded.
This same lieutenant, usually so cold, efficient, and unfailingly obedient, was now all riled up after just a short talk with Lucer, spouting impassioned nonsense.
But it wasn’t unfamiliar.
It wasn’t the first time demons who faced Lucer started babbling like they’d been bewitched.
With a look of irritation, Gremory glared at him.
“Lucer, enough with the sickening act. Do you want to die?”
“Sob… Lord Gremory… it’s… it’s unfair… Calling this ‘an act’…”
“Say ‘act’ one more time and I’ll seal you in the dimensional rift forever.”
“…Tch.”
At that, Lucer’s expression changed instantly.
Not his features—
Just his eyes, the tilt of his jaw, the twitch of facial muscles, his shallow trembling breaths, a few shifts of brow and forehead muscles…
And in a blink, the wretched, humiliated demon was gone, replaced by a face radiating boredom and faint annoyance.
Holding his temples, Gremory groaned.
“Lucer, didn’t I tell you a hundred years ago? Keep your hobbies in moderation.”
“Moderation? That’s like telling a heart to ‘stop beating so much.’ Acting is like that for me, Lord Marquis.”
“Judging from that mouth of yours, I see nothing’s changed.”
Pressing his temples, Gremory asked,
“So what nonsense kept you for so long this time? Wasn’t it just a simple contract to make the crown prince into an emperor?”
“Sure, if I used magic it would have been simple. But then there’d be no acting, no fun. So I made a contract like this: ‘I will become emperor in your stead and bring prosperity to the empire.’”
“…So instead of just crowning the prince, you rewrote the deal and wasted a hundred years playing around?”
“Strictly speaking, seventy-nine. He ascended twenty-one years after I possessed him.”
“And even though you’d get the same soul regardless? Why?”
Even as he asked, Gremory already knew the answer.
It was one he had heard too many times before.
“Well… because it’s fun?”
The dignified Marquis of Hell could endure no more.
“You son of a—!!”
Gremory’s magic surged and crashed down on Lucer.
“What lunatic demon wastes a hundred years for one soul?! Do you think the Demon King pays for your operating costs?! You insane bastard!!”
“Lord Gremory, calm down.”
“No! I really don’t get it! Why incarnate into flesh?! That has nothing to do with the contract! Once you do, your true form is sealed, your powers restricted, even basic magic is crippled, and you’re saddled with penalties! Why! Why the hell do it?!”
“Hm? That’s a stupid question, Lord. In spirit form, how can I act alongside humans?”
“What the hell is so important about this acting?!”
Even as Gremory raged, Lucer looked unbothered, even amused, snapping his fingers with a smirk.
“Nothing, everything…!”
His unnecessarily perfect diction was the final straw snapping Gremory’s sanity.
“…Fine, you hopeless birdbrain. But remember this: I wasted plenty of souls and magic promoting you to a mid-rank demon. You were supposed to repay that debt bit by bit with the souls you harvested. But looking at how inefficient you are, I doubt you’ll ever pay it back.”
“Hmm. That’s unfortunate. But isn’t investment risk supposed to fall solely on the investor?”
Lucer’s shamelessness pushed Gremory past fury into icy calm. With a snap of his fingers—
Snap!
“I suppose in your case, we’ll recover the debt another way.”
At his signal, secretary-demons and guards appeared.
“You’ve lost the right to freedom. You’ll be sent to forced labor. Let’s say… about 2,700 years should roughly cover the principal.”
“…”
The murderous look on Gremory’s face left no room for doubt.
But Lucer simply asked, calm as ever,
“Hmm, can I still act there? Like guard and prisoner roles?”
“Seize that bastard!!”
Just then, Lucer suddenly looked up over Gremory’s head.
“Ah?!”
The act was so convincing even the guards turned their heads in alarm. Gremory sneered.
“Are you stupid? You think I’ll fall for—”
Before he could finish, light and sound exploded.
The ceiling collapsed in a blaze of heavenly radiance, and angels descended with swords of flame.
“A-An angel!!”
The demons faltered in shock. But Gremory gritted his teeth and shouted:
“Don’t be fooled! It’s an illusion!”
“Truly, Lord Gremory, eyes that pierce truth and lies alike. How frustrating. One day I’ll train my acting to even deceive those eyes.”
Gremory whipped around at Lucer’s voice—only to see him at the edge of a portal, grinning as he flicked his fingers.
“A true actor also directs, after all.”
“You—you madman!!”
“Well then, until we meet again—once you’ve cooled your head!”
Pop!
With that, Lucer vanished from the demon realm.
Gremory’s curses echoed into the void where the portal closed.
“You bastard!!”
…So, I was a demon in my past life?
Born in South Korea.
Ten years old this year.
Elementary school student Lee Ji-woo was overwhelmed by the sudden flood of memories in his head.
They came without warning—memories too vivid to be delusions. The moment he understood the concept of “mana,” he could even feel it.
The memories of an ancient demon were etching themselves into the brain of an innocent child.
“Ugh!”
His head spun, nausea rising as the memories of demon Lucer clashed with those of Lee Ji-woo.
Languages, cultures, literature, knowledge, his lived experiences—
All poured in at once.
The “ulzzang baby” whose photos went viral online.
Landed a few child-model commercials thanks to that.
Now working as a child actor, appearing in small roles.
And at this moment…
“…On his 10th NG take.”
They were filming a drama called Cultivation.
And everyone on set was glaring coldly at him.
The director—Choi Jin-wook, if Lucer’s new memories were right—tapped the script in irritation.
“Ji-woo’s not doing well. Let’s take 30 minutes.”
“Got it~!”
At the call for a break, a woman who’d been fretting nearby hurried over, clutching Ji-woo’s shoulders.
“Ji-woo, are you okay? You seemed so out of it… Should we just go home today?”
This woman… Ji-woo’s mother, Han Soo-ji. The one who bore and raised me…
Ji-woo stared blankly up at her.
She looked gentle, in her early thirties.
But strangely, no father ever appeared in the boy’s memories.
Not important right now.
It seemed his gamble to escape Gremory had worked.
Though it did cost him ten years of amnesia.
“Ji-woo? Ji-woo? Are you all right?”
“Ah… Yeah, Mom. My head just hurts a little.”
“…Maybe we should stop filming for today?”
“No, it’s fine.”
No need to panic.
How many times had he possessed someone before?
He had been a beggar, a knight, a wizard, a survivor of a zombie apocalypse, a crown prince, even a barbarian chieftain.
This wasn’t much different.
In fact, it was easier.
All he had to do was act out the life of Lee Ji-woo.
I am Lee Ji-woo.
Just—this time, a little more skilled in acting.
Ji-woo slowly lifted his head and smiled.
The anxious, mistake-prone boy was gone, replaced by a composed, confident child.
“I’ll read the script again. I think I can do better next time.”
“O-Oh… Okay…”
In Lucer’s memories, Ji-woo was shy and timid.
But Lucer had no intention of imitating that.
In this world, no one will suspect demonic possession just because a kid suddenly acts differently.
He calmed himself with ease.
To possess another body, adapt without pause, and live their life as a performance—
For him, it was as natural as breathing.
Director Choi Jin-wook was not in the best mood.
He never liked working with child actors—poor skills, quick to wilt under pressure, hard to control.
“This is why I didn’t want a child king in the script…”
He had wanted to skip the boy-king Danjong entirely and start the story after Prince Suyang’s coup.
But this was the debut script of some writer, who was dead set on including Danjong.
Just a rookie riding his teacher’s reputation. Damn it. If I’d met him ten years ago, I’d never be stuck directing crap like this.
Yes, Choi was a has-been.
Forced into this project by pressure from a famous senior writer backing their student.
And even then, his position had nearly been stolen.
—Jin-wook, don’t screw this up. If you blow this, you’re finished.
The station chief’s desperate warning still rang in his ears.
“…Damn it.”
He slumped back into his chair.
“All right, let’s see. Let’s find out just how much our child star managed to ‘regain his emotions’ in those 30 minutes.”
At his command, the crew returned to their places.
Ji-woo, playing King Danjong, calmly stepped onto his mark.
Hmph. The kid could barely remember his lines earlier. Thirty minutes won’t fix that.
Sneering inwardly, Choi shouted:
“Action!”
Clap!
The slate clapped, the camera rolled.
And in that instant—
Ji-woo became Danjong.
