Chapter 75
“All right, I think that’s good.”
“Whew, thank you for your hard work!”
“Good work, Eve~ You should hurry and go rest.”
“Yep, hehe.”
After getting the OK from Director Grandpa, it was break time. Lunch had dragged on a little, but it still wrapped up pretty quickly. Now only the last outfit was left, and I’d already finished the four looks.
“Eve, good work.”
“Eloise! I did well, right!”
“Yep, you did. Want this?”
“Oh, chocolate.”
Eloise took a chocolate from her pocket and handed it to me. It had the red-and-white brand colors of that chocolate people think of as a kids’ snack.
When I actually tasted it, it just felt like a tasty chocolate? I think the white filling inside is what makes it good.
“Eloise, is today your last day too?”
“No, I’m here until tomorrow.”
“That’s rough. Should I come again tomorrow too?”
“Pfft, you would? What would you even do if you came?”
Come to think of it, there wasn’t really anything for me to do. It was cold, so what would I do besides sit by the heater and warm myself? After we finish the fifth look this afternoon, that’s basically bye-bye to everyone at the shoot.
“Oh, Eloise. Let’s follow each other on Instagram.”
“Instagram... should we?”
“Yeah.”
Eloise has 1.8 million followers on Instagram. Every photo on her feed looks like a professionally shot editorial image. Of course, she’s Mayfair’s ambassador model, so that makes sense, but it feels more like a company Instagram than a personal one, which is a little disappointing.
“You don’t have a separate Instagram account, do you?”
“A personal one? Not really. I don’t really use Instagram in the first place.”
“Huh, I see. Then the company manages it?”
“Mostly, yeah. Still, I can choose who to follow myself. As long as they’re not controversial.”
“I see....”
A globally famous luxury brand ambassador is following me??
Officially recognized by the Recognition Association.
“Heeey, Eve. You’ve got a lot of followers too.”
“Still fewer than you, Eloise.”
“Mine is basically half a company account, so it doesn’t really feel like my own account.”
“Hmm.... Really? Then should I recommend something you could do?”
“Something I could do?”
Eloise doesn’t seem very interested in Instagram. I guess I should teach her a thing or two.
“I never give this to anyone, but since you gave me Kinder Chocolate, I’ll give you one.”
“What is this..?”
I rustled around in the pocket of the padded jacket I’d taken off and pulled out a little treasure. It was a Dujjonku I’d imported straight from Korea. If you film yourself eating this and post it, your feed gets a little more trendy.
Looking at it now, Eloise’s feed is kind of stiff and packed with notices and stuff like that, so it feels a little hard to get into. There doesn’t seem to be much worth looking at even if you open it.
“Here, take a picture while you eat this.”
“W-wait a second. Is it really okay to eat this? It feels like I’d gain a ton of weight.”
“...Just eat it. You’re still growing.”
Eloise narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the Dujjonku in her hand. Half skeptical, she peeled the wrapper back a little and took a tiny bite from the little top bit she’d pushed up with her finger.
“H-how is it..?”
“Mm…. It’s good. Pistachio, huh.”
“Right? Take a photo and post it. It’s super popular in Korea.”
“But isn’t this viral marketing? If you’re going to put it on your feed, wouldn’t it be better to get ad money or something?”
“Gasp.”
Come to think of it, yeah. Even Chaea unnie, who had 50,000 Instagram followers, got cosmetics sponsorships and posted them, so why was I uploading Dujjonku and saying it was delicious for free? Still, I hadn’t mentioned the company name, so maybe they wouldn’t know.
“Then how about this? I’m going to do this when I go back to Korea.”
“What is that?”
“You know scoop markets? You put jelly, chocolate, candy, and all sorts of snacks into a huge box, then scoop out a portion like this and sell it.”
“Why are you taking money to sell another company’s products?”
“Uh....”
“Are all of these sponsored?”
“N-no...? I’m just buying them myself with my own money...?”
“Huh?”
Come to think of it, that is kind of weird. Buying a bunch of snacks and putting them in a box... hmm, why sell them by the scoop? But is that even legal? It feels kind of like reselling.
“I’m not sure.”
“A lot of strange things go viral in Korea.”
“Heh, right? I don’t really get it, but it’s definitely fun.”
Videos of tiny toys, beads, or pearls being scooped up with a toy scoop, then neatly packed and put into a shipping box.
Eloise was watching the scoop market video I’d saved on Instagram, and as if something good had come to mind, she nodded.
“Ah, I do have something I could sell like this.”
“Oh, really? What is it?”
“The brooches Mayfair gave me. They’re small, and there are a lot of them. About this size?”
Eloise spread her palm and drew a circle with her finger to show me the size roughly. They were small enough that about four could fit on a tiny palm, and while the details differed, it was roughly that size.
“A brooch scoop market? That sounds fun! How much would one cost? I want to buy one too!”
“The cheaper ones are around 8 million won, and the expensive ones around 22 million? If you’re selling by the scoop, you’d have to charge about 40 million won per scoop.”
“Th-that’s not a scoop market....”
“Hmm, really?”
Eloise’s brooch scoop market would probably be bought not by people eating Dubai chewy cookies, but by people selling oil in Dubai. What I had in mind was little snacks like Haribo and ABC Chocolate.
“Then you must get a ton of allowance, Eloise.”
“Even if I have it, I don’t really have anything to spend it on. I just use my card.”
“No, why wouldn’t you have anything to spend it on? I buy Robux and Dujjonku....”
“Ah... I don’t play games.”
“Really?! Not even Roblox?!”
“Yeah, not really.”
Eloise is basically missing out on half her life—no, 75 percent of it. Steal a Brainrot is one of the games I know that delivers the most brutally fun kind of excitement.
It has that raw, primal fun of beating the hell out of the guys trying to steal your stuff with a bat.
“Look at this. This one’s insanely expensive. I stole it from someone else.”
“I-I see.... That’s interesting.”
Eloise looked at my character for a moment, then tilted her head.
“Um.... What’s this speech bubble?”
“This? It’s an avatar accessory. A friend I met in the game bought it and wanted us to wear it together.”
“Ah, um.... I think you’d better not wear that.”
“Why?”
“And don’t meet that friend either.”
“Why..?”
Gasp, Eloise is jealous. Because I have so many friends in the game, and I’m just too amazing...!
* * * * *
“Thank you for all your hard work, Ms. Ophelia. I learned a lot thanks to you.”
“Is that so. I’m glad I could help.”
Ophelia’s hair-styling skills completely overwhelm professional stylists. Having finished all five outfit photo shoots specified in the contract, I no longer had any reason to come to this set.
“Eve, you’re leaving now?”
“Yeah. You still have one more left?”
“Not yet. Two left, including tomorrow.”
“I see. You’ve got plenty of money, Eloise, so why do you work so hard?”
“Ah, um....”
Eloise hesitated for a moment, and in the end seemed to decide not to say it, ending the conversation in a somewhat awkward way.
“There’s just... a reason.”
“Hey! No way! Tell me quickly.”
“Me? I wasn’t exactly planning to say anything.”
“Liar! Tell me already! If you don’t, I’m not leaving!”
“Fine. Then stay until dinner.”
“I’m cold... tell me already....”
Eloise’s expression didn’t look good, so if I backed down and turned away here, I felt like I’d never hear it again for the rest of my life. I’d probably jolt awake in my sleep and wonder what Eloise had been trying to say back then.
“It’s... actually, the thing is...”
“Yeah, what is it, what is it?”
Eloise started to speak, then looked around sharply, checking whether anyone else was nearby. She soon came over quietly and brought her face close to my ear.
“Actually... both my mom and dad were badly injured.”
“Gasp..! Weren’t they Hunter Police..?!”
“No, they were hurt while working as Hunter Police....”
“Ah.”
Yeah, honestly, even if the Hunter Police are busy, it was a little strange that everyone got time off at the end of the year and they still couldn’t even see their daughter’s face. How could that be?
In fact, Eloise’s parents hadn’t been unable to come because they were busy with Hunter Police work; it seemed they were hospitalized after getting injured on the job.
Eloise works because time flies when she’s busy. And making a lot of money is nice too—of course not because she’s short on cash and has to work a lot. The first reason seems to be the bigger one.
“I see.... Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s fine. They’re much better now.”
“W-when are they getting discharged?”
“Probably around the day after tomorrow.”
“Day after tomorrow..!”
Today was my fifth day in England. I’d set aside a full week, and the return flight was booked for exactly the evening after tomorrow.
“Eloise! Then I’ll go meet your mom and dad!”
“Why would you?”
“Um.... Just because?”
“Pfft....”
I’m leaving the country in two days. It’d be a shame if I couldn’t meet them!
“My mom and dad?”
“I guess so..?”
“That’s funny. What kind of reason is that?”
“Eloise burst out laughing as if something about it was so amusing, and laughed for quite a while.”
Okay. If I have time, I’ll ask them.
“You have to! I’ll talk to your mom and dad and ask if we can play games together.”
“Heh, sure. That sounds fun. Go on, Ms. Ophelia looks like she’s waiting.”
“Ah, okay. Keep checking Instagram! I’m really going to contact you!!”
“Yeah, I know.”
“* * * * *”
So anyway, I’m going to meet Eloise’s mom and dad when they’re discharged.
“Is that so.”
“That should be fine, right? When are we taking our departure flight again?”
“It’s at 9:00, UK time. That should leave plenty of time for lunch, or maybe dinner.”
“Thank goodness!”
“On the way back to Claridge’s Hotel, I also got Ophelia’s permission. Tomorrow I’ll laze around at the hotel all day, then the day after tomorrow we can go out and have fun together.”
Heehee. What should we do for fun?
“I should think of something.”