Chapter 77
“Ooooh....”
While wandering the streets, I spotted a shop window that caught my eye.
“Ah, that looks like you, Puppy.”
ㅡBeep....
“Heehee. I’m kidding.”
It was a somewhat old-looking doll shop. Beyond the wide glass window, bear, pig, and human dolls were on display. Come to think of it, there was a gigantic bear plush at home that Chaea unnie had given me, and maybe that was why sleeping had felt a little empty lately.
When I said the pig doll lying belly-up with its stomach exposed looked like Puppy, Puppy pressed its front paws down on my head. What a cute little thing.
“Doesn’t it feel like a picture book? A doll shop—these still exist nowadays?”
After staring at it for a while, I caught the eye of the grandfather sewing a doll from the cashier’s chair inside the shop. He had a big red nose, white hair, and round, square-framed black glasses.
He looked exactly like the sort of grandpa who’d make a Pinocchio and then get caught up in some incident.
“Ah, should I greet him?”
Since our eyes had met, it felt a little weird not to say hello, and walking away like this would seem rude, so I was about to bow.
ㅡBANG!
“Ack..!”
I’d forgotten there was a full glass window right in front of me and bowed my head, so my forehead slammed into it with a bang. It didn’t hurt that much, but I was startled and jerked my head up, and Puppy seemed to go flying somewhere too. Through the glass reflecting the sunset light, I could even see how shocked the grandfather looked.
“Ow.... Are you okay, Puppy?”
ㅡBeep!
“Mm, looks like you’re okay.”
Rubbing my slightly stinging forehead, I put Puppy, who had flopped onto the floor, back on my head, and then I heard the little brass bell hanging on the shop door jingle.
“Little one, are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine! My head’s tough. The glass almost broke, hehe.”
I gave a thumbs-up to show I was okay, and the doll shop’s unknown grandfather smiled softly. I took a small step back, lifted my head, and looked at the sign, where some English I didn’t know was written.
“Bramble & Buttons.... Are you the owner of this shop, Grandpa?”
“Heh heh, that’s right. I’ve been doing this for forty years already.”
“Gasp, this shop is forty years old?”
“The shop itself is over a hundred years old.”
“Whaaat.”
A shop that old? Wait, had glass really been invented a hundred years ago already? I wasn’t sure. Then if I went back a hundred years in a time machine, this shop would still be here, wouldn’t it?
“That’s so old!”
“You could say that. My grandfather started this shop.”
“Wow. Your grandfather’s grandfather?”
Then that meant they’d already been running a doll shop for three generations. Hearing that made the old shop feel a little more interesting.
“Can I go in?”
“Of course, go right ahead.”
“Yay.”
Honestly, I’d thought they might have closed up because there were no customers at all, but if he said it was okay to go in, then okay. A hundred years old is practically a dungeon, isn’t it? This is hunter work too, after all. It’s not like I particularly need a doll or anything.
“Woooow.”
The shop was really small. About the size of the one-room apartment I used to live in? The grandfather was working on what looked like a sewing machine in the tiny space by the cashier, and even the machine looked incredibly old.
“Oh, this one’s kind of cute.”
ㅡBeep..!
“What, are you jealous?”
ㅡBeep-beep!!
“You’re not jealous over a doll? Hmmmm~ Really?”
Puppy had started getting completely jealous of the fluffy white dog doll. Not long after, Suri landed outside the window too, probably because I’d gone inside and it had come to see whether things were dangerous.
No, not just watching... surveillance? That sounded weird. Bodyguard?
“H-Huh..?”
The doll shop grandpa was startled because a giant white eagle outside was suddenly glaring like it was about to smash the glass, so I explained it to him properly.
“Ah, Grandpa! I’m the one raising this one. Don’t worry!”
“I-Is that so? That’s really amazing.”
“Right? It’s kind of like a doll.”
When I said I was the one raising it, the grandfather opened the door for Suri and told it to come inside and get out of the cold. Suri is actually a machine, so it doesn’t mind the cold anyway, but whatever.
Suri waddled in too and bowed politely to the grandfather. The grandfather looked surprised, then laughed and said how amazing it was.
“I trained it myself. I’m awesome, right?”
“Ohhh, truly impressive.”
“Heehee.”
ㅡKree....
Suri shook its head. This is when you’re supposed to hype up the princess, you little rascal.
“This one looks like Suri.... Ah, this one kind of looks like Ophelia too. Right?”
A pink rabbit doll that seemed to be vaguely angry. But looking more closely, its slightly expressionless, stern-looking face also felt a bit like Ophelia. Of course, I’m not badmouthing Ophelia by saying she’s stern. It just felt a little similar, that’s all.
“Should I give this to Ophelia as a present? What do you think?”
ㅡBeep!
ㅡKree....
“You think she’ll get mad? Hm, if you two stay quiet, there won’t be a problem!”
And Ophelia had given me pocket money too. Apparently she was weak to praise, because when I gave her a thumbs-up, she smiled and gave me money.
“Let’s see.... Wow, these coins are pretty.”
There were ten 1-pound coins and five 2-pound coins, plus two 10-pound bills and one 20-pound bill. That made sixty pounds total, and although it was British money, it was basically a huge fortune worth about 120,000 won.
“Huh, there isn’t a price tag.... Grandpa?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“There isn’t a price tag here. How much is this rabbit doll, by the way?”
I picked up the pink rabbit plush, which fit neatly in my hand, and brought it over to the cashier.
The grandfather had been busily stitching something like a soft brown handkerchief on the sewing machine. He pushed the glasses he was wearing up onto his forehead and, half-opening his eyes, began looking at the rabbit doll from a distance.
“Heh heh, how much do you think it should be?”
“Gasp.”
So he really was going to pull out that scary “make me an offer” move. As expected, someone who’d run the shop for a hundred years really did have serious sales chops..!!
If you quote a little above the original price, it’s “Hehe, yep, that price is right—let’s do business.”
If you quote below the original price, it’s “What, are you out of your mind? You’re blocked.”
“Umm..!”
But it definitely had a craftsman’s touch. The rabbit had a unique, enigmatic expression. Those proud, sharp eyes looked like it would faithfully time a three-minute toothbrush timer every morning. It’s not easy to capture that much detail with just a few strands of thread.
“I can feel the craftsman’s touch..!”
“Heh heh heh, thank you.”
I rummaged through the coin purse Ophelia had given me. Of course, I did have a bit of money on me now, but it was all British money. And since she’d told me to spend it and bring it back, I wanted to splurge, really splurge, on Ophelia’s gift.
If I took this to the airport and, right in front of Ophelia, said, “I’m gonna use this to buy Robux, so please exchange it for me,” that’d be a little weird, right?
* * * * *
The owner of the doll shop, Bramble & Buttons, Jeffrey Haversham, looked at the little girl in front of him. She had a few crumpled bills and a handful of coins stuffed into an antique coin purse with a red check pattern.
With every clink, he could feel the child’s expression growing more troubled.
“T-Twenty pounds..?”
A determined look appeared in the little girl’s eyes after she named a bigger sum than he’d expected. He didn’t know the details, but it looked like she was trying to spend a truly huge amount of money from her own perspective.
That sight was a little admirable, and kind of cute too.
“Hahaha, twenty pounds, is it? Bring me one more doll, and I’ll give you two dolls for twenty pounds.”
“Gasp! Really?!”
The price of ten pounds apiece wasn’t exactly cheap, but from the perspective of a born-and-bred Korean, pounds felt like game cash to Eve. She bounced happily, moved away from the cashier, and hurried over to the display stand with the dolls.
“I can get one more with 20 pounds! What should I buy?”
ㅡBeep-beep!!
“Heehee, oh right! I was supposed to meet Eloise tomorrow, wasn’t I? I should buy a present for Eloise!”
Jeffrey Haversham let out a small smile from the cashier’s chair at the girl’s bright, cheerful voice. He’d thought that if she could buy one more, she’d pick out another doll she liked, but she wanted to use even the leftover money for her friend.
“How about this one? Doesn’t it look kind of like Eloise?”
ㅡBeep..?”
“No? Hmm.”
ㅡKree
“This one? Oh, cute! This one’s nice!”
He had no idea what story there was behind it, but seeing her seriously discuss things with the animal friends following behind her was just oddly endearing.
“Grandpa! I’ll take this one!”
“You’ve decided for sure?”
“Ahem, of course!”
A golden-haired girl doll with her hair tied back. She liked it because it looked a little like the friend she’d just heard about, Eloise.
“Here are 20 pounds.”
“All right, thank you. Come again next time.”
“Yep, hehe.”
A tag with a luxurious finish, bearing the burned-in Bramble & Buttons stamp on carefully tanned brown cowhide.
Jeffrey Haversham took an ivory linen cord, neatly braided and threaded it through the punched hole in the tag. To keep the doll’s shape from getting ruined, he tied it lightly around the rabbit doll’s neck like a ribbon.
Then he carefully tied the cord around the girl doll’s waist as well, put it in a brown paper bag, and handed it to the little girl.
“Thank you!! Hope you sell lots!!!”
From a British person’s point of view, it was a very unusual goodbye, but that only made it more memorable.
“Ah, right. What’s your name, Grandpa?”
“Me? They call me Jeffrey.”
“Oh, I see. I’m Eve. Goodbye!”
Before there was even time to say a proper goodbye, Eve left behind only the chime of the little brass doorbell.
Behind her, even the white eagle bowed politely one last time, waddled out of the shop, and then flapped its wings and flew away beyond the shop window.
“Huh.”
Jeffrey Haversham believed that the child he’d just met had been sent by an angel to help him recover the inspiration he’d forgotten.
Enough to give him the courage to finally start on the next doll he’d been putting off for a while.
“Maybe I’ll make a white-haired girl....”
* * * * *
ㅡClick
“Ophelia! Look at this!”
“Mm? What is it?”
“Heehee, a present for Ophelia! I went out and bought it!”
“Ta-da!!”
Returning to Claridges, Eve took the two dolls out of the brown paper bag and held the pink rabbit plush out to Ophelia.
The plush doll was small enough to fit in one of Eve’s tiny hands, a compact size that could also fit in an adult woman’s palm.
Compared to such a small doll, the luxurious cowhide tag was quite large and had a strong sense of self; at first glance, it almost looked as if the doll maker’s haughty ego had been stuffed into it.
“This is....”
Searching the brand sent a flood of information from the internet into Ophelia’s mind.
Branded with Bramble & Buttons’ burn mark, these dolls could fetch hundreds—and sometimes as much as a thousand pounds each. The rabbit doll’s vague, mysterious expression somehow felt oddly haughty.
‘I’m this kind of doll.’
It almost looked as if it were saying that.
“How much did you pay for this?”
“Ah! I heard you’re not supposed to ask the price of a gift!”
“Is that so.”
Later, according to Suri, the two dolls had been bought for only 20 pounds. No one knew exactly how that happened, but if it was the princess, then that made sense.
“Thank you, I’ll treasure it.”
“Heehee.”
Eve had no way of knowing what would happen until she gave the girl doll to Eloise.