The Photoshoot
"Come to think of it, isn't this Soeun's first time out? Aside from the hospital, she's never been outside."
"Oh. You're right."
Noona turned my words over for a moment, then her eyes went round and she nodded.
The nod was all it took to set her bustling. She started by hunting for a sunshade that would clip onto the stroller, and from there an ice chest, ice, and every other supply imaginable piled up until the living room was full of them. It was summer. Anything that might spare a baby some discomfort went onto the heap, and so did everything we might need if something went wrong.
I watched her for a bit, then started gathering things right alongside her. With a baby, too much was better. Better to overpack than to come up short and have a problem.
"...We're not going camping, are we?"
By the time we finished, though, we had the kind of luggage people pack for a camping trip of several days. Noona and I laughed awkwardly and pulled out everything Soeun didn't actually need. Only then were we left with a load light enough to carry.
"Soeun, shall we go?"
"Kyah!"
I tapped the tip of her nose where she lay in Noona's arms, and she squirmed with a bright, sunny laugh. She flailed her arms and legs the way a frog hops, and it was so cute that Noona and I lost ourselves staring at her for a good long while.
"Ah, we're going to be late. Let's go."
We couldn't stand there gazing at her forever. Any more delay and we'd miss our appointment, and that little jolt of panic sent us quickly out the door.
The moment we threw the front gate wide, though, a face we knew far too well was there to greet us.
"Hyeongbu! Unnie! Soeuuun!"
Yeongji was standing right outside.
"Yeongji. What's going on? Today's your day off."
"Hehe... I forgot it was my day off and took a taxi over!"
Noona and I sighed before we could help it. Yeongji didn't seem to care in the slightest. She went straight for Soeun in Noona's arms and launched into every cute trick she knew, from peekaboo to grabbing the baby's hands and shaking them this way and that like a dance. She played with tremendous energy. She wasn't there to watch Soeun show off. She was the one putting on the show.
I watched for a moment, then tapped Yeongji, who was offering up her own face for Soeun to pat.
"Yeongji, want to come with us?"
"Come with you? Where to? Oh, you said Soeun's photoshoot was today! I want to come!"
She'd started to ask me back, head tilted, then caught what I meant and nodded hard.
"Good. Here, catch!"
"Huh? Ack!"
Yeongji took what I held out without thinking, then staggered. I'd handed her a fat bundle of leashes clipped to the animals' harnesses. Maru was doing everything she could to bolt, Natae was doing everything he could to flop flat on the ground, and the lines running to every other harness yanked Yeongji this way and that until she swayed on her feet.
Even so, she had the experience for it. She'd been the cafe's manager, looking after the animals, ever since Noona's belly swelled too much for her to work. In a flash she had the whole pack in hand and left them no room to make trouble.
"Kyaaang!"
Maru, especially, had her leash cinched so short she couldn't properly run, and she whined as if begging to be let loose. Yeongji had no intention of granting that. She only held on tighter.
"That's our manager."
"Hehe!"
Yeongji broke into a bright smile, unlocked the car with the smart key, and led the animals aboard. The tortoise, Hanmu, was a problem to load, but there was a step made just for him, so even he was in before long.
Most of them ended up in the cargo space where the third-row seats had been removed, packed in like luggage, but the ones already used to it were chuckling happily among themselves.
"Auu!"
With every animal loaded and Soeun buckled into her car seat, she let out a shout as if to announce she was ready to go. I smiled, climbed into the driver's seat, and eased the car into motion.
Maybe out of consideration for Soeun, who was still so little, today's photoshoot was at a studio in Gijang.
A sign was waiting out front when we arrived.
I counted as photoshoot staff, though, so I ignored the sign without a second thought and headed inside.
I opened the door, and a man came darting out to stop us, only to catch sight of my face and dip his head in a quick bow.
"Hello! We've been waiting for you!"
He introduced himself as a shoot assistant and led us onto the set. Yeongji herded the animals, I carried the bags, and Noona followed with Soeun in her arms, and soon the studio came into view, already full of people.
There were backdrops as blank as fresh drawing paper, and others with pictures painted across them. A set of classical ornaments that could have passed for traditional caught my eye as well. There was even a backdrop imitating nature, complete with a small tree and a spread of artificial turf.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Cha Al-gwak, and I'll be shooting today's pictorial."
Cha Al-gwak was a middle-aged man with a warm, easygoing look about him. He held a camera bigger than a person's head, and at a glance he looked like he knew what he was doing.
I was studying him when the man who'd guided us in leaned close and made a quiet introduction.
"Mr. Cha Al-gwak is an Intermediate Rank Superpower user, photography-related. His ability is specialized for photographing animals and babies in particular."
"Oh..."
It had been a long time since I'd met a Superpower user besides myself, so the encounter felt pleasantly welcome. The photographer offered his hand first. After a light handshake, Noona and I were given the storyboard for the day's shoot.
"Soeun will be the main focus, basically. The magazine runs plenty of animals, but babies take up more than twice the space."
Just as he said, the storyboard mostly placed the baby at the center, with the animals arranged around her. It was obvious he'd looked into the two of us beforehand. Nearly every animal sketched on those boards was one that lived with me.
"Shall we shoot right away? Or is there anything else you'd like to prepare?"
"Hmm, I think we're fine to start now. Soeun doesn't seem hungry, or ready for a nap..."
I glanced at her, found her beaming with a plump little smile, and nodded. Whether it was because we could begin at once or not, Photographer Cha Al-gwak lit up and immediately started hustling his staff.
"Lighting team, please finish the setup! Wardrobe, the baby's clothes and the animals' outfits, if you would!"
At his shout, people sprang into motion, and some of them came toward Soeun. Even with strangers approaching, she kept her smile full and flapped her arms and legs.
"Soeun's mother? We need to get her dressed... would that be all right?"
"M-mother...? Ah, no. That's fine!"
Noona flustered for a second at being called Soeun's mother, then went to look over the clothes. Yeongji and I were dying to follow her, but the animals had plenty of preparations of their own, and we couldn't bring ourselves to go.
Soon enough she came back, and the sight of Soeun in her arms made my eyes go perfectly round.
"Isn't she cute!"
"Kyah!"
Soeun, who had been in a white baby outfit plain enough to call plain, now wore what could only be a tiger costume. A hood with tiger ears was pulled over her head, and a long tail dangled around her bottom.
"Wow... she's my daughter, but I could die from how cute she is."
Bursting into a bright laugh in that tiger outfit, she was cuteness itself. I was smiling in pure contentment when Photographer Cha Al-gwak came over.
"We're about to start... did you happen to bring the cats as well?"
"Yes. You'll be including them, right?"
"The tiger's treated as the king of the beasts, isn't it? And since it belongs to the cat family, I think we ought to shoot with the cats along."
That was easy enough to understand, so I called over the cats Yeongji had in hand at once. Listless Namcat, Poksini circling around him, and Ssangdungi and Chikin-i glancing about — all four crowded in around Soeun.
"Cooperate today, and you can eat all the Churu you want."
The cats reacted as if they'd work hard for the Churu alone, and Soeun was set down at the center of the nature backdrop.
"Uuunh!"
Maybe she was unhappy at being plopped there all alone, without Noona or me, who'd been stuck to her side the whole time. She flapped with a pouty face. But the moment the four cats crowded in beside her, the pout vanished as if it had never been there, and she hauled Namcat toward her with a bright smile.
"Kyah!"
"What a pain..."
Namcat grumbled at having his fur grabbed and tugged, but contrary to his mouth he sidled in and stuck himself to her. The two of them weren't so different in size, so Soeun ended up half-hanging off him. The others gathered around her just as he had. Chikin-i braced her from behind, a sturdy backrest so she wouldn't topple, while Poksini and Ssangdungi settled on either side and licked at her clothes as if they were grooming her.
"Greaaat!"
Photographer Cha Al-gwak took in the sight, kept the shutter firing, and let out a cry packed with joy. I was right there beside him, of course, snapping pictures on my phone. No way I was missing this. We'd get the originals later, sure, but taking them myself felt completely different.
"All right, then we'll move straight on to the next shot!"
After several dozen photos, Soeun changed clothes again. This time the outfit had pure white wings on the back.
"Wow, Soeun is so pretty! Hyeongbu and Unnie are so lucky! I want to live with Soeun too!"
Yeongji took one look and bounced in place, looking ready to die of happiness. I huffed a laugh and, as the photographer asked, called out eight geese this time. They showed off white feathers and had fairly sizable wings, so it seemed we were shooting an angel concept.
"Perfeeect!"
"My daughter's the best!"
Once again, the photographer and I shot like mad. The concept photos that followed played out just the same. That went without saying.
There was a shot drawn from the old folktale of the turtle and the rabbit: Soeun in a costume with a tortoise shell, the Tokkiz clutched in her arms, seated on Hanmu's back. There was one of her in something like a police uniform, catching raccoons dressed as prisoners. There was even one where the dogs held their leashes out to her as if demanding a walk. Every kind of concept imaginable ended up in my camera and the photographer's.