Rai was genuinely confused as he was led into a building known as a "studio" by several strangers. He had left the mansion intending to meet up with the children at PC Bang, but as per usual when left to be his own navigator, had ended up lost in the middle of a crosswalk that looked like every other one. It had probably been unwise to not notify Frankenstein of his intentions, but the other had been busy tending to RK-4 in his lab. Besides, Rai had been to PC Bang before... more than once. How hard could it be to find the place again?
He soon found out the answer to that question was "unreasonably hard".
"Thank goodness you made it! We're in a bit of a time crunch, as you should already be aware of. Jung Hansu was originally supposed to do this shoot for us but he couldn't make it. We were only notified at the very last second." Rai could sense agitation from the woman in front of him and a bit of anger as well, "Lord knows how much money we'd lose if we had to call off this photo shoot! How could he be so inconsiderateand..." She continued to speak some more, but Rai sensed that the words were directed more at herself than him.
The Noblesse blinked, and as per usual when he did not have the slightest clue what was going on, he tried his best to look elegant and totally in control. He allowed himself to be manoeuvred into the middle of a brightly lit space, surrounded by strange contraptions and numerous humans.
The woman finally had to time to stop her mumbling and actually get a good look at her substitute model. The second she did that, her jaw dropped - nearly to the floor - and blood rushed to her face.
She had expected handsome - in her profession, handsome was the norm. What made normal people stop and stare didn't even earn an extra bat of the eyelash from her. But this man... He was -
"Earth to Linda, are we gonna start any time soon?"
"Y-yes, of course, director! We're on a tight schedule." Her voice was a pitch off and her eyes seemed to refuse to leave their new model's.
All of a sudden, the director took over and people were moving props around and the noise level rose. He glanced over at Rai, trying not to show how impressed he was, merely commenting offhandedly, "Good, you're already in costume - no need to waste time changing then." Excitement buzzed in the place as others got a good look at Rai.
One worker whispered determinedly, "Let's show that Hansu that we can do just fine without him. He's gonna regret ditching us."
Another whispered, "Oh my gosh, I think he's a foreigner! Do you think he'll understand if I ask for an autograph?"
Rai tilted his head slightly to the side, but obediently did as the director said, even when the requests made no sense to him at all. They asked him to sit in a chair, then stand, and then sit on a desk. All the while, they pressed their strange contraptions, which flash-flash-flashed in his face. It startled him the first few times, but Rai soon got used to it. However, he still had no idea what was going on.
It momentarily crossed Rai's mind that this activity may be dangerous, but he felt no ill will directed at him, so he decided to stay until whatever this was, ended. After all, these people gave him the sense that they were depending on him for something important, and Rai did not like to let anyone down.
"Alright, just like that! Yes, perfect! Lift your chin a little. Look like you're in control, like you are a being radiating absolute power and elegance... Beyond human. Yes, yes!" The director was positively ecstatic about the results he was getting, so ecstatic in fact that he couldn't stop giving random workers high-fives. "You are a natural at this. I can't believe I haven't seen you in the industry before."
