A/N: Don’t hate me too much for this chapter please… it had to happen. T_T I promise more MC moments will come in due time!   

Nothing prepared Jihyo for what exploded a few weeks later. Her eyes widened in shock as she read the text that Kwangsoo had sent her.

            Filming for Monday is cancelled, noona. Gary-hyung’s quit the show.

           What????? Why?

           He sent her the link to an article explaining how, because Leessang Company had been in charge of the cancelled Super 7 concert that Infinity Challenge was putting on, Gil and Gary were taking full responsibility of the incident by quitting their respective shows. In the article, a tweet Gary had posted was quoted.

          “I plan to put a halt to all variety activities in order to concentrate more on the management of LeeSsang Company and its musical performances,” the post read.

         Jihyo leaned back in her seat, feeling numb. How could this have happened? And so suddenly, too. She’d just seen him that past Monday. They’d been on the same team together, with him joking around with her as her ex-Monday boyfriend, making her laugh with his cheesy pickup lines when she’d accidentally kicked the hacky sack right into his arms. He’d gotten her a cup of Americano during break and they’d had fun with the whole crew. She thought back to when he’d come back after injuring his back. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” he had said, talking about filming Running Man. But this had happened, and he was gone.

         She snapped to when a staff member informed her that they would begin filming the commercial in ten minutes. Grabbing her phone, she quickly texted Kwangsoo, What are we going to do? Has anyone tried contacting him yet?

         His reply was almost immediate. Gary-hyung and Gil-hyung are either both not accepting calls at the moment, or their phone lines are all tied up by the press. Either way, they’re not picking up. I don’t know, noona… the PDs are trying to schedule a meeting with Gary-hyung to try to convince him to come back. But so far, no good.

         She bit her lip worriedly. Her phone buzzed again, and she checked Kwangsoo’s next message.

        The hyungs who can’t make it today say they’ll try to meet up with Gary-hyung tomorrow. Haha-hyung and Jongkook-hyung are going to Gary’s company to see if they can catch him today and convince him. I’m going to go with them.

        She sighed and put her head in her hands. What would become of them? Could Running Man even continue with Gary missing? Unwittingly, she imagined what filming would be like without Gary. They’d had a little taste of it during those weeks when he was recovering from his back injury. Lowered ratings aside, there was a hole in the chemistry of the group. No Gary would mean no sudden funny jokes to lighten the atmosphere. No peaceful idiot who brought everyone laughs because he didn’t understand the rules of the missions. No sudden commander who surprised everyone with his skills at random tasks. No Monday Couple. Besides, if Gary was leaving on such a sour note, the members might not even be able to talk about him on the show. They’d probably have to pretend that he didn’t exist. And probably, she realized, the friendship she and Gary had worked hard to build between them would end. She shook her head violently at the thought. No. She refused to think of that prospect. Despite her discomfort with Gary in the beginning, she’d just gotten used to him being around. He, like the rest of the Running Man members, was now an inseparable part of her life. Like Gary had said, they’d all become like family to her. She couldn’t bear to part with any of them, not even him.

        Kwangsoo sent her another message. Noona, I’m scared. I don’t want Gary-hyung to leave.

        She smiled a little. At times like this, Kwangsoo could be rather cute. He was like another little brother, and the big sister in her felt the urgent need to make things right for him again.

        Don’t worry, Kwangsoo-ya. We’ll get him back.

        She thought for a moment, then texted with determination, I’m coming with you guys.