The blinds were closed in the room, probably to ward off the reporters who were waiting outside to catch a picture of Gary and Gil. Gary’s manager sat on the black leather couch in the room talking animatedly into his cellphone. Gary’s desk across the room was littered with coffee cups, pens, and crumpled up sheets of yellow legal ruled paper.

The manager nodded at them in greeting and excused himself to continue his phone call elsewhere. Gary motioned for them to take a seat, choosing to sit on the coffee table across the couch himself.

“Hyung… Jongkook hyung was caught by the other guards downstairs…” Kwangsoo told Gary hesitantly. Gary nodded tiredly and texted into his cellphone.

“I’ll tell them to let him go.” While he was texting his guard, Jihyo spoke up.

“Oppa… how-how are you doing so far? Are you okay? What can we do for you?”

Gary looked up at them and sighed, shaking his head. “I appreciate that you guys came here…. I heard that you...jumped a fence to get inside…” He trailed off, staring at the ceiling. “I know you spent a lot of effort to get in here, and I know you’re trying to help… but honestly,” and then he faced them again, eyes serious. “The best thing you can do is to leave me alone.”

Those words stung like a slap in the face. Jihyo could see Kwangsoo blink hard in surprise, and Haha just stared at Gary with his mouth slightly agape. She herself felt frozen in shock.

“I’ve already made up my mind to leave the show,” Gary continued, “so nothing that you could do can change my mind. I’d really appreciate it if you would stop coming and making things harder than it already is for me to quit.”

Jihyo stared at him as if he had grown a third eye. He sat stiffly, with an unreadable expression on his face and his hands folded in his lap. He looked so formal, so...unapproachable. Was this the same Kang Gary that she had filmed with for about two years, going on three? What happened to the peaceful, slightly slow but witty Kang Gary that made them laugh, that made her laugh and feel warm inside, even though she had been determined to be cold and unaffected by his jokes?

Kwangsoo spoke up first. “Hyung. We all miss you. We need you back on the show. I’m really sorry we barged in like this- it was my idea, so don’t blame noona and the hyungs- but we’re trying to show you just how sincere we are about this. The show cannot continue on without you, hyung. Just as much as this show can’t continue on if Jaesuk-hyung were missing, if Jongkook-hyung or Haha-hyung or even Jihyo-noona and myself- if any of us leave, this show would be a different show. I know that you feel responsible for what happened with the Super 7 concert, but surely there are other ways to appease both fans and the involved companies without needing you and Gil-hyung to quit doing variety. We, the hyungs and noona and even the Infinity Challenge members- we together can help you overcome this.”

Jihyo watched Gary’s expression carefully, but her face fell when Gary closed his eyes and shook his head once again.

“Sorry, Kwangsoo-ya. This is something that I need to do on my own. With Gil. I don’t see any way you guys can help me with this. What I can promise you is that I will be having a discussion with the PDs of Running Man to discuss the future of the show, but don’t hold your breath. It’s about time that I stopped acting like a comedian and started focusing on being who I really am- a singer.” With that, he stood up and crossed the room to open the door of the office. “Please leave. I have to meet up with a rookie singer to discuss his album in about ten minutes.”

The three of them stayed where they were, too shocked to move. Haha in particular watched Gary with an intense stare.

“Kang Gary.” His low voice cut through the room like a knife. He got up and walked to where Gary stood holding the door. “Are you really going to be like this? More than two years of friendship, and you’re throwing it away like this?”

When Gary didn’t answer, Haha leaned in closer and jabbed Gary’s chest with a finger. “You’re acting like a selfish jerk, you know that. What are you going to do about the fans of the show? What are you going to do about the PDs that worked so hard to get you a place on Running Man in the beginning, who worked to develop your character and build your popularity? What,” he said half turning to Jihyo and pointing in her direction, “What are you going to do about her?”

Gary looked away with an uncomfortable expression. He cleared his throat. “If you don’t leave, I will have to call the security guards to you.”

“No need,” sounded a voice from across the hall. It was Jongkook who had finally come to join them. His expression was hard. “We’ll leave by ourselves. Sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Kang.” He spat out Gary’s name formally and glared at Gary. Then he his heel to leave, pulling on Haha’s arm to make him go along and motioning for Jihyo and Kwangsoo to follow. After a moment, Kwangsoo got up, grasped Jihyo’s hand to pull her up, and slowly made his way out the door. Jihyo followed after him, glancing back at Gary one last time. He had sunk against the door frame, looking more worn out than ever.

“Jihyo.” She stopped in her tracks, shocked that he would call her.

He reached out one hand to pat her shoulder in apology as she was walking out but hesitated, and his hand hovered over her shoulder for a while before it dropped down to his side. He looked at her and smiled a little.

“Sorry that I won’t be able to continue being your friend. I know that I brought up the friendship thing first, and here I am breaking it off first…” he trailed off, taking off his cap to run his fingers through his hair. “I want to let you know that I enjoyed being your friend while it lasted.” Then he bowed a little in her direction. “I’m sorry things happened like this. Take care.”

Jihyo stared at him. She wanted to take his shoulders and shake them, to shake the nonsense out of him. Even if she didn’t have a strange ability to read all of his emotions, it was clear on his face that he didn’t like parting with them any more than they did, and that he didn’t mean his rudeness from earlier. If you don’t want to be separated from us, if you want our help and feel sorry, then just SAY so! She wanted to holler. But instead she turned away numbly and started after Kwangsoo, feeling his remorseful gaze follow her down the hall.