*This is happening as Sky and Shim Jang are on Star Golden Bell. So, Kyuhyun's not hurt yet and the (? possible?) photo of Jinwoon and AN haven't been uploaded yet.

Gongchan’s POV

It was now my turn and I stepped to center stage again.

It was the same panel of judges, and I could tell that they recognized me as well.

All of their faces had changed from anticipation to disappointment.

I took a deep breath before I held the mic up to my mouth.

“Hello, I’m Gongchan, #43 for Round 2 of Auditions.”

“I remember you”, the stern-faced grandmother retorted, “And what makes you think you have the right to stand on that stage?”
“Enough”, the main casting director silenced her and turned to me, “You realize you are currently at a severe disadvantage?”
“Yes”, I answered stoutly, despite the fact that my face was getting red and my heart was about to pound right out of my chest.

“Very well. Tell me about this play”, the main director proceeded.

I took a deep breath and said, “Two-Faced Beauty is about a girl with double personalities. She is absolutely gorgeous and kind to those who seem to possess money, merits, and looks, and is terrifically terrible to those who lack in any of the three areas. This play records her relationships with four different men and how it changes her perception on life.”

“Is that all? We heard that last time”, a young lady on the far right end asked. She wasn’t openly mean about it, but her voice was definitely condescending.

“No, I’m not done”, I answered in a strong voice, “The play starts on a light, melodious G major, reflecting the complacency the lead girl has with herself despite her double personalities. Then, as she meets each of the four men, the keys change from a straightforward C major, a sorrowful E minor, a jazzy A minor, and a very sweet D major depending on how the girl views each of these men. The girl goes through a period of perspective-changing period in D minor, where she experiences depressing thoughts and sorrow, and finally, when she picks the one man who lacks all but a strong love and moral righteousness, the and resolution stays within the joyful key of C major until the final fanfare of D major from the brass section.” 

There was silence and I thought I saw the main casting director smirk slightly, but then he asked me to sing.

I was fighting my nerves so hard I started to sweat.

But then I just tried to shut off my mind and let myself do what I’d done a thousand times and over again.

I sang.

When I’d finished, I didn’t remember what I’d actually done, but the judges looked rather impressed.

“All right”, the casting director told me, “You’re free to go. We’ll notify you within the week.”

I bowed and was about to leave when suddenly one of the five judges who had never spoken to me before, a good-looking young man with glasses on called after me, “Gongchan-sshi?”

I turned around, my heart thundering again, and asked, “Yes?”

“Have you ever thought about why you got the chance to perform in front of us a second time?”

I hesitated and then answered truthfully, “No, sir. I just tried my hardest to improve after knowing I got in.”

The man nodded and then he said, “Well, you did the right thing, but I still think I should tell you… About four hours after your audition, two of your friends came racing in. They asked us to give you a second chance. One of them swore that you’d just messed up and needed one more chance. The other promised he’d have you ready by the next audition if only we’d trust him. We refused, and they knelt on the ground and bowed their heads.”

My throat had closed up and tears had started to form in my eyes but I lifted my microphone to my mouth and asked, “Who were the two?”

“One of them was JiHyun-sshi; he used to be the star of theater here. The other had bright red hair…”

“Jaesun”, I said quietly.

“I just wanted to say you are blessed not only with wonderful vocals, but also a wonderful group of friends.”

I bowed my head and said, “Thank you.”

Kyuhyun’s POV

“Our guests today are the current hottest male stars on the charts! Come out, 1VS’s L1GHT and Beast’s Doojoon!”, Yoo Jae Suk called.

Doojoon and I walked out from behind the cameras to join Running Man’s cast [Jae Suk, Gary, Ji Hyo, Jong Kook, Kwangsoo, Suk Jin, and Haha]. 

I bowed before standing in-between Doojoon and Gary.

“Welcome! How’ve you been, Doojoon, L1GHT?”

Doojoon smiled and said, “Tired, my new album’s coming out in three days!”

There was an eruption of laughter where Kwangsoo, Haha, and Ji Hyo were standing.

“What’s so funny?”, Jae Suk called.

Ji Hyo pointed at Haha and said, “His new album is coming out in two days!”

Haha put on his childish act and pointed at Doojoon, saying, “YOU may beat me in the long run, but I’M going to have one glorious day to myself! So let’s see in three days who’s coming out on top- your one day versus my two days!”

“Let’s have a fair fight!”, Haha offered and stuck out his hand.

Jae Suk suddenly intervened and grabbed Haha’s hand himself.

“Sure, yes, let’s, Haha-sshi. I’ll come out with my album in one day and we can have a fair fight!”
The meaning behind this was essentially that Haha wasn’t good enough to compete with Beast, but could compete with someone like Jae Suk, who wasn’t even an artist.

 I snickered as Haha continued his childish act and shouted, “YEAH! ALL RIGHT! WE’LL MEET AT GANGNAM STATION TO FACE OFF!”

“FINE!”, Jae Suk shouted, pouting as well.

Suddenly, Ji Hyo was next to me and she very obviously whispered to me, “How old are you?”

The whole cast started reprimanding her.

“Ji Hyo! You have a boyfriend, how can you be asking him such a thing?!”

And amidst this Kwangsoo yelled, “You’re too old for him anyways!”

I felt myself blushing, but I turned to JiHyo and stoutly answered, “I’m twenty. If you’re below forty, we can make it work.”

The whole cast and some of the staff screamed aloud and Gary yelled, “HEY! Youngster, don’t make me go over there!”

I turned to Gary and joked, “You don’t have to come over here, you know that I’ll always be faithful to you.”

Gary laughed and said, “How did you know that was what I was worried about?”

“Well, L1GHT”, Jae Suk said, “You’re the Main Vocal of Universe, right?”

I nodded.

“Why don’t you show something off?”, Jae Suk asked.

I nodded; I’d prepared for this. But suddenly, I had a bright idea.

“Is it all right if I dance right now and sing later?”

“If you want”, Jae Suk answered.

Feeling slightly awkward because of the lack of music, I walked to center stage.

And then I copied Kwangsoo’s weird “Run to You” dance, to much applause, and followed with Gary’s awkward “Butterfly” dance to much laughter, and Joong Kook’s “Hip Hop” dance to screaming and hysterical laughter.

“You are attractive”, Gary joked, seeing my butterfly dance.

I winked at him.

“All right, thank you for that wonderful introduction. Now, what are we doing today?”, Jae Suk asked.

 “I want to be with L1GHT!”, Ji Hyo shouted, raising her hand high.

“Teams are chosen this way- first, everybody plays Rock-Paper-Scissors! The top three are Captains who get to choose their own team.”

“ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!”

I slammed down rock- as did Gary, Ji Hyo, Suk Jin, and Joong Kook.

The rest had scissors and was automatically out.

“ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!”

I had down rock again. Suk Jin and Ji Hyo had scissors, and Joong Kook and Gary had paper.

“ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!”

I had paper out, along with Suk Jin and Ji Hyo. Everyone else had rock.

So Suk Jin, Ji Hyo, and I were confirmed Captains.

“It’s all right, Gary-yah”, I called cheerfully; “You can always be on my team.”

“All right”, the director said, “Pick your teams!”

A few minutes later we had divided teams.

Suk Jin’s team (much to their protest) was Joong Kook and Haha.

Ji Hyo’s team was Doojoon and Kwangsoo.

My team was made up of Gary and Jae Suk.   

Then, each of us got into our respective cars.

“Where are we off to?”, Gary asked from the back seat.

“Daegu’s National Art Musuem”, Jae Suk answered and set the car in reverse.

On the way there, Gary asked me if I or any of our members had girlfriends or boyfriends.

“Our members don’t”, I answered, and then I paused before saying, “I think I found my man today.”

Gary choked on the water he was drinking and Jae Suk grinned.

“Joking, joking”, I clarified hastily.

“Jae Suk-sshi”, I asked, “Who’s your favorite member from Universe?”

“Hmm…”, Jae Suk started, but he was immediately cut off from Gary, who leaned over from the back and whispered in my ear, “You.”

Startled, Jae Suk and I both started laughing.

“I’m going to get beaten by my members”, I laughed, “For portraying the wrong image.”

We’d arrived at the National Art Museum and were instructed to enter the building from the South Entrance after changing into Pancoat hoodies and Adidas athletic pants.

Jae Suk was also sporting a cap and Gary and I had on hoodies, which we traded as a sign of lovers.

We entered; Jae Suk first, then me, then Gary.

We walked in to a table set underneath a fantastic chandelier.

There was a box and an envelope, both with R marked on it.

I opened the box, where there was a small bottle with bright red liquid in it.

Jae Suk read the directions out loud, “Make Violet in the Stone Basin.”

“What?”, Gary asked, puzzled.

“I get it”, I answered. I remembered memorizing these the night before our debut.

“Every group has a color: red, yellow, and blue. We need to get blue from another group and mix it with this red to make violet.”

“Wow, you’re so quick!”, Gary said.

“I’m assuming another group has to get our color to make their color, and the last group needs the other group’s.”

“Let’s pray that Blue isn’t Joong Kook’s group”, Jae Suk commented, wincing at the thought.

“I guess the mystery is which group has what color and what member has which color…”, I added.

“Who carries the bottle in this group? Do we just decide?” 

“Actually”, the director said, “it was determined by the order you walked in. The second person to walk in is the person to hold the bottle.”

“That’s L1GHT”, Gary pointed out.

I accepted the bottle and put it in my pocket before I turned to Gary and said, “You can call me Kyuhyun.”

Gary laughed out loud, and then Jae Suk said, “Hey, we started at the North… where do you think the others started off at?”

“Wait… there’s one more thing”, the director told us, “It’s always the second person to walk in that holds the bottle. If you want to discover who is holding the bottle, you must search for numbers around this place. The numbers are the password to the Recording room, where you can rewind and watch who entered first, second, and third.” 

“All right, let’s go!”, Jae Suk called, and the three of us automatically started jogging down a corridor that apparently led to the “Contemporary” art.

“Hey, look, it’s Haha”, Gary commented, pointing at a small penguin in the background of a watercolor painting.

Laughing we made our way down to the “Landscape” exhibits, where 3-D models of the Safari, Artic, and Rainforest were.

“Search here”, Jae Suk instructed, rummaging carefully through the Safari grass.

Gary and I were both checking the Rainforest when Gary yelled, “Oh!”

We gathered around where Gary showed us one leaf on a rain forest tree that said: 2^nd #: 5.

“Okay, got one”, Jae Suk pumped his first before telling Gary to hide it in his coat pocket.

“Come on, next room”, Jae Suk motioned, and we started to race down the corridor when suddenly we heard voices.

I made a direct turn, pushing Jae Suk and Gary along until we were back in the “Landscape” room.

“Did you see who it was?”, I asked them, as we crouched under the Artic display.

Jae Suk shook his head, but Gary nodded and said, “It was Ji Hyo, Doojoon, and Kwangsoo.”

I hesitated and said, “Why don’t we just take them on? There’s a fifty percent chance they have the color we need and they’re the weaker team.”

Jae Suk hesitated, but there was no time to think about it- they were entering the room.

I stood up by myself to greet them.

“Hey”, I said, stepping out from behind the display.

“Oh goodness, you scared me!”, Doojoon laughed in relief, but instinctively moved in front of Ji Hyo.

So it was probably Ji Hyo who had the bottle then.

“Where are your teammates?”, Ji Hyo asked me suspiciously.

Jae Suk and Gary fidgeted slightly, but moved around the display to stay opposite of Ji Hyo’s team, who were steadily advancing towards us.

“Jae Suk and Gary are in the “Contemporary” section” , I lied easily.

“And why are you here?”, Kwangsoo inquired.

By now, Jae Suk and Gary had shifted so that they were literally behind Ji Hyo’s team.

I smiled and said, “Coming”, before I lunged at Ji Hyo.

At the exact same time, Jae Suk and Gary both grabbed at Doojoon and Kwangsoo’s nametags.

Kwangsoo and tried to pull away from Jae Suk, but in the meantime his nametag ripped off.

Doojoon had quick reflexes and managed to avoid Gary- the both of them were wrestling each other on the ground.

“Sorry, Ji Hyo! I promise I’ll buy you dinner!”, I yelled and ripped off her nametag.

Doojoon had successfully disentangled himself from Gary and was now sprinting away, realizing that three against one was not in his odds.

“Wait, neither of you have the bottle?”, Jae Suk huffed, out of breath.

“No, Doojoon has it”, Ji Hyo said proudly, “We tricked you, huh?”

Damn, I thought to myself, but even so- the broadcast : Ji Hyo OUT. Kwangsoo OUT.

“All right, let’s just hope Doojoon pulls off Joongkook’s and in the meantime, look for more clues”, Jae Suk said, reasonably.

“What color liquid did you have?”, I asked Ji Hyo, but she fixed me with a stare and said, “I’m not going to tell you.”

“Sorry”, I mumbled again, but Ji Hyo smiled as soon as the camera had turned around and mouthed that she wasn’t mad.

We continued our search one floor up, in the “Modern Sculptures” room, where Jae Suk discovered a slip of paper in a statute’s hand that said 3^rd #: 0. I also discovered a folded piece of paper in the goblet that was part of a Greek god’s statute that said 1^st #: 9.”

“One more number”, Jae Suk said, and we traveled to the next room.

We couldn’t find any in either the “Classics” room or the “Photography” room, so we made our way up another floor to the Children’s Center.

We searched everywhere, and found another 1^st #: 9, but seemingly could not find the slip of paper.

I started to say, “One more room or we’re going to either guess or go for the other te-“, but was interrupted by the Running Man bell.

“Suk Jin: OUT.”

“Let’s hurry”, Gary said, and we sprinted to the “Flowers” room.

“Here, Gary”, I joked, offering him a drawing of a lovely bouquet of roses.

“Ah, how lovely”, he replied playfully, pretending to be bashful.  

“Hey, hey, hey, you two will die from Doojoon, Joong Kook, or Haha, doing stupid things like that”, Jae Suk warned, but he was laughing.

“Let’s go”, Gary agreed, and gently slapped my .

I flinched, but laughed. The cast was so easy to be playful with.

Five minutes later, I finally found a number written behind the very drawing I’d offered to Gary: 4^th #: 3.

“Okay!”, Jae Suk said, putting the numbers together.

“9503”, I recited quietly, quickly memorizing it.

“Let’s go!”, Gary said, and we planned how we were going to get the CCTV room on the 11^th floor.

“Jae Suk will take the elevator in two minutes. Meanwhile, Gary and I will take the stairs”, I strategized. “Draw attention away from us if necessary, okay?”, I asked Jae Suk, who promptly agreed.

Jae Suk suddenly stopped and said, “You sure this isn’t just a plan to lose the third wheel?”

Snickering, we went our separate ways. Gary and I made it to the CCTV floor without any trouble.

But when we got to the room, Doojoon was going at the lock.

He automatically pressed his back against the door when he sensed us, blocking both the lock and his nametag.

“Get out of the way, buddy”, Gary said to Doojoon.

“Well, I was here first”, Doojoon answered stoutly.

“Look, we really don’t want to go with you”, Gary answered, but he was smiling, so that it didn’t sound mean.

Doojoon also grinned, but said, “I don’t want to go with you either.”

But between Gary and me, if this got into a fight, Doojoon had a very good chance of ripping mine and taking mine from me.
“All right, listen”, I said, “Joong Kook’s on the other team, and Haha’s still not out.”

“I’m not allying, I came here first. ”, Doojoon said.

I put on my most unconcerned face and tried to joke, “All right, you came here first. So you decide: are we going together or are Gary and I going by ourselves?”

The cameramen laughed at the way I’d put it, and Doojoon smiled in spite of himself.

“Fine, we’ll go in together.”

We walked in and found the directions for rewinding posted on the top of the TV.

Doojoon followed the instructions, with his hand on his nametag the whole time.

We looked closely as Doojoon found the spot.

“It’s Joong Kook”, Gary groaned.

“Of course”, Doojoon said, rolling his eyes.

I motioned to Gary we should get out, and the both of us sprinted out- smack into Joong Kook and Haha.

Gary still pushed me out, uncomfortable with having Doojoon behind him.

Gary and I both pressed our backs to the wall as we faced off Joong Kook and Haha.

Doojoon grabbed the lock and shut the door to the CCTV room, locking it from the inside. Hyung was smart. 

“What color are you guys?”, Joong Kook asked. I eyed his pockets and saw a slight bulge in one of them- it must be the bottle. I noticed Gary’s eyes also searching and recognized when he zeroed in on it as well.

“You tell me first”, I answered, but suddenly- Doojoon barged out of the room, tumbling with Haha to the ground. Doojoon successfully ripped Haha’s nametag, but in the meanwhile, Joong Kook tried to pull Doojoon’s nametag off.

While Joong Kook’s focus was distracted, Gary snatched the water bottle from his pocket.

It was blue- the color we needed.

At this point, Joong Kook had ripped off Doojoon’s nametag and also received the color he needed- now all he had to do was catch Gary.

Joong Kook dived into Gary, but Gary yelled out, “DARLING!”, and threw the bottle straight at me.

Unbelievably, I caught it- but then my eyes meet Joong Kook’s flaming ones.

And all I could think was- Oh .

I sprinted like I’d never sprinted before; finding my way to the stairs and flinging open the door, Joong Kook hot on my heels.

I cursed under my breath as I nearly tripped down the second flight of stairs- God, this man was so quick!
I literally flew down to the first floor- I had to find the Stone Basin- Oh, Crap!

Stone Basin, Stone Basin!

-!!!

Luckily, it was on the first floor, I dashed, panting, Joong Kook was even closer to me now that I’d had to stop to look for the Stone Basin- I could literally feel his breath on my neck.

I screeched to a stop to open the door and managed to somehow push the door shut and earn myself time by shoving six chairs in front of it- but I only earned myself ten seconds, which was just barely enough to tip the liquid in the first bottle into the basin.

Joong Kook had grabbed my shoe when I’d just gotten the second bottle out of my pocket, but luckily- my shoe fell off!

I tipped in the contents just as I felt his hand on my nametag- and saw it turn to violet!

Victorious music blasted through the broadcast and I yelled in joy, triumphing.

Ten minutes later, the Running Man cast all gathered again, to much applause.

I bowed, and hugged Jae Suk and Gary before hugging Doojoon and Ji Hyo as well.

“ I think I’ll have nightmares for the rest of the week”, I said to much laughter, pointing at Joong Kook.

“He’s amazing!”, I said, voicing my awe.

“Hey, don’t make me come over there”, Gary joked again, only this time, he was saying it to me.

Jae Suk smiled, and jokingly and childishly complained about how couple-ish we’d both acted and how awkward he’d felt.

Haha grinned and jokingly pinched Jae Suk’s cheek.

“All right, please receive your prize, Red Team.”

We stepped up and each received a small gold statute.

“Hey, Jaesun”, I called him a few minutes after shooting had ended, “your hyung was pretty cool today.”

“What are you talking about?”, Jaesun asked.

“I won Running Man for my team”, I said proudly.

“Oh yeah? Daebaek! [Awesome!] - hey, I was picked for my MC part and JiHyun got casted too!”, Jaesun replied enthusiastically.

“All right! Congratulations! I’ll treat you to ice cream if you come over to the Seoul ice cream shop by our dorm”, I said into the phone.

“All righhht, I’ll be there”, Jaesun said cheerfully, and hung up the phone.