The week rolled out so quickly—too quickly to Ji Hyo’s liking; in a blink of an eye, it was Monday again. This meant that Ji Hyo’s break was over and she had to go back to the jungle that was work where the wolves were. If she could be honest, she was reluctant to leave the safety of her parents’ home, unprepared to return to the cold world. But staying home wasn’t an option—even if Ji Hyo insisted that she stayed home longer and her father allowed her to, her mother would eventually grab her by the collar and threw her back into the arena to face the music. There had never been a coward in the family and her parents didn’t raise her to be one.

She kept reminding herself that when she climbed into her car with Park Sun Mi that Monday morning and sat quietly on the backseat, only speaking when spoken to. She fiddled with her phone, realizing that she hadn’t turned the thing on since she got it back that morning. Yet, she didn’t feel the need to do so. Nobody of importance would contact her anyway.

Besides, she somehow felt it wasn’t right for her to turn it on because her father didn’t return it in person—Cheon Soo Kyung had left for work before Ji Hyo even woke up. She found her phone on the kitchen table in her usual seat. Underneath the phone was a small white envelope with her name written in his father’s hand; he’d left her a note. Ji Hyo didn’t open it right away for fear that her resolve would go down the drain once she read what his father had to say. She caressed the surface of the envelope before tucking it into the front pocket of her jeans to read later. 

“Did you get enough rest?”

Sun Mi was looking at her from the front seat through the rearview mirror. Ji Hyo shrugged nonchalantly. “I slept a lot,” she said. “And played a lot of crossword puzzles in the newspaper. There was nothing much I could do with only one arm and no phone anyway.”

“Did your father really confiscate your phone?” their driver suddenly chimed in. “I didn’t believe it when Sun Mi-ssi told me.”

“I can’t say he ‘confiscated’ it—one morning I woke up and it was nowhere to be found, so…” Ji Hyo said. She glanced at the gadget that was now sitting powerless on her lap. “Is it weird if I say I didn’t miss the phone at all? Still doesn’t.”

“Not at all. I totally can relate. Once I left my phone at home by accident and I think that was one of the best days ever.” The man chuckled. “My wife didn’t think so. But honestly, I liked not having my phone with me.”

“True, true,” Sun Mi agreed. “More freedom.”

“And it makes us more responsible too, I think. If we can’t contact people that easily, we have to make sure we follow our schedules so we don’t hinder other people, right?” he continued.

Ji Hyo didn’t add anything to the conversation, quite glad to be reduced into a mere listener. She withdrew into her own mind, looking out the window enjoying the view as she let the voices drop into the background. She only had so much time left to be alone, to be herself; in less than an hour, she’d have to put back her acting mask and hide her true face behind. After just a week of not having done so, Ji Hyo thought she needed to mentally prepare herself. Especially considering where they were heading now and whom she was about to meet: the Running Man members and crew. Kim Jong Kook.

Her cheeks grew warm at the thought of the commander. Ji Hyo was still embarrassed for having acted the way she had the last time they talked. She’d actually called her father on Jong Kook when he was saying something about love. Who did that?! It was so juvenile—so cowardice. So much for her parents not raising her to be a coward; she was one.

But hadn’t Jong Kook brought it to himself by bringing up the word ‘love’? Honestly. What had he been thinking, if he’d been thinking at all?! How could he say ‘love’ when less than a month ago he’d confessed that the feeling he had for Ji Hyo had been purely brotherly concerns? No, actually, no. Less than a month ago, in his mother’s house, Jong Kook had said that his feelings had probably only been physical—lust. And now, all of a sudden… love? Ji Hyo scoffed. Who would believe him?

He didn’t say he was in love with you, though, Ji Hyo’s more sinister part reminded her. His ‘love’ could still mean the same thing as before—brotherly love. Don’t get over your head, Cheon Seong Im. Well, Ji Hyo couldn’t deny the truth in that. There were indeed many different kinds of love; who knew which one Kim Jong Kook had been referring to. She shouldn’t have jumped into conclusions. You wouldn’t have had to jump into anything if you hadn’t been a crybaby who screamed for her father to rescue her, you idiot.

Ji Hyo told her mind to shut up, but this time it wouldn’t listen. What are you afraid of anyway? That you’d realize that you are in love with him, too? Ji Hyo rolled her eyes. Surely she wasn’t in love with Kim Jong Kook—she loved him as a brother.

‘Brother’, eh? Yeah, right. Are you sure?

She harrumphed, trying to silence the mocking voice inside by repeating to herself that at the moment she was in deep enough without having to add the complication of how she truly felt about Kim Jong Kook into the equation. She needed to focus on work, on getting done. On top of all, she needed to focus on getting out of this mess.

“Ji Hyo-yah? Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yes, Unnie. Why?” Ji Hyo replied promptly, looking at Sun Mi.

“Ah, no… it’s just, well, you’ve been staring at the window,” the manager said. She looked a bit worried. “Are you su—do you need a few minutes? I can ask them to wait; not everyone has arrived anyway.”

Ji Hyo turned her head back to the window, only realizing then that they’d arrived on the set and that the car was already parked. When did that happen? “Omo! I’m sorry—I was thinking.” She reached for the door handle. “I’m fine, Unnie. I promise. Besides,” she paused for a second, smiling more to herself than to her manager, “this isn’t Gye Baek. This is Running Man—they’re family.”

***                   

Her ‘family’ greeted her by showing her a gigantic picture of herself (looking silly in one of her Running Man costumes) with the words ‘WANTED FOR NOT REPLYING TO MESSAGES’ printed in all capitals underneath it.

“I texted you twenty times!” HaHa protested. “Only one was delivered—the rest only had one check-mark!”

“Yah, Noona! Did you go to space to rest? Was there no signal where you were?!”

“Blackhole! She was in the Blackhole!” HaHa yelled again.

“Miss Mong! You came!” Jae Suk said excitedly at the same time with Suk Jin’s telling her off for coming. The talkative man laughed happily and shook her hand. “Good job. Really good job! You just made Suk Jin Hyung a few thousand Won short!”

“You placed a bet on me?” Ji Hyo raised her eyebrows at Ji Suk Jin, who immediately went beet red as he stuttered his denial. “Wow, Sunbaenim, I didn’t know you have so little faith in me.” She laughed to show him she was only joking when he tried to explain the situation.

“How’s your shoulder?” Jae Suk asked in all seriousness, changing the topic. He could sense that Ji Hyo didn’t want to talk about her whereabouts in the past week.  “Is it healing nicely?”

Ji Hyo nodded, lifting her arm a little bit to show that she was okay. It was still sore when she made the wrong move, but it wasn’t something that people needed to know. She just had to be careful not to exert herself today. The five of them exchanged a few more pleasantries before the PD informed them that they would start soon.

“Jong Kook Oppa and Garry Oppa aren’t here yet,” Ji Hyo said, looking around to see if they were somewhere on the set.

“Yes, they’re not coming today.”

“Oh.” Ji Hyo didn’t know why she was disappointed. She’d dreaded having to see Jong Kook again, and she thought she’d be relieved if she didn’t have to see him. She was wrong. There was a growing hole in the pit of her stomach, leaving her to feel uneasy and suddenly tired. Ji Hyo pushed the thought away and plastered a smile on her face. Game on.

***

They were running, Ji Hyo and Jae Suk—the only two Running members left. All the guests in their team were wiped out in the first hour since the final mission started. After that, one by one their original members were ousted. And still Ji Hyo and Jae Suk couldn’t figure out who was in the other team, and how many. It was actually their job to find out.

“This is insane,” Jae Suk panted mid-running. “Who could be this effective? They can’t possibly invite that Hyung again, do you think?”

Ji Hyo knew exactly who he was talking about. “After Jong Kook Oppa clocked him in the face? Fat chance, Oppa.” Her shoulder had started to throb for a while now, a steady thumping against her skin, and Ji Hyo hugged herself as she ran to stop it from shaking too much. “Did you read the poem?”

“I did. It didn’t make sense.”

“We’re still missing some parts.” Ji Hyo swiped her eyes around the park to see if more parchment hints were laying around. “Oh my world! I thought Jo PD said today’s game would be easy on my shoulder!”

Jae Suk slowed down at her voiced complaint. Ji Hyo rarely said anything about her discomfort, and he had completely forgotten that she was still recuperating. “Ji Hyo-yah, I’m sorry. I completely forgot. Are you okay? Are you hurting?”

Ji Hyo waved his concern away. “Ah, it’s nothing, Oppa. I’m just trying to make people feel guilty.”

He regarded the younger woman, thinking if the laugh was genuine or just for show. He wasn’t sure and so he decided to just take her words at face value. “Say it louder so the PDs can hear you,” he said. To his VJ he said, “How many people are there in the other team? Aish, this man!” He rolled his eyes when Kwon Ryeol only grinned sheepishly.

“Oppa! Oppa! Look!” Ji Hyo suddenly grabbed Jae Suk’s arm and pointed to the tree near where they were.

Jae Suk looked at the pointed direction. “Oh! Good job, Ji Hyo-yah!” He was as excited as Ji Hyo was. Then he groaned. “Who on earth thinks it’s a good idea to put a hint on a tree?!”

“It’s not that high,” Ji Hyo’s VJ said.

“Yah, easy for you to say when you’re not the one who has to climb it!”

“Do you want me to fetch it for you, Oppa?” Ji Hyo offered. She didn’t mind climbing a tree—it was easy peasy for her. She rolled her sleeves and grabbed the trunk, testing her grip.

“Ah, Ji Hyo-yah, don’t do that. I can do it, I can do it.” He also rolled his sleeves but laughed nervously when Ji Hyo stepped away to give him space. “Come to think of it,” he tried to stall, “maybe we both should find another clue.”

“And you call yourself a man?”

“Yaaah!” Jae Suk pretended to be offended. But he let Ji Hyo climb anyway—providing unnecessary encouragements and a bunch of “Be careful. Slowly. Be careful!” so much that Ji Hyo stopped climbing midway only to tell him to shut up.

When Ji Hyo landed back on the ground with the hint, Jae Suk was more excited than she was. She handed him the hint. “What does it say?” she asked, rubbing her shoulder as she tried to read the parchment. On reading the word ‘tiger’ Ji Hyo exclaimed, “I knew it!”

Jae Suk seemed to also have drawn the same conclusion. “Ah, Jong Kook-i!! Seriously these PDs!”

“What now, Oppa?”

“We need to split up. You bring one seal, I bring the other. Let’s win this game.” Jae Suk suggested. “Let’s swap—that way he can’t oust us even if he takes our seals.” The beast could only rip a civilian’s name tag after he stole their seals and put it in the right slot.

Ji Hyo gave Jae Suk her seal in exchange for his. “Let’s go, Oppa!”

***

“Jong Kook Oppa would be hiding near the seal platform,” Ji Hyo talked to herself and her VJ as she walked back into the building. “Maybe I can use Jae Suk Oppa as a bait—let Jong Kook Oppa take the wrong seal and rip his name tag. What do you think?”

“Suicide mission?”

“Wow, Oppa, you’re optimistic today,” Ji Hyo said dryly to her VJ. “Let’s just try, though.”

She tiptoed when they entered the building. Making sure she had her back pressed on the wall, Ji Hyo glided through the main entrance and headed to the emergency stairs; the least people saw her there the better. She walked slowly up the levels, motioning at her VJ to stop making noises. “Take off your shoes, Oppa!” At one point she commanded. “You’re too noisy.”

The cameramen protested but did so anyway. He put down his camera and began to take his shoes off. Before he’d finished, they heard a commotion upstairs. He looked pitifully at Ji Hyo, who told him to keep up before dashing upstairs at full speed. “Aigo, this Song Ji Hyo!” the VJ grumbled and followed Ji Hyo—wearing only one shoe.

Ji Hyo moved quickly, two steps at a time. Her breathing was erratic by the time she reached the tenth floor where she heard Jae Suk screaming for her to come quickly. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her VJ still lagging, but he waved her to go on. There would be a camera anyway once Ji Hyo got into the main building. Ji Hyo yanked the door open, ready to join the ‘fight’.

The first thing she saw as the door swung open was Kim Jong Kook standing in position, waiting for her. Ji Hyo screamed in shock; she tripped, lost her balance and fell forward. Her hands shot forward for purchase at the same time Jong Kook stretched out his arms to break her fall.

She fell into his arms wide-eyed, hanging open in an ‘O’ shape. “What the—…” she cried out involuntarily. “You scared me to death!” She turned her head to see Jae Suk having a tug war with none other than Gary—the second beast.

“You okay?” Jong Kook’s question was drowned by Jae Suk’s yelling Ji Hyo’s name.

“Ji Hyo-yah! Song Ji Hyo! The seal!”

It only took Ji Hyo a fraction of a second to react. Her ace instinct kicked in and before Jong Kook knew it, the woman had bitten his hand and leaped to her feet to get the seal Jae Suk was carrying. She clutched the seals in her fist and ran as quickly as possible to the platform where the rest of the seals were.

She heard Gary frantically shouted at his Jong Kook Hyung to grab her as she placed Jae Suk’s and her own seals in their respective places and typed in the names of the beast. Adrenaline rushed into her head; Ji Hyo’s hands were trembling but she managed to type the names.

Jong Kook reached her and grabbed the back of her shirt to drag her away from the keyboard, but he was a hairbreadth too late—Ji Hyo succeeded in punching the last letter into the system before she was pulled away from the platform.

“Kim Jong Kook-ssi, Kang Gary-ssi, OUT!”

“Yeaaaah!!!!” Jae Suk threw his fist into his air victoriously. “Good job, Ji Hyo-yah!”

“Oppa, we won!” Ji Hyo was as excited. She accepted Jae Suk’s hug happily and laughed with him. She was truly elated—something that she hadn’t felt for quite a while now.

The wrap was quick—everybody shared their story about having been ambushed by the two beasts when they were alone so that nobody could say who the culprits were. They thanked the guests, and it was over.

Ji Hyo didn’t linger; she still had to go for a commercial video shoot and then to the set of Gye Baek for her final scenes. She said goodbye to everyone and walked away, acutely aware of Jong Kook’s eyes on her back.

“Ji Hyo-yah.”

She didn’t think he’d speak to her again after what happened, but Kim Jong Kook always managed to surprise her. Ji Hyo turned around, tilting her head in question.

“Great job today.”

The actress hesitated. “Ah… yes. Thank you, Oppa.”

“Take care of yourself.” Jong Kook smiled at her, giving her a little wave before walking in the opposite direction.

Again, Ji Hyo felt a pang of disappointment which she couldn’t really explain. She was rooted on the spot for some moment before she turned back around to her car and walked briskly. What do you expect, huh? Flowers? Confetti? You’re lucky he still wants to speak to you.

She exchanged some words with the crew who were wrapping up near where she parked before going into the car. She halted. On her seat, there was a can of coffee—the brand that she liked—with a small post-it note on it. The only thing written on the note was her name… and a small heart symbol.

Well, Kim Jong Kook, you never cease to surprise me. Ji Hyo couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

A/N: Not much is happening here; only a piece that hopefully shows that JH's week break did her good. On the side note: I am dying for a break myself.