Jong Kook knew it was going to be a long day when the first thing he saw upon his arrival on the set was Ji Hyo in a pastel-colored winter hanbok. She was wearing light makeup and her hair was put in a simple braid. When the light material of her skirt swayed enticingly around her ankles following her animated movements as she talked with one of the makeup artists, Jong Kook cursed inwardly at the sight that took his breath away. Ji Hyo looked like a goddess, and Jong Kook swore he’d never seen anything more beautiful.

He couldn’t tear his eyes off her even as he was ushered to the changing room; his head was turning into almost a painful degree. He was surprised when suddenly Ji Hyo, who seemingly became aware she was being gawked at, lifted her head to look at him. The woman nodded slightly, offering him a shy smile that he couldn’t return because she quickly averted her attention back to her conversing partner.

“Eyes front, Hyung!” Haha suddenly appeared in front of him; they were almost bumping. He glanced at the direction Jong Kook was looking. “She’s pretty, but you’re being too obvious. Stop staring.”

Jong Kook looked away. “I’m not.”

Haha smirked. “Well, she keeps glancing this way, too,” he said. “Do I hear a wedding bell?”

“What you’ll be hearing is the sound of your ears ringing if you don’t stop this nonsense.” Jong Kook cracked his knuckles for show.

Haha stepped back, still laughing. “You guys owe me a story.” He then jogged away to where Ji Hyo was. “Oy, Song Ji Hyo!”

“What was that about?” Gap Jin was frowning. “I thought it was over between you two.” He sounded really tired, and Jong Kook didn’t blame him. The past few months had also been hard for the stout manager, having had to deal with press control and whatnots. “I don’t want any more scandals, Jong Kook-ah.”

Jong Kook’s expression darkened. Stay away from my private life, he wanted to say. “Haha’s just being his silly self,” he said instead. He took a last look at Ji Hyo before entering the changing room; the woman was laughing freely with Haha and the same makeup artist, and Jong Kook’s heart swelled with adoration. Who could resist such beauty?

***

It was Ji Hyo’s turn to lose her ability to breathe when her peripheral caught Jong Kook stepping out of the changing room in a Joseon’s style guard uniform: a long red jeogori and a black jokki. The color and style complimented Jong Kook’s complexion and built so much that he looked like an actual historical figure that walked out of a classic painting. Ji Hyo bit her lower lip, fiddling with the sash of her hanbok while being completely frozen on the spot as Jong Kook sauntered towards her. Was he always this attractive? How could she not see it before?

“Hey,” Jong Kook greeted with a bright smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Ji Hyo’s reply was to gape at him like a fish. “What? Is there something on my face?” He patted his face self-consciously at the unwavering attention.

Ji Hyo blinked, coming to her senses. She lowered her head; her hands still playing with her sash. “Hi,” she replied softly. Come on, Cheon Seong Im, don’t make this weird!

This was a side of Ji Hyo that he hadn’t seen for a long time, at least not directed at him. This shy and awkward Ji Hyo had only been present when there was a male guest she didn’t know personally. It was like they were meeting for the first time all over again. In some sense, perhaps it was—today was their first meeting after Jong Kook’s love confession. He reached out to touch Ji Hyo’s elbow, patting it lightly. “Hey,” he said, making her look up at him again, “Relax, Ji Hyo-yah. I’m still me.”

Ji Hyo blushed even deeper. Jong Kook was always so perceptive when it came to her. She exhaled shakily. “I’ve made this awkward, haven’t I?”

“At least you’re not acting like I don’t exist,” Jong Kook joked. He winked at the woman when she mock-glared at him. Then, without being able to stop himself, Jong Kook said, “You look gorgeous in that hanbok. I always like it when you wear traditional clothes.”

“Ah, thank you.” And you look downright amazing, don’t you know that? “You don’t look too bad yourself, Oppa.”

Jong Kook ran his hand through his uniform. Truth be told, he was feeling a bit suffocated in it; the vest was a little bit too small, thanks to the layers of inner wear, and the stitches were now digging into his back and sides. “This? This is uncomfortable as fu—…”

“Yah! Can you two lovebirds stop it already and come quickly here?! Some of us are freezing here!” Haha shouted.

Both of them whipped their heads towards his voice and saw that everyone was already gathered, ready to film. They hurried along, apologizing for making the others wait. Nobody made any teasing comments; in fact, they were visibly trying to avoid looking at Jong Kook and Ji Hyo.

“Ready? Good,” Jae Suk took charge. “Let’s just start then.”

***

By the time the PDs called it a day, Ji Hyo couldn’t feel the tips of her fingers. The temperature had dropped considerably since twilight, and even though she was wearing layers of clothes and a jacket on top of all that, the airy material of the hanbok she was wearing still didn’t provide the much-craved warmth. Aside from Jong Kook, who had some time ago took off his black outer vest, everyone seemed to be sharing the same sentiment. Ji Hyo noticed how Gwang Soo was almost stiff in his effort of battling the cold, and that Haha’s lips had turned a little blue. Even the male guests looked pathetic.

They practically ran to the minibus at the sound of the clapboard, desperately wanting to get out of the wretched cold. Nobody was listening to what Jo PD had to say about their accommodation for the night and how they were supposed to start again on the first light.

The car was so warm Ji Hyo felt her skin tingle and started to prick as it adapted to the drastic change of the temperature. Jae Suk was nice enough to let her enter first, so she was sitting in the middle, sandwiched between Gwang Soo and himself. The proximity proved useful in raising their bodies’ temperatures. Before long, they started to peel off their outer jacket.

From where he was sitting at the back of the car, Jong Kook was looking at Ji Hyo and how her cheeks turned rosy from the warmth. There was a light sheen of sweat on her skin where some loose strands of hair stuck stubbornly. She looked radiant. He bit his inner cheek to stop himself from smiling like a fool and tried to focus on what the PD had to say.

“Now that you’re all warm,” the PD started, “Let’s run through some important things again.” He repeated the information about their accommodation for the night—they’d be sleeping in one of the houses in the traditional village. But it wouldn’t be Running Man if it was just that; there was always a catch. “As it’s a traditional house and all of us crew will be sharing the same house with you, it means that there are only two big rooms left for the ten of you.”

“Please don’t say that the nine of us will be packed into one and Ji Hyo will get a big room for herself,” Suk Jin said, half complaining about how it wouldn’t be fair.

“And what do you suggest, Hyung—that Ji Hyo will have to share with us men?” Jong Kook snapped.

Suk Jin colored, just now realizing what he’d implied. “No, I don’t mean it that way, I swear.”

“Eish, this Hyung!” Jae Suk said in jest, laughing nervously as he tried to diffuse the tension. Jong Kook’s earlier harsh tone didn’t escape him. “You should excuse him, Jong Kook-ah, this old grandpa is too selfish and cold to think straight.” To the PD he made an imperceptible cutting motion with his hand, secretly telling him to edit this part out.

Jong Kook sank back to his seat and caught Ji Hyo looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He looked away, pretending not to see. Half-heartedly he heard Ji Hyo joked about renting out the extra space she’d have in the room if anyone was interested. He forced a lopsided grin when people started pleading to Ji Hyo by topping up the rent money offered by one another.

***

What greeted them at their accommodation made them groan in unison. The two ‘rooms’ prepared for them were actually the living room of the house: the inner part and the outer part. The inner part had electric heating on top of the already running ondol, but the outer part had nothing else but the ondol heating the floor.

There were eight futons laid out in the inner part, while the other two were in the outer part. They knew what it meant: two poor unfortunate souls would have to sleep there in the cold.

“What on earth…” Jae Suk said in dismay. To one of the PDs, he said, “Are you that desperate to kill us?”

“The outer door is windproof,” the PD explained, unaffected by the complaints. “The only thing it doesn’t have is an electric heater.”

Haha was so ready to leave. “I’ll just sleep in my car,” he grumbled.

“I sent all your cars home.” The PD didn’t even bother to look guilty. “Now, as you can see, there are only two beds here—we’re going to play a game to decide who’ll sleep outside.”

“Ji Hyo’s not going to take part in this, right?” Jae Suk asked before Jong Kook could do the same. “She’s going to have her own room, right?”

“We have an extra partition to separate male and female members.”

“She’s not going to have her own room?” Jae Suk was baffled. He glanced at Jong Kook, who had his jaw set. “Aish… we’re close, but this is over the top.”

“Let her sleep with the female crew,” Gary said.

“Is this really necessary?” Gwang Soo piped up, too.

“There’s no other female. Why does she have to stay in the same room as us?”

Ji Hyo said nothing the whole time. She wasn’t really tired, but she had no more energy to argue; all she cared about now was to get out of this hanbok as quickly as possible and change into something warm. “Oppa, let’s just get over with already,” she’d finally had it. “They have a partition. All we have to do is sleep. The more you people talk, the less time we have for sleeping.” They all looked at her like she was growing a second head. “Come on, let’s be real—we still have to play the game anyway.”

“I’ll play if we exempt Ji Hyo from having to sleep outside,” Jae Suk decided. The others mumbled their agreement.

“I’ll play,” Ji Hyo said, shrugging. “Fair is fair.”

Some of them glanced at Suk Jin, half blaming him for speaking up about Ji Hyo’s being treated differently for her insistence on joining the game. But they didn’t protest. When Ji Hyo had set her mind to do something, nothing they say could change it.

“Besides,” Ji Hyo added, speaking to Jae Suk, “we know how this would go down. It’s going to be Oppa, or Suk Jin Oppa, or Gwang Soo who will have to sleep out here anyway.”

“Yah!”

They broke into laughter, thinking at how true Ji Hyo’s statement was; two of the unlucky trios would be their sacrificial lambs. The PDs got out the pirate game where they would each take a turn putting in the blades until the head pops out. This time, the one who popped the head first won. The last two people who couldn’t pop the head would sleep outside.

The unlucky Gwang Soo turned out to be quite lucky when it came to popping the head. He was the first one to win and got the advantage of choosing where he’d want to sleep. The maknae of the group chose to sleep in the middle where it was the warmest. Then Jong Kook popped the head. And Gary. And then all the three guests in a row.

Jong Kook grew worried when Haha also popped the head. Two more spaces. Come on. Come on. Ji Hyo stuck in another blade. She failed. It was the men who groaned—despite not wanting to spend the night in the cold, they also didn’t want it to be Ji Hyo.

In the end, it was Jae Suk and Ji Hyo.

“Great, now we can sleep! Oh my God, I’m so sleepy!” Ji Hyo exclaimed to stop people from protesting the result. She pointed her finger towards the inner room. “The rest of you, get out!”

***

It was too damn cold to fall asleep. Ji Hyo wrapped her blankets tighter around her body, tucking the corners under her back and legs to trap the heat without much luck. She was still shivering.

“Can’t sleep, either, eh?” Jae Suk spoke in the dark from the other side of the partition. Ji Hyo grunted in reply. “This is borderline torture.”

“I didn’t get paid enough for this,” Ji Hyo said, earning a chuckle from the older man.

“We need to get a better contract next time,” Jae Suk agreed. “And by the way, you brought this to yourself—you could’ve spared the cold and slept peacefully inside if you hadn’t been so stubborn about participating in the game.”

“Just want to be fair.”

“Don’t mind Suk Jin Hyung. You know he didn’t mean it.”

Ji Hyo yawned. “I know. Still, it was faster to play and get it over with than to argue.” She laughed a little, “I honestly thought I’d win. It’d be so funny if it were Suk Jin Oppa who had to sleep outside.”

Jae Suk smiled in the dark. “Jong Kookie looked like he was ready to murder somebody when you lost.”

Even in the dark, Ji Hyo couldn’t stop blushing. “He’s always kind to ladies,” she commented neutrally.

“To you,” the national MC corrected. He shifted so that he was facing the partition. From a sliver of light outside he could see Ji Hyo’s silhouette—the woman was facing away from him, huddled in her layers of blankets and covers. “He’s always protective of you.”

“I know.”

“Look, I don’t mean to be a busybody,” he started, but Ji Hyo finished his sentence.

“But you want to know if there’s anything between us.”

The older man hummed a confirmation. “I have to admit that you two are confusing us all. One day you act like you’re arch enemies and another day you act lovey-dovey like there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Is this thing still recording?” Ji Hyo was referring to the cameras installed around the room.

Jae Suk got up from his futon, groaning when the cold hit his back and went to switch off every single camera around the room. He dashed back into his futon. “Omo! It’s cold!”

“You’re that curious, eh, Oppa?”

“Well…” Jae Suk wrapped himself up tightly. “I like you. I like him. I like the idea of both of you together. I want you two to be happy—even if it means that you’re not together.”

“We’re just friends,” Ji Hyo said, which was the truth.

“You don’t act like ‘just friends’.”

She sighed, not knowing how to explain. “I don’t know how to act anymore around him,” she opted to answer truthfully.

“He still has feelings for you,” Jae Suk stated. It was clear as day for him how Jong Kook thought the world of Ji Hyo—how his world revolved around the woman behind the partition. “Look, Ji Hyo-yah, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable…”

“I know—about his feelings. I know,” Ji Hyo cut him off. “It’s my feelings I’m not sure about.”

“Do you still love him, at least a little bit?”

The word ‘still’ stung. It wasn’t Jae Suk’s fault he didn’t know that there hadn’t been love at the beginning of their fake relationship. “I can’t answer that.”

“Figure it out soon, Ji Hyo-yah. Before somebody gets hurt.”

A/N: Guess who's life is upside down right now? Hence the update. I'm so tired omg. Can anyone make me a Spartace video using Jong Kook's "Hide and Seek" or "Thousand of Footprints" songs? I'd be forever grateful.