You bit your lip as you waited behind the dark blue curtains. You heard the members of Running Man talk about you, trying to make their mind up about the people hiding. You tried hard not to chuckle at the comments they were giving, even though you had to admit you were rather nervous about all of this. Never in your life had you expected to be a guest star on running man.

Recently you had debuted, being part of a new girl group under NH Media, the same company as U-Kiss. To your own surprise, you had been appointed as leader even though most of the others were as old as you. Your life was hectic lately. It seemed you had been training even more than you had before the debut, and together with that came countless appearances on shows and performances. Yet you loved it. The feelings of exhaustion and nervousness you felt before going on stage, was nothing compared to the love you got from your fans. It truly was a magical feeling; standing there in front of a crowd cheering your names, singing the song you and the girls made and taking pictures of you. It felt like a dream, a fairytale. And god did you love it.

Of course appearances on a few variety shows were required. Even though the band had a great debut, it was important you managed to get known even more. It was a good way to make sure the fans got to know you, the real you, instead of the girl in the music videos. So when the day came your manager told you it was time to appear on running man, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Yet here you were, standing all nervously behind the curtain they told you to wait at. The running man members were getting clues to find out who was behind all these curtains. Naturally there were 7 of them, hiding 7 leaders of girl groups. So far the only thing you knew was that each running man would get their pick and would team up with that specific leader. What the exact mission would be was still a well-protected secret. “Hiding behind number 4 is the leader of a recently debuted band! Their leader is known for her good manners, honest answers during shows and being extremely energetic on stage. Some say her eyes shine as brightly as diamonds, though it might be her smile that dazzles you the most!” a voice said, making your mouth fall open at the description of you. How funny was that? Would anyone actually be able to recognize you from that?

“That’s ___-ah. I want number four!” a voice yelled, you froze. You weren’t an idiot, you had watched running man long before you debuted and you know all too well that was the voice of Kim Jong-Kook, also known as ‘tiger’ and your favorite by far. He knew it was you. How the hell did he know it was you? All the other members started to , saying he looked very excited now that he thought it was you. Thank god no one could see you blushing behind that curtain. Soon everyone else made their pick, guessing a few leaders here and there before the curtains went up to reveal all the participants. You grinned happily as you darted into Jong-Kook’s direction. His smile was wide; he was obviously pleased with himself for guessing right. “Yah, he’s right, it was indeed __—ah!” Jae-suk shouted in amusement as he shot you an amused glance. “Oh our tiger knows all about ___-ah ofcourse.”  Jihyo giggled, making you blush yet again. You went to stand next to Jong-kook, uttering a nervous ‘annyeong’ to him. He flashed you a brilliant smile. Oh boy. The other participants were 2NE1’s CL, 4minute’s Jihyun, Sistar’s Hyorin, F(x)’s Victoria, SNSD’s Taeyeon and Wondergirl’s Sunye. Certainly they would be worthy opponents; you were sure of that as you observed them while waiting for the actual mission to be revealed.

Soon it all became clear; Jong-Kook would be your protector while you two tried to defeat the others in the forest. He had to prevent your nametag from getting wet. Everyone was carrying water guns with them as their weapons and in order to win, you simply had to ‘eliminate’ all the other girls. There was a tricky part; it had to be one of the leaders who shot another leader. You could shoot Hyorin, Taeyeon or any of the others and it would count. If Jong-Kook did it, it wouldn’t count. The running man’s mission in this episode was not being the attacker, but the protector. The look on your partners face however gave you faith, you were sure Jong-kook was determined to keep you safe during the entire game.

A loud bang indicated the start of the game. All fourteen participants ran off into the direction of the forest; you couldn’t shoot anyone before the second bang came. You were inhaling deeply, focusing on both your breathing and avoiding any branches that were in the way while running. You were thankful of your stamina at that moment, thank god for all those hours in the practice room. Though soon another bang sounded and you found yourself slightly hyperventilating at the pressure you know felt. “Relax ___-ah” Jong-kook said sweetly, patting your back. You nervously nodded, knowing you had to stay focused. “What’s our plan?” you blurted out, looking at him in agony while you heard nothing but silence around you… that made you even more nervous. “We’ll go around to search.” He said, shrugging lightly. “You do know you can’t do anything?” you asked him. “Neh, I know. You think you can hit them while running?” he asked you. You bit your lip again. Could you? You didn’t exactly had experience with this. There hadn’t been exactly a time in your life where you had to practice such skills. “Ehmmm… No freaking way.” You replied in all honesty. Guess they had been right when they described you as being honest in shows. He grinned back at you, perhaps he was thinking the same as you; you grinned back. “I used to be good at shooting arrows. But that’s years ago and then you have the chance to stand completely still.” You sighed; maybe the revelation of your archer skills wasn’t really useful right now. But the excitement in his voice was unmistakable. “Really? I knew it was right to choose you __—ah!” he grinned, playfully punching your shoulder as he walked off. You quickly followed, the cameramen following after you. “We still have the ‘not standing still’ issue though.” you said to him. “I know, I’m trying to work that out. I could constantly cover your back.” He suggested;  you nodded in reaction. The thought of him standing against your back somehow sounded appealing. ‘Keep your head in the game silly.’ You told yourself. “Can you climb?”

“Can I what?” you asked, being pulled out of your own thought by his words. “Climb.” He repeated while pointing at the tree he was standing next too. “Neh, I supposed I can. I did that a lot when I was younger.” You replied, looking up the huge tree; it looked easy. “Think you could shoot from up there?” Jongkook asked you, a hopeful look upon his face. “Sure, if I can find a good place to sit up there.” You nodded, heading towards the tree. He helped lifting you up, making you reach that branch a tad bit easier. As soon as you found a steady place, you helped him up. “They can’t see you, right?” you grinned, helping him find a good place to sit next to you. He chuckled at you softly, obviously enjoying the proximity of your bodies.

Within minutes it turned out this plan had been brilliant. Somehow this place seemed to be a passage that most contestants picked, making them easy targets for you. They hardly expected anyone to be up in a tree, let alone someone who could aim well from that place. After half an hour you had eliminated Victoria and Taeyeon and even, for the fun of it, shot Kwangsoo straight in the face.  Jong-Kook couldn’t be happier. Each time you hit someone he started cheering for you and a huge smile was practically glued to his face. It pleased you that he seemed so thrilled and excited because of your achievements in that moment, but it wasn’t over yet, you didn’t want to get too cocky. Though soon, you had another victim on your radar. “I see Chaerin-unni.” You told him, trying to look between all the leaves to where she and Gary where standing. “She’s coming this way.” JongKook said, and he was right; though not completely. Somehow, they felt something was off. You had no idea whether it was the silence or just their plain instinct telling them this, but they were just out of reach. Unless… You slowly reached out onto another branch that would bring you closer to them. Jong-Kook watched you carefully, wondering what your plan was. It was obvious; the branch would give you the opportunity to reach just the exact amount of proximity you needed to hit CL.

Just a bit more, just a little bit closer and you would surely reach her. *SNAP* the loud sound made you freeze in your tracks. You wanted to back away but the fear of making it worse was freezing your entire body. “____-ah what’s wrong?” Jong-Kook’s voice sounded, right before another loud breaking sound came, you pressed your water gun in order to shoot it and then you felt yourself fall out of the tree with a high squeal.