It was another forty five minutes or so later when we were finally brought inside the shopping mall. We were all led into what looked like some kind of office room. There were a few cameras set up along with 18 chairs all behind a table in front of said cameras. I’m guessing that’s where we’ll be waiting until it’s our turn. Thinking about it, I guess they hadn’t really gone over all the rules yet, so I’ll see.

We all lined up in our groups again inside before the PD let us know we were filming.

“Alright, let me start off by having one couple from each team I call, step forward and receive a pair of links that are to be worn starting now.” The room erupted in noise.

“Ah, so we each have to break each other’s links?”

“Aniyo. The task today is to still rip the name tag off each other’s backs, however,” he paused. Uh oh. This didn’t sound good. “If you break the links yourself, on accident or purposely, the two of you are automatically out. They’re pretty much there to guarantee the couple staying together.” Oh whew. Not as bad as I thought.

“But what if only one of our name tags gets ripped off? Is the other person out too?” Oh crap. That would be one hell of a twist. I jerked my head back to Jaesuk.

“No, only the person whose name tag was removed is out, the other person is then free to rip off the links and continue playing.” Everyone around was ‘ooh’ing, myself included. This was going to be one interesting game of hide and seek. “Now let me explain how the points will be awarded. We’re going to do it a little differently this time around.” Uh oh. “Everyone will be receiving at least two points, in fact the first ten players to get out will each receive two points. After that however they will increase by one each time, leaving the last person left to receive ten points for their team.”

“So we could possibly still win the whole competition even if we don’t win the last mission?”

“Ne that’s correct. It basically comes down to this mission tonight.”

“No pressure, right,” Gary-ssi called out making everyone laugh.   

“Alright, if the Running Man member couples could take a seat in the last three sets of chairs, you six will be the last released, being the veterans and all.

“Wow, I might last until the end then,” Sukjin-ssi announced. He would end up being the last one released. Lucky guy.

“Don’t count on it,” noona commented loud enough for everyone to hear. We all laughed until Jaesuk spoke again

“Alright and if a couple from team SISTAR/INFINITE would take a seat here,” he said as he motioned toward the first set of chairs. Bora and the guy named L stepped forward. They were handed their links and then took a seat. “SNSD/TYS, here.” I looked at Tiffany and then at Sooyoung, neither of which looked to be moving forward. Ugh, I guess I’d have to-

“Let’s go.” The next thing I see is Sunny pulling Sooyoung forward. Woohoo. It wasn’t us! Even though it looked like it was going to be all kinds of fun, I was still pretty nervous. We had to win! Everyone else soon began to take their places.

We received our links and took our seats. “Is it going to matter to you which hand yours goes on?”

“Ani, what about you?” I thought for a second. “Since you can’t use your left hand like at all just wear it so your right hand is free,” she suggested. Right! What a great idea, but wait… How did she know that?

“How did you know I’m horrible with my left hand Fany-ah,” I asked in a hushed tone. She briefly smiled one of her perfect eye smiles.

“I pay attention Tae. Now give me your left hand,” she said as she smirked. Gah she really was amazing!

“But you’re right handed too,” I countered. I didn’t want her to be hindered just because of me.

“Well then I can hold on to your weak hand harder,” she said with a quiet laugh. “Hand. Now.” I followed orders and gave her my hand.

Soon after, the PD gave us the go ahead to get started. He also then explained that we were to stay in one section of the mall. It did have seven floors though, so I’m sure we would all be able to run around properly. He then told us that the escalators were off for our safety, but we could obviously run up and down them.

While we were waiting for the first team to be released everyone just kept talking trash and strategy openly back and forth, which I thought was pretty silly. We obviously could all hear it.

“Yah, what is this large monitor for,” Jongkook-ssi asked loudly. I looked toward where he was looking.

Whoa how did I miss that? Behind one of the cameras that were set up in the room there was a large monitor. There wasn’t anything on it though. They were probably just going to play back to us what the camera in front was shooting, so we could adjust ourselves properly. We were idols after all.

“This monitor has been set up so you can watch what’s happening throughout the hunt,” Jaesuk said as the screen came alive. It split in to a bunch of tiny little sections before he spoke again. “There have been at least 2 cameras set up on every floor.”

“Waah, this is what I totally love,” Haha announced from the left of me.

“Wow, we’ll be able to see who’s getting hunted down, and where everyone is,” Kwangsoo-ssi marveled. I couldn’t agree more.

“Not only see, but you’ll be able to hear as well,” the PD announced earning more ‘ooh’s and ‘aww’s. This was going to be totally awesome!

“Without further stalling let’s get started,” Jaesuk hyung spoke up. “Starting with Bora-ssi and L-ssi, let’s go!” I heard shouts of encouragement from their team members before another loud voice rang.

“Couple One, Bora and L have entered. Couple One has entered.” It sounded like it came throughout the whole mall too. Jeesh this was so intense. It was silent in the room with everyone until about a minute after they left.

“Oh there they are,” Hyorin said from beside me. She pointed at the bottom of the monitor.

Since the screen was split so many times, 16 to be exact, it was kinda hard to see everything. I had to almost squint to see things exactly.

“Waah, what do we do,” came over the speakers. It was quiet, but still audible.

“Wow, we really can hear everything,” someone commented. The room stayed quiet though. Was this awkward? Or just me?

Soon it was time for Sooyoung and Sunny to be released. Oh my, I was nervous and it wasn’t even me.

“Sunny, Sooyoung fighting,” Tiffany called from beside me as she put her free fist in the air.

“Yah, get someone out,” hyung called.

“Alright,” Soo replied. “We’ll try!”

“Couple Two, Sunny and Sooyoung have entered. Couple Two has entered,” the voice rang again. Once they stepped out Jaesuk made a comment.

“The height difference there was a little… much,” he said causing us all to laugh a little before I focused back to the monitors. I watched as the two of them came on to focus on the screen.

“We should’ve made a strategy with them,” noona said in our direction a few minutes or so later.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said looking at her. “Everyone would have heard it tho-“

A scream and the sound of a Velcro rip caught my attention. Omo! I was on my feet, we couldn’t be out already! It was literately like nine minutes in to the mission.

“Who was it,” I asked aloud.

“They were in a blind spot,” Sungkyu informed. It was his team too. Oh man. Please don’t be us!

“L has been eliminated. L is out,” the ominous voice rang again. A group of cheers began coming from the rest of my team members. Waah that was incredible! Our team was still safe.

“The third team can go now,” a PD interrupted, just before the voice signaled that Nichkhun and Eunji had been released.

Thinking that I would not mind if he got eliminated here soon, a smile grew on my face. It quickly turned to a frown. I still could not believe he did that earlier. Even if we weren’t dating I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted not only us, but SISTAR, to know about their past. Not to mention it was a douchebag move to begin with.

I looked at her. Her eyes were wide focusing on the screen in front of us. The way was slightly parted told me she was deep in concentration. God she was so beautiful, and not just in the physical way either. She was polite and caring and I just don’t know how someone could be such a scumbag to her. Like, I don’t see why anyone on earth would want to hurt someone like her. I could never, no, I would never. Just then she turned toward me and met my gaze. Usually I would look away, but I couldn’t. I wanted her to get the mental message I was relaying to her via brain waves. I love you Tiffany Hwang. I love you, and I always will. I could have said it for hours, but then I noticed her eyes start moving.

Oh no, here it goes. I watched spread wide across her face in the most perfect way as her eyes became adorable little crescents. I could feel my stomach flipping. Alright, if it were anytime I was going to slip up and ‘accidently’ kiss her, it was going to be when she did this to me.

“Tiffany-ssi,” Jaesuk questioned interrupting our stare. I quickly looked away. I could put money on the fact that my face was going to be as pink as my shirt here soon.

“N-ne oppa?”

“Could you not look at Taeyeon that way, were trying to stay away from creating scandals,” he teased. Omo. The cameras. I looked down as everyone started laughing and ‘oohing.’

“I saw it too,” Jihyo said. “I’ve been watching them for a while.” Oh god. Have I done anything else? I don’t think so? “They’ve been holding hands this whole time.”

The room erupted in all different kinds of noises, the loudest being Kwangsoo-ssi telling me to let go of her hand. I did, in fact we both kind of released at once.

“Yah! We have to keep close for the links,” Tiffany explained.

“You haven’t even gone in yet Tiffany-ssi,” Gary teased.

“Ooh-“

“Ahhh!” RIIIIP~

Everyone quickly turned back to the screen, trying to find where the noise came from. While I silently thanked whoever had just gotten out, even if it was our team.

“Eunji has been eliminated. Eunji is out.”

“What,” her teammates questioned aloud. “Who did that?”

“It was probably Bora,” Jongkook responded. “She’s alone now.”

Wooooh! It wasn’t us though! This is fantastic. Hopefully Soo and Sunny could stay in until we got in. We could team up or something, waah. That would be the best. We only had one team left before we could go in. Speaking of…

I looked at the timer on the wall. They had ten seconds.

“Couple Four, Hyorin and Sungkyu have entered. Couple Four has entered.” We all wished them luck and they were off. It looked like they were starting on the third floor. We had been told earlier that we would be riding the elevator to a random floor and be starting there so we all wouldn’t be coming from the same place. That would have given it away a little too easily.

“Ahh, I’m starting to feel nervous,” I commented.

“Ani, you’ll be fine! You two stay alive until we get in there,” Jihyo encouraged. “Just be smart!”

“Ne, we will be,” Tiffany replied. I couldn’t talk though, I was too focused on the screen.

I was trying to figure out where Sooyoung and Sunny were. If we could find them it would be four vs everyone! We would be unstoppable, waah, I was getting excited just thinking about it. The only problem was that I couldn’t really make out the area that they were in. It had nothing to go off or anything. Aish!

The time seemed to have flown for the next thing I heard was the PD telling us it was our turn. “Omo,” I said as I stood up.

“Couple Five, Tiffany and Taeyeon have entered. Couple five has entered.” With the last few encouraging words from our team, we left the room.

As soon as we entered the elevator I felt Tiffany slip her hand in to mine again. I felt at ease for a few moments before the doors of the elevator then opened, then it was all chaos. We stepped out along with the VJ that was assigned to us.

“What should we do,” she whispered.

“Well, we can either go hide somewhere or look for Sooyoung and Sunny. It’s up to you.”

“Uhh, let’s do both.” I laughed and nodded. As I started walking I saw a sign that said we were only on the second floor. It was also a clothes department, so there really weren’t many places to hide here.

“Fany-ah, let’s go up a floor. There’s nowhere to hide here.” She nodded and followed me as we quickly found the stopped escalator. I was trying to hurriedly go up the stairs when she pulled my hand. I stopped and looked at her.

“Be careful, there might be someone at the top,” she said quietly. Omo, I didn’t even think about that. I was too worried about finding a place to hide. Jeesh Taeyeon, you pabo.

“You’re right, sorry!” I slowed my pace down as I reached the top carefully peaking around the corners. I didn’t see anyone but I did see a lot of displays and tables set up this time. Daebak! We could totally hide around here for a while. As we made our way behind this shelf full of different kinds of towels I heard a loud shriek and a couple of screams.

I immediately sat down pulling Tiffany with me. The VJ soon followed suit. Omo. That sounded really close.

“Hyorin has been eliminated, Hyorin is out.”

Tiffany’s eyes were wide looking at me. “That sounded like it was the floor just above us,” she said.

“I know. That means now there are three people running around without partners too,” I added. Her face changed.

“Would you rather be without a partner,” she asked as she tried to loosen her grip on my hand. Oh my god, was she really going to do this here in front of the camera?

“Aniyo,” I quickly said. “People without partners can move around sneakier, but the ones with partners still have the two over one advantage. So I’d rather be with a partner,” I said squeezing her hand. I saw a smirk come across her face just as the voice rang letting everyone know that the sixth team consisting of Naeun and Chansung has now been released.

I waited another minute or so before I spoke again. “Should we move? I feel like we’ve been here for too long.”

“I know,” she agreed. “I’m starting to feel jittery. We’re probably being stalked or something.”

“Yah! Why would you say that,” I whisper shouted causing the already eye smiling girl to laugh her beautiful laugh. The VJ chuckled as well. “Making me more nervous than I already am, aish…”

We stood up and started stealthily heading to the escalator just as I heard a faint ‘ding’. I froze.

“Did you hear that?” She shook her head. I looked in the direction that I thought it came from and saw a sign that read ‘Elevator.’ No freaking way.

They wouldn’t have… I saw movement and ducked down behind a cash register that was not but ten feet from the escalator we were heading toward. The other two mirrored my movements.

“What is it,” Tiffany asked. I shushed her and pointed.

“People.” Her eyes got wide and a grin grew on her face. I knew what it meant too for I’m sure I had one as well. It was going to be our first attack. “They’re probably going for the escalator,” I whispered again. She nodded again as we both got in the position to take off running.

I felt a squeeze on my hand when I finally heard talking. Sure enough the conversation was about going up stairs. Waah my heart was racing. We waited for them to take just a few more steps and… We took off!

The first few feet I don’t think they noticed us, but once they did their faces were priceless. A mixture of shock and blankness. It took them a second to process, but once they did they took off, in different directions.

Oh no.

Chansung took off up the stairs just as Naeun started running straight away from us. Then it happened. We watched their links break and the realization of it spread across their faces as we finally reached them.

Just like that they were out. I heard their VJ report on his walkie talkie and then a loud voice over the speaker.

“Naeun and Chansung have been eliminated. Naeun and Chansung are out.”

Although I was very glad that they were both out, I mean two more down that we don’t have to worry about? Whoop whoop!  I really didn’t think that it should have been that way though. It wasn’t nearly as fun as getting to rip their name tags off.

“Ahh,” I heard Chansung say loudly. “Mianhae Naeun-ssi. Good job guys,” he said toward us.

“Aniyo, we didn’t mean to make you do that. I was aiming for the name tags,” I laughed.

“It’s alright,” he replied. “It’s a silly rule anyway.” They both wished us luck and then walked off with their VJ. At least Chansung isn’t an like Nichkhun I thought before I was interrupted.

“Tae! We just got two people out!” She then proceeded to do a little victory dance, that was adorable I might add.

I smiled wide. “Let’s keep going.” She nodded with the smile still present on her face as we climbed the next set of stairs, slower than the last after remembering Fany’s advice from before. Peeking from the escalator I couldn’t see any people or movement. Whew. The coast was clear.  “Let’s go,” I whispered before pulling her quickly with me behind a tall refrigerator.

This floor looked to be furniture and appliances. I could see rows of kitchen tables and stoves and other things like that, definitely a good place to hide for a bit. We creeped along the outer wall for a good minute or more before the voice spoke again.

“Couple Seven Kwangsoo and Jongkook have entered. Couple seven has entered.”

“Oww,”escaped my lips. Jongkook was the person I was hoping to not run in to today. He could break the both of us in half, at the same time.

“It’s about to get crazy huh,” Tiffany asked in the direction of the VJ. I heard him laugh again as he nodded the whole camera up and down. “Tae let’s move farther back.”

I looked to where she was looking. “Where? Deeper in? Or do you want to go up more?”

She cocked her head to the side like she was thinking about something. “Let’s just go up! We haven’t seen anyone besides Naeun and Chansung, and that was on accident.”

Although I did want to attack people and try to get their name tags off, I wanted to win. And lasting the longest, meant getting more points, and since we were already second place, we needed all the help we could get. I exhaled. If Tiffany wanted to go upstairs though, that’s where we would go.

“Okay, let’s go.”  We made our way back the way we came and quickly climbed on to the escalator. Slowing down as we reached the top to make sure no one was visibly walking around. We started looking for a place to hide just as I saw something pink out of the corner of my eye. No way!

I turned my head as fast as I could to see Sooyoung and Sunny running away from a guy in a green shirt. “Omo!” I took off running pulling Tiffany along with me. She must have seen what I did because she picked up her pace even more so.

“Yah, Sunny-yah! Were behind you,” she yelled. The boy in green along with the two in pink both soon stopped running. We were probably about twenty feet away from Sungkyu when he took off in a direction away from all of us. Soo started to go after him, but Sunny pulled him back.

“Waah! I can’t believe we found you guys. We’ve been looking all over,” Sunny said.

“Jinnja?” She nodded. “We’ve been hiding.”

“Yah!”

“Ouch! That really hurt pabo-yah,” I said as I rubbed the spot on my chest she just hit. “Haven’t you guys been hiding too? You’ve lasted so long.”

“Ani,” Soo started. “We’ve been walking around freely.”

“What seriously?”

“Yeah, we’ve only ran in to a few people so far. Oh! Have you gotten anyone out? We got L, but no one since.”

“Yeah! We got Naeun and Chansung out,” Tiffany said excitedly.

“What really?” We both nodded. “How?”

Just as she finished the story the voice came on again letting us know that Haha and Jihyo had been released.

“Hey let’s go find them.”

“Uh how Soo,” I asked. We had no idea where they were going to be.

“Duh stupid, the elevator says what floor they stop at.” Oh my god why didn’t I think of that like ten minutes ago?

“Oh don’t even,” Sunny said toward Soo. “We just figured that out not too long ago.”

“Uhh,” Sooyoung laughed..” Right.” I heard Tiffany giggling at him. “Let’s go then.”

We found the elevator with ease, and with no further sign of Sungkyu or anyone else. Whew.

“Crap. We’re two floors away.”  Damn! The elevator read that they were on the seventh floor while we were on the fifth.

“Well then let’s go up,” Tiffany suggested. I agreed. Once we had all six of us we literately could not be stopped. Ah! We were so close!

“Up is where I’m pretty sure Bora and Nichkhun are both hiding out though. We haven’t seen them in a while and we’ve been on this floor for a pretty long time,” Sunny explained. Oh well crap.

“We haven’t seen Jongkook and Kwangsoo yet either,” I thought aloud. “Do you want to go anyway?” I didn’t mind if everyone else did. Someone needed to start getting the other players out, and it would be four vs what? One? Two at the most? We totally had this.

“You’re the leader,” Sooyoung said cheerfully. Great. I would be the one leading us all in to potential death. No Taeyeon. Don’t think like that.

As my foot hit the first step of the escalator I heard the loud speaker turn on just before the voice started speaking. We all stopped in our tracks.

“Haha has been eliminated. Haha is out.” I gulped and looked back. Omo. He has been out for less than two minutes…

“Already?”

“Yeah maybe we shouldn’t go up a floor,” I said warily.

“But unnie is still up there!”

“She’s the Ace,” Sooyoung cheered again. “She’ll find us, but in the meantime maybe we should stick to the Taeyeon and Tiffany method and hide."

“I agree,” Tiffany said from behind me. That settled that. If Tiffany wanted to hide, then we would. If it were me alone I would probably try to sneak around a bit to see where everyone else was and maybe even try to rip off some name tags, but I had to protect Tiffany. Not to mention we were now joined by two other people. Maybe waiting for everyone to eliminate each other was our best bet.

“Okay, where do you want to go?” Looking around I saw endless rows of sofas. Not really anywhere to hide.

“Let’s just sit in between some of these,” Sooyoung suggested pointing to said sofas. I shot him a glare. That wasn’t obvious…“What? If we all sit like in the middle there,” he motioned about half way in. “No one would see us unless they were up on us.”

Okay, I guess he did have a point.

“Sounds good to me,” Sunny said as she and Sooyoung started walking back toward the sofas.

It was probably about three minutes later when we all started to get comfy. I was leaned up against the back of a very soft sofa. Tiffany was beside me, hand still in hand. This was actually not bad. I looked to the girl bedside me but then noticed the camera men sitting along with us. I laughed a little.

“Mianhae, were probably pretty boring today huh,” I asked the one closest.

“Ani, it’s better than running up and down all these stairs,” he said with a chuckle.

“Couple Nine Sukjin and Gary have entered. Sukjin and Gary have entered,” the voice rang cutting our laughter short.

“Do you guys wanna make bets on who will make it to the end,” Soo asked cheekily a minute or so later.

“Why not,” I gave in. It would be a good topic to make the time pass faster I thought, well hoped really. We had just kind of been sitting here in silence for a while. In fear of saying something that could give away our relationship and in fear that someone would hear us.

“I think Bora will last,” Sunny spoke up. Everyone agreed with that one. “She can dart away so quick, that’s how she got away from us at first.” Ahh, I was wondering how they only managed to get one of the two earlier.

“Jongkook,” I mentioned. “Obviously.” I saw everyone nod their heads in agreement

“I think we’ll all last pretty far.”

“I think so too Sooyoung-ah. We have all of us together,” Tiffany said from beside me. “And Unnie is still in!” Omo. I totally forgot about her!

“Should we go-“ I heard the PA system click on. Uh oh, someone was eliminated! I felt Tiffany’s grip tighten.

“Sukjin,” whew I let the breath I was holding in out. “and,” oh no! “Kwangsoo have been eliminated. Sukjin and Kwangsoo are out.” Jesus, I literately almost had a heart attack.

“Oh thank god,” Sunny said aloud. “Unnie is still in.”

“Yeah, but now Jongkook is running around alone,” Sooyoung commented. Crap. He was right.

“Gary oppa too.” I looked to the girl to the left of me who was looking back at me. I felt even more so inclined to protect her now. I don’t know if it was the tone of her voice or the look she had on her face. Her eyes were wide open and her brows were raised together. We had to do something. I started to think, but then the PA clicked on again. Oh no! Don’t be noona!

“The second and seventh floors are now off limits, please move to the remaining floors and carry on.”

“What the heck is that about?”

“They’re closing us in on each other,” I thought aloud again. Oh my god. That was so cruel of them, yet genius. They were basically forcing confrontations. I couldn’t believe this. Omo! I wonder if they were going to keep redu-

“Isn’t like, everyone on the top two floors though?” I stopped. We were only a floor away from all the other people.

“Pretty much,” Sunny replied.

“Uh, should we go to a lower floor?” I looked at him.

“Yeah Soo, that’s what I was just thinking.” It would probably be our best bet to stay out of the cross fire.

I watched him start to stand up so I thought I better too. Ah! A tight squeeze on my hand brought my attention back to my girlfriend, pulling her up in to a standing position as well.

“Thank you,” she said with her signature eyes mile. I felt a smile growing on my face as well, but then… what? Her face changed in an instant as was no longer showing off her perfect teeth, no it was now in the shape of an ‘O.’ What is she lo-

“Mianhae Sunbae.”  RIIIP~

I turned my head so fast that I think I actually got whiplash. The only thing I saw when I turned however was a wide eyed Sooyoung and Sunny and the back of a green shirt. Omo. That little !

“Wh-which one of you did he get?”

“Me,” Sooyoung said. Damnit! I would totally get that kid back later. I heard one of the VJs report the new elimination over the walkie, quickly followed by the voice on the PA letting everyone know he was out.

“Soo, I’m sorry!” Dangit, if I wasn’t looking at Tiffany, I would have seen him coming! I could have stopped him! Uhhhg. I already screwed up the blob mission too! You can’t screw this up Taeyeon, come on!

“Aniyo, Taeng. Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault,” he laughed. “You three just win it okay?” He ripped the link off his wrist. “Oh, and find noona, she can take my place in the final four!” I smiled. He really was the best. Yuri and I were so lucky to have him around all the time.

“Arasso!”

“We’ll get Sungkyu just for you Sooyoung-ah,” Sunny said to him just before the VJ told him he had to leave.

He called out one last ‘fighting’ before heading off to the elevator.

Both girls were now looking to me. What..what is this? I looked back and forth between them. Oh god, they didn’t want me…

“What do we do now?” Damn, they did want me to make the decision. Thinking about it for a quick second we only had two options.

“Well we can either go hide somewhere and wait for more people to get out,” I paused. “Or we could go up a floor and try to start knocking people off.”

“I vote we start taking people out. I’ve had enough of this sitting and waiting,” Sunny said. I didn’t disagree with her. It was kinda boring, but the three of us have lasted this long because of it.

“What do you want to do Taeyeon-ah?”

My attention turned to Tiffany. “I’m fine with either option. Whatever you two pick is fine,” I said with a smile.

“Then… let’s go get some people out!” I smiled even wider, that’s what I figured.

“Yah, keep it down,” Sunny scolded.

“Okay. Let’s move.” I led the three of us up the escalator, making sure to carefully look behind us every now and then for the rogue in green. He wouldn’t be getting another one of us. As I reached the top I started to see more beds and displays set up. Gah this mall really did never end. Jeesh and we were only in the one section. I can’t even imagine how big the rest of-

“Taeyeon-ah!” That didn’t come from behind me…

“Unnie? Wah! Unnie!” Just then I saw Jihyo stand up from behind a bed nearby. Oh my god this was going to be awesome. She motioned for us so we started walking her way.

I saw movement a little bit behind her and my stomach dropped. Oh no! Not again.

“Noona,” I called out as I pointed behind her, however I was too late. Gary had somehow gotten to where she was in less than a second. I started running to try to reach her in time, but I knew I was too late when I heard the sound that was equal to death today.

RIIIP~

It wasn’t a total loss though. Before Gary could run away I grabbed his wrist. He started urgently moving around. “Fany-ah grab his other arm!” She did, and we had him captured. Although he did try to squirm about Sunny was able to come from behind and rip his name tag off. HA, that’s what you get fool!

“Aish!” he let out once we dropped our grip on him. “Yah, I had been stalking her for the past five minutes. You guys ruined it big time,” he jokingly complained.

“Mianhae, oppa!”

He laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Aishh, now there’s only one person from my team in.”

“Jihyo has been eliminated. Jihyo is out. Gary has been eliminated, Gary is out,” the voice called out.

“Sorry Jihyo-yah, we should have ran faster,” I apologized.

“Aniyo, don’t worry. It looked like he was almost on me anyway,” she laughed. “At least you all got him too.” Their VJs then said they had to leave the floor now. “Arasso, good luck. Fighting!” And just like that she was gone along with Gary.

“Crap, now were the only three left,” Sunny said.

“Wait a minute, who is still in,” I asked. I lost track a while ago.

“Us, Jongkook oppa, Sungkyu, Nichkhun, and I’m forgetting one,” Sunny explained.

“Bora.”

“Oh! Right, and Bora.”

“Wow, they’re only seven of us left?” She nodded. “Whoa, daebak.” A noise off in the distance pulled me back to reality. “Let’s move.” I saw Sunny nod as I took a step, but was pulled back.

“Hold on, my shoe is untied… You’re gonna have to bend down too,” she said as she looked to me. Right, the links. A thought popped in my head as I kneeled down along with her.

“Let me,” I said as I quickly moved my hands to her shoe.

“Taeyeon-ah, you don-“ I made the loop and pulled tight.

“Ha, already done,” I said interrupting her. “Want me to double knot it?” I saw her starting to smile. “I-“

“Sunny-ah~”

Oh god. I froze. Who was that? I started to stand but then was pushed back down by Sunny herself. What the…?

“Oppa, fancy meeting you here,” she said cheerily. She then took steps forward.  Sunny what the hell were you doing? What happened to the whole strength in numbers thing?

Wait a minute. Oppa? Omo. That must mean it’s, “Jongkook.”

“Oh god she’s so dead,” Tiffany whispered. I looked around. I guess we were kind of hidden behind this table we kneeled down beside.

“Come on,” I said as I started to sort of crawl around the other side of it. Maybe we could get a better view. Assa! We totally could!

I poked my head up a little and could see Sunny and Jongkook within five feet of each other. Oh no.

“Fany-ah, should we step in?” It would be three vs one. Although it was The Commander, we should be able to get him right?

“Sunny-ah!~ You know I can’t let you go,” he called. She took a few steps back. He mimicked.

“Oppa please! Just let me get revenge for my partner! Then you can get me,” she begged. Wait a minute…

“Jinjja?” She nodded.

“Ne, once I get them out you can get me too. I promise.” He was seriously considering this. Omo.

“Alright. I can do that. Who was it? I’ll help you find them.” There it was. I was wondering when that question was coming. His own team member was the one who got Soo out, he surely wouldn’t really help right?

“Nichkhun-ah,” she lied.

“Oh my god,” Tiffany said in English. She really just lied! Sunny was such a little punk.

“Arasso. I was looking for him anyway. Let’s go.” Omo and he’s buying it.

“Daebak,” I laughed. “This is too good.” I looked to Tiffany who was silently laughing as well. “Sunny is seriously the best.” She hummed.

“Ah, let’s follow them.” I looked to her. Seriously? “What? We might be able to get Jongkook oppa out.” Okay, I guess she was right.

“Alright. Let’s go.” I half way stood up and started slowly walking through all the displays in the direction Sunny was heading. We had to stay a little farther back then I would have liked to because our VJ was making way too much noise. He was killing me. That’s it. “Can you stay here? Were just going to go up behind that desk there,” I pointed. He nodded. Thank god.

Just then the voice came over the system, scaring the crap out of me by the way. “Floors 3 and 4 are now off limits.”

Omo. Again? Jeesh. Pretty soon we’d all be stuck on one floor. Ahh, I didn’t even want to think about that.

“Do you know where your team is,” Jongkook asked. “Honestly.”

“Aniyo. I haven’t seen anyone but Jihyo-yah and Gary-ah since my partner got out,” she lied again.

“Ah, so you got Gary?” She nodded. “Good jo-“

“Hyung!” Oh no. Our VJ moved closer to get a better shot. This was about to get bad.

“Sungkyu, is the one who got Sooyoung out, but Sunny lied and said it was Nichkhun. Omo and now they’re all going to be together. This is so good,” I said to our camera man. “Do things like this usually happen?” He made the ‘kind of’ motion.

“Kinda?” He nodded. “That’s awesome.”

“Ah, he’s close now,” Tiffany whispered as she squeezed my hand. Omo, I had to watch this. I turned back to look at this scene unfold.

“Hyung! Where is- Wh-what is she doing here?”

“Oh Sungkyu-yah! Don’t worry, she said she’d help us get Nichkhun and then we can eliminate her.”

“Ah, jinjja?” Jongkook nodded. “Why him?” Oh no. Don’t say it. Please don’t say-

“He was the one who-“

“There he is,” Sunny shouted as she pointed behind them. Loudly too. They both turned and then that was when the chaos began.

RIIP~

Jongkook must have seen her arm, because he was able to avoid her grasp completely. That wasn’t all though, he reacted quickly as well. Grabbing her arm and pulling her in to a hold. I stood up.

“Tiffany, let’s go.” She nodded and we took off

“Sunny-ah! Why’d you do that? Now I’m going to have to do this.” RIIP~

“Oppa~!” Oh no! Not Sunny too! I stopped. Crap, now it was just Tiffany and I. How were we going to do this? I looked at her and then back to Jongkook, who was still struggling around with Sunny. He must have not seen us yet, wait a minute.

While his hands were busy, maybe we could rip his tag off a little easier. We were probably about twenty feet away when I decided to go for it again. “Let’s go,” I called out one more time.

I then saw another figure in motion too. They were moving a little quicker than we were too, but I was sure we were after the same target.

Sure enough in the next few seconds as we neared Sunny, Jongkook, and Sungkyu, the figure that I had had made out to be Nichkhun beat us there. Jongkook had released Sunny and was now watching us come toward him, but before he could do anything else Nichkhun had hit his mark causing the ripping noise to fill the air once again before scurrying off once more.

We stopped within about five feet of the three in front of us before we heard the voice start calling out again.

“Sungkyu has been eliminated, Sungkyu is out. Sunny has been eliminated, Sunny is out. Jongkook has been eliminated, Jongkook is out.”

“Wh-what just happened?”

“Hyung, I didn’t even see him until it was too late. Mianhae.”

“Ani, I blame Sunny for distracting me.”

“Yah!”

“And you said you’d help me get Nichkhun out, aish. Why’d I believe you?” We were all laughing at that one.

“Oppa Sungkyu was the one who got Sooyoung-ah out. So technically I didn’t lie, I just got their names confused!”

“Aish, Sunny-ah. I didn’t expect this from you… You’re SNSD!”

“Can we get you three to come with us please?”

“Ah, ne, ne. Bora fighting,” he yelled as loud as he could it seemed like.

“Taeny fighting,” Sunny said in our direction. Omo. I can’t believe she called us that while we were filming. Taeny was what our fans that paired us together called us. Essentially it was our couple name. I did enjoy hearing it though. It’s just that, we were already holding hands. What more could we do in public without creating huge scandals?

“I should still be out there catching those kids, but noo,” I heard Jongkook start saying as they walked off.

“Omo, Tiffany. There are only four people left.”

“I know! Isn’t it exciting?” Her eye smile was shining. Waah, this is what I loved to see. I then heard footsteps, and they seemed to be going quick. I pulled Tiffany in closer to me and looked around.

Nope, nothing over there…how about-

“Bora?” I turned to see Bora walking toward us. She raised her hands in surrender like fashion.

“Look, I have a deal.” I furrowed my brows. Could we trust her? Although I was pretty sure we could trust her with our secret, in the game was totally different. Everyone just saw Sunny lie and con her way in to eliminating and elimination.

“What is it,” Tiffany asked. She came closer.

“I won’t try to get you out. It’s impossible for our team to win, but we can get second.”

“What are you talking about?” I was a little confused on what she was trying to say.

“I’ll help you get Nichkhun out. I’ve been keeping track of everyone’s points and if I beat him my team will win second place.” She stepped closer so I took a step back. “Seriously, even if you two were the next two out you would still win. So once we get Nichkhun out, I’ll let you get me out and you two can win. Arasso?” Was that for real? I quickly tried to do the math in my head. Crap.

“Do you remember what order everyone got out in Fany-ah?” She shook her head.

“Aniyo?”

“Ah! I’ve been writing it down. Here.” I took the paper she handed me and holy crap. She was right. I looked at Tiffany who saw the same thing and smiled. There was no way we could lose. I figured we might as well help our new friend beat my uh, rival? No I wouldn’t count him as a rival, rivals actually have a chance. More like an enemy.

“Deal. Let’s go,” I said as I started walking.

“Wait,” Tiffany stopped, which caused me to as well. “Why don’t we just wait for him to come to us? We’re all that’s left.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Bora laughed and then looked around. “This bed looks comfortable.” She then laid down. I chuckled. Yeah, we were definitely going to be able to be friends. Fany and I then sat on the edge of the bed alongside Bora.

“What are we going to do once he does get here?” That was a silly question.

“Uh, rip his name tag off,” I replied earning an elbow to the side. “Ow, Fany-ah. That hurt!” Gah, what was it with people hitting me today?

“Well, you should have really answered me!” I made a face at her and then spoke again.

“Well, all we have to do is-“

“Ah, so this is where you were?” I quickly turned. Ugh, Nichkhun.

“Ne oppa,” Bora said as she sat up. About fifteen seconds of silence passed before I quickly rose to my feet.

“Oh are we beginning now?” He laughed. Did he really think he could beat all three of us? One probably, two maybe, but three? No way.

Tiffany and Bora were quickly to their feet as well. I took a step forward. “No, we’re ending it.” That seemed to do the trick. He played right in to what I wanted to happen too. I was hoping he would target me so Tiffany or Bora could rip off his name tag.

That’s exactly what happened too. He came flying at me, blocking the free arm I had that I was trying to use to grab him. I felt him reach behind me and I soon felt the pull of the tag coming off of my shirt along with the sound I’ve grown to hate. It was quickly followed by another ripping sound from in front of me. Yes! She got him.

He quickly released me with a content smirk on his face. I guess he just wanted to get me out. I internally laughed. Oh well.

“Wah, thank you so much,” Bora said as she then came and let Tiffany rip off her name tag.

“No problem! Fany-ah! We won!” I was so excited! I went to hug her, but thankfully caught myself and settled for a high five. My first time being on Running Man and we really won.  Daebak!

“Aish, second place isn’t even a big deal,” Nichkhun mumbled before he walked toward the elevators. What a jerk.

“Whatever,” Tiffany said. “Wait. Why aren’t they announcing anything?” That was a good question.

“Ah. In the room where everyone is watching, they turned off the audio and video a second before all the action happened. So we could film good reactions and announce it at the last bit we’re doing tonight,” one of the VJs explained. Ahh that made sense, trying to keep people’s interest in the show when they watch it at home and all. “Now if you can all follow me we’ll be going to a different room downstairs until the final scene. It won’t be too long don’t worry.”

It was about an hour later when everything was done. The PD had finally called it a wrap. Sooyoung and I made our rounds thanking everyone for their hard work before we made it back where the other idols and Running Man members were hanging around. Some of them were still thanking the staff as well, but the most important ones were right here.

“Fany-ah, Sunkyu-yah! Oh, hi, Bora, Hyorin,” I nodded at the two girls who were talking to Tiffany and Sunny.

“Hey oppa, we were just leaving. We came to say bye and that we hope to see you all around more often!”

“Oh, yeah. We do too,” I motioned toward Soo and myself.

“Remember, if you need help or anything let me know. We seriously owe you two huge for keeping this a secret,” Tiffany said quietly.

“Aniyo do-“

“I’m serious. Here give me your phone.” She handed Tiffany her phone. After a few seconds of furious typing she handed it back. “There. You have mine and Taeyeon’s number.” Excuse me what? Why mine? “If you need anything, even if you just want to hang out. Call us,” she laughed. “Arasso?”

“Okay, thanks unnie. We have to go. See you!”

We were then met by Haha and Jihyo, who also received my number tonight along with Sooyoung’s this time though. I’m not really sure why they needed it, but I guess they were both entertainers, and they kind of did know everyone. Oh well. It was too late, er well…early for me to think about this. Not to mention today’s tasks were especially tiring. I was ready for sleep!

The four of us followed my manager as we headed toward our van. Finally. We were almost out the doors when I heard someone call my name. They called Tiffany’s too… It wouldn’t be… Oh god.

Sure enough, it was Nichkhun that called us.

“What Nichkhun?”

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” I said as I took a step closer to Tiffany. “We’ll be right there,” I then called to Sooyoung who stopped about twenty feet away.

“Look, I’m not going to say anything.” Right, and I’m running for president next year. I scoffed. “I’m serious. I know how much that could potentially screw things up, just like other rumors,” he said as he looked to Tiffany.

Wait a minute… What?

“I’m not going to say anything publicly as long as you don’t Nichkhun. If that’s all, we’ll be going. Come on Tae.” What were they talking about? Omo. Was she keeping something from me? Oh god. “Taeyeon.”

“O-oh, right. See you later,” I said to the guy in front of me, although I definitely hoped I didn’t.

A couple minutes later we were in the van, and I could not stop thinking about what Tiffany said.

As soon as her bottom hit the seat next to mine she had her hands in mine. I smiled as I put an arm around her shoulder and let her snuggle closer. Thank god for tinted windows.

It was silent for a few minutes before I decided I needed to know what she meant.

“Fany-ah?” She hummed. “What did you mean back there when you said you wouldn’t say anything as long as he didn’t?”

“Uh, exactly that?” Alright, I walked right in to that one.

“No, I mean wh-what would you have to tell?” She leaned back to look at me. Crap, she must have heard the hesitation.

“Omo Taeyeon-ah, don’t worry. He’s just afraid that I’ll tell people that he talked to girls while we were together. He doesn’t want his princely image ruined,” she said sarcastically. Whew. I let out a deep breath. “Yah, Kim Taeyeon! What did you think it was going to be,” she yelled and raised completely off me.

“Ani! I didn’t even know what to think! It could have been anything,” I hurriedly explained.

“Oh,” she paused. “I guess it wasn’t really specific huh?” I shook my head and grinned. “Don’t make fun of me. I’m sleepy,” she pouted.

“Come here then,” I said and pulled her back down on me, her head resting on my shoulder. Everything was how it should be now and was for the next fifteen minutes or so it took to get to SNSD’s dorm.

“Okay, were here. I’ll walk you girls in, okay,” our manager said.

“Ne, oppa,” Sunny said as she started to grab her bag from the floor. Tiffany still wasn’t moving. Gah, what a stubborn girl.

“Fany-ah, you have to go. Go inside and sleep okay?” No response. Omo. “Fany-ah~,” I whined as I started moving my shoulder a little. Still no response. What in the-

“Omo, she’s asleep,” Sooyoung said as he looked back.

“Jinjja?” He nodded. “Aigo. Fany-ah,” I called again and shook her a little more, finally earning a response.

“Mmm,” she voiced as she stretched her arms a little. Oh my god, just waking up Tiffany is adorable.

“Fany-ah, you have to go,” I said sadly.

“What? Oh. Were already here?”

“Yep! You fell asleep.”

“Oh I’m sorry Tae. “

“Don’t be silly. I’ll always be your pillow,” I said with a smile. The next thing I know Tiffany’s lips were on mine, but then gone before I could react in anyway.

“Goodnight Taeyeon-ah. I love you.” Ugh! She can’t just kiss me like that and leave!

Okay, she could. She could often too.

“Goodnight Fany. Call me when you wake up. Okay? Bye Sunny!”

“Of course,” she said and then got out of the van behind Sunny.

Another five or so minutes later we were finally at our dorm. The whole way up the elevator the thought of sleep did not leave my mind . Since we didn’t have to be anywhere until 10AM tomorrow we could finally sleep in to about nine. Six full hours of sleep? Thank goodness. I’ve had enough of this getting up at 6AM nonsense.

Stepping in the dorm with hyung I noticed all the lights were still on. Aish Yuri! I headed in to the living room but then was severely distracted.

“Yuri?” I looked to the kid that was now sleeping on the sofa. “What is he doing here?”

“I don’t kn-Oh there’s a note.” He pointed to a paper. ‘Wake me up when you get home.’

“Uh, okay? Yuri-yah! Yul,” I said as sat beside him and shook him awake.

“Yah, get off me,” he pushed me away. Well fine then. Jeesh. I stood up. “Wait!” There was a hand on my wrist. “You guys are home!”

“Yeah…”

“I’ve been waiting all day! Hyung you didn’t tell them right?”

“Ani. I waited just like you told me to when you called.”

“Good! I have big news!” What could it be that he needed to tell us this bad? Knowing Yuri, it probably wasn’t even that big, I grinned. He’s always been one to over exaggerate.

“Well tell us,” Sooyoung said impatiently.

“I-Igotthepart!”

“What,” I asked. He said that way too fast. I needed to make sure I heard him correctly.

“I got the part. In the drama.” Omo!

“Are you serious?” He nodded furiously. “Oh my god. Congrats Yul!” I pulled him in to a hug.

“Good job Yuri,” Sooyoung cheered as he hugged him next. “Are you the lead?”

“Of course,” he said cockily. I shot him a glare. “Alright. I’m actually like the second lead. I’m not going to be the main guy, but the second.” Ahh that’s understandable.

“It is your first one Yuri, that’s still awesome!”

“That’s what I told him,” hyung said.

“What drama is it?”

“It’s called Boys Over Flowers.”

“Who else is in it,” I asked. If he wasn’t the lead, I was curious to see who was.

“Uh, Lee Minho is the main guy and then Kim Bum, and Kim Joon are the guys behind me in importance.”

“Oh, nice,” I said. “I’m really proud of you Yul. When do you sta-“

“Who’s the girl?” I looked at Sooyoung. “What? He never mentioned who the female lead was.” Wait a second, he was right. I quickly looked at Yuri to see him now wide grinning. That punk.

“Well, who is it?”

“You’ll never belie-“

“Yah, just tell us. We’re tired,” Sooyoung shot.

“Okay, okay. Fine,” He paused.

“Oh my god Yuri. Seriou-“