The Pepero Kiss

Reggie sat up in bed, startled awake from her dream. She rubbed her eyes as flashes of that dream surfaced from her subconscious – an image of Song Ji Hyo’s stunned face when the man grabbed her purse, and then an image of her face again, smiling as Reggie, her bodyguard, returned her purse to her, having retrieved it from the thief. Reggie had been jolted from the dream just when Ji Hyo had begun leaning in to kiss her in gratitude for her bravery.

She yawned and shook her head, trying to shake the fantasy from her mind. Her tabby cat, Troubles, lay beside her on the bed, staring at her. “Don’t give me that look,” Reggie grumbled.

This was the third dream that she’d had of the actress. She had avoided watching Running Man these past few weeks in the hopes of getting Ji Hyo out of her head, or rather, had tried to avoid watching it, or rather, had watched it but wished that she had avoided it. She couldn’t help it. She was drawn not only to Ji Hyo’s beauty, but to her strength and her independence. Ji Hyo seemed the antithesis of the typical South Korean actress – she was feminine but not weak, daring but not foolishly so, and as smart if not smarter than some of the men on the show.

In the shower, Reggie scrubbed her body furiously, thinking that she could wash away thoughts of Ji Hyo. When that didn’t work, she brushed her teeth furiously, again to no avail. Get ahold of yourself, Reg, she thought. No sense falling in love with a woman so out of reach, and a straight woman at that!

She threw on her gray tank top and sweatpants and got ready for her run through Hangang Park. The Yeouido section of the park was just down the street from her apartment. She had been fortunate to find an affordable apartment in that area close to her work at KBS, where she was interning as a production assistant. Because of her work, she saw beautiful actresses every day, but she had always remained unfazed, as she wasn’t one for idolizing celebrities, which is why she was so bewildered by this fascination with Ji Hyo, whom she had never even met.

Outside, the sun was bright. She put on a pair of sunglasses and covered the screen of her phone with her hand to shield it from the light so that she could check the time. It was eight o’clock. She had less than an hour to complete her run if she wanted to return home in time to get ready for work.

After stretching a bit, she jogged down the wide sidewalk bordering Eunhaeng-ro, which was lined with a tree-filled grassy stretch on one side and with tall white buildings with sleek blue windows on the other. It was unusually quiet on the street that Monday morning with few cars streaking past, which made her jog more enjoyable. She picked up the pace, following the street down to its end at Yeouiseo-ro, which she then crossed to enter the park just beyond.

This was her favorite place. She had always felt more at home in natural rather than urban settings. The golden grass of the park complemented the deep blue of the bordering Han River. Across the river, she could see the skyline of the northern half of Seoul, those white slivers of buildings jutting out into the light blue sky above.

She made her way through the grass to the pedestrian path that cut through the park. Despite the heat of the sun on her bare shoulders, the air was cool and she ran without breaking a sweat for the first part of her trek. But by the time she made it past the vast parking area and under Seogang Bridge to the main part of the park on the other side, she was shiny with perspiration.

As she slowed her pace down to a brisk walk, she saw a banner strung between two poles that said Global Cultures Fair, but all of the fair goers seemed to have left the area to gather in a large crowd near the water. Curious, Reggie wandered over and politely excused herself as she shouldered her way through the noisy onlookers until she saw what they had all gathered for. It looked like a show was filming there. She could see cameramen and a few boom operators just before her. She searched the faces of the production crew, wondering if she knew any of them, but none seemed familiar. They must not be from KBS, she thought. But then she did recognize someone – not from KBS, but from SBS. His cap was pulled low and he was wearing sunglasses, but she could still tell that it was him: Running Man’s PD in charge, Cho Hyo Jin. 

Reggie could feel her body nervously shaking at the thought of Ji Hyo being in this very place at this very time. Holy bananas, don’t freak out, Reg! She breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself, but the ridiculous fangirl in her then thought: This is the same air that Ji Hyo is breathing, air that once touched those beautiful soft lips of hers!

At that moment, the PD grabbed his loudspeaker and politely asked the crowd to quiet down as the taping resumed. Reggie took off her sunglasses and peered past the crew. She saw the Running Man members jog over to the PD, who seemed to be instructing them on their mission. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but she didn’t care. Her attention was focused solely on the one female centered between the other members, whose beauty, even at that distance, was disarming.

After a few minutes, the Running Man members quickly dispersed, each spreading out and searching the faces in the crowd. Reggie saw Ji Hyo head straight toward her section. She felt as if time had stopped ticking, as if the world had stopped spinning, as if the universe had stopped expanding… Geez, Reg, dramatic much? But it was dramatic. It was like a movie. She could see only Ji Hyo in her bright white shirt and tight jeans rushing toward her; everyone else seemed out of focus.

Ji Hyo swept her hand across her brow to push back the windswept strays of her hair, which bounced upon her shoulders in a rhythm synced with her gait as she continued heading in Reggie’s direction. The morning sun highlighted her entire body, giving her an angelic aura, a glow.

I’m dead. That explains it. I must have been hit by a car when I crossed Yeouiseo-ro and now I’m in heaven. Wait… do I even believe in that? No, I’m asleep. I’m dreaming. Brilliant, Reg! Time to wake up! No, wait… don’t wake up… I don’t want this dream to end…

Ji Hyo was so close that Reggie swore she could smell her lavender perfume. She was standing just three people down, peeking between the heads in the crowd. Not finding whatever it was that she was looking for, Ji Hyo continued walking alongside the crowd, smiling widely and bowing to her fans. And then… she looked over at Reggie, her big brown eyes staring directly into Reggie’s amber eyes.

Reggie froze. She felt Ji Hyo’s gaze pierce right through her, as if Ji Hyo was peering deep into her subconscious where Reggie had stored away all those dreams she’d had of the actress. Feeling , Reggie unclasped her sunglasses from the neckline of her tank top and quickly put them on. Immediately, she felt a sense of distance. The world was tinted a bit darker, feeling less like reality and more like a dream.

Ji Hyo, her eyes still on Reggie, quickly approached her. “Annyeonghaseyo, were you here for the Global Cultures Fair?” she asked. “Are you a foreigner?” Her VJ focused the camera on Reggie’s face.

Reggie opened but no words came out. Hurry, say something! Anything! She’s going to think you’re a mute!

“Where are you from?” Ji Hyo asked.

Reggie closed , swallowed hard, and tried again. “I’m… erm, that’s complicated. I’m Singaporean but I was born in New Zealand… but I wasn’t raised there. I was kind of raised all over–”

“Daebak!” Ji Hyo said, interrupting Reggie’s rant as she grabbed her hand.

Reggie stared at her hand enclosed in Ji Hyo’s. She. Is. Touching. Me.

“I need a foreigner for this game. Mind being my partner?”

Reggie’s mouth dropped open again. “Uh, yeah? I mean, I don’t mind. So, erm, sure.”

Ji Hyo, still holding Reggie’s hand, hurriedly led her away from the crowd and toward the PD.

“We’re first!” Ji Hyo said, clapping her hands quickly.

Reggie looked around the grassy clearing, seeing Jong Kook, Gary, and the other Running Man members still searching the crowd.

Standing alone with Ji Hyo in the center of that clearing made her uncomfortable. She folded her arms across her chest and held her bare biceps, which glistened with sweat. Realizing then that she must look like a mess from her run, she quickly tried to fix her hair, the short black strands of which were haphazardly blown about.

Ji Hyo, presumably noticing how uncomfortable her guest was, placed her hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You look great.”

Reggie’s mouth fell open for the third time in the three minutes that she had been in Ji Hyo’s presence. “Th-thanks,” she said. She had never stuttered before.

“Just ignore the cameras and you’ll be fine,” Ji Hyo said.

Reggie stared at the star. She was even more beautiful in real life.

Ji Hyo smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Reggie.”

“Nice to meet you, Reggie-ssi,” Ji Hyo said with a slight bow.

“Oh, just Reg is fine.” She shifted her stance a bit, trying to regain her composure. She was not usually so self-conscious. She could be an awkward person sometimes, but she had always embraced her awkwardness – it was part of her identity; she wore it like a badge of honor. But not now. Now, it seemed only to get in the way. 

Jae Suk brushed past her at that moment. He was holding onto the hand of a short woman about his age who looked Chinese or possibly Taiwanese. “Ai, Ji Hyo-yah, you got here first?” Jae Suk asked.

Ji Hyo smiled, grabbed Reggie’s hand, and swung their clasped hands up high in the air. “Of course!” she said.

“Aish, what do you mean ‘of course’?”

The other Running Man members soon joined them, each holding the hand of a foreigner. After confirming that each guest was indeed a foreigner, the PD cut through their chatter to announce the mission.

Reggie listened, feeling somewhat dizzy from the heat and the craziness of it all. When she heard the PD tell them that they would be playing the Pepero Game, she nearly fainted.

“Pepero?” Haha asked. He glanced over at the old white woman with whom he was holding hands and then began laughing. The others now, too, looked at their partners, some blushing at the thought of playing such a game with a stranger.

Ji Hyo looked at Reggie and smiled. “I’m glad I picked you,” she whispered.

Die. Just die now. Life couldn’t possibly get any better than this moment.

“Because Ji Hyo found her partner before anyone else did, they’ll play first,” the PD said. He then instructed the others to stand in the order that they had arrived and sent the FD, Go Dong Wan, to inform the foreigners who were unfamiliar with the game about the rules.

While this was happening, Reggie tried to calm her inner thoughts, but each time she relaxed, her thoughts began racing again. It’s just a game, Reg. And anyway, you’ve kissed plenty of girls before. Wait… who said anything about kissing? Your lips will just be near hers… very near, like, unbearably near…

“Are you still nervous?” Ji Hyo asked.

No use lying, Reg thought. “A little,” she said. Okay, that was a lie. Nervous level is off the scale right now.

“There's no reason to be nervous,” Ji Hyo said, encouragingly. “If you’re nervous, you might bite the stick off too early. Just don’t be afraid to get close. It’s okay if our lips touch a little. You’re okay with that, right?”

“Oh, definitely,” Reggie said. Did I just say that aloud? Blimey!

“Oh, good!” Ji Hyo said, seemingly surprised. “Well then, let’s win this! Okay?”

Reggie smiled and nodded.

The PD signaled for Ji Hyo to bring her partner over to the table. Reggie dutifully followed.

Ji Hyo picked a Pepero stick from the tray, playfully held it up to the cameras, and then placed the bare end of it between her teeth. The chocolate part of the cookie stick was suspended from , beckoning Reggie’s lips.

Reggie slowly stepped forward but, out of respect to the actress, tried to keep some distance between their bodies. She approached somewhat from the side, leaning over to reach the stick. The cameramen around the pair scrambled to get a better shot in light of Reggie’s awkward position. But then, just as Reggie placed her lips on the stick, Ji Hyo gently took hold of Reggie’s biceps and pulled her closer while straightening her body so that they were nearly chest-to-chest. Reggie paused, feeling her arms tingle from Ji Hyo’s touch and her body quiver as her tank top brushed up against Ji Hyo’s shirt. She still had the other end of the cookie in and tilted her head now as she moved her lips slowly down the stick.

She knew that she should keep her eyes open to watch the cookie stick so that she could determine when to bite it off, but it felt more natural to close them. Her sunglasses had been tinting the scene, but her closed eyes left her in complete darkness, which allowed her imagination to wander. The camera crew and the crowd disappeared. It was only Reggie and Ji Hyo standing there on the shore of the Han River, their faces tilted, their lips getting closer…

… and then they touched. Reggie’s bare lips slid against Ji Hyo’s glossed lips for just a moment before Reggie bared her teeth a bit to get even closer, letting a crumble of cookie fall into Ji Hyo’s hand, which had been cupped underneath their chins to catch it.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Ji Hyo’s astonished face. Ji Hyo’s eyes were alight with wonder and slightly agape as she held her palm open to reveal the smidgen of cookie that Reggie had bitten off.

“Daebak!” Ji Hyo said, as she walked over to show the PD.

The other Running Man members and the encircling crowd had fallen into a hush during the game, but were now animated with surprise over how the two women had conquered that cookie.

“No way!” Kwang Soo said, as he examined the evidence.

One of the PDs, Im Hyung Taek, came over to measure it. “1.7 centimeters,” he said.

“Daebak!” Ji Hyo said again. She ran back to Reggie and tightly hugged her.

Reggie, in some sort of stunned afterglow from the intimate Pepero experience, was jostled from her daze by Ji Hyo’s sudden hug. She slowly raised her hands to Ji Hyo’s arms, but before she could return her embrace, Ji Hyo stepped back and began clapping, caught up in the moment of an assured win.

Speechless, Reggie stood by Ji Hyo’s side for the rest of the game, feeling this strange mix of ease and discomfort at once. She was certain that they would win, as the other foreigners were too abashed to get close enough to their celebrity partners, resulting in pieces much bigger than theirs being bitten off, but she was alarmed by how she couldn’t let that moment between her and Ji Hyo go. Her mind was replaying that near-kiss over and over. She was barely paying attention to the other competitors. All she could think about was the gloss on Ji Hyo’s lips, which had rubbed off onto hers. Cherry, she thought, as she lightly her lips. It was definitely cherry-flavored.

When it was announced that she and Ji Hyo had in fact won, Ji Hyo hugged Reggie once more, even more tightly this time with her chest pressed firmly against Reggie’s.

Everything after that winning moment happened so quickly. The boom operators lowered the microphones and swung the long poles over their shoulders. The camera crew began packing their gear. The rest of the staff looked over their notes for the next location and assigned tasks to the assistants.

Most of the cast had already said their goodbyes to the guests and had begun walking toward the vans in the nearby lot. Ji Hyo, however, was still at Reggie’s side.

“Sorry if we disrupted your Global Cultures Fair,” she said.

“Oh, I wasn’t here for that,” Reggie said. “I was just out on my morning run when I saw the crowd.”

“Oh? You live around here?”

Reggie nodded. “I’m a production assistant at KBS,” she said.

“Daebak! So, you’re in the business, too?”

Reggie blushed. “I’m just a lowly intern.”

“Well, it looks like we’ll be seeing each other again.”

Reggie looked at Ji Hyo quizzically. “We will?” Please, yes… wait, really?

“I’m slated to start on a new KBS drama next month,” Ji Hyo said, smiling. “It’s called The Bodyguard. I’ll be playing an actress whose female bodyguard falls in love with her. Will you be working on it?”

Reggie’s mouth fell open. A lesbian drama?  “Erm… I don’t know?”

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Reg,” she said. “Maybe we’ll see each other next month.”

“Wait,” Reggie said, reaching for Ji Hyo’s arm. She paused. Pieces of her dream from last night had resurfaced. “Who’s playing the bodyguard?”

Ji Hyo shrugged. “I don’t know if they cast the part yet,” she said. “I think they’re doing last-minute auditions.”

Reggie watched as the actress waved goodbye and ran off to catch up with the other cast members. She stood there under that hot sun, watching Ji Hyo fade away as the chatter of those returning to the fair resounded behind her. She thought back on her dream again, wondering why her subconscious had assigned her that very role – that of Ji Hyo’s bodyguard. This can’t be a coincidence, she thought.  

Ji Hyo’s last words to her, and the possibilities thereof, echoed in the air. Last-minute auditions…?