Chapter Seven: The Declaration

As she watched her nametag being shown to Jong Kook, Ji Hyo thought that she should have known the day would end terribly.

The film shoot had started on a bad note. It was late November, but for some reason, her coordinator had decided to dress her in a thin, silver jacket and skinny jeans. Ji Hyo had wrapped a thick gray scarf around her neck, but that had done nothing to keep away the cold. She’d spent the entire introduction to the show shivering.

And, to make matters worse, Kim Hee Chul was the guest for the day.

The two of them had worked together hosting Inkigayo and got along well, but that also meant that he knew things about her that she’d rather the public and her cast mates remain unaware of—like the fact that she enjoyed going out drinking with her friends. And, of course, when Hee Chul said this, the Running Man cast exclaimed that Kwang Soo’s framing had been right—Ji Hyo really was a secret bad girl.

Filming was at the Korean Meteorological Administration, and the games had been related to weather. The first game had involved memorizing a weather report and reciting it while being attacked by artificial rain, snow, and wind. The PDs had split them into teams of three to compete in the game, but they decided to put Ji Hyo in a team—not with her friend Hee Chul—with Haha and Gary. If she was going to end up in a team with the Two Kids, then she should at least have Jong Kook to go along with them.

Ji Hyo had tried not to scowl at the PDs, but it was hard to hide her dissatisfaction. It was already episode 20 and she had been on the same team as Jong Kook only once. It had been a small music section of episode 17, she’d spent most of the time talking to the student who was working with their team, and she and Jong Kook had immediately been separated when it came to Bells Hide and Seek later on in the episode.

Lizzy, a member of the idol group After School who had just been added to the cast, had even been placed on the Chasing Team with Jong Kook and the Two Kids. Just not Ji Hyo. Never Ji Hyo. Was there something wrong with her? Didn’t the PDs see how much being on the constantly losing Mission Team bothered her? Had Jong Kook asked the PDs not to put them on the same team? Or maybe they were just too awkward around one another that Myuk PD thought it would make for bad television.

To make matters worse for the already frustrated and exhausted Ji Hyo, Haha and Gary had made it impossible for her to recite the weather report, and all three of them had ended up without a Running Ball at the end of the first game.

Then, Jae Suk won his 1 vs. 9 challenge, which meant that Ji Hyo went into the Bells Hide and Seek game without a Running Ball to her name. And as always, Jong Kook was on the Chasing Team while she was on the Mission Team.

Ji Hyo had listened to the announcements as—one by one—Kwang Soo, Suk Jin, Jae Suk, and Hee Chul were ousted so that only she remained in the game. She’d mentally cursed each one of her teammates for their incompetence and prepared to take on the Chasing Team on her own.

She’d run about the Meteorological Administration building, searching every nook and cranny for the last Running Man marked umbrella. She had heard noises on one of the floors and quickly hid behind a desk. But she hadn’t hidden herself well enough, and Haha had found her.

Out of all the people to find her, however, Haha was the best choice. Over the past few weeks, her love line had been developed into a love triangle, where both Haha and Gary were vying for her affection.

The moment Haha saw her he had collapsed into a monologue about what to do about this “big-eyed lady”.

Ji Hyo had ignored him and debated the best route of escape. She figured the easiest way was to attack him. Even if he was on the Chasing Team, Haha was one of the weaker members of the cast—and since he wouldn’t use all his strength against a woman—Ji Hyo could overpower him to get away.

The two of them had rolled about on the office floor, Ji Hyo tugging on his hair and covering his mouth so that he couldn’t call for help.

However, after freeing his mouth, Haha had persuaded her that rather than using violence, it would be easier to escape after performing a scene with him. Ji Hyo had figured the scene would be entertaining for viewers—and would add to the love line—so she agreed. Haha had dramatically freed Ji Hyo instead of ripping off her nametag, but before Ji Hyo could properly run away, Gary (who had been watching the whole scene from hiding) had jumped out with her. From there, the love triangle had only got even more dramatic as Gary and Haha fought over her, and Haha pinned down Gary so that Ji Hyo could escape.

“Run, Ji Hyo!” Haha had shouted. Even as he held down Gary and screamed at Ji Hyo to escape, she had heard the laughter in both their voices.

“You’re quite popular,” her VJ Sung Gyu had muttered as they ran for the stairs.

A fan club had even started to form for both of her love lines. “Monday Couple” people called her and Gary, while she and Haha were known as the HaHyo Couple. There was even a fan club for a love line between her and Joong Ki (the Song-Song Couple), which formed after he kissed her on the cheek during the train romance scene.

Ji Hyo couldn’t think of Joong Ki as anything more than a close dongsaeng, and even if she did, Joong Ki’s vicious fan girls put a stop to any possibility of a love line between them.

And the thought of being in a serious love line with Haha made her laugh. She and Haha were too mismatched, in her opinion. If possible, she was even more awkward with Haha off-camera than she was with Jong Kook; the only time she and Haha held a decent length conversation was when they were arguing on camera.

There were times when Ji Hyo had enjoyed being part of a love line with Gary. She’d gotten second chances in Bells Hide and Seek thanks to Gary letting her escape, she had a guaranteed partner if the PDs needed the cast to pair up, and some of the cheesy one-liners he delivered made her laugh until her stomach hurt. There had even been times when she found him attractive. However, part of the reason she could feel comfortable in her love line with Gary was that she knew she would never want to date him and she knew he would never want to date her.

But today, she did not appreciate her love lines. Today, she just felt irritated at having to be stuck between the two men as they fake argued about their fake loves for her. She was tired from filming. She was hungry. She just wanted to get the last umbrella so she could win a Running Ball and go home.

With seventeen minutes left in the game, she’d found the last umbrella, marked with the Running Man logo, hidden on an office desk. She’d grabbed the umbrella and, with Sung Gyu close on her heels, headed for the nearest elevator.

“Almost there,” she’d told Sung Gyu with a small smile.

Sung Gyu had nodded but hadn’t said anything since the camera was rolling. He wasn’t paid to talk on camera, so he avoided speaking unless he had some wry remark to make. Instead, they had stood in silence as the elevator descended to the first floor where her teammates were waiting in jail for the last umbrella.

There’d been a ding as the elevator doors opened. Ji Hyo had took a step forward, only to see Lizzy in a pink jumpsuit. Ji Hyo had fought the urge to groan. Of course Lizzy would be waiting outside the elevator. Jong Kook had probably instructed her to watch the elevators and someone else to watch the stairs so they could catch Ji Hyo on the way to the jail.

Quickly, Ji Hyo had pressed the door-close button and stepped back into the elevator, but Lizzy had followed.

“Oppa!” Lizzy had grabbed the sleeves of Ji Hyo’s jumpsuit and pressed the door-open button. “I found her! Over here! In the elevator!”

Ji Hyo had twisted away from Lizzy, trying to protect her nametag. The metal wires of the umbrella had snapped as Lizzy and Ji Hyo fought.

Ji Hyo liked Lizzy well enough most of the time—she worked hard on the show, doing her best to get along with the rest of the cast. But right then, Ji Hyo felt nothing but irritation for the girl. Ji Hyo was the elder, and therefore Lizzy should pay her respect. If Ji Hyo was tired and wanted to go home, then Lizzy shouldn’t deprive her of a Running Ball like this.

“Yah!” Ji Hyo had cried. “Let your unnie go!”

“Sorry, unnie! But we have to win today.”

“I need to win!” Ji Hyo had snapped, wrenching her arm out of Lizzy’s grasp.

Ji Hyo had managed to get two steps out of the elevator before Haha and Gary arrived. She’d let out a shriek as they both descended on her, reaching for her nametag. What had happened to the gallant suitors they’d been earlier? The moment Ji Hyo had threatened to take away their win, they’d forgotten about being her love line partners and just reached for her nametag.

And that was how Ji Hyo ended up on the floor, watching as the Chasing Team passed around her nametag, in celebration that they would not have to suffer whatever punishment the PDs had come up with for this week, and wondering how a day could end up being so terrible from start to finish.

“Are you all right, Ji Hyo?” asked Jong Kook, who had just arrived on the scene.

“We did it, hyung!” Haha gestured to the nametag in Lizzy’s hands. “We won.”

“Good job,” said Jong Kook with a sly smile. “You must be proud you beat a girl.”

“It was Lizzy who ripped it off, see,” said Haha as he helped Ji Hyo up from the ground. “Gary-hyung and I were jut moral support.”

Ji Hyo snorted and examined the snapped and broken umbrella in her hands. Haha and Gary had definitely helped; if it had been Lizzy on her own, Ji Hyo was certain she could have gotten away.

“Let’s go,” said Jong Kook. “The jail trio and their new member are waiting for us.”

He patted Ji Hyo on the shoulder and her heart skipped a beat. She knew he was just being nice—complimenting her on a job well done—but still, she liked it when her efforts were acknowledged by him.

As they made their way down the hall towards the jail, Haha and Lizzy fussed over Ji Hyo’s blue jumpsuit. They both thought it would be funnier if Ji Hyo looked wrecked when she revealed the results to the other members of the Mission Team.

“It’s more dramatic this way,” said Lizzy.

“And they can see how much of a struggle you went through,” added Haha, “while they were sitting around in jail.”

“Suk Jin-hyung even took a nap,” said Jong Kook.

Ji Hyo scowled. She loved her cast mates, but sometimes the other members of the Mission Team got on her nerves. To be sleeping in jail while she was running up and down the stairs and wrestling with men. That was it, she decided. She was done with them. After filming today, she would find Myuk PD and tell him—threaten him, if she had to—to put her on the Chasing Team with Jong Kook next week.

With that decision, the anger faded from her and she just felt tired. Embracing her exhaustion, Ji Hyo stumbled into the jail where her teammates were waiting for her and put on a show for them.

She held the broken-off handle of the umbrella in one hand and the out-of-shape umbrella head in her other hand. She pasted a miserable expression on her face as she staggered past Jae Suk and Suk Jin to the benches of jail. Immediately, the Mission Team surrounded her, asking rapid-fire questions.

“Are you all right, noona?” asked Kwang Soo.

“Where’s the Running Man umbrella?” asked Suk Jin. “Did you find it?”

As she collapsed onto the benches, Ji Hyo revealed her missing nametag. She heard groans of disappointment from her teammates and decided it was best to ignore them. Who were they to complain when they hadn’t done anything?

“Her nametag got ripped,” said Haha as the Chasing Team joined the Mission Team in jail. “But she still found the umbrella.”

“Noona’s so strong,” said Kwang Soo, trying to cheer her up.

“What happened?” asked Suk Jin.

“Lizzy found her in the elevators and ripped off her nametag,” said Haha. “Gary-hyung and I were moral support.”

“You’re still telling that story,” said Jong Kook.

“It wouldn’t be fair for us to gang up on her,” said Haha with an innocent smile.

“Yah,” said Ji Hyo, glaring up at him. “It’s on camera, you know. Sung Gyu has it all on film.”

Sung Gyu, always the loyal VJ, nodded.

Ji Hyo decided it was best to take advantage of the moment when all eyes were fixed on her; after all, if she was going to get a promise out of the PDs, it was best to do so on film. Getting to her feet, she stared at Myuk PD and said, “I can hide no longer.”

Hee Chul helpfully handed her the microphone that had somehow fallen off her jumpsuit during the battle for her nametag. Ji Hyo held up the microphone so she could speak into it as she said, with all the dramatic flair she could muster, “Let me repeat myself—I can hide no longer.”

Jae Suk and Suk Jin laughed as if she was kidding.

“I really can’t do this anymore,” said Ji Hyo. “When they show today’s filming, I’m worried about how everyone will look at me.”

“Why?” asked Jong Kook.

“What have you done?” added Jae Suk.

Half-laughing through her faked tears, Ji Hyo said, “I beat up Gary-oppa…by pushing him onto the floor.” Ji Hyo made a violent gesture, like she’d seem pro wrestlers do on TV. She was pleased to see she’d made the rest of the cast laugh. Maybe if they thought she was trying to be funny, the Mission Team wouldn’t be offended that she was calling them incompetent.

She smiled as Haha revealed that he’d put her nametag on his back and Gary pretended to be upset by this. She smiled when Jong Kook made fun of Suk Jin for sleeping in jail, and she even managed to laugh when Kwang Soo tried to frame her for being a violent gangster in her school days. But on the inside, she was thinking, “Myuk PD better put me on the Chasing Team next time or I will show them what it means to be a gangster.”

“Today,” said Jae Suk, finally addressing the camera for the closing segment of the show. “Our Ji Hyo suffered a lot. We’ll do better next time.”

“Next time, you’ll be responsible,” said Suk Jin.

“No,” said Ji Hyo, grimly. “No more hiding. Next time, I will be in charge of catching.”

Jae Suk blinked at the vehemence in her voice.

“Wha,” said Kwang Soo. “Ji Hyo-noona is so scary.”

“Maybe she really used to be a gangster,” said Jong Kook with a laugh.

“From now on,” said Ji Hyo, “I want to be on the same team as Jong Kook-oppa.”

She didn’t look to see what Jong Kook’s reaction was. At that moment, she honestly didn’t care. She was tired of being on the Mission Team. She was tired of losing. She just wanted to win. And everyone knew that the best way to win was to be on Jong Kook’s team.

Kwang Soo closed the door to the restaurant’s private room and then took the seat next to Joong Ki. Jong Kook flipped half-heartedly through the menu—he’d been to this kogijip before and almost always ordered the same thing. He had seen the white walls decorated with honey-colored wooden carvings and had complained about the dim lighting being bad for his eyes more times than he could count. However, he usually came to this restaurant with Haha and Gary.

Because the cast was often separated into the Chasing Team and the Mission Team, the cast had unconsciously divided themselves into groups. Jong Kook, Haha, and Gary tended to hang out together after film shoots ended, while Kwang Soo, Joong Ki, and sometimes Ji Hyo, went out for dinner. Jae Suk and Suk Jin, who were both married, usually went home after shoots, but on the rare occasions where they were free to join the rest of the cast mates, Jae Suk would go with Jong Kook and Haha, while Suk Jin would go wherever Jae Suk went.

The division wasn’t deliberate, and it wasn’t as though all the cast members didn’t get along. For instance, Jong Kook and Kwang Soo had been friendly since the beginning days of Running Man. During the third week of filming, they’d discovered that they were fans of the same cell phone game and had spent the down time between scenes talking about it. While Jong Kook’s commander character tended to bully Kwang’s Soo weak character on-camera, off-camera they had a good hyung-dongsaeng relationship. Jong Kook found Kwang Soo to be respectful of his elders and caring for his cast mates, always looking after their needs before his own (traits Jong Kook valued).

So, the day after filming, when Jong Kook had messaged Kwang Soo that he was hungry, Kwang Soo had casually suggested that his hyung come to dinner that night with him and Joong Ki. Jong Kook had accepted, and only when he walked in through the doors of the restaurant did he realize that he’d never hung out with Kwang Soo or Joong Ki outside of the Running Man set before.

“Ji Hyo-noona was furious yesterday,” said Kwang Soo.

“Why?” asked Joong Ki, who had missed Running Man due to an acting project.

“Because the Mission Team is too pathetic,” said Kwang Soo. “She said she wants to be on Jong Kook-hyung’s team for once.”

“She wants to be on your team?” asked Joong Ki. There was something in his eyes when he asked that question, but Jong Kook didn’t know Joong Ki well enough to read the emotions there.

“Yeah,” murmured Jong Kook. “She thinks we’ll win.”

“Hyung,” asked Kwang Soo, “why don’t you join the Mission Team for once?”

Jong Kook smiled. “I’m more of the chasing type.”

Normally, Jong Kook would have launched into a lecture—about his character for the show, and how he was being portrayed as the adversary, therefore he had to be put in the villainous position of the commander of the Chasing Team, and how Kwang Soo needed to understand all this so that he could create his own character in the show—but Jong Kook was too preoccupied with the memory of Ji Hyo declaring she wanted to be on his team to give Kwang Soo a proper lecture.

She had looked so tired after being swarmed by the Chasing Team, and even though she had laughed at the jokes during the closing segment, Jong Kook had been certain that her anger with the Mission team had been real. She was a competitive person—losing so often had to grate on her.

But it was fun, Jong Kook thought, to see her riled up. Haha and Gary had mentioned on numerous occasions that Ji Hyo was cute when she smiled, but Jong Kook had always considered her cutest when she was angry. And she’d been very angry when she’d told Myuk PD to put her on his team.

Jong Kook couldn’t help but feel flattered. He had wondered before why the PDs had put him and Ji Hyo on the same team only once—and not even for a full episode. Even he and Jae Suk—supposedly eternal rivals—had been on the same team for a whole episode before. Jong Kook had chalked it up to him and Ji Hyo having no chemistry together. Their relationship had reached a neutral ground off-camera, where she’d sometimes talk to him about love lines and they’d sometimes share a joke about their cast mates, but that was it. They never met outside of filming and they never talked about their personal lives; once the cameras were turned off, they were nothing more than awkward coworkers.

“Ji Hyo-noona and Jong Kook-hyung don’t get to be on the same team much,” said Kwang Soo.

“Once,” Jong Kook corrected automatically as he tuned back into the conversation.

“Poor Ji Hyo-noona,” said Kwang Soo. “It’s fun being on your team, hyung. I like being on Jae Suk-hyung’s team as well—he’s easy to get along with—but it’s terrifying being chased by you all the time. I much rather be chasing with you than running away from you.”

Jong Kook laughed. “Haha said something similar once. Apparently after being on the Mission Team and being chased by me, he spent the next week jumping out of his skin whenever he saw me coming near.”

“I got that feeling all the time when we first started filming,” said Kwang Soo. “But I’ve become numb to it. I’m used to hyung being scary now.”

“Jong Kook-hyung isn’t that scary,” said Joong Ki.

Kwang Soo grinned. “Not in real life.”

“But on set,” said Joong Ki. “When we’re playing Bells Hide and Seek, Jong Kook-hyung is not that scary.”

Jong Kook frowned. There was something strange—almost competitive—about Joong Ki’s insistence that playing Bells Hide and Seek with him wasn’t scary, but Jong Kook couldn’t figure out what exactly. There was a knowing look in Kwang Soo’s eyes, so Jong Kook assumed that the same-aged friends shared the secret.

“I’m just trying to live up to my character,” said Jong Kook.

“You even go to the gym more often now to live up to your character,” complained Kwang Soo. “How are we supposed to beat you?”

Jong Kook smiled. His workout obsession had originally come from need. When he’d first discovered the misalignment of his back years ago, his doctor had told him that developing strong muscles would help reduce the pain. The doctor had been correct, and if Jong Kook went a few days without exercise, he found himself in excruciating pain. However, eventually exercising transformed from need to enjoyment, as Jong Kook found that he liked the challenge and elation that came with lifting weights. And when Jong Kook had joined Running Man and learned that he was the adversary character, he started to work out even more, determined to be the strong commander that fans of the show thought he was.

“I can’t win all the time,” said Jong Kook. “That wouldn’t make for an exciting show.”

“What?” asked Kwang Soo. “You’re saying you’re going to let the rest of us win sometimes?”

“That’s not very flattering to us,” said Joong Ki with a smile.

“No,” said Jong Kook. “But this is a comedy show, going all-out all the time is against the point.” He grinned and added, jokingly, “And even I would get bored of winning all the time.”

“My character goes all-out all the time,” said Joong Ki.

“But that’s the humor in your character,” said Jong Kook. “You’re over-enthusiastic, but then you fail. Viewers love contradictory characters. Like me with my muscles and high-pitched voice. Like Haha whose a player but gets rejected all the time. You could even say Monday Couple fits this contradiction—Gary who’s plain and Ji Hyo who’s beautiful.”

Jong Kook noticed the scowl on Joong Ki’s face, and this time, Jong Kook understood its meaning.

Joong Ki had a crush on Ji Hyo. An actual crush.

Before he could stop himself, Jong Kook said, “You should put a stop to a crush on a coworker.”  

Joong Ki paled while Kwang Soo laughed and said, “I told you. Jong Kook-hyung always knows. He was a Joseon detective in a previous life.”

“Am I that obvious?” asked Joong Ki.

“Not during filming,” said Jong Kook. Though now that he knew, he felt like it should have been obvious. There had been numerous smiles and touches initiated by Joong Ki. “But you shouldn’t mix your personal life and work. Especially since she’s involved in the show’s love line.”

“It’s not like I can help who I like,” said Joong Ki. “I used to think of her as an acting sunbae, but before I knew it, I kept thinking about how pretty she looks when she smiles and how cute she is falling asleep all the time, and Ji Hyo-noona became all I could think about.”

Jong Kook was torn between explaining to Joong Ki exactly why he should get over his crush on Ji Hyo as quickly as possible and letting Joong Ki chase after his feelings in the hopes of them being reciprocated. In the end, Jong Kook went by his usual mantra: Business life and personal life should be kept separate.

“It’s difficult to be in a love line and have a romantic relationship,” said Jong Kook. “When I was on X-Man, my girlfriend constantly worried about my love line with Yoon Eun Hye. I tried to explain to her it was part of the show, but it ended up driving us apart. Now, imagine that kind of relationship but with a coworker. Even if you don’t act on those feelings, you still have to watch Ji Hyo in her love lines.”

“Jong Kook-hyung, you sure do like to lecture,” said Kwang Soo, smiling and trying to keep the atmosphere light. “Joong Ki just likes her. That’s all.”

“I’ve dated an actress before,” said Joong Ki. “And I watched all her movies—even the kiss scenes. It didn’t hurt me.”

“Variety shows are different from movies and dramas,” said Jong Kook. “There’s no set amount of time for recording. You will see her every Monday for months, maybe years if we’re lucky, and during recording, she will always have to pick her love line over you.”

Joong Ki was shaking his head, but he didn’t contradict his hyung. Kwang Soo changed the conversation to discussing a new drama he’d seen, and Joong Ki happily went along with the new subject.

Jong Kook knew he hadn’t succeeded in explaining to Joong Ki how difficult it was to love someone in a love live—or to love someone when you’re in a love line. It was easier, Jong Kook knew, to keep business and romance separate, because in the entertainment world, one’s personal feelings didn’t really matter.

A/N: This wasn't an easy chapter to write, so I hope you enjoyed it. SJK has always been harder for me to write because he wasn't on the show as long, and I don't follow him outside RM. 

From what I've seen, most spartace fans start off as either Ji Hyo fans or Jong Kook fans, and then come to love both. Which one were you? Can you tell which one's my bias from my writing?