Most romantic relationships start out sweet and sort of clingy. Both parties want to be with each other all the time, and the thought of the other is enough to make them blush. They live in a world with a population of two and wish to keep it that way. It is a new mutual love filled with passion and sappiness. 

Jong Kook and Ji Hyo's relationship didn't start out any different.

Okay- maybe there were some differences.

They were two entertainers working on the same variety show. When they weren't busy with their mostly conflicting schedules, they were getting filmed by multiple cameras. In HD too.

In fact, the literal day after Jong Kook and Ji Hyo had gotten together, they had to film an episode of Running Man. This meant that they had to keep a professional distance from each other. While other couples tended to spend most of their first days in each other's arms, Jong Kook and Ji Hyo had to spend that first day keeping away from each other.

That didn't stop them from being giddy with happiness, however. They tried to hide it as much as they could and focused enough to film some actual useful footage for the show- but they weren't exactly their usual selves the day after they got together.

Jong Kook especially was seemingly strange to his VJ, Ki Jin. While Jong Kook usually put on a thoughtful and analytical expression as he went through the various missions of Running Man- that first day was different. He was smiling to himself and would occasionally turn away from the camera and giggle. Ki Jin found it very strange- but he said nothing. All unnecessary footage of Jong Kook acting like a mildly deranged psychopath could always be deleted anyway. 

It was strange that Jong Kook would be the one acting more out of sorts- seeing as he had roughly a decade's worth of variety experience under his belt. But he was still drunk from the euphoria of his newly formed relationship. All day he was thinking:

"Man- I can't believe I'm really with Ji Hyo!"

"We're a couple! I'm Song Ji Hyo's boyfriend!" 

"She loves me too! Is this even real?"

And when he wasn't being overwhelmed with the reality that he was officially dating the woman he had spent a good few years secretly and silently pining after- he was reminiscing the times he spent with her. They ranged from old memories like the first time they met- to more recent ones like the hours they spent talking (and kissing) the night before.

That day the mission was to try to unlock doors with their given keys and play games. It was such a simple task- one that Jong Kook would usually doubt and question- but that day he didn't and was just grateful to get a simple mission. His mind was too preoccupied to be doing complicated analyzing. 

So instead of dissecting the obviously strange mission of the day- which Jong Kook usually did by talking to himself on camera, either facing Ki Jin or the space in front of him- Jong Kook would ask Ki Jin strange questions.

"What episode are we filming today?" Jong Kook would ask for instance.

Ki Jin was taken aback by this. Jong Kook never bothered to know what episode it was they were filming. No entertainer ever bothered, nor did they need to bother. But he answered the question.

"Episode 231. If this gets aired in sequence, of course." 

To this, Jong Kook nodded and carried on walking, deep in thought. Ki Jin hoped his question was mission-related somehow. Because if not that would be totally weird.

"Two hundred and thirty one episodes..." Jong Kook mumbled to himself as he tried door after door. So it had taken 230 episodes for him to finally confess to Ji Hyo that he was in love with her. That was an awfully long time. Maybe if Jong Kook had been braver, he'd've lived in agony for a significantly shorter period of time. 

But that didn't matter. He was with Ji Hyo now- and all the pain it took to get there was worth it. The more Jong Kook thought about Ji Hyo, the more his heart yearned and ached for her. Why hadn't he seen Ji Hyo yet? He'd seen the other members plenty. It wasn't fair. 

Jong Kook tried to it up and continue playing the seemingly pointless missions. Going through the motions. Maybe if he worked hard he'd win the whole race and the day could end early. Then he'd get to spend some much needed time with Ji Hyo.

But after a while Jong Kook found he could not take the torture. It was like a switch had been flipped in him and before he even realized, Jong Kook had called out Ji Hyo's name.

"Ji Hyo-yah!" 

Very coincidentally, Ji Hyo was just around the corner, having had been talking to Jae Suk and Kwang Soo. The moment she heard Jong Kook's voice she went running towards him and greeted him with a broad smile. She tried to seem nonchalant but she was happy that Jong Kook had called her over to him. She had wanted to see him but she didn't want to be the one to make the move. 

However, Jong Kook now had a problem. He had called Ji Hyo's name out of nowhere, and even he wasn't so blind as to not notice Ki Jin's suspicious and confused expressions. 

"Yeah Oppa? What is it?" Ji Hyo wa