The morning of the last Running Man filming brings a cloudless blue sky. It would have been a warm summer day, save for the pleasantly cool breeze that ruffles their hair.

“Looks like the heavens are in our favor today. They know it’s our last day,” Suk Jin comments, chuckling lightly.

Indeed, the day is a stark contrast to their very first filming, disastrous by all accounts, with unexpected wind and rain. In hindsight, the incident is a treasured memory.

“Five years, huh?” Jae Suk adjusts his cap with a smile. They are entertainers, here for a good time, never a long time. For someone who has been in the industry for almost two decades, five years was neither here nor there.

The end of Running Man had been in the works for several weeks now, with both Jae Suk and Jong Kook staying late to talk with the PDs. Though Running Man suffered a slow drop in popularity since its heyday, it still remains a household name both domestically and overseas.

The last episode, to air a week later, would receive their highest ratings yet, though neither the members nor the staff could know at the moment. Right now, all eyes focus on Jae Suk as he guides them through the opening segment, as he always does.

They watch several clips revisiting some of the highest rated moments from over the years, the games and segments that had come and gone. Not without some bickering, of course, it simply would not be Running Man without the members fighting to be heard over each other.

In what feels like no time at all, the filming nears its end, with their last segment set up to resemble A Leisurely Cup of Tea. Ji Hyo barely remembers it, though the earlier clips job her lagging memory. Readings of fan letters, accumulated en masse once the news had gotten out, punctuate their last, childish pranks of making each other drink the worst (but still healthy, argued Jong Kook) combinations of tea the world has seen.

After a final moment thanking their viewers and their staff for their time and love for bringing them thus far, they end the filming on a cheerful note with much waving and jumping and fist pumping in classic Running Man style. Once the slate sounds however, Ji Hyo slowly lets her hand fall.

For dinner, the staff had rented out an entire restaurant, with Jae Suk paying of course. Gwang Soo keeps tearing up at dinner and bursting into bouts where he grabs the nearest member and pulls them into a hug. This time the unfortunate recipient is Ji Hyo.

“Gwang Soo!” She smacks their giraffe on the head playfully. He’ll squeeze all the tears pricking her eyes out of her at this rate. And then she would not know how to stop. “That’s it, no more soju for you.”

“Gwang Soo always gets mopey when he’s drunk,” Jong Kook’s eyes glitter under the lights of the restaurant warm with the heat and smell of cooking meat. He holds a small cup of soju in one hand (an occasion like today is an exception, he says), back leaned leisurely against the wall.

“Yeah kiddo, it’s just our last filming. We’re not retiring or anything,” Haha nudges him. “You’re an actor after all. Don't tell me you've never had a send off dinner?” One of the rare times Haha acknowledges Gwang Soo's true profession without teasing. His voice too holds no bark, softer than usual with exasperated affection.

“Yeah but hyung…”

“Aigo, cut him some slack, Dong Hoon. Your first variety show will always be special,” Jae Suk says, turning this way from where he had been talking to Suk Jin.

Suk Jin too joins the conversation. “It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

“...I know, it just won’t all be the same.”

The elder members exchange wry smiles.

Ji Hyo prides herself for only crying twice by the end of the night.

Running Man was longest program she had been on, at times the most challenging, but for all that, Ji Hyo cherishes it. Perhaps it’s just the alcohol in her system and the reality of an end weighing in her mind, but the stars seem to dance as she drives away. Ji Hyo leans her forehead against the window, the low vibration of the car lulling her to sleep. She feels like the luckiest person in the world, to exist in this same time, same place with such people. Ji Hyo quietly commits her dysfunctional TV family to memory:

Gwang Soo, sweet under his traitorous facade, Haha and Gary, a constant source of laughter. Brilliant, bumbling, and too chatty Suk Jin, playful and earnest Jae Suk. And Jong Kook. Loyal and earnest, constant as the stars, Jong Kook.

A few months later, Ji Hyo finds herself nose deep into her latest script. Offers have poured in since the end of Running Man now that she can dedicate her time to be a full-time actress. Despite the ever-present whispers that follow- that she was merely riding on the coattails of her variety success, that