10 February 2020

Staring at the time from his phone screen for the umpteenth time, he sighed.

9:25

Another five minutes to the start of Running Man’s filming, why wasn’t she here yet?

That day, he had deliberately arrived earlier, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ji Hyo in the waiting room. To his disappointment, Ji Hyo failed to arrive during the buffer when they were supposed to assemble in the waiting room to get ready for that day’s shoot.

Would she come?

His disappointment by the absence of her presence was replaced by a tornado of worry in him. Crossing his arms before his chest, he paced around the set restlessly. He had attempted to call her several times, only to find that she had missed his call. It wasn’t a surprising event to him. She must be sleeping on her way here. Yet, his mouth turned dry from the unstoppable worry in him.

Over the past week, he had been looking forward to meeting her again. They weren’t able to meet for the entire week due to their conflicting schedules. As much as he was anticipating to meeting her, he was anxious regarding the discussion of the contract of theirs. Remembering how challenging it was for him to convince her to proceed with their contract, he was afraid that she might suddenly change her mind by taking the breach of contract lightly. And, he doesn’t want to be punished for her mistake with the breach of contract.

She’s alright! And she’s here!

Biting his lips tightly to conceal the obvious lift at the corner of his lips, his eye sparkled with happiness the moment he spotted her entering the room. He swore that if it wasn’t in a room full of onlooking eyes, he would be throwing confetti and celebrate her arrival with a French horn if he could obtain one.

Regaining his composure, he strode towards her. Reaching her perimeter, he flashed her his signature warm smile to greet her, “Hey, how’s your week?”

“Okay, filming will start in three.”

That wasn’t Ji Hyo’s voice. It’s Chul Min’s. God, I hate Chul Min! I’m so glad that he’s finally leaving soon!

Upon hearing PD Chul Min’s announcement that filming would commence shortly, Jong Kook swore that if PD Chul Min screw up his chances with Ji Hyo again, he will not make his life easier. Helplessly, he bit his lips to conceal his anger as he watched Ji Hyo gave him a polite nod to excuse herself as she gets herself into position for the start of filming.

During the day’s opening where they introduced that day’s guests, Bae Jong Ok and Shin Hye Sun, to promote their movie, ‘Innocence’. Coincidentally, the promotion period of ‘Innocence’ and ‘Intruder’, Ji Hyo’s movie, clash and that summoned Ji Hyo’s aggressive persona, ‘Bad Ji Hyo’. Looking at her aggressive persona, he couldn’t help but smile as it brought him the good old memories with her.

Ever since Ji Hyo’s arrival, Jong Kook felt that the time had been speeding its way. Time flies when one is enjoying the moment, and he was. With his eyes fixated on Ji Hyo, he was so immersed. It was only when he realised that the venues had changed, caused him to realise that time flew past.

At the basketball court, where their vans were parked, they were given their first mission. The mission was an opportunity for them to earn mission money. They have to decide if they wanted to acquire the items found in the other member’s van. The minority of the chosen decision would be rewarded with more of the mission money.

When the time for the decision to acquiring the items was up, Jong Kook wasn’t surprised when Kwang Soo was the one who kickstarted the discussion with regards to the items that they have obtained. Yet, he was puzzled by how Kwang Soo had decided to pinpoint him right at the start, “Jong Kook hyung, I have a question for you.”

Huffing, “Okay!”, he stepped towards Kwang Soo, wanting to know what dying question that he had prepared for him.

Kwang Soo flashed a small black cylindrical object to everyone, looking at Jong Kook, he curiously piqued, “Do you apply eyeliner every day? I found an eyeliner on your seat.”

The instant Jong Kook saw the eyeliner, he was flustered. He recognised the eyeliner that he had found on his front passenger seat, a few days back, which he had decided to keep it in his car’s front seat storage, hoping to return it to its owner that day, Song Ji Hyo.

His pupils dilated, being caught off guard by Kwang Soo’s discovery. He was anxious but he got his tiger persona into play.

Marching towards Kwang Soo, he shouted, “Yah!”

Wrong move!

Instantaneously, he regretted standing beside Kwang Soo and gave himself a mental facepalm. With their distance shorten, it was convenient for the giraffe to lean forward with his long torso to inspect the tiger’s eyes. The giraffe instructed, “Hyung, close your eyes.”

I can’t afford to be teased further! I have to conceal the truth that the eyeliner belonged to Ji Hyo’s.

He knew that he would be in deep trouble once the giraffe inspected that his eyes were eyeliner free. Refusing to abide by the herbivore’s command, he pointed accusingly at the eyeliner and retorted, “Why would I apply eyeliner? Whose is it?”

“You want your eyes to look bigger,” Jae Suk explained.

Jong Kook had always been known for his small eyes. Yet, the physical attributes of his eyes didn’t bother him for that was the very feature of his which defined him. He wouldn’t choose to manipulate his eye size by putting eyeliner daily, it was too much hassle for him.

Jong Kook retaliated instantly, “No!”

“It was on your seat,” Kwang Soo insisted.

There was no way out, was there? His smile hardened. How am I going to change the subject? Just then an idea appeared in his mind. I’m so sorry Gap Jin.

Reaching out for the eyeliner, he blatantly accused, “It must be Gap Jin’s. Gap Jin must have applied eyeliner.”

“Let me see your eyes,” So Min asked, stepping forward to inspect his eyes.

How do I prove my innocence?

Curiously, he opened the eyeliner and asked the crowd which had gathered around him, “What is this?”

Like a referee, Kwang Soo announced, “Hyung isn’t wearing eyeliner!”

He grunted at the obvious fact, “I don’t wear makeup.”

“It’s an eyeliner,” Ji Hyo chimed in.

Now, his gaze was interlocked with hers and he sent her eye signals that she was the owner of the eyeliner.

Finally! After what it seemed like an eternity, he was elated the eyeliner mayhem would soon come to an end.

Immediately after sending his signal to Ji Hyo, she spoke to Jae Suk. Shortly after, it was Jae Suk who saved the day with from this fiasco and it was then he let out a deep sigh of relief and his muscles became relaxed.

-

After which, they arrived at a set where there was an amplified bowling alley for their next mission, ‘Human Bowling: Sticky Guys’. Each player has to roll to the bowling pins within one minute, blindfolded. If one ended up on the gutter area, a sticky surface, at the end of the time limit, he would have to stay where you stuck at. If one rolls away from the bowling set, he would be eliminated. Hence, the next person will have to take part in the mission. The winning team would be the one that knocks down the most pins.

After watching the Suk Jin, Kwang Soo and Jae Suk downed in fitting overall tights and sweatsuit, helplessly stranded on the gutter on the set of the bowling alley. Jong Kook couldn’t stand the sight of the gameplay anymore. If he felt that Suk Jin’s attempt was a disappointment, the list only gets worse as it gets down the lane.

Leaning towards Ji Hyo, who was beside him, he whispered, “Watch me!”

Overwhelmed with confidence, for he felt that the game was designed for him for nothing is undefeatable with strength, he strode towards the starting point and he bragged, “I will get there like a bulldozer.”

“I’m worried about him,” Suk Jin complained as he was in an opposing team, but he was stuck in the middle of the alley where Jong Kook would collide into.

“You should overcome the sticker,” Jong Kook told Suk Jin off.

“Yah! My face is here. My face is in the middle of it,” Suk Jin pointed out Jong Kook.

“I’ll just go through it,” Jong Kook declared and let out a smile.

“You should be careful,” Suk Jin urged.

From the start, Jong Kook made powerful straight rolls with great momentum. This prevented him to land himself into the sticky surface. After rolling forward several times, Jong Kook met with his obstacle. With his Spartan instincts, he only took a couple of seconds to figure out the position of his first obstacle’s head and push it away. With a powerful forward roll, he continued on the rest of the path.

However, the obstacle earlier was a distraction for him and had caused him to lose his sense of direction. When the whistle has blown, he realised that he had only come in contact with one bowling pin. His insignificant achievement by the significant him, caused everyone in the room to burst into laughter.

Since Jong Kook had successfully rolled to the finishing line, he was the first to leave the bowling alley. He removed his blindfold and was embarrassed that only managed to knock down a pin. Walking hastily back to the spectator seat, his shoulders drooped slightly.

Defending himself for his poor performance, he reasoned, “I was in a rush at the last moment.”

“I’ve watched you!” Ji Hyo exclaimed when he returned.

Clearing his throat embarrassed, he sat beside her. Again, a wrong move! That enabled her to more, “So, you wanted me to watch you score only one pin?”

“It was due to Suk Jin’s hyung defence,” He reasoned. Why does this sound like an excuse?

“What an excuse!” She playfully scoffed.

“Then, try it yourself,” He challenged.

“I’m sure that I can do better than you!” She declared.

“Oh really?” He asked sarcastically.

After So Min’s turn, Ji Hyo volunteered to be the next in line.

Nervous in finding out the results of her performance, he watched her rolling straight ahead. He was pleased that she gave herself a great head start. He was amazed by how she remained unfazed after encountering her first obstacle, Suk Jin, by rolling over him and that caused him to groan loudly.

However, due to So Min’s strong latch on Ji Hyo’s leg, the latter’s direction was affected. Silently, he was cheering for his teammate Ji Hyo, watching how she navigate herself with the support of her hands, made him proud of her achievement. However, the struggle with So Min caused Ji Hyo to roll forward towards her left instead of rolling straight forward.

As such, Ji Hyo missed the pins entirely. Everyone in the room laughed heartily again at the sight, especially Jong Kook. He was so nervous that she might win him by scoring more than a pin, but he was elated that she didn’t.

Ha! Didn’t she want to perform better than me? She meant from the bottom, then that’s a yes.

When the mission was over, the filming crew were preparing to move to the next venue.