Jiwon chooses Dara as her teammate and discovers her determination to win.

• chapter 11 – ace runner.

a.n. This chapter is dedicated @darabbitkrungy, who’s such a great author and also loyal reader of this fic! Hope I can cheer them up a bit. Check out their stories!

I really gave myself a hard time trying to choose some fun minigames for the characters to play but I decided to keep it quite simple for my sanity’s sake! I apologize for taking so long to update but life often gets in the middle. Feel free to leave comments, they always lift up my mood and motivate me to write more ~

“Welcome to this brand-new episode of RUNNING ACE!”, Yoo Jaesuk announced, extending his arms to the bright sky.

“Today’s theme is all about teamwork and complicity, that’s why we brought you the hottest contestants to test their chemistry together!”, the expert co-host, Kim Sook, continued.

“We’ve seen them in the most acclaimed drama of the year, give it up for these two rising actors, Min and Hyuk!”.

Min’s polite bows made the curly locks on his head bounce all around. Hyuk walked right beside him, the feature that most stood out was his impressive height which made him a tower over the hosts.

“They’re even more handsome now that I see them up close! So… who will the female lead choose between you two?”.

“You’ll find out in the finale of ‘Inner Beauty’ that will come out this Sunday at 9pm, so don’t miss out!”.

“The next two contestants are Kpop legends, celebs of celebs!”, Sook anticipated.

“Who they might be you might ask?”.

Jaesuk turned to the main camera, as if he was directly asking to the viewers at home.

“Here comes the youthful fresh vocalist of the 2^nd generation, SANDARA PARK!”.

She was little in stature, but her presence was big and irrefutable. A flowery breeze flowed on set as soon as she stepped on stage. Dara waltzed in with her usual bright smile. Her hand waved cheerfully left and right, leaving staff, hosts, and contestants in awe. Nobody was spared by the hurricane that was Sandara Park.

“He could beat your idol, here’s the leader from the 1^st generation: CHARISMA EUN JIWON!”.

Jiwon casually walked towards the other contestants with a hint of a grin. His aura was completely different from his junior’s.

The casual black attire he wore only highlighted his cool looks, he easily reminded everyone that he was in fact SECHSKIES’ charismatic leader. It was difficult to read him: sometimes Jiwon had this lived-in and reliable senior vibe to him, however, he also had a knack for being unpredictable and going all or nothing that gained him the fame of Variety Crazy Genius.

The participants had already started to eye him, he was a formidable contestant you wouldn’t want as opponent.

Min kept eyeing his prey, waiting for the right moment to attack.

“Hello Dara-noona”, he finally approached, with stars in his eyes. The celebrity he heard so much about was right in front of him.

“Oh- Hi!”. Dara shyly greeted him back with a hint of a nod.

Jiwon forced a loud cough, nonchalantly making space for himself between the two like a human barrier.

‘What’s with him?’, the young actor thought to himself, feeling his eye suddenly twitch.

The customary introductions carried on when a growl too loud to ignore disrupted the natural course of the show.

All heads turned to a flustered Jiwon.

“Seems like someone is hungry!”.

“You’d be happy to know that one of the prizes for this race is a full set of the highest-grade beef”, Sook reassured him.

“Didn’t you JUST eat?”, Jiwon’s manager mouthed from behind the camera operator, baffled by the situation. He himself delivered that large jjamppong take-out to his artist.

‘How much can a grown man possibly eat to be full?’, he thought, mentally noting himself to buy a bigger portion next time.

Sechskies’ leader tightened his lips and secretly glanced at Dara. ‘did she realize…?’, he wondered before shielding himself with his typical unbothered expression.

“But our staff’s preparations don’t limit to simply this, the grand prize will be… granting one of your wishes!”.

The participant’s expressions brightened for a second, curious of the scope of the show.

“So that’s why they interviewed us earlier”. Hyuk mumbled.

“I heard Eun Jiwon is after a rare lego collection”.

“Ha? That’s true. How did you know?”.

“We did extensive research on all of you to make sure you’d be highly motivated to win the challenges”, Sook responded.

“Two guests here share the same wish, a couple of limited editions sneakers! Can you guess who they might be?”.

The participants scanned each other. In the large plethora of people with s a different profession nobody could tell who they might be.

“It’s Sandara and Min!”, Sook revealed.

“We have a lot in common noona!”, Min’s head peaked out to , sporting an innocent little smile.

Jiwon rolled his eyes, ‘little bastard’, he thought to himself miserably failing at the task of hiding his annoyance.

“Actually…”, Dara’s ringing voice softly made its way.

“My earnest wish is a vacation to the Philippines”.

“Well-“, Sook bought some time as she carefully listened to the production’s instructions coming out of the in-hear, “The PD team confirmed that we can grant that wish!”.

“We’ll proceed with a random throw of dices to determine the order in which you’ll choose the member that will make up your team. This step is crucial!”.

“Dara-Noon-“, Min attempted another approach but Jiwon glared him down, stripping the punk of his ear to ear smile.

[…]

“Jiwon picked the highest total number on the dices, so he shall start!”.

“I pick Sandara”. He didn’t waste one second, as if he had already made up his mind way before coming to the stage”.

“M-me?”.

“You’ll do just fine”. He gently nodded, subtly welcoming her to take his side.

Choosing her gained him dirty looks from all the male contestants, but he didn’t mind if that as long as he could watch over her.

“I choose Min, we’re enemies in the drama but we have great chemitry”.

[…]

The contestant hardly contained their excitement as they all discussed and theorized the challenges while walking along the stone path leading to the next filming set. The same couldn’t be said for one couple, who walked side by side in complete silence.

Dara kept fiddling with the curls on her shoulders until she mustered up the courage to finally speak up.

“I’m sorry”.

“Huh? Suddenly? What are you apologizing for?”.

“You won’t get a chance to win your prize with me in your squad. Because the President asked us to team up”.

“That’s nonsense”, he quickly dismissed her worries.

She stopped in her tracks. Her intense gaze prompted him to explain.

“I don’t know what the CEO told you but I chose you. Just trust my judgement”, he rested his hands on her shoulders to hopefully give her some reassurance.

“It’s that... I’ve never been too comfortable with variety shows, the President has scolded me plenty already”.

“Just be yourself”.

“That’s it?”.

“Oh, trust me. When you get loose the true crazy in you comes out”.

“The true crazy…?”

Jaesuk waited for the last participants to gather around him before explaining the mission.

“The race will start here. On my cue you will have to piggyback ride your partner all the way to the next stop while avoiding the ‘surprises’ we prepared for you”.

“Get on, palli”. Dara jokingly pointed at her back making Jiwon reveal his bunny teeth as he snickered at her silliness.

“Come on”. The rapper bent down just enough to let her hop on his back and wrapped her arms around him tightly, making sure to secure a good grip.

Her mind Immediately felt drunk with the inebriating musky cologne he wore on his neck, the same one he wore the day of their ‘date’.

“Come on, focus now”, she scolded herself.

“Are you okay?”.

“Mhmh”.

He took a deep breath and started jogging forward while others were still figuring out who had to be the carrier.

“See? Good thing I chose you, you’re so lightweight”.

“Right!”.

“So… a vacation to the Philippines, huh?”. He tried his best to keep the conversation flowing.

“Well, It’s my happy place… I wish It only took a five minute walk to get there”.

“Is It that nice of a place?!”.

“I promise! I think you’d like It, It has a similar vibe to Hawaii”.

“You should show me around one day then”.

Those words escaped so naturally from his lips, he actually felt embarrassed.

‘thank god she can’t look at my face’, Jiwon payed gratitude as his flushed cheeks were saved from being seen.

“I’d really love to”.

She unconsciously tightened her grip, almost hugging him.

“The first duo arrived!”, Jaesuk spotted them making their way towards him.

“Congratulations for being the first ones to get here! You now have to choose between these ‘surprise’ cards”.

“Go ahead”, he encouraged Dara to choose.

Her small hand hesitantly hovered over the cards held by Sook before stopping on the center one.

Dara cleared her voice before reading the card aloud.

“The rider becomes the passenger. The passenger becomes the rider. If you refuse to switch you have to start from the very beginning all over again”.

“Oh, this is UNEXPECTED”. The MC’s showed surprise too.

“That won’t do”, Jiwon immediately argued but Dara stopped him.

“Come on, hurry”, she bended a little.

“You’ll get hurt like that, let’s just go back to the starting line”.

“But the others are catching up! Get on!”, she Insisted, “Just please. Let me try”.

Reluctant, he carefully climbed on her back.

“What if I break you?”.

“We better win then”.