Song Ji Hyo blushed to the roots of her hair at her Oppa's comment. She pulled at her collar as surprisingly the members gave her the same treatment that they do to the female guests. 

 

"Aigoo, Gary oppa!" She blushed again.

 

"Isn't the skirt too short?" Jong Kook called out as Jae Suk gave him a warning look. 

 

Unfortunately, she had celebrated this treatment too soon, it seems.

 

"Ya, Kim Jong Kook! I have seen Geun Young and Eun Hye wear shorter clothes, go try to 'discipline' them!" Ji Hyo barked as Bad Ji Hyo took over and Jong Kook shrunk back, frightened by the outburst of the only woman who truly scares him. 

 

Jae Suk started laughing at their only female member who they have seen all made up on the show after a very long time and whose personality is still of the abusive tomboy despite the pretty clothes. 

 

"Oppa, today.. today, I am the one who will decide the couple. You better be nice to me." Ji Hyo said while gesturing to the "Couple's Race' board behind them, just before another car pulled up besides them and Park Bo Young stepped out. 

 

Ji Hyo had always felt tiny around her oppas (except perhaps Haroro) but she loomed over Bo Young which made her feel particularly unfeminine. Everyone's excitement over the younger girl, the umbrella mission and the other members' ribbing through the coming first half of this week's episode would just make it worse. 

 

---

"Ha Ha Oppa, kumawayo. I would have been really embarassed if you hadn't come to sit at my table. I expected only Gary Oppa will sit because of the love line." She whispered now that the filming was done and all of them had been terrified enough by one dreaded hunter, Choi Min Soo. 

 

"Kinchana, Mong Ji Hyo, as it is there weren't  any seats left at Bo Young's table." Ha Dong Hoon replied while messing her hair as she shot him a glare. 

 

She knew he was joking but it hurt nonetheless. She knew that many of their guests, like Girl's Generation, are much more beautiful and younger than her but it still pricked her pride sometimes when the oppas would ask her to go away or pretend to be tortured if put in her team. She was also a known actress, Goddamnit!

 

She dearly wished to God for another episode with Siwon and Minho. 

 

It did not help that Kang Gary was always paired with her in such cases to continue the Monday loveline. The poor guy looked so forlorn in between shooting when he saw his hyungs and dongsengs enjoying with the female guests. She would purposefully ask PDnim to sometimes let him off with other people just to assuage her guilt of trapping him because of her. 

 

In fact while fans on forums complained of she being stuck with Suk Jin and Gwang Soo, she felt most appreciated in that team. It cut into her screen time, true, but she was happy because they both would treat her as the team leader and were also close friends with her offscreen. 

 

Ha Ha observed the hunched figure as she trudged back to her van and the door closed, whisking Song Ji Hyo from the day's Running Man set. He was more sensitive than people give him credit for and saw how much effort the proud woman had put in today. He personally thought she looked very beautiful, even more so than Bo Young. 

 

He quickly walked back to find Jae Suk to discuss this problem with, and found not only the national MC but all the other team members sharing bibimbap as they warmed their bodies now that the terror (Min Soo hyung) has passed.  

 

Jong Kook looked at the serious face of his dongseng and called him over to ask what was wrong. Ha Ha quickly sat beside Gwang Soo who, it seems, was going to eat till the production went over budget. 

 

"Ya, Ha Dong Hoon! Why the face?" Jong Kook asked. Many people might now know and many might be disillusioned by the soft-spoken man Kim Jong Kook seemed to be on Family Outing, but the real Kim Jong Kook was just as you see him on Running Man - loyal, scarily intelligent and commanding. 

 

"Hyung, I think we ignore Ji Hyo too much. We should treat her better. She is a girl after all."

 

"Ha Ha Hyung, you starting to like noona again?" Gwang Soo asked with food still in his mouth. Ha Ha hit him on the head, which only made him spit out some of the rice. 

 

"Ya, you! You were the worse! Why did you again? She was really upset." Ha Ha scolded Gwang Soo. 

 

Jong Kook looked curiously at them. He knew Ha Ha once did like Ji Hyo but he also knew his dongseng enough to know that this was not because he liked her again (after all, Dong Hoonie was happily married with his Byul), but because of something else. 

 

"Ha Ha, be clear." Suk Jin asked, concerned about the girl he had come to look upon like a daughter. 

 

Jong Kook nodded along, concern welling up in him as well. To him Ji Hyo was someone who lived life without concerns and was hardly sensitive to anything. He had met her once before Running Man and there she had left a permanent impression of someone uncaring of her image and almost child-like in her outlook. That didn't change when he saw her dressed up as a mature woman in the initial episodes, and her going back to the original tomboyish ways only solidified his first impression. She was a woman who he know was bodily different from the men, but she never was really a woman to him. 

 

"Mong Ji didn't say anything to me but it was too obvious on her face. She always says that she doesn't care when we fawn over guests and treat her bad, but I think she does this to not make us feel bad. Like today she must be taking it to the heart earlier as well. We never came to know! She was always so Mong!" Ha Ha spoke in one breath, gesturing wildly and clutching at his hair. 

 

The men looked at each other and and Jae Suk seemed to be in deep thought. 

 

"Gary ah, you are usually paired with her, did you notice anything?" Jae Suk asked Gary who had been absentmindedly chewing his nails over the matter.

 

"Hyung, now that I think about it, she looked at the others teams so longingly. I just thought she wanted to be with Jong Kook hyung to win. Aish! I was such a babo!" Gary replied, beating himself over the head with his head. He should have paid more attention but his attention was always fixed on playing the onscreen Monday Couple and to come up with gags that he can do as he was still a bit green when it comes to variety. 

 

"Should I talk to the PDs to pair her with me next? She seems happy then." Jong Kook suggested. 

 

"Yeah, then she can take home more gold. That competitive spirit in a wom---ARGH!!" Gwang Soo yelped midway his comment as he received a sharp whack from Suk Jin. 

 

"Ya, stop joking. Don't you realize your noona was genuinely upset. At least you have to appreciate her more as her dongseng" Jae Suk admonished.

 

"I was only joking, Hyung! I love noona! I'd treat her like a princess if it weren't for my concept." He replied sincerely. Everyone knew that Ji Hyo and Gwang Soo were as loving siblings as Jong Kook and Ha Ha. 

 

"Let her win the next game. I am keeping her in my team." Jong Kook declared. He wished Ji Hyo was actually around, eavesdropping on this talk so that she could see for herself how much her oppas cared. It's not very easy for men to be open about how they feel and artificial fawning which they did to guests was only acting but their feelings for her were real and thus difficult to show. 

 

"We can do that but it's not a permanent solution. We can't treat her like the guests as it will go against her own concept. My little dongseng, I really don't know what to do for you." Jae Suk buried his head in his hands. 

 

Everyone patted the good man on the back, united in their worry about their team member and also each wondering in their heads about how long she has been suffering like that. 

 

Jong Kook took in the atmosphere, the wheels of his brain spinning on hyper drive. An idea lingered in his head but he didn't know if it were possible or appropriate. He decided to share it with the rest and take their opinion. 

 

"Why don't we start seeing her as a woman?" Jong Kook's voice broke the silence.

 

"What?" Gary asked, startled. 

 

"Not in the Monday Couple way, but genuinely. We know she is strong, but we have to keep in mind that she is stronger than other women, not like us. We know she is pretty, but we have to make her feel so. We can't do much in front of the camera, but what about offscreen?" Jong Kook explained his theory.

 

"But we can't do it suddenly, or she will just get embarrassed and ask us to cut it out. You know Miss Mong." Jae Suk replied, immediately accepting the idea. He and Suk Jin Hyung were like father figures and Ha Ha, another married member, too would be limited in this "Make Ji Hyo A Woman" plan. He really hoped that the three unmarried ones would work their best. If something more happens at a later date, he thought, he'd be even more happy. 

 

"I like it. We can improvise as we go. Any objections or suggestions?" Suk Jin asked. 

 

No one had any. Gwang Soo just returned to his dinner (breakfast actually, since it was 5AM) after a short nod. Gary was still looking a little dazed while Ha Ha looked at the group proudly. 

 

"Let's start coming Saturday? Member party at my house. Gwang Soo, invite Joong Ki too." Jong Kook announced. He surprised even himself as he wondered when he got so proactive. He had never faced such an issue as he was always extremely courteous and attentive to women; this neglection of a woman who he was quite fond of made him so guilty that he wanted to try his best. 

 

"Ayyyye! You will feed us carrots and sprouts like last Christmas!" The maknae reacted, while still chewing, looking every bit of a Giraffe that he was. 

 

"You fed them carrots on Christmas??" Suk Jin and Jae Suk gasped in unison. They had not attended as they were celebrating with their families.

 

"Aish, hyung, I'll get all the unhealthy stuff this time. It's for Ji Hyo and not me. There will be bacon and pizza and chips." Jong Kook shuddered as he thought about all that.

 

"Woah. You didn't even budge on my birthday." Ha Ha pouted angrily.

 

"Dong Hoon ah, it's Ji Hyo. I'll allow all that for you too the next time, I promise!" Jong Kook said to appease his dongseng but Ha Ha turned away from him in anger butgiggled when he was out of his hyung's line of sight. 

 

"I hope you get married to Ji Hyo. Then see if you can keep even Ramyun from entering your 'healthy' house." Ha Ha retorted in mock spite and ran as Jong Kook chased him. 

 

The members laughed heartily, breaking the tense atmosphere of the past hour. They all quicky cleared their schedules with their managers and decided to make it into a 'celebratory party' to not arouse Ji Hyo's suspicion. The Reason For Celebration: Gwang Soo scored a date finally.

 

(Now they just have to actually get Gwang Soo an actual date because Ji Hyo was surely going to ask. Gwang Soo was blushing so hard, it seemed that the blush wouldn't go away till the party.)

 

While all scurried about to plan the preperations, mat-hyung Suk Jin fell back and pondered upon Ha Ha's words. If Jong Kook and Ji Hyo got married, they might just give birth to a second Hitler. 

 

He chuckled at the thought and went to look for his own manager. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello readers! This is my first ever fanfic. I wish to develop a story where all the characters come alive as I love all of the Running Men! (Don't worry, the story is focused on our SpartAce)

I hope you like it! Your reviews and suggestions are most welcome. :)