It was still early in the morning at the Saneum Recreational Forest, but the place was quite crowded. The staffs were all busy preparing cameras, lighting, and other technical things for the filming. Every move they made was fast, as if they were running behind schedule. Once or twice the PDs gave orders in loud voices, almost like yelling. The tension was real and that was never shown on screen. All the hard work and efforts put to make a good Running Man episode were unbelievable. It was such a shame that sometimes the audience took it for granted.

Although the weather earlier had been worrying the PDs, it was all fine now. The sun had started to show up and the situation had turned lively again. Under the calm light of the morning sun, the forest looked so beautiful. Despite not being a wild forest, it still looked natural with big trees and insects on every corner. The production team was satisfied they had picked this location.

A few kilometers from the entrance of the forest, a silver van drifted in a normal speed through an empty road. On each side of the road were trees and grass fields spreading beautifully as if they came from a painting. Eun Hye, sitting comfortably inside the van, couldn’t help but staring at the captivating views. Soon the fields started to disappear from her sight, replaced by big trees planted along the way. From the window she could see a big sign informing that they had entered Saneum Forest’s area.

There was a big building, a front office, located a minute away from the entrance sign. Beside the building was a large parking lot, already filled with cars and vans by that time. She supposed they were the staff’s since the whole place was booked by Running Man. Secretly she whispered to herself, “Welcome to the world of Running Man, where you sweat a lot yet you feel happy about it… hopefully.”

Right after she got off from the car, one of the PDs greeted her and told her to wait in the front office with another member. Apparently she was the second to arrive despite the fact that she came too early—she assumed so after seeing the undone technical settings on a field quite far from the building. She then went into the nice looking office mainly made of woods and windows without being led by the PD, who at that time had to give explanation to the VJs about things she wasn’t interested in.

The huge steps she took quickly brought her to the room where a member had already waited. The person who came first to her mind was Yoo Jae Suk, since she thought he was someone who would come earlier to avoid being late. But she was wrong. It turned out the person coming too early was Joong Ki. She recognized his voice which was heard from inside the room. For a moment before she completely entered, she stopped right behind the doorway, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. However it is impossible not to hear the talk between Joong Ki and another man.

“Joong Ki-ya, are you sure you’re alright? Just tell the PDs you can’t do this.” A male voice was heard. She assumed he was Joong Ki’s manager.

“Hyung, don’t worry. The incident happened when I was a kid. I’m completely over it.” Joong Ki tried to reassure the older man.

“You might say that, but your mind’s telling you the opposite. Look, you’re pale, you’re hands are cold, and you’re obviously anxious.”

“I just didn’t sleep well last night, okay?” Eun Hye could hear Joong Ki sighed desperately.

“You had that dream again, hadn’t you?”

“Aigoo! Hyung, just leave it, okay? I’m fine!” From the tone, she supposed his answer was ‘yes, it’s because the dream’, but he tried to hide it through denial.

Based on her assumption, the talk between the young actor and his manager might be important. But since the conversation might not be going anywhere after all, she decided to come in. As soon as she entered the room, the two guys stopped arguing and greeted her politely. The hyung quietly told Joong Ki that he would wait outside in case he wanted to talk to him and left the room in quick steps. There were only the two of them in the room now so she sat beside him and tried to make the situation less awkward.

“Joong Ki-ya, what time did you arrive here?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago noona. Not long before you.” He gave her a quick smile, though it was obvious that he had some kind of thing going on. His face said it all. What she heard before was surprisingly true; the flower boy was quite pale.

“Have you eaten? You don’t seem healthy.” She asked again, trying to bring back the topic of the conversation Joong Ki had earlier with his manager. She knew it wasn’t her business but a part of her was craving for his story. She wasn’t usually like that though.

“I just had a rough night, no big deal.” He said casually, not knowing where the talk was going.

“Too much coffee last night?”

He shook his head slightly, “not really.”

“Then nightmare perhaps?” Eun Hye kept on digging deeper for information despite her not knowing where the whole curiosity came from.

“Yeah, sort of.” His answers were short and he always avoided eye contact, as if he was hiding something. Before Eun Hye tried to dig the whole thing out again, she realized it wasn’t proper for her to do that, especially to Joong Ki whom she had only met two or three times. So the actress held back her questions and stayed quiet in spite of her eagerness. Unfortunately, her not saying anything made the situation between them awkward again. Joong Ki didn’t seem to be bothered with that since he was in his own world, but Eun Hye felt a little bit uncomfortable.

“Umm, so Joong Ki-ya, I heard you’re joining the program for a month.” It was a statement and also a question. This kind of thing usually made the other person speaks more and kept the conversation going for longer.

“Ah, so you’ve heard about that already, noona. Yes, that’s true. I hope I can be a permanent member again. Too bad my schedule’s ridiculous. God knows how tired I am!” He said rather casually, totally different from the anxious Joong Ki earlier.

“Ridiculous schedule means success Joong Ki-ya. Just enjoy it. Later when you’re older and the entertainment business doesn’t need you anymore, I bet you’ll miss these days.” Eun Hye started to feel comfortable again, as if they had been friends since a long time ago. Maybe it was because they shared the same interest as an actress and an actor.

 “I hope when the time comes Running Man will offer me a position.” He chuckled.

“When that happens you’ll probably be too old to run.”

“Then I’ll take the role as the new Suk Jin hyung.” They both laughed and kept on talking about random things until they ran out of topic. The short moment of silence was filled with the ticking sound of a clock which was hanging on the wall a few meters in front of them. The other members were supposed to be there in fifteen minutes and normally Jae Suk had arrived now. But the nation’s MC was nowhere to be seen.

In the short time Eun Hye managed to observe Joong Ki’s behavior and found him getting anxious again. Though she wasn’t an expert on this kind of thing, she could see clearly that whatever thoughts Joong Ki had earlier came to his mind again. Seeing her dongsaeng sat still in frustration, she tried to start another topic. But suddenly she was cut by Joong Ki who unexpectedly shared his thoughts.

“You know, noona, I’m really nervous about starting Running Man again, especially today’s filming.” His hands showed his nervousness. Eun Hye didn’t know whether he was doing it consciously or not, but he kept on rubbing the back of his neck, biting his fingers, or locking his arms tightly.

“Does it have something to do with your nightmare?” It seemed like the right time to bring back the topic again.

“How do you know?” Panic was shown in the younger guy’s eyes for a second, before finally changed into mere confusion.

There were scenarios in Eun Hye’s head. She could admit that she had eavesdropped earlier or she could just say it was just a coincidence that she thought so. But her gut feeling told her to tell him the truth. “Sorry, I heard the conversation with your manager earlier. I didn’t catch much though.”

“Of course you didn’t.” The way he said it made it sounds like sarcasm, but Eun Hye wasn’t sure. Somehow it also sounded like disappointment or desperation--like somehow he wished she had heard much. No one was sure about that though. Even Joong Ki didn’t understand his feelings right now. But for a brief moment he knew he should tell her.

“I frequently have the nightmare. It’s about my younger sister and… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t talk about that with you. It’s not something you’d like to hear. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Eun Hye was disappointed but she gave him a comforting smile, “I’d like to hear it, but if it makes you uncomfortable then there’s no need to talk it out. Calm yourself alright? I hope you’ll feel better.”

“Thanks noona. Having this conversation with you makes me less nervous.”

Not long after that talk, the other members began to arrive and soon the filming started. For the opening scene, they were all gathered in a field usually used for camping ground. As some kind of a ritual, the guest star was introduced and the member acted surprised although they all knew Eun Hye was coming. That day they were all not a comedian, they were all actors, pretending to be friendly with Eun Hye. Everyone talked very carefully, as if a single playful joke could turn into a big scandal.

“Well, enough with the jokes,” Jae Suk said with a bright smile, “since today two special guesses are here, the PDs have also decided to use a special kind of team dividing method.”

“Hyung what is a ‘team dividing method’? Why do you suddenly use difficult phrase?!” Kwang Soo interrupted him.

“Yaa, just let him finish first!” Jong Kook gave his dongsaeng a hit on the back of his head.

Actually, the special method wasn’t special at all. The PDs had given so much thought on how to divide the groups so that no one would feel awkward. First, they tried to separate Jong Kook, Eun Hye, and Ji Hyo. But then logically thinking, they rating of the show could increase highly if Jong Kook and Eun Hye were on the same team. It would bring success to Running Man. Having to choose between good atmosphere and good rating, the PDs gave up. They decided to do this:

Jae Suk announced the names which are written on a paper given by the PDs.

“So, the team leaders are Yoo Jae Suk—which is me, Kim Jong Kook, and the last is…… Wait—PD-nim, is this correct or am I reading it wrong? Lee Kwang Soo?”

It sounded so much like a joke that everyone was held back by it. Funnily, Kwang Soo had the stupidest expression ever on his face. After a second of silence, everyone burst into laughter.

Joong Ki was the one who laughed the loudest. “Heee, Kwang Soo? Running Man has changed a lot since I quitted, eh?” The question was followed by huge laughter, especially from the PDs.

“Kwang Soo-ya, did you bribe PD-nim??” Haha joined the mocking contest.

Well, Kwang Soo lost his confident for a moment, but he soon came back to his senses—which are probably not good. “HAHAHAHAHA!!! I am still the invincible giraffe!!!! PD-nim, thank you for finally realizing my talent! Jong Kook hyung, I’ll hunt you down!”

Eun Hye couldn’t help but laughing along. She now understood why Running Man was loved by so many people. The members were all funny and friendly. However, it was still kind of hard for her to fit in so suddenly. For Joong Ki it was easy, but for her it wasn’t. After all it was her first time there. And there was also him. Kim Jong Kook. Right in front of her eyes. When she woke up from her thoughts, Jae Suk was complaining.

“PD-nim, you said we were going to have a special team dividing method. This is not special at all! I admit Kwang Soo being the team leader is special, but choosing the team member by randomly picking a name is just so ordinary. Hahaha!”

“Oh no, are you guys running out of ideas? Don’t tell me running man is going to go down?!” Gary faked a panic attack.

They all complained and laughed and then complained again about this and that, but they actually did the random pick. Each team leader took turns on picking a name. First round was kind of safe. Jong Kook and Eun Hye were not on the same team, and that make everybody secretly feel relieved. There was still a tension though because Jong Kook picked Joong Ki’s name.

Running Man members were like a family. No one ever said a thing about the whole Joong Ki—Ji Hyo—Jong Kook problem but everyone suspected there was something going on. They could smell the tensions between them and it somehow put pressures on them too. There were so many things to worry about in that particular episode. Just one wrong word could bring disaster. However judging from the way Jong Kook and Joong Ki treated each other, a delicate act of giving each other a brotherly hug, they seem to have the capacity to handle everything just fine. The other members didn’t quite worry about it after all. They knew whatever happened both men would act calmly and deal with everything professionally.

Not enough with the surprise, amazingly Jong Kook picked Ji Hyo’s name too.

No one said a thing. The “special” team dividing method was proven very special.

Nothing could go more wrong than that.

So everybody just bitterly laughed about it and took a break from filming before moving on to the first mission.

“Hey noona, it’s good being on the same team,” Joong Ki came to her and handed her a cup of water, “I know maybe you feel uncomfortable about it, but let’s just have fun. It’s been a long time and I really want to enjoy it, you know, being a part of the family.”

Ji Hyo stared at her water, watching as the ripples slowly fading away. Biting her lips as she tried to bring herself together, she finally found the words to say.

“I think I can’t do this Joong Ki-ya. It’s too hard. The more I think about it, the more I think it’s impossible. I mean, how can I act normal? Did you see the look on his face when he read my name on the paper? It was just.. he was bothered by it.”

“Well, let’s just look at it this way. He wasn’t bothered. He just frowned because the writing was hard to read. It happened sometimes. The paper got wet and the ink was—“

“—You don’t need to make up such a funny excuse. It’s not funny when it comes to this. You just don’t know how depressed I feel right now. I don’t know how to deal with this and you’re not helping at all.”

Her voice was trembling as if she was going to either blow up or break down. She was playing every worst case scenario that she could think of in her mind. Nothing could calm her down, not even her sweet dongsaeng.

“Okay then. I won’t bother you if that’s what you think I’m doing.”

Without any other words Joong Ki left. The act surprised Ji Hyo.

That was the last thing she ever thought Joong Ki would do.

That was the twenty fifth thing on her list of things Joong Ki would do to comfort her. And that frusterated her more than before.

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A.N. sorry for the late update! and thanks for your comments, those encourage me to update hahaha. oh and please forgive me for the wrong spelling or grammar or any other mistakes you find there ^^