Heechul’s POV

            “I got to say, Heechul, I didn’t expect this outcome.” Manager hyung shook his head while checking our schedule for the day.

It has already been more than 2 weeks since the episode aired on Strong Heart and the response was more positive than negative. It was the opposite than what the company had expected. I have my fans to thank for being so understanding.

            “you underestimate my fans, hyung. if you do they will always catch you off guard.” I grinned looking at the song I’ve been writing with Jungmo.

            “tsh! Admit it even you didn’t expect that the outcome would be this good.”

Fine, he’s right, but just a teeny tiny bit.

            “I expected that there will be negative but I didn’t expect that there’s less than what I expected.” I sighed. But feeling elated. “so what’s on our schedule for today?”

            “you’ll be appearing on the red carpet for the new line for Armani Korea. And to remind you in again, you will be recording Running Man on Monday.” Manager hyung said tapping along on the screen of his galaxy tab.

            “oh yeah, who will be at the red carpet with me again?”

            “Siwon and Yesung will be there.” He replied lazily.

This will be interesting, the 3 weirdest people in the group…swell!

            “gotcha.” I said. Then the reminder came to my head again. “Running Man again…I better do this better this time, my first appearance was just disappointing.” I slouched down on my seat in the car. I heard the manager snort.

            “you can say that again.”

            “hyung! you’re supposed to be encouraging me!”

            “since when did you even need encouraging?” somehow I feel a bit offended by those words.

I just frowned at him.

            “the occasional good luck does help you know.” I said bitterly.

            “it’s not as if you’re going to be alone, Simon D. and Junhyung will be there.” He said checking the schedules again. He’s been looking at it all day he must’ve memorized it all by now. then again, it is what he always does…

            “I know coz it’s for their one year special in July. The Chocoball special.” I said. but we’re filming this in the second week of June but will be shown in the last Sunday of the month and the first week of July. Go figure.

            “that’s right and you might enjoy this more than the first one I think.” Hyung said sounding a bit amused as if he knew something I didn’t.

            “is there something going on that I don’t know about?” I asked suspiciously.

            “nope!” he replied with an amused pop in his voice.

I stared at him still not buying the denial.

            “I will find out soon enough anyway.” I said grumpily and looked back on my iphone. But I seriously thought I heard him say ‘you sure will.’

But before I could even respond I noticed his eyes widened staring at his galaxy tab.

            “errr…Heechul-ah, I think you should see this?” he said a little nervously handing me his gadget.

            “what’s got you al in a knot?” I asked a bit teasingly.

He didn’t say anything and just motioned for me to look at what was in his tab.

I furrowed my brows in irritation and took it from him.

As I look at the screen my heart almost skipped a beat when I saw the title of the video. It wasn’t officially posted on the news website but it was on a blog that’s usually referred to in entertainment gossip.

Fans Stalk Super Junior’s Kim Heechul’s Mysterious Girlfriend.

• ELFs never cease to surprise netizens as they now managed to find the location of the famous idol’s sweetheart. After Kim Heechul’s shocking revelation on StrongHeart the two lovebirds were first spotted on a date around Hongdae. But fans were still left curious as to her real identity and now they’ve managed to spy Super Junior’s famous concert fiddler.

I didn’t finish reading the blog post and just clicked play on the video.

I momentarily breathe a sigh of relief, as it wasn’t the pet hotel they spotted her at, or the place would’ve been flocked by people and media asking and lurking around and that would definitely piss her off.

Zee and EunHee were coming out of the grocery store when a girl walked towards them and looked like she wanted a picture with Zee.

Oh dear, why didn’t this happened to Shindong?! Why only me!?

Zee was obviously taken by surprise and declined. As she and EunHee walked back towards the bus stop more fans followed them and started taking out their phones and took pictures.

I stopped the video then.

            “I think you should call her. That happened last night and I assume you haven’t talked since yesterday morning.” Hyung suggested not looking at me.

I didn’t answer him and just took out my phone and dialed her number.

            “what?” her obviously pissed voice answered.

            “can you be pissed at me? I just found out what happened.” I said. I wanted to sound apologetic but her grumpiness just wasn’t helping.

            “I’m not pissed at you. I’m pissed at the whole situation.” She said and then took a deep breath and exhaled.

            “I won’t ask you if you’re ok coz I know you’re not. But I will ask you if you will be ok soon?”

            “yeah, I will. Just waiting for the shock to wear off.” She finally replied in a calm voice.

            “I will drop by after this schedule, ok?”

            “you don’t have to. I will be working overtime tonight.” She said flatly.

            “tomorrow night then.”

            “still working overtime.” She said flatly again.

There is something going on. It definitely smells fishy.

            “you’ve been working overtime since yesterday. Are you trying to work yourself to death?” I argued.

            “yes, now I got to go, Heechul-ah. Busy. Talk to you later. Bye.” She said and hung up.

I took my phone from my ear and stared at it.

            “something wrong?” manager hyung asked.

            “not sure but something is definitely fishy.”

            “well, better but that at the back of your head now; we’re here.” He pointed at the venue where there were already dozens of reporters flashing their cameras at the celebrities that are coming out of their cars and onto the red carpet.

I saw Siwon and Yesung already coming out of the car in front of and after their car moved it was ours’ turn.

I took a deep breath before opening my door to dispel all thoughts of personal problems and get to work.

Monday, Running Man filming

            “Heechul hyung!” Simon D greeted me as I got off the car.

            “is Junhyung here already?” I asked oblivious to the cameramen surrounding us.

            “I don’t know for sure. I also just arrived myself.”

Then the pd told us that Junhyung was already here and to go inside the huge abandoned building to get briefed. As far as we know, the other members have no idea we’re here.

It’s just y that we had to be blindfolded at the moment we got off the Busan train station, so I have no idea where we are.

We walked up the 2 flights of stairs and into a room where Junhyung already sat.

            “hi guys!” he said cheerily.

Simon D and I gave him a high 5 before taking our seats.

            “I will now give you your missions.” The PD said smiling conspiratorially. “the mission is simple you three will be assigned to separate teams. There will be a theme to today’s mission, are past, present and future. 3 teams will complete 3 missions on the mission site but your mission will be to prevent the members succeeding within 2 hours. If you succeed you win.”

            “question, what will be the sample mission in the past, present and future?” Simon D asked.

somehow this mission is complicated but hella fun. I’m good at playing pranks and feigning innocence by being mischievous.

            “we can’t reveal that yet but every topic will be contain trivia, puzzles and other missions connected to the topic.”

            “Goodluck to the team to get the future…” I laughed. But isn’t this mission too easy?

            “if you don’t have anymore questions, let’s go meet the members.” The PD said and we all stood up and went back down.

We walked towards our respective cars to wait for the pd’s cue for us to walk in.

            “hyung, I’m nervous.” Junhyung said. He was slightly shaking.

            “you have a reason to but relax we can all do this.” Simon D replied.

            “since it’s your first time try to act as if you don’t know the rules that well. you’ll get away with it.” I grinned and all 3 of us got inside our cars.

A few minutes later the pd radio-ed the driver for the cars to enter the place where the members are currently gathered to wait for the members.

Simon D got off first and I saw him got welcomed warmly as they often do and the same happened to Junhyung.

I was the last to enter and when I got off.

            “Heechul-ah!” Haha hyung shouted. I walked towards them bowing politely.

            “the great Kim Heechul is back to make the show more fun.” I bragged.

            “yah, we caught you easily the last time you were here.” Jong Kook hyung said.

            “all of us have bad days, I’m sure you too when EunHye will come.” I grinned as my comeback hit its target.

The jeers from the other members rang throughout the place plus Jong Kook hyung’s protests were left ignored.

The pd then called our attention for the mission. He gave the same information about the past, present and future theme but left out our secret mission.

            “you need to form teams first before the theme of your team will be given to you. The guests will also be the leaders of their respective teams. The first team who will finish the mission the fastest will at a great advantage for tomorrow’s challenge.” The pd said and handed us a bowl with papers that I assume contain the names of the members.

            “so they will pick our names from those bowls?” JaeSuk hyung asked.

            “yes.” The pd answered.

            “Junghyung-ssi, who don’t you want to be on your team?” JaeSuk hyung asked again.

            “errr…” Junhyung said and glanced at SukJin hyung.

the rest of the members noticed this and laughed.

            “yes! Finally it isn’t me!” KwangSoo shouted happily.

            “pick one for your team.” JaeSuk hyung said and all 3 of us took one paper.

Simon D opened his first and his face broke into an expression of disappointment.

Kim Jong Kook.

            “yah, why wouldn’t you want me to be on your team?” the man in question asked.

            “yeah, why wouldn’t you? All of us would want him on our team, well except when EunHye would be around.” Gary hyung piped in and Jong Kook hyung pushed him to the back.

            “hyung, will always try to get his way even if he isn’t the leader.” Simon D answered much to everyone’s laughter. I could almost picture a bomb exploding on hyung when this airs.

I opened mine next.

Song Ji Hyo.

            “noona!” I shouted as she walked towards me laughing. “we’re together again. Did you drink again today? I teased.

            “yah!” she said hitting me lightly on the arm.

Junhyung opened his.

Haha.

Kwangsoo was on Simon D’s team, Gary hyung on mine then JaeSuk hyung on Junhyung’s team.

            “where am I supposed to be?” Suk Jin hyung asked sounding desperate.

The pd handed him another bowl with 3 names in it.

            “whoever’s name you pick ,you will be on that team.”

Everyone groaned.

            “ah haaaa…now I have power in my hands!” SukJin hyung said menacingly.

All of us groaned as we watched him pick a name.

Simon D.

None protested more than Jong Kook hyung.

            “yah! Why do I have to get stuck with these two?!” he shouted. But all of us .

            “the cars are in front of the building and the clues are inside the cars so choose the car wisely…mission start!” And all of us bolted after we got out nametags.

            “I’ll drive.” Gary hyung said comically and opened the door to the driver seat of the red car we chose. There were also a silver and a black car there. I sat in the passenger seat while Ji Hyo noona sat at the back ripping open the envelope.

            “Past.” She said. Ahhh…so we get the past… “type ‘past’ on the gps pad for the direction to the location and look for the Running Man banner for your next instructions.”

            “why are they so mysterious about the locations?” I asked.

            “it’s always been like that. Sometimes we only think about it when something’s fishy is going on.” Gary hyung replied.

            “what in the world are you talking about?” noona snapped at him.

            “noona, haven’t you and hyung thought about making your ‘Monday couple’ thing real? I mean people really love your chemistry!” I said cheerily.

            “Heechul-ah, she’s been bugging about it day and night but you know me. I am hard to get.” Gary hyung bragged. I laughed.

            “yah, what the heck are you talking about?!” noona shouted and whacked him in the back of his head.

            “look, the running man banner!” I pointed at a distance. The familiar yellow-suited man was raising the banner up high and we slowed down towards him.

It was not a long ride at all but what’s more surprising was the old-style Korean houses. It was more like a shoot location for a chosun era drama.

            “this is interesting.” I muttered.

            “this is hardly a surprise for us anymore.” Gary hyung grinned proudly as all 3 of us got off the car.

            “the others are probably doing their own mission elsewhere. Since we are past. We are at this place.” JiHyo noona assessed looking around.

The man with the banner handed us another card.

            “change outfit before getting inside.” I said flipping the card around to check if there’s anymore written in it.

            “that’s it?” noona said grabbing the card. “something’s fishy.” I gotta agree with her on that one.

            “c’mon! the others must’ve reached their destinations already!” Gary hyung nagged. Noona and I laughed and followed him.

The staff handed us silk red hanboks; Hyung and I were given horsehair hats while noona had a simple headdress on.

            “we look really good.” I swirled around. I couldn’t remember the last time I wore one of these. “Especially me…”

one of the staff handed us another clue.

            “play the traditional Korean game of golf, make sure you get the ball through the holes in order to win.” Jihyo noona read off the mission card.

            “let me guess, there’s no direction as to where we’ll hit the ball to?” I said looking at the sticks or clubs that were handed to us.

            “no, there will be 5 holes all throughout the place. Goodluck!” it was all the staff said to us before letting us start.

A variety is a variety, let’s get funny!

            “Heechul-ah, are you any good at this game?” Gary hyung asked positioning himself to hit the ball.

            “no, but I can improvise.”

            “stop talking and let’s just get this over with!” noona nagged.

            “noona, we can’t do variety without talking! Talking is half the fun.” I retorted and she laughed.

Hyung had gotten the ball to the first hole and I stood in position for the next one.

We actually didn’t know which was the right order. I for one never played golf, only Siwon did, and it’s hell of a confusing game.

When noona finally got the last ball through the last hole we waited for the confirmation.

            “you got the order wrong, please do it again.” One of the writers said.

All 3 of us made sounds of frustrated complaints.

            “can’t you guys just tell us a clue? Or how many we got right?” JiHyo noona asked.

            “you got the last one right.”

we moaned. It was so obvious that this hole was the last one because the area was too wide.

            “isn’t there any more clues?” hyung asked.

            “there will be a helper that will appear as you go along your mission today. if you know where to look, you will find the task easy to accomplish.” The writer said.

            “helper? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” noona reacted in frustration.

The staff just giggled conspiratorially.

Gary hyung tried to make jokes but his jokes are just not funny and that made us laugh.

We walked back to the starting line and started to target whole number 2. We first had the one behind the huge house. We hit the ball through the open doors and now we chose the one straight in front of us. it was about 20 meters away but it’s worth a try.

We suddenly heard sounds of hooves and when we turned around a person wearing a red and black garment that you often soldiers or assassins wore in dramas with an old Korean setting. It actually reminded me a little of Iljimae minus the armor. The person’s mask was the same though.

            “who is that?” JiHyo noona exclaimed in surprise.

            “horseman! Stop!” Gary hyung shouted but it didn’t. The person on the horse just continued on his away.

It suddenly stopped by the hole that we first targeted, the one through the house; the horse then stood on his hind legs and neighed. Before we could even process everything, both horse and rider vanished.

            “that must be the helper!”noona shouted. But I didn’t feel good, if whoever that is will help us, I will fail in my mission!

            “now we only have to change 2 holes!” Gary hyung said ecstatically.

I honestly didn’t need to do much to make our progress slow. For one the balls were heavy that every hit just sends it just a meter or 2. We finished this mission after a good hour. If we finish the next mission in also an hour then I can win this!

After the first round, the next mission was handed to us with 3 silver running balls, which I assume was our prize.

            “take the 3 Running Man balls and put them on the dragon statues’ mouths.” I read. “err…what dragon statues?”

            “eyyyy! Those couldn’t be it!” Gary hyung pointed at something from way above us.

a huge dragon statue stood on the rooftop on one of the big houses.

            “that would be it.” the pd confirmed.

            “how are we supposed to get up there?” Ji Hyo noona asked. I looked at my watch and there’s only 45 minutes left till my task will be completed.

The pd explained that we need to get the ladder from the storage room inside the house, pick who will do the task and get up there after being harnessed. No one can do it twice so each one of us will have to do it.

I did it first, dawdling a little by saying I have a terrible balance. It took 15 minutes for me to finally place the ball inside the dragon’s mouth.

With 30 minutes left and there’s still another task I didn’t need to do so much trouble to waste time.

The 3 of us ran towards the next house with the dragon and it was JiHyo noona to do it this time within 10 minutes then Gary hyung within 12 minutes.

We ran back down the house coz I remembered we still needed to finish way earlier than the other teams to win.

            “you need to go back to the starting points for your final mission.” The PD said.

            “eh!? Can’t you just give us the mission here?” JiHyo noona asked irritably.

The PD just shook his head with a sly grin. I know I’m in on this thing but why do I get the feeling I’m getting pranked on as well?

            “you won’t be changing either.” The pd added.

            “ah waeee!!?” all 3 of us opposed.

            “aish! There’s no use in arguing let’s go!” Gary hyung said dragging us to the car.

            “do you think there’s something going on that’s why they’re telling us to go back?” I asked to get some suspicion off of me.

            “maybe, even the tasks weren’t that difficult.” JiHyo noona assessed. “maybe it has something to do with that person who helped us a while ago.”

            “eyyyy…seolma…maybe that’s DongWan FD again with his costumes.” Gary hyung said.

            “yah, even he can’t ride a horse that well.” noona snapped and Gary hyung pouted.

            “you two should really make the Monday couple real.” I said laughing in the back seat.

A few minutes later we arrived at the old building where we met earlier today. it’s already past the 2 hours that was given for my task and I was happy for that…nyahahaha

            “we’re the first ones to arrive! Daebak!” I cheered as we ran towards the PD.

            “we need to wait for the others. Please take a seat.” The PD gestured to the seats, which were lined up in 4’s for the 3 groups.

It were also prepared like the type of “era” we’re from. Like for us was just a floor cushion for us to sit on. The present were typical plastic chairs and for the future were metal chair which were seriously designed weirdly. Where do these people get their props?!

10 minutes after we arrived, Junhyung’s group arrived and they were wearing present day business attires.

            “yah JiHyo –ah, what in the world are you wearing?” JaeSun hyung asked.

            “we were given the past mission.” She replied.

            “what kind of missions were you given?” I asked curiously.

            “it was weird honestly they asked us to shoot basketballs into the hoops 20 times within a minute when couldn’t do it a weird person with a mask appeared on a bicycle carrying a small trampoline.” Haha hyung replied.

            “oh? Same with us! only ours was on a horse and seriously looked liked Lee JunKi on Iljimae.” Gary hyung commented.

before any of us could say anymore we heard the last team’s car.

            “yah, aren’t you curious as what those 4 will be wearing?” Haha hyung said naughtily.

            “I hope it looks ridiculous coz I want to see JongKook’s face when—“ JaeSuk hyung couldn’t finish his sentence as he started rolling on the ground laughing. We were ALL on the ground laughing.

They were wearing silver versions of what you might see on Star Wars or Star Trek. With matching glittering, white boots and gloves. JongKook hyung’s was sleeveless but his arms were covered in glitter dust, even their lips were in frosted shade.

            “YAH! Stop laughing!” JongKook hyung shouted in embarrassment.

            “who picked that car anyway?” Simon D asked silently and Kook hyung just closed his eyes…apparently it was him…

            “now that you are all here. We will give you your final mission.” The Pd said and all our ears were now glued to his every word. “you all had help from a helper earlier today, now that helper is someone you know.” The PD paused dramatically while we all paused in shock.

            “what do you mean we know the helper?” JaeSuk hyung asked as the staffs turned their heads toward the way we arrived.

Then we heard hooves and the one who helped us earlier arrived and halted in front of us before mounting off the horse and gave a stiff bow like that of a palace soldier. The next one entered riding a modern bicycle whoever that was shorter and thinner than the one who helped us. But by the looks of it the one on the bicycle seems to be a girl. The last one rode in almost the same costume as the other 4 in silver suits and likewise, the face was covered. The person came in on a silver sports car. They probably had difficulty finding a futuristic vehicle.

They all stood in a line a few meters from us and didn’t say anything.

            “you all have 10 minutes to guess who your helpers are, if not you all fail in today’s mission and will get the worst mode of transportation tomorrow. The last team to arrive will guess first. Mission start!”

it was probably the worst for the future team coz you couldn’t see anything from the person’s face at all and all of them were already calling out random names of their friends. We were already laughing as to how they could’ve thought of some people. In the end they failed.

Next were the present group and the same thing happened, they couldn’t guess who it was and after 10 minutes they sat down in frustration but I could almost see the grin on the person’s face. It looked familiar somehow.

When it was our turn I kept staring at our challenge. It was so hard to guess at first I thought it might be Jang GeunSuk since he filmed those Chosun era movies a lot so he might’ve known how to ride a horse but then again this person here is shorter.

            “they couldn’t get it if even us could not.” KwangSoo said pessimistically.

I ignored him and stared into the person’s eyes. And whoever it was stared back the side of the eyes crinkling like he was grinning.

Wait a sec---

Those eyes.

I heard noona and hyung arguing as to who it was then the pd said there was only about 3 minutes left for our time.

It couldn’t be. It’s impossible.

But I just can’t be mistaken. Those eyes belong to only one person and she can ride horses well.

But how can she be here? How did they even contact her?

Then I glanced at the one from the present group then it clicked finally.

            “wah…daebak! How can you guys even think of this?” I said aloud in frustrated amusement.

            “Heechul-ah, you guessed  who it is?” JiHyo noona asked.

            “I think I already know who this person is…but wah! You guys…wah!” I  put my hands over my head and walked aimlessly around.

            “yah! If you know who it is just say it! we only have 10 seconds left!” JiHyo noona said hitting my arm.

            “geunyeoneun nae yeoja chingu lane!!!”

            “EH?!”

-----------------------------

wah! here's my long overdue update! so sorry for the lateness. kept trying to update but i was really busy when i was on training and after training i headed straight to China for a vacation with my family..i seriously just got back yesterday..since i already wrote 9 pages worth i only had to add a couple more to finish this chapter..i hope you will all like it and please forgive me!!! T_T and sorry for the crappy Running Man scripting..hihi

ps. unedited and photo is not mine..:)

thanks/replies:

mychokyumintchip: he always deserves a punishment right?hahaha

hanhayoung: yeah..but i hope you like this update..hihi

achilison: wow!tell your sister thanks a lot really! and thank your for sharing to her my story..hihi sorry if i couldnt do much update for a month..i really was busy...will make it up to you guys!hihihi