Episode 1.1 - Hello Families!

Location: Seodaemun Museum of Natural History - Seoul, South Korea

It's a beautiful fall morning in the special city of Seoul. There isn't much activity going on outside. Most of the citizens of the city are at work or school, hard at work for the day. But there's one place absolutely buzzing with life - Seodaemun Museum of Natural History. A lot of elementary schools are having field trips that day. Scores of young children are exploring the museums various exhibits, examining different types of gem stones or gawking at the giant dinosaur skeletons with their friends, their teachers, and their chaperones.

Outside of the museum, five cars pull up in front of the museum. In each car, there's a young woman, each of them anxiously awaiting the fun and exciting day prepared for them. Some of the girls are tired after having enduring a long, seemingly endless schedule the day before but they're still just as curious as to what and who awaits them. When they finally emerged from the vehicles, it was impossible to tell who was exhausted. All of them seemed so bright and cheerful as they introduced themselves to one another and to the camera crew before they were quickly ushered inside to meet their hosts for the day and receive their first HELLO FAMILY! mission.

"Hey there! 2WILITE's main vocalist, lead dancer, and variety princess Jeon Seojin!"

"I'm Im Chunhei. I'm the rapper of of YG's newest girl group, Cecilia. I hope my child will be a perfect little angel!"

"Hello, my name is Cha Danbi, leader of A+. I'm more than a little nervous about meeting my partner and child..."

"Hi! I'm actress Bang Eunjin. This is my first time on any kind of variety show so please take care of me!"

"Solo singer Sarah Kwon here. I'm ready to do my best to be a good wife and mother!"

"Annyeonghaseyo and welcome to HELLO FAMILY!" Girls' Generation's Sooyoung and Yuri, Hello Baby alumni and the MCs for the day, announced excitedly, instantly receiving cheers from the five female celebrities before them.

"As you know, the purpose of the show is to pair you with a male idol and work together to raise a child," Yuri continued. "Each week, each family will be given a challenge or a task that will test your teamwork with your partner and your caregiving skills."

"But, before we can even begin to give your family these challenges," said Sooyoung. "We have to introduce you to your family members! Today your challenge is simple, but divided into two parts. It's a 'Running Man'-style challenge in which you must gather three color-coded cards. Each card has one syllable of your partner's name. Once you collect all three, you'll make your way to the back courtyard of the museum. Once there, you will have to unscramble the cards and tell the producers the name of your partner before you are granted permission to meet your partner."

"For the second part of your challenge, you and your partner will take a three-question parenting quiz," Yuri explained. "When you get all three questions correct, you will be given a present for your child. You'll come back to the main hall of the museum and present your gift to the group of children that will be there and the child you're taking care of will come up to accept the present and formally meet you."

One of the producers handed each of the girls a different colored wrist band so they would know what color cards to look for while Sooyoung and Yuri explained their day's mission.

Seojin eagerly put on her light blue wrist band. She had made an appearance on Running Man before and was ready to race through the museum to find the cards she needed; she only hoped she didn't accidentally knock someone over. Sometimes she could get pretty intense.

Chunhei inspected her pink wrist band carefully before putting in on. She sort of tuned out Yuri and Sooyoung, but kept a smile on her face to avoid offending her sunbaes. She was planning her course through the museum. She had visited Seodaemun Museum of Natural History many times in school and was trying to recall as many obscure corners and hiding places where her cards could possibly be hidden.

Danbi smiled and bowed politely as she accepted her lavender wrist band, gently putting in on her wrist. She was too nervous to really concentrate on anything else said to her from that point and she wished she hadn't put her wrist band so soon. Whenever she got nervous, her skin got hot and the patch covered by the wrist band just seemed even more aggravated. She pushed her hair to cover her ears which she had no doubt were turning the tell-tale shade of pink like they always did when she was anxious about something.

Eunjin took her yellow wrist band and, instead of putting it on her wrist, she used it as a hair-tie. She pulled her long, wavy hair up into a high ponytail to show that she meant business. She couldn't wait to meet her family.

Sarah accepted her green wrist band and placed it on her wrist, fiddling with the other bracelets she was wearing until they all looked neat and very put together. The wrist band simply became part of her outfit. She wondered about the green color, though. It wasn't a very girly shade of green and she got a little excited, thinking that the producers had possibly decided to pair her up with a little boy. She wasn't good with kids period, but she thought a boy would be easier to handle than a girl.

"Do you guys have any questions before your get started?" Sooyoung asked once everyone had settled down.

"No, Sooyoung-ssi," the younger celebrities all said in unison.

"Alright then," said Yuri. She clapped her hands together in anticipated. "On the count of three, get out there and begin your first challenge!"

The girls lined up, ready to race through the museum, all anxious to see who they would be paired with and who their child would be. When they all appeared to be ready, Yuri began counting.

"1... 2 ... 3!"

And with that, the five girls and the camera crew began their race through the museum, trying their best not to disturb the kids and adults there on field trips.

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Seojin took off the fastest, her camera man barely able to follow her quick stride as she entered an exhibit that seemed to display the evolution of a colorful species of frog. She stopped and looked around, her eyes searching for anything that matched the blue of her wrist band, but was a bit dismayed since every single frog and plaquard in the room was also blue.

"Aish!" She screamed, earning the stern glance of an ahjumma who was their with a young girl. "Oh! This is harder than I thought it would be. There has to be one in here somewhere... Ah-ha!"

She looked up and saw a blue card stuffed in the open-mouth of one of the taxidermied frogs. She walked over and grabbed it, holding it over her head and giving out a little cry of happiness before holding the card at eye level to see what it said.

x    민    x

"Min..." she pondered aloud. "Taemin? Sungmin? Youngmin? Kwangmin? Minhyun? Minho? Minjun? Is it any of these?"

She looked to the camera man who simply shrugged his shoulders, not offering her any assistance.

"Fine, be that way," she huffed. "Come along! We have to find the rest of these!" She took off running once more, the camera man close behind.

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"You've got to be kidding me!" Danbi cried through gasps of breath and her constant laughter.

She found her first card, strategically placed within the rib cage of the skeleton of some kind of prehistoric bear. She didn't have to pick it up in order to read it.

x    권    x

"Is it even legal for you guys to touch the fossils like this?" Danbi wondered allowed. "Oh, I don't want to break it ... What do I do?" She took a deep, shaky breath as she tried to hold her hand steady so not to disturb the bones as she removed the purple card.

She only remembered to exhale when she had safely removed her hand from the fossil and had taken a few steps back. She looked at the card and pondered the lone syllable for a minute.

"Kwon... I'll bet this is his family name," she said to herself before continuing her trek through the museum. "What celebrities have the family name Kwon?"

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Eunjin bit her lip. She found one of her yellow name cards. Unfortunately, it was attached to a stroller being pushed by a rather young and petite looking woman. She debated whether or not she she grab the name card and run or if she should talk to the woman before touching her property, especially since she heard the disctinct sound of a baby laughing from the stroller.

She decided to go with the more polite option.

"Hello," she said, putting on her best smile and walking up to the woman. "My name is Bang Eunjin. How are you today?"

"I'm doing well, thank you," the woman replied. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, ma'm," said Eunjin politely. "I just wanted to pick up this yellow card that's stuck to to the side of your stroller. I'm filming this show, see, and my challenge is to collect three yellow cards with syllables on them."

"Oh, you're an idol?" the woman asked. "You look like an idol."

Eunjin blushed, but her smile grew wider, enjoying the compliment. "I'm actually an actress."

"I see," said the woman. "Can you act out something for me? If you act for me, then you can take the card."

Eunjin's jaw dropped at the request. She panicked for a moment until she remembered a scene from her recently completed drama Gu Family Book. She closed her eyes and focused as she got into the character. She opened her eyes and looked at the woman with a very serious expression as she began her monologue.

"I don't want to be a sad memory for you," Eunjin said, her voice quivering as she conveyed her character's sense of sadness with a hint of optimism and care. "I only want to be a happy one. I don't want to be your tears. I want to be your smile. I hope that whenever you think of me, you will be happy."

The woman clapped enthusiastically. "Wow! That was fantastic!" She picked the card off of the side of the stroller and presented it to the young actress. "It's all yours, Bang Eunjin. Fighting!"

"Thank you very much!" Eunjin bowed to the woman before eagerly reading the syllable on her card.

x    방    x

"I wonder if this is his last name..." Eunjin wondered. She smiled at the camera. "'Bang Couple' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

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Chunhei frowned. She had just spotted a pink card on the wall just in time to see a little girl pull the card from the wall and claiming it as her own. The girl had to be at least ten years old which, in Chunhei's eyes, meant that she knew so much better than to touch something that didn't belong to her.

"Yah! Little girl!" Chunhei shouted.

A few girls stopped in their tracks, not sure who was being addressed.

"You with the pink card!" Chunhei elaborated.

The girl with the card bit her lip nervously.

"That card was up there on the wall," said Chunhei sternly. "And it should stay on that wall. Do you understand? What you just did is called stealing and that's not a respectful thing to do, now is it?"

"N-No, Unnie," the girl stammered, her eyes b with tears.

"We'll keep it a secret between us and you won't get into any trouble if you give me that card," Chunhei said, much more gently than she had been before because she didn't want the girl to cry; she just wanted the card.

The girl quickly handed her the pink card as if it had suddenly caught fire and quickly turned around and ran away.

Chunhei smiled as she looked at the syllable on the card.

x    힘    x

"I can only think of one famous person who has this syllable in their name..." Chunhei mused. She gave the cameraman a sly grin. "Do I have to keep playing if I have a really strong guess who my partner is?"

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Sarah sat down and let out a frustrated groan. She had been searching for cards for what felt like hours and was still empty-handed. She had already passed by Seojin who had just finished collecting all three of hers and she could have sworn the other three girls had at least two of theirs. But there she was, sitting on a bench and ready to call it quits.

"Noona, are you okay?" a little boy asked. He had just separated himself from his classmates so he could look around at the geology exhibit more on his own while his teacher talked to the rest of his students.

"I'm tired," Sarah mumbled. "I'm looking for these little green cards and each card has a syllable on them and I haven't been able to find any of them."

"But Noona, there's a green card right beside you," the boy pointed out.

Sarah's eyes widened. She looked to her right and sure enough, there was a green card right next to her. How had she missed it?

She looked at her little helper and smiled. "Thanks for being helping me, you little genius."

She ruffled his hair before picking up the card.

x    스    x

Once again, she felt her frustration bubbling up once more. "What kind of name has that syllable in it?" Her curiosity instantly renewed her excitement to figure out who her husband would be. She stood up, once again eager to find all of the cards.

This time she would look in more obvious places.

Part 1 of episode 1, ya'll!
In the next part, everyone will meet their husbands so get pumped! c: