Jong Kook and Kwang Soo arrive back at Running Man shoot location just a couple of minutes behind Jae Suk and Suk Jin. Gary and Haha follow, one behind the other. Ji Hyo, as usual, takes her time to arrive.

The men pass the time by chatting and poking fun at each other. One particular dig at Jong Kook's still-damp hair has him beckoning to his coordinator for a hat, pulling it low over his eyes in annoyance.

"If Kwang Soo didn't spend half the day flirting with himself in the mirror, I would have had time to fix it," he huffs in annoyance.

"Hyung!" Kwang Soo defends himself. "I could barely stand up after that workout this morning, I needed the hot water to recuperate."

"I worked out, too!"

"Yeah, but you clearly had something else on your mind. Gary hyung, ask him."

"No, no way," Gary replies. "I'm done with that."

"Seriously!," Kwang Soo urges. "Haha hyung. Ask him. Just one more time."

Kim Jong Kook's face is flaming.

"Uuuuhhwaahhh," Haha exlaims. "Look at his face! He did it! He actually did it!"

"Oh my God!," Gary bellows. He and Haha each grab an arm, leading Jong Kook to a nearby bench. They each press a hand to one of his shoulders, thumping him down on the seat and crowding around him. Kwang Soo follows with an almost gleeful bounce in his step.

"Tell us all of it," Haha demands. 

"Wait, wait, me, too!" Ji Hyo comes running up to the group, out of breath. "Oppa! Did I miss anything?"

Jong Kook laughs self-consciously. "No, not yet."

"So talk!," Gary shouts. "We've been waiting for you to do this forever."

"Okay, okay," Jong Kook smiles. "I sent her an email last night."

"I made him do it!," Kwang Soo interjects proudly.

Jong Kook nods once in acknowledgement of Kwang Soo's part in the miracle. "And she replied this morning," he finishes.

"That's it?" Haha is disappointed.

"She said she wants to get together. SHE said that. SHE wants to get together with ME." Jong Kook is still in a bit of a state of disbelief that all he's been waiting for is finally happening.

Four hands rise simultaneously and he high fives his friends one at a time.

A coffee suddenly appears at Ji Hyo's elbow and she steps aside. "Good morning, Cherry, THANK YOU," she says, accepting the coffee gratefully. The assistant is still wearing the same clothes as this morning, but looks a bit less exhausted. She has an enormous iced coffee of her own in her hand.

"Yah, Charity, didn't you have a cup of coffee already this morning?," Jong Kook chides.

She rolls her eyes at him as she turns to walk away without answering.

"Oppa!" Ji Hyo exclaims. "Did you make my assistant mad?"

Jae Suk and Suk Jin approach the group as the woman walks away.

"Yah, Jong Kookie, did you forget you met Cherry again?" Jae Suk is clearly amused.

"How does EVERYONE know her except for me?" Jong Kook bursts out in frustration. 

Suk Jin shakes his head. "You're a bad man, Kim Jong Kook."

The Running Men move in front of the cameras to do the show opening. While listening to instructions, Jong Kook glances across the space to watch Charity speaking with Ji Hyo's coordinator and her manager. No matter how hard he's thought about it, he really can't remember meeting her before yesterday. She turns her head from the conversation for a moment and they make eye contact. She opens her eyes widely and blinks slowly at him as she raises her straw to and drains the last quarter of the enormous coffee. She smirks and turns away again.

He shakes his head and directs his focus back to what's happening with the show.

On a brief break, Kwang Soo, Gary, and Haha are huddled around Jong Kook and his phone, all with varying opinions on what he should write back to Hannah.

Gary says, "You've got to be cool. Just tell her, 'Sure, we can have a meal together,' and leave it at that."

"No, no, no," Haha disagrees for the thirtieth time. "There's no point in playing it cool. He should say, 'I'll come pick you up at the airport and take you to look at apartments for us to live in forever.' OOF." The air is knocked out of the little man as Jong Kook elbows him in the ribs.

"What did Cherry say, hyung?," Kwang Soo asks.

Haha and Gary lift their heads in shock. "Cherry spoke to you?," Haha asks. "After what a jerk you always are to her?"

"I'm not a jerk!," Jong Kook protests. "I just... I'm a jerk," he admits sheepishly. "But she did talk to me a bit this morning. She said that I should invite Hannah to someplace I feel comfortable and would have a social upper hand."

Kwang Soo laughs. "So what are you going to do, invite her to your gym?" The two other men laugh as well.

Jong Kook is silent.

"Hyung! You can't!," Haha shouts in disbelief.

"It's a good idea! Hannah likes to work out and eat healthy, so I can take her to my gym and then to get some food together. It will work because if it's a little awkward, we don't have to talk as much while we work out."

"Plus you'll get to see her in workout clothes." Kwang Soo waggles his eyebrows and Jong Kook lifts a threatening hand, already feeling protective of Hannah.

"Let me read you what I've got." Jong Kook looks down at his phone.

Hey, Hannah,

Congratulations. I knew you'd make it. 

How can I contact you when you get to Korea? Do you need help getting set up with a phone and service? Let me know, I'd be happy to help.

Until then, why don't you download the Kakao app? It's how I keep in touch when I'm traveling. 

My name on there is kjk76. Message me when you can. When you get here, I'll take you to my gym and then to lunch so you can get a feel for the area.

See you soon,

Kim Jong Kook (from Korea)

The men look back and forth between each other while Jong Kook waits for the verdict.

"I think..." Kwang Soo starts.

"Oh, no, I sent it!" Jong Kook starts frantically jabbing at buttons on his phone. He looks up at his friends desperately. "I actually sent it! How do I get it back?"

Gary and Haha double over in laughter at the older man's distress.

"I guess you're definitely taking her to the gym now, you weirdo," Gary wheezes between laughs.

Jong Kook drops his head into his hands and Haha pats him on the back consolingly. "There's nothing you can do about it now, hyung. It's fine. The email was fine. You're going to be fine."

Jong Kook lifts his head hopefully. "You think so?"

"Offering to help with phone service was a nice gesture," Kwang Soo says brightly.

"And Kakao Talk, too," Gary picks up on what Kwang Soo is trying to do. "She'll need that. She'll remember you suggested it when she finds it useful."

The three other men cast each other looks that Jong Kook doesn't fail to notice. He groans and drops his head in his hands again.

Kwang Soo and Gary look at Haha expectantly. He shrugs. "I'm sure you... spelled everything correctly. She'll like that."

The PD calls them back over to finish filming. Jong Kook runs his hands over his face and trudges over, spending the next couple of hours deliberately setting the debacle out of his mind.

Filming stretches late into the evening for the second day in a row. Everyone is exhausted by the end, trudging away from the cameras and toward their belongings. Cherry appears at Ji Hyo's elbow out of nowhere, immediately launching into a quiet discussion about the next day's packed schedule. The increasingly popular actress hardly ever takes a break