Note: A dry chapter. I need it to bridge the upcoming chapters. (Uhoh) Well, here you go.

After their return to Korea, they had two additional weeks off before they had to return to the reality of working. But those two weeks passed so quickly, and it was already time for them to go back to work. For some reason, Running Man was scheduled to film from an evening, and they didn’t do much but gather and went to bed in their own respective rooms. They were woken up at dawn, when they were still in their deep sleep. Everyone woke up lazily, the PDs still woke them up one by one. The members than gathered and the PDs greeted them. Their eyes were still heavy, their faces bloated from the short sleep.

“Good morning, everyone.” They said. “We hope you had a pleasant sleep.” They then laughed, knowing that the cast did not have a decent sleep.

“What do you mean by “pleasant sleep”? Are you joking right now?” Jaesuk said, joking around in his early morning mood. “This is 4 in the morning, why did you even wake us up?” He asked.

“We woke you up so we can wrap up early today.” They replied again. Gary didn’t listen to the conversation, his ears were clogged by his tire and sleepiness. He was unconsciously interlocking his fingers with Jihyo’s as he stood next to her, who was slightly more awake than he was. It wasn’t that she wasn’t sleepy, but she was quite used to having herself waken up in the middle of the night for a shoot. She looked at him and patted his back, then turning her attention back to the PDs and Jaesuk.

“Excuse me, you two, but do you really miss each other that much from having been separated for only one night?” Haha pointed out. The others directed their attention to the two and Jihyo was flustered. Gary just looked up at them, looking clueless.

“I don’t get why you still give them two separate rooms.” Sukjin said.

“Ah, hyung! What are you saying? Stop promoting these kinds of things on TV.” Kwangsoo said in his usual, exaggerated tone. The others laughed at Kwangsoo. “We have a lot of under-aged viewers! Andwae!” He said, exaggerating it, annoying everyone in the morning. But it was so annoying that it was hilarious, they just laughed at him.

“What am I doing? I just asked. You’re the one who’s making it inappropriate for young audience!” Sukjin said, replying to Kwangsoo. With his laughter held back, Jaesuk stopped the two from going any further.

“Enough, enough.” Jaesuk said, chuckling. “These two really… They start their fights from early in the morning.” He said and ended the topic on that note. He then remembered, “Ah, that’s right! Why don’t you two clarify what’s going on? Those things that’s been circling around the news.” He hinted at the rumors of their rings. Being asked so suddenly, the two were rather surprised. Gary, being the usual Gary, was flustered and didn’t know the exact words to say. Jihyo just flashed him her mong face. After a moment of hesitation, the two finally stepped up. It was about time to tell people anyway.

“So there’s been a news going around about our rings.” Gary said as he showed his finger on camera. He then took Jihyo’s hand and showed her ring too as her mind seemed to have dozed off while they were all conversing. She then looked up when her hand was brought up and laughed. “We’d just like to clarify that we are in fact married.” He said, then turning towards the back with Jihyo right away. He was chuckling. “Oh, so awkward!” He said quite loudly. The others laughed at the two, it was awkward because the rest had known and attended their wedding after all.

“Why don’t you bow and ask for their blessing? You two started seeing each other from this show anyway.” Jaesuk suggested and they nodded. They resumed their position and bowed, asking the audience for their blessings.

“Yeah! We will be getting another family member soon!” Haha shouted, acting in his childish ways. The rest just laughed at him, the two of them included. Jongkook, who was standing next to the PDs suddenly laughed, looking at the PDs.

“Do you know what they just said?” Jongkook said asking the rest about the PDs. They all asked him what they were talking about. And Jongkook quoted the PDs, “Ah, that’s right. If they have a baby soon then we’ll have to replace Jihyo, at least for a while if she’s planning to come back after. Will our ratings drop?” He finished the sentence and everyone laughed. They knew the PDs were joking, but it was so outrageous.

After wrapping up with the opening scene, they all proceeded to the first location. It was an individual game, and they were all asked to go around the area, looking for a partner. There are 7 guests that had come out to the show and for the day, they were allowed to choose any of these 7. Well, based on who they found, really.

Gary snickered around the main ballroom, checking carefully under each tablecloth to see if there was someone around. No one. He then checked around the corners and the possible hiding spots, but maybe those were too obvious. Gary had missed his possible partner by looking too quickly. He left the room without finding Jo Jungsuk hiding under one of the tables.

Jihyo saw Gary left without a partner and found it suspicious. She peeked into the room, and was baffled by the amount of tables there were. No wonder Gary wanted to leave right away. She then started searching each table, carefully, maintaining her ace image. Gary, on the other hand, just happened to run into Lee Dongwook as he was about to move to another hiding spot, tired of waiting when no one comes around. He knew th