Ch.99Who are you guys?

Teasing by association is a long-standing Korean tradition that occurs when a boy and girl who look good together are spotted.

Even just walking to school together can lead to misunderstandings and teasing about dating. The way to counter this teasing is to confront it head-on.

‘If you respond ambiguously, you leave room for speculation, but if you just boldly admit it, there’s nothing left to tease about.’

So I immediately responded directly to the joke.

“Yes, that’s fine. Sujin is cute and pretty, after all.”

If there was an unexpected variable…

“Hiyat?!”

It was Sujin making a cat-like sound in surprise. But aside from that, the atmosphere seemed to settle down somewhat.

“Wow, Donghu, you’re such a man! A real man! Huh?!”

“Whoa, this is amazing. Hey Jiseok, you can’t tease them about this anymore, can you?”

“Seoksam, please stay out of it.”

“…”

They were clearly seasoned entertainment veterans, and their back-and-forth banter was no joke.

“Even so, in a place like this… hey, is this really okay to broadcast?”

“Isn’t this a public confession?”

“No, why is saying someone is cute and pretty a confession? Come on, you’re all so mean!”

When they subtly tried to probe my intentions, I nodded willingly.

“That’s right, I just said it because she’s pretty and cute.”

“This guy… handsome face and straightforward talk… you’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

“Seoksam.”

“Yes?”

“Please stay out of it.”

“…”

Normally, the atmosphere would settle down here and the opening would begin, but thanks to Sujin’s sharp reception, a spark was rekindled in one corner.

“But you know, Sujin seems really surprised. She looks quite flustered, don’t you think we should hear her thoughts?”

“Ah, um, well, uh…”

Perhaps I was too direct. Sujin was still blushing furiously and looked completely flustered.

It was a bit difficult to expect a reaction from her. At that moment, as if they’d been waiting, the members quickly stepped in again.

“Hyung, why are you asking for thoughts like she’s some teenage girl? Just let it go.”

“Gukjong, then if I asked about your love life…”

“Hyung, I’ve already made a fist.”

“…Did I ever mention how glad I am that I was born before you?”

After changing the mood with some laughter, MC Yu Jiseok continued before the real opening.

“Well then, before we start today’s Rushman! We should hear your determination! Let’s start with Donghu!”

This is what real entertainment shows are like. Feeling that, I said exactly what I wanted to say.

“I’ve always wanted to rip off nametags because I’ve been a fan for so long. So I really want to tear off multiple nametags today!”

“Ah, nametag ripping! Speaking of which, I have to mention that our Donghu is actually a youth boxing championship winner.”

How about a quick shadow boxing demonstration?

It was time for self-promotion. Like someone who had been waiting for this moment, I quickly jumped to the center and started shadow boxing.

No need to do it for long, just about 10 seconds lightly.

As I threw punches into the air concisely, there were exclamations of “Ooh!” around me. Taking that as my cue to stop, I immediately ceased and gave a polite bow.

“…Can I call you hyung?”

“Kangsu, come on, why would you call Donghu hyung?”

“But he’s so… so scary?”

“Handsome face, good at fighting, he’s like a manga character… maybe I could also…”

“Seoksam.”

“…Stay out of it?”

“If you know, then stay out.”

“…”

After that, Sujin was asked similar questions. She mentioned that she had been practicing running intensively for this day, and with that, the official opening of Rushman began.

“Hello, dear viewers! Today on Rushman! As we introduced earlier! With these rising superstars! Supernova actors! We’re going to run wild! Let’s go go go!”

“Before we start, let me first explain the penalty.”

“…Wait, we just did the opening, and we’re already talking about penalties?”

“Yes, today’s Rushman penalty is that the losing team will do a light bungee jump.”

“Bungee jumping is… pretty intense…”

“No exceptions for our guests.”

While sighs were flowing at PD Ji Yujin’s words, Sujin quietly came to my side and spoke to me.

“Have you ever done bungee jumping?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Me neither. This is bad…”

Seems like she’s afraid of this kind of thing.

‘Sujin really is cute.’

After muttering that to myself, it was time to divide into teams. Just as I was about to consider how to distribute team members, PD Ji Yujin spoke again.

“Kim Gukjong, who was the penalty recipient last time, will get to choose team members.”

“Wait, isn’t it obvious who he’ll pick first? That’s so unfair…”

“Then I’ll take Donghu, he seems like he’ll be really good.”

“Is this balanced? It seems seriously skewed! Jiseok hyung! Do something about this!”

“This won’t work. Kangsu, we’ll go with the Romeo and Juliet strategy. I’ll take Sujin!”

And then chaos erupted. There was nothing Sujin and I could do here, so we just stood still and watched as the teams naturally divided.

The result was 3:6.

The 3 was me, senior Kim Gukjong, and senior Kang Giri. The 6 was everyone else except us three.

“Hey, why does it look so disadvantageous when the numbers are just double?”

While everyone was awkwardly laughing at the words of the entertainment senior nicknamed “Kid,”

“Now I’ll explain today’s mission.”

PD Ji Yujin continued with the explanation.

“Since we’re at SKS Broadcasting Station, today’s mission will be a game of tag throughout the entire building.”

“So that’s why the teams are divided like this? Then the team of three will be the chasers, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But there will be some penalties for the chasers.”

“PD-nim, there are only three of us, why give us penalties too? Are you joking?”

“Gukjong, he’s still the PD, don’t be like that…”

“The penalty is…”

I listened attentively to understand how today’s filming would proceed.

‘So that’s why we’re filming at dawn.’

That way, there would be no restrictions during the tag game since there would be no employees coming to work.

‘The chasers wear bells and can tear off nametags, while the runners need to find video tapes hidden in the broadcasting station.’

It could be seen as an appropriate combination of treasure hunting and tag.

‘The chasers know which floor the tapes are on, and the runners know the exact locations.’

One might think the chasers could just wait and catch them, but there were 5 tapes to find and 22 floors. Simply lying in wait could lead to defeat due to the numerical disadvantage.

The runners couldn’t tear off nametags, but they could certainly resist in other ways.

“The chasers will start from the 22nd floor, and the survivors will start from the 1st floor. After about 20 minutes of strategy meeting time, we’ll begin right away.”

“Yes!”

By the time I finished organizing my thoughts, a few more rules were introduced, and Sujin and I were separated. At that point, I had one thought:

‘Even if I catch Sujin, I’ll just let her go.’

Got to make sure there’s enough content for the broadcast.

+++++

After Kim Donghu and Kim Sujin were separated, the six survivors, or rather the mission team, before starting their official strategy meeting:

“By the way, you said you trained, right, Sujin?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“Did you perhaps train with Donghu?”

MC Yu Jiseok, the romantic from Will You Marry Me?, started teasing.

Now that the straightforward manly Kim Donghu was gone, it was the perfect environment to tease Kim Sujin.

“Um… yes… Donghu runs really well, and he told me I run well too, that I’m at a level 3.”

“What was your time?”

“I did 3km in 15 minutes.”

While the men were all nodding in understanding, actress Cheon Suyeon, the only woman in the group, voiced her confusion.

“…Why is that level 3? For a woman, isn’t that special level?”

“What?”

“I think Donghu rated you by male standards…”

That kind of running ability for a woman is good enough for track and field. While everyone was surprised, Kim Sujin was equally shocked.

“What? Really?!”

“That’s incredibly fast running, to the point where you couldn’t not know.”

“I didn’t know I was fast because Donghu is so much faster…”

“How fast is Donghu then?”

“When he ran with me… he did 3km in 10 minutes.”

“What?! 3km in 10 minutes?!”

This time, all five except Kim Sujin were surprised.

And for good reason—3km in 10 minutes. Even people who don’t know much about running understand that’s impressive.

“Man, we’re in trouble. Can we even escape from Donghu and Gukjong?”

“3km in 10 minutes is like a cheetah, a cheetah. This is serious trouble. Kangsu, can you do something with your legs?”

“Hyung! At that level, leg length doesn’t matter! Wow, amazing. But is Donghu a track athlete? I thought he was an actor!”

“I just don’t understand!”

Why is he a boxing champion and also so good at running! Handsome face, good acting—shouldn’t that be enough? Why invade other people’s territories!

While everyone was agreeing with the words of the annoyed “Kid” Haha hyung,

“Also, Donghu won the Golden Bell too, hehe.”

Kim Sujin’s random comment popped out. Everyone who heard it thought:

‘What, is she bragging about her boyfriend?’

Who do you think you are?