Running Man: Episode 107

by gummimochi

The Chaser is on the loose this week with one mission: to find the gold badge. But will the cast members be so easy to corner and catch? Do they even know who to trust?

EPISODE 107. Broadcast on August 19, 2012.

We open in a courtroom as guest Kim Sang-joong (The Chaser, City Hunter) receives his sentence and the staff plays some clips from Chaser: The Chaser.

8 years later, he’s finally released from prison and is greeted by his assistant, actress Jang Shin-young (The Chaser, Bride of the Sun). No tofu to commemorate a new start?

At the same time, we drop in on a trial that’s eerily similar to the one 8 years ago. The accused is PK Skull (cameo by reggae artist Skull and currently promoting with Haha) and Maknae FD presides as the judge.

Jae-suk arrives late and glares at PK Skull – he’s the one who ripped off his sister’s name tag (ha). The verdict? Not guilty.

In an uncontrollable rage, Jae-suk disarms the officer’s water gun, shoots it into the air, and then points it at PK Skull’s head. He demands that Skull admit to the crime, “From now on, I’m the prosecutor and this [gun] is the judge.”

Ha – you’re really going to copy the first five minutes of The Chaser aren’t ya? The two end up in a scuffle and suddenly, then PK Skull goes limp. Then we zoom in to see his name tag wet with green water as the speakers blare his elimination.

Jae-suk’s coworker (cameo by Jo Jae-yoon) holds the officers back as Jae-suk flees from the scene. Just then, he receives a package.

Sang-joong is given the lowdown of the situation – there’s an Important Press Conference held today and he’ll need a gold badge to get in. He offers to split the winnings with her but that’s not enough – she’s got her eyes set on gold.

She’ll have to prove her worth, he tells her, and then she can demand her price.

The package arrives …and the badge is missing. In its place is… a water gun? Ahaha. Without it the entire mission is useless and Sang-joong calmly asks for the delivery list.

At the same time, we see each of our Running Man cast members receive similarly shaped packages. And one of them has the gold badge. Sang-joong tells her, “The chase isn’t about me chasing after them. It’s about making them chase after me.”

We meet up with the top reporter of the Giraffe Times, Kwang-soo, who gets pushed around by the other reporters … and has a wardrobe malfunction.

Gary is due to go under something much more dramatic as Doc Maknae FD tells him they have to do a face-off. Right now. They wrap up his head and we hear Gary’s muffled cries of being transformed into a mix of Kang Dong-won and Won Bin. According to whose fantasy?

Surgery now complete, Doc Maknae FD unwraps the bandages to reveal… Gaeko (Dynamic Duo)? Well at least Gary/Gaeko seems to be pleased with the results.

As soon as Jae-suk takes out the car keys, he demands to know where the car is – don’t they know that he’s a fugitive on the run now? No time to dilly-dally in front of the courthouse!

Someone else has got the actual car and Jae-suk is legitimately surprised to hear that Kwang-soo has it. Kwang-soo tells him that he’s at the elementary school which just so happens to be right around the corner. Convenient, that.

Kwang-soo gets put to dongsaeng slave duty right away and they get a call from Jong-kook. First things first – they’ll need to pick up the members and Jong-kook breathes, “Remember to pick up Kwang-soo!”

They pick up Ji-hyo (whose hair I LOVE today) who has a navigation system but the downer is that “her friend” has the destination. The boys’ ears perk up at the sound of “friend” and immediately deflate when they hear it’s a guy.

I love it how the boys aren’t too keen to pick up the unknown guy friend but Ji-hyo’s all cool about it, telling Kwang-soo, “Then you can get off.” That comment throws him off enough that he unconsciously meddles with the car speaker to control the navi’s volume. So the verbal abuse begins again.

Sang-joong and Shin-young run through their plan in the car, reviewing each of the cast members’ personas. They get stuck on Suk-jin and Shin-young figures that he flip-flops depending on the situation.

Haha joins the party on the van in his blinged out wardrobe, adding a USB to their toolkit. Last one to join them is Suk-jin who’s got the moolah (and some food).

They stick the USB into the navi and Kim Sang-joong pops on their screen to deliver their mission: find the gold badge. The first step is to find a black box within the hour time limit or else it will self-destruct.

They head to the parking lot and start their search. Ever the Brain, Jong-kook tells them that it will be in a car that fits all of them (smart!) but poor Gaeko’s like, “What does a black box look like?!”

While they sift through the line of seemingly endless cars, the Chasers climb up the stairs… They carefully track the cast’s movements and set their sights on a target.

Sang-joong darts from his hiding place and takes down Kwang-soo. Woah, that’s so cool. Pinned to the floor, Sang-joong tells him to listen up, threatening him with the water gun.

Kwang-soo trembles and gives Sang-joong his full attention when he hears that slight rrrippp sound of his name tag.

He’s safe for now but is too scared to sit down (Shin-young: “It’s because you’re too tall!”) Aww how cute – Kwang-soo has Sohn Hyun-joo’s autograph on his cell phone case. Sang-joong isn’t jealous but finds that Kwang-soo’s clean of the gold badge.

They review today’s mission (Sang-joong: “What did I tell you on the USB?” Kwang-soo: ” … I forgot.”) and the Chasers are surprised to hear that Kwang-soo was given a car. Then to never give that sense of security, Sang-joong reminds Shin-young to keep the gun pointed at his name tag.

Sang-joong is well informed of Kwang-soo’s persona as a traitor and Kwang-soo tells him that the hyungs were making fun of how cool Sang-joong tried to act earlier. Sang-joong asks who said it. Answer: Kwang-soo.

Kwang-soo beams to hear that he’s the Chasers’ wild card but then tenses up again when Sang-joong tells him that he shouldn’t feel too safe since they have another way to eliminate him.

The cast is in luck and they find the black box. Inside is a cell phone with a video message from Shin-young. Only the members who successfully find the keys to their readied car will be able to proceed.

They worry for a minute about leaving without Kwang-soo and though Ji-hyo believes that he might have been kidnapped, the others think it’s more likely that he’s been bought.

In the car, Sang-joong is shocked to hear that Shin-young is Kwang-soo’s sunbae (She’s 29, he’s 28). They can’t believe how young he is and Sang-joong shakes his hand in sympathy, adding that he’s the poster boy for betrayal if his face already betrays him.

Kwang-soo calls the others and they can tell he’s acting right away. It’s oddly comforting to know that the members know each other so well that they can pick up when the other is lying.

Sang-joong hangs up on them (Kwang-soo: “They’ll get suspicious!”) and what I love most about him is how calm and rational he is. Unfortunately it doesn’t ebb away any of the suspicion and Kwang-soo tells him that they’re kinda onto him. How about they’re totally onto you?

When they arrive at the elementary school, Sang-joong asks if Kwang-soo is confident enough to grab Jong-kook. He stutters, “I-I’ll tryy…”

The car can only fit 5 people which means another member will be separated from the pack. They go over the secret code (Question:”Isn’t the weather cold?” Answer: “*cough**cough*”) and head out.

Jae-suk is the first to find a car key but it turns out to be the ajumma’s and they share an awkward moment. At least it’s better than Gaeko who seems to scare the living daylights out of every ajumma he meets.

Ji-hyo takes off running as the first person to acquire the car key. Soon, Jong-kook finds his as well but as he runs towards the car, he spots Kwang-soo in the distance.

Leave it to the Tiger to catch on that the Giraffe is trying to lure him in. He tells the other half of SpartAce as much and Ji-hyo lashes out, “What an awful jerk!”

He picks up Kwang-soo’s call and is immediately suspects his intentions. But before Kwang-soo can explain further, he hangs up… because he’s run right into Suk-jin.

Sang-joon is displeased that he’s picked up an Impala instead of a Tiger but in either case, the Chasers have kidnapped the Easy Brothers.

The remaining five climb in the car and receive another message from Shin-young. She tells them to keep their eyes on the prize to retrieve the gold badge.

Meanwhile, Shin-young is dying of laughter listening to the Easy Brothers talk fervently about how they’ve been transported into the story of The Chaser.

As soon as they arrive at their final destination, however, the Easy Brothers are dragged away.

The cast arrives some time later and raise their eyebrows at the screen where Kwang-soo and Suk-jin are tied up. Jae-suk: “Is this live or a recording?” Jong-kook: “Let’s just leave them be!”

Sang-joong explains to choose wisely because one hostage holds valuable information and the other is just a spy. Then Haha pipes, “Can’t you kill them both?!”

Sang-joong whispers in both of their ears about who’s who and the cast carefully watch the screen. Both of the Easy Brothers claim that they’re the useful pawn in this game. After some deliberation, they choose Suk-jin.

Wait, Sang-joong they meant that they want to save Suk-jin, not eliminate him! Sang-joong hesitates and Kwang-soo relentlessly tries to rip off Suk-jin’s name tag with his teeth.

And then Sang-joong just tears off Kwang-soo’s name tag and the speakers announce his declaration. He’s out of the game? Just like that? He cries: “But I haven’t done anything yet!!” Aww but hahaha.

Video Time is over and Maknae FD informs them that they’re in a security zone. They’ve got five seconds to run… go! The cast scatters.

Mr. PD says that from now on, the Chasers get to call the shots. Kwang-soo’s like, “What about me?” Mr. PD: “We’ve got the jail set up for you.” Giraffe spit.

The truth that he’s really out of the game leaves Kwang-soo dazed and he still doesn’t believe it when the men in black drag him away.

They let Suk-jin go and Sang-joong assures Shin-young not to worry because they’ll utilize the members on an as needed basis.

Jong-kook tries to draw up a gameplan and Haha tells him that the first thing they need is for Spartakooks to take out the bodyguards. So true.

In any case, they’ll need to find Suk-jin and Gaeko astutely points out that doing so could either help or hurt them.

Jae-suk manages to lose the bodyguards on his tail and meets up with the others, including Suk-jin. That valuable tidbit Suk-jin picked up? One of the members has the gold badge on their person.

We backtrack to this morning to find out who has the gold badge… and what do you know – it’s Jae-suk. He hands the box to VJ Kwon-ryul for safe-keeping.

Then we roll back to the present and Jae-suk has this look of, Oh crap! on his face. They start throwing out accusations but Sang-joong is drawing near and they run.

Jae-suk hides the gold badge on his microphone belt. He asks the PD what he has to do now and gets the answer, “Keep [the badge] safe.” Well, that’s mighty helpful.

He discovers the location for the press conference and deduces that all he has to do is stay in the game until the press conference begins.

Ji-hyo happens to drop by the jail where Kwang-soo is sitting alone. He isn’t too keen to share about what he heard so Ji-hyo shrugs her shoulders. He calls after her, “Don’t leave me! Talk to me!”

She tells him to give it to her straight, getting more frustrated when Kwang-soo tries to think of an answer. She’s nearly ready to leave again and then drops that she heard there’s a spy amongst them today.

That’s news to him and Ji-hyo guesses that Kwang-soo couldn’t possibly be a spy since he failed the last time. And Kwang-soo asks, “Did Suk-jin hyung succeed?” Good point.

She leaves him even more confused than ever and Kwang-soo requests that she at least send some visitors so that he can get some screentime.

Ji-hyo locks eyes with Shin-young as soon as she leaves. She backs away from the Chasers, wary.

The Chasers learn that Ji-hyo has yet to meet Suk-jin and know that the gold badge is amongst them so they decide to pull the Ace onto their side. She agrees to look for the badge together.

Sang-joong, why are you so funny? Shin-young admits that it feels like they’re twiddling their thumbs and so unlike the action she’s seen on Running Man. He allows her to go on her own but that time gets shortened from 30 to 20 to 10 minutes as they talk.

Sang-joong spooks Jae-suk and then listens carefully at Jae-suk’s accusation that Jong-kook has the badge. He asks what Sang-joong’s mission is and he sighs, “I don’t know. They asked me to be the Chaser and I’m here… chasing!”

They talk about how they need to trust each other, pretending to think of ways to take the other out. Jae-suk playfully taps Sang-joong’s back and he breaks into laughter. Ajusshi love, solidified.

Elsewhere, Shin-young is busy chasing down a group of the cast members with her water gun. She manages to catch up with Ji-hyo who asks while trying to catch her breath whether that something they’re looking for is somewhere or on someone.

Shin-young admits that it’s the latter and Sang-joong’s sudden appearance gets everyone riled up again. He calmly walks over as Shin-young tries to hold Ji-hyo down and then rips off her name tag. Guess that alliance is finished.

Haha and Gaeko figure that they can take on Sang-joong 2:1 but that doesn’t seem to scare the Chaser in the slightest. But something’s off as Haha begins to bark orders to Gaeko and then when Shin-young appears, he grabs ahold of Gaeko.

After Gaeko is eliminated, Haha whispers, “Sorry, I’m a spy…” Since when?!

Flashback to this morning where Haha gapes in appreciation to be today’s spy, “This is totally my specialty!” He then whips around to be stunned by Shin-young’s beauty. Careful there, Haroro – you’re a married man-to-be.

Haha names his price, ⅓ of the gold, and Sang-joong tells Haha to pledge his allegiance to him.

In the present, Gaeko hangs his head.

Haha wants to drive the game along and he proposes that he’ll lure each member in for easy elimination. He’s got every detail down to a T but Sang-joong is all, whatever, and then opens the door looking for Shin-young.

Haha cringes at their obvious and awkward acting. When they return he’s like, This isn’t how you do it! We can’t be seen together!

He heads out and like a parent, Sang-joong calls after him, “See you soon!”

Jae-suk is out of breath (perhaps after being chased by even more bodyguards) when he gets a call from Haha. They agree to meet and after they hang up, Haha resolutely proclaims, “You’ll see how much of a bad guy I am today.”

Haha informs Jong-kook and Suk-jin to meet at the same location and then arranges for the Chasers to stand by in the neighboring room.

In the room, Jae-suk shares a text from Kwang-soo and asks what they should do about it. Haha snorts in response and then drapes his feet across Jae-suk’s lap – yes what should they do?

The Chasers listen in from the other side of the door as Jae-suk tries to convince them to let him get a drink before he’s eliminated. Haha: “You can have one in jail!”

They search Jae-suk for the badge and then suddenly Jae-suk grabs Haha’s name tag and rips it off. Haha stares in shock but his back is still turned away from them.

Um yeah, it’s time to worry, Chasers ’cause your spy’s eliminated. Shin-young’s response? To laugh in disbelief.

Suk-jin gives a fist pump towards Sang-joong – he’ll make sure to take Jong-kook out. You and what army?

His and Jong-kook’s suspicions still fall on Jae-suk. They grab him and in their tussle, Jae-suk reminds Suk-jin that he’ll be easy prey if he’s left alone with Jong-kook. So Suk-jin attacks and nearly rips off Jong-kook’s name tag.

Aww and that face of shock and betrayal is priceless. First the Giraffe and now the Impala?

Jong-kook presents an enticing offer – he’ll make sure Suk-jin wins today. Done. They turn back to Jae-suk and eliminate him.

In jail, Jae-suk slips the gold badge into Suk-jin’s pocket and then acts as if Suk-jin had it on him the entire time. He totally falls for it, “Even the person who has it doesn’t realize that they do?”

He points out that Jong-kook will be targeting Suk-jin from now on and hands him the water gun with just enough solution for a one-time use.

The Chasers rack their brains trying to figure out who has the gold badge now and they wonder if the remaining two might not have it. Shin-young looks at Sang-joong with suspicion, “Sunbae… it’s not… you… right?”

To make things worse, Sang-joong suggests that Shin-young go and negotiate with Jong-kook without her trusty water gun. She cries, “How can you just take it away from me now?”

And in that same, calm tone he tells her that they have to go against the cast members’ expectations; they’ll think she has the water gun. He’s like, Can’t you just trust me?

She relents and then thinks aloud to herself how Sang-joong sunbae told her that he’d take all the responsibility. Does that mean he’ll try to claim victory for himself?

Sang-joong roams the halls, looking for the remaining duo when the speakers suddenly blare Jong-kook’s elimination. Eh?

Shin-young runs into Suk-jin and throws up her hands – she’s unarmed and alone. Suk-jin tells her that he eliminated Jong-kook (and a flashback confirms this) and promises that he’ll make sure she wins IF she takes Sang-joong out.

Without her gun, she’s got nothing but her strength. Suk-jin shakes his head and promises to keep his word.

Sang-joong spots them in a distance and pinpoints where Suk-jin is hiding. He taunts that Suk-jin can’t possibly stay there forever because the press conference will start soon.

Suk-jin cracks open the door and whispers something we don’t get to hear… then rrrriiiipppp! Sang-joong whips around and Shin-young runs with his name tag in hand.

All he can do is let out a laugh of disbelief.

Suk-jin and Shin-young circle each other and he reminds her that he has no problem with eliminating women. He flashes the badge at her and then attacks.

Shin-young squeals and starts shooting her water gun like crazy. She holds him off (Suk-jin: “Why are you so strong?!”) and the water gun slips from her hands and she begins to rip off Suk-jin’s name tag…

At the press conference, Shin-young stands on top of the podium and declares, “Do you want to become a righteous Running Man member? I’ll make that happen!”

The others gripe at the use of such a famous line but that doesn’t change the ending. Shin-young is the winner as the Ultimate Chaser.

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