Running Man: Episode 239

by gummimochi

Our cast is in for a dark night ahead of them, hunting down keys they need to get one step closer to getting their hands on some gold. While getting richer brings joy at first, it’s soon followed by a sense of anxiety as that pot gets ever larger. One lucky card can change their fate in an instant, and they’ll need to guard their own stash and themselves if they ever want to see a penny of those riches.

EPISODE 239. Broadcast on March 23, 2015.

We meet our secret agents via a stylish comic strip intro: Agent Kwang-soo emerges from a fishnet, spitting up water from his 58-hour swim. Looking at the rock-climbing wall, Haha asks if he’s being punished. But there’s another helmet beside his own, which makes for a perfect segue to meet our first guest, UFC fighter Kim Dong-hyun, aka “Stun Gun.”

Haha’s excited at the possibility of teaming up with the fighter today—but alas, today’s mission will be every agent for his or herself.

Our second guest Sung Shi-kyung greets Jae-suk at the energy center. It takes a few seconds for him to catch on to this week’s spy theme, confused by the “Agent Sung” address, and Jae-suk jokes that it’s because he’s been spending too much time sittin’ in the studio with MC Shin Dong-yup (on Witch Hunt).

When Jae-suk makes fun of his all-black wardrobe, however, Shi-kyung dishes it right back, pointing (to Jae-suk’s black trench coat): “And these are spy clothes? It looks like a hotel bathrobe.”

With that, it’s time for our agents to get hustlin’ on their morning mission: find the secret keys. The Monday Couple is taken aback at the realization of diving into a literal shark tank while at Namsan Tower, Jong-kook is dumbfounded at the tens of thousands of padlocks that cover the safety fence.

At the prospect of swiping keys from the animal suited extras, Shi-kyung brightly asks if they can stun guns. Haha. Flagging down the costumed extras turns out to be no easy task, and when he tells Shi-kyung that something must be up with the super strong rabbit, Shi-kyung shuts down the idea: “No, it was just a strong guy.”

Meanwhile, the Monday Couple suit up in scuba gear and dive into the tank, searching the chests for keys. Both come up for air not long afterwards with keys in hand and pretty cool underwater experience.

Over in Incheon, the Easy Brothers climb into a cabin and check the box as soon as they settle in… only to find that it’s empty. Which means they have to sit around for ten whole minutes until the ferris wheel completes a rotation.

Both Kwang-soo and Suk-jin admit that this is their first ferris wheel ride ever, and the lovey-dovey muzak only adds to the already awkward mood. Kwang-soo spots a scribble that says, “Jae-suk oppa,” which makes him warily wonder if it could’ve been one of Jae-suk’s exes. Dude, those be dangerous waters you encroach upon.

Ten minutes later, they climb into another cabin. But that box is empty too, which means another turn ’round the wheel. So the guys shoot the breeze by talking about their first loves, which were both noonas at the time. Reflecting upon how much time has passed since then, Suk-jin admits, “She’ll turn 60 soon.” Lol.

Over at the rock-climbing wall, Haha climbs about two feet before declaring that he can’t go any further. Dong-hyun climbs ahead of him and grabs his own key, and down below, Haha cries that he’ll do anything if Dong-hyun grabs his key for him too.

And what does Dong-hyun want? “Can you set me up with someone?” HA, you’re asking the best man for the job, that’s for sure. See Evidence A and B here. Haha: “I’ll give you all the numbers in my phone!”

Up on Namsan Tower, Jong-kook wonders to himself if those couples who break up come back to unlock their padlocks. But he manages to find the right lock, and so Jong-kook along with our rock climbers move on.

Meanwhile, Jae-suk is still suspicious about that energetic rabbit. He gives chase and flags the animal down, but it turns out the blue key belongs to Shi-kyung instead. When Jae-suk cries out that he was the one to find it, Shi-kyung calmly replies, “And I found you find it.”

So all that work was practically for naught, and then Jae-suk cries for help when he finds himself in a tussle with a resistant sheep later on. Shi-kyung does come to his aid and they both get to move on.

The Easy Brothers are already on their eighth attempt when we check in with them again. They finally find the keys that they were looking for, but then realize that they have to ride the wheel for the ninth time. Oh god, that’s 90 minutes.

Everyone gathers together again later that evening, where Haha confesses that he couldn’t make a squeak next to Dong-hyun and Jae-suk is teased yet again for his trench coat. When Taek PD jumps straight into the intro, Shi-kyung asks why he didn’t take a minute to introduce the guests or anything. To that, Jae-suk says, “It’s because you’ve spent too much time in the studio.”

Our secret agents are up for one last job in this Hunters of the Key Race with a large sum of gold waiting at the end of the line. Those secret keys of theirs will come in handy, and there will be an additional mission which gives our agents an opportunity to acquire yet another key.

Shi-kyung raises a hand to ask a question: “Are you really not going to hold a check-in?” He insists that it’s because he hasn’t seen people in a while and a fan of Dong-hyun’s, then finishes, “I don’t even have an album out [to promote]!” Hehehe.

That mission will be to run a key-shaped track, pass two zones of flipping the other person over), then cross the finish line first. Dong-hyun brightens at the chance to take on Jong-kook, who cries, “I’m a singer!”

But Dong-hyun jokes that Jong-kook’s stature qualifies him as a professional athlete. Jae-suk: “Jong-kook’s an athlete who sings well.”

Once outside, Jae-suk, Shi-kyung, and Dong-hyun are up for the first round. Dong-hyun runs straight for Ji-hyo and softly drops her to the ground before running off. Haha yelps that Shi-kyung is surprisingly strong, and Jae-suk gets left behind.

In an unexpected turn of events, Dong-hyun chooses to take on Gary next instead. It’s a smart move, and he crosses the finish line first.

Before the second round, Kwang-soo, Haha, and Ji-hyo all scooch over to Jae-suk’s side at the start. When the other choices are Dong-hyun and Shi-kyung, I can’t say that I blame them. All three charge at Jae-suk. Hahaha.

Kwang-soo switches opponents, only to get easily taken down both times. Ji-hyo pulls ahead moments later and stalls at Zone 2: Suk-jin, Jong-kook, or Gary? She picks Gary when he whispers at her, and seeing both of them on the ground has Shi-kyung call out that THAT’s “a green light.”

So Ji-hyo crosses the finish line, and it really does look like the Monday Couple has each other’s backs when Ji-hyo returns the favor for Gary in Round 3.

Dong-hyun and the Monday Couple are up in the final round, and it sure seems like Dong-hyun has got his eye on Jong-kook now. The whistle blows and the first three fall to the ground in quick succession.

But it’s the second zone we’re interested in, and Jong-kook prepares to meet his match. While Dong-hyun takes on Jong-kook and Gary wrestles with Kwang-soo, Shi-kyung falls to the ground easily, allowing Ji-hyo to go ahead and take the win.

She picks up Key Number 7, and with that the crew moves on to the second half of the mission: The Dark Night. Everyone gets separated (though without much grumbling first. Jae-suk: “We didn’t even do anything wrong this time!”) to listen to the final mission in their separate corners.

All of our agents are given one gold coin, and their job here is to hunt down the other gold hidden throughout the building and end up with the most gold. However, each hiding place is locked with two padlocks, which means they’ll need two keys to open them.

Once they open one lock, they’ll obtain a hint about the other key that they’ll need. And if that weren’t enough, both key owners must be present to open the cabinets containing cards that teaches ways to increase their gold. So the more cabinets they open, the more ways to add to their pot.

Lastly, the currency exchange station will open up once the time limit is up. The one with the most gold at the end, wins.

Our agents head out as soon as the game starts, and Ji-hyo shows us that she’s got two keys: Numbers 1 & 7. Neither of her keys work on the first cabinet she sees. Shi-kyung, on the other hand, discovers his first clue about Bruce Willis and ghosts, which means he needs someone holding Key Number 6.

Jae-suk contemplates his hint (“swan”) for a moment before realizing that the bird also looks like a 2. So he goes asking around for the owner of Key 2, and Dong-hyun goes pale. Hahaha. Both men open up the cabinet together where they’re met with another surprise: only one of the two cards are useful.

Per Jae-suk’s request, the men switch cards. Although Dong-hyun initially looks upset at the dud, he then reads the back… which states that he can now start rippin’ name tags and thus take his opponent’s gold. Oho.

So Dong-hyun now has this ear-splitting grin on his face as he approaches Jae-suk. The UFC fighter points out that there’s no benefit to him letting Jae-suk go, but he does in the end—though not without a little scare with a pitter-patter of feet. Heeee.

While Jae-suk uses his triple chance card right away, Ji-hyo and Suk-jin open up another cabinet. Despite letting Suk-jin get her first pick, Ji-hyo ends up with the double card anyway. She picks up another coin and apologizes to Suk-jin on-camera.

Jae-suk keeps collecting hints while Gary takes his chance to increase his stash by fivefold. Remember that tidbit about ripping each other’s nametags? While it allows the taker to acquire the eliminated’s gold, it conversely renders the eliminated’s key extinct.

Shi-kyung runs into Ji-hyo by the elevator, and it’s only after she has him pinky-swear not to tell him who has Key 7, does she confess that it’s her. He’s annoyed, but Ji-hyo says she had to because she’s sharing that number with someone else.

It just so happens that Gary is the other owner of Key 7, but for now they head over to open the cabinet together. Shi-kyung ends up with a dud, and after another on-camera apology, Ji-hyo increases her pot to four coins.

Haha immediately knows that he needs Dong-hyun upon seeing his hint, since the two exchanged intel sometime earlier. Dong-hyun goes ahead to swipe his card first, leaving Haha with the dud. Then Dong-hyun uses his double card to bring his count up to six.

Haha finally gets a double card thanks to Jong-kook, who says he only has one coin… so he’ll take those coins from Haha now. Er oh, you’re going to rip his nametag off, aren’t you? Aww, Haha looks like he’s about to cry.

Jong-kook allows Haha safe passage if he gives up that precious coin he acquired not just five minutes ago. So Haha reluctantly hands it over and keeps his back against the wall to slink out in safety.

Kwang-soo is frustrated at getting another dud card, but that’s still better than Dong-hyun, who’s forced to forfeit all of his coins apart from one. Dong-hyun appeals to Kwang-soo for a coin, and when Kwang-soo gets reluctant, Dong-hyun asks, “Do you want me to take away one or two?”

Then with a bright smile he adds, “Hand it over while I’m asking nicely…” Haha. Handing it over, Kwang-soo notes, “It’s like having two Jong-kooks [running around].”

It’s only when Dong-hyun steps away does he ask the staff if it’s okay to steal coins this way. Shi-kyung enlists Jae-suk’s help, though on their way to the cabinet, he complains that dropping people into a game without any explanations is no way to treat a guest.

Shi-kyung even thought that being on Running Man meant you couldn’t take the elevator too. Jae-suk says one must, to which Shi-kyung fires back, “Then this show would be called Elevator Man!”

Ji-hyo brightens when she finds a cabinet that she can open on her own, though that smile quickly fades when Gary saunters in moments later. She politely sends him on his way, then gets a double card, giving her 8 coins in total.

Jae-suk goes on a good luck streak with his cards, and before we know it, he’s already up to 24 coins. But Shi-kyung is quick to catch up and overcome him with 36 coins.

Poor Kwang-soo and Haha exchange sad stories about being stripped of their gold from Dong-hyun. Kwang-soo takes creative liberty with his story, however, and the two gripe together about how people are just going about bending the rules.

Kwang-soo: “Those people should end up in prison!” Says the Betrayal Icon. His luck doesn’t change though, because Kwang-soo gets yet another dud.

Conversely Haha picks up a card which allows him to know the current ranking of gold coins. Jae-suk slips away after picking up his double card and another 24 coins. His total of 48 frankly makes him a little nervous… and he should be because now Haha knows that the grasshopper is hoarding the most.

It’s a little funny how both the staff member and Haha burst into giggles at hearing that Haha and Kwang-soo are dead last with one coin each. Kwang-soo’s eyes grow wide at hearing that first place currently has 48 coins, and Haha enlists Kwang-soo to join him.

Haha confronts Jae-suk the next time they run into each other, but chooses his words wisely. Jae-suk has to restrain himself when he hears that Haha knows what the current ranking is, and pretends to be surprised at hearing his own total of 48 coins.

In an attempt to save his own skin, Haha shares his list with Dong-hyun. He also recruits him as an ally to go and take on Jae-suk, which Dong-hyun agrees with, since Kwang-soo and Haha are too poor to steal from anyway.

What luck—the trio runs into Jae-suk as soon as they step off of the elevator. Kwang-soo is taken aback to learn that Jae-suk is the one they’ve been looking for. They all corner Jae-suk, and then Kwang-soo rips off Haha’s nametag.

And while Haha tries to convince Dong-hyun to get back at Kwang-soo, the giraffe reaches behind Dong-hyun’s back. But that’s when we hear a ripping sound — Dong-hyun tearing off Jae-suk’s nametag — which can only mean that it’s now a 1:1 battle between Kwang-soo and Dong-hyun. Gulp.

Kwang-soo: “Timeout! Isn’t this ‘timeout’?” No, no it’s not, and Dong-hyun pins Kwang-soo to the ground.

From that position, Dong-hyun goes ahead and flips Kwang-soo over. No matter how desperate his cries are, Kwang-soo’s fate is still very much the same. Off comes the nametag and the back of his jacket with it. LOL.

Now Dong-hyun is the rich man with 54 coins, and we skip ahead after Gary’s elimination. Shi-kyung asks what happens to the eliminated, and is genuinely alarmed to hear that they’re sitting “in jail.” Shi-kyung: “There was a jail in the SBS building?”

Curious, Shi-kyung drops by and asks the members for some tips on what to do next. They advise him to create an alliance with Suk-jin and Ji-hyo, and then Kwang-soo adds in his two cents: “And then you rip off their nametags later.”

Dong-hyun searches the building for Suk-jin, smiling when he sees the mat hyung hiding behind a VJ. Suk-jin uses a distracted moment in the form of Jong-kook to reach behind Dong-hyun’s back, but the fighter whips back just in time, pins Suk-jin to the ground, and rips off his nametag.

Dong-hyun feels super apologetic about it afterwards, and when the PD points out that Suk-jin didn’t hand over his entire stash, Suk-jin asks, “Can’t I keep one as a souvenir?” Dong-hyun’s gold count: 72.

After picking up Shi-kyung, Ji-hyo uses his help to open up another cabinet. It seems like Shi-kyung might have a good card, but we don’t get to see what that is.

Jong-kook pays close attention to the elevators, then heads down to the thirteenth floor. That’s exactly where Shi-kyung and Ji-hyo are, and the two take caution in Jong-kook’s presence. Jong-kook points out that Ji-hyo must be dying to eliminate Shi-kyung. She admits as much, but right now she needs an ally.

But Jong-kook also has an pseudo ally in Dong-hyun, to whom he directs to take the other side. So Dong-hyun is waiting by the time Shi-kyung and Ji-hyo run over, and the latter two quickly finds themselves cornered.

Shi-kyung tries to warn the strong men that they’ll regret it, but they don’t listen. Dong-hyun: “Don’t you know that a lion never lets go of his prey?” Shi-kyung: “Have you forgotten that you’re human?”

Breaking off into pairs, Dong-hyun eliminates Ji-hyo and Jong-kook rips off Shi-kyung’s nametag…

… and sees the “reflect” tag hidden underneath. Oh boy, oh boy—so THAT’s what Shi-kyung found, didn’t he? Jong-kook rolls over in surprise and Dong-hyun sighs that he won’t get his epic face off against Jong-kook after all. The two agree to meet in the ring next time.

Now that the currency exchange station is open, Dong-hyun parks his butt to wait for Shi-kyung. He’s got 80 coins versus Shi-kyung’s 50, and the brain slowly slinks around the corner… and we fade to black.

Next thing we know, the winner is instructed to hold up his bag of money in front of everyone. Dong-hyun is the big win of the night, and we roll back the clocks to see Dong-hyun take down Shi-kyung. When the singer notes that this is unfair, Dong-hyun chirps back, “The world is unfair. I can’t sing.” HAHAHA.

That total of 130 coins equates to 1.3 million won (about 1,300 USD). After some last parting words, our cast expresses their well-wishes for the fighter’s upcoming UFC match in May. Fighting, Kim Dong-hyun!

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