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Running Man: Episode 296

Some memories don’t fade with time but grow deeper as the years pass. This week is dedicated to the seven most important people in the lives of our cast and highlight how their presence, however brief, has affected another person’s life. Get ready for an episode of high school reunions, childhood crushes, close friends, family, and mentors that all of us can relate to.

EPISODE 296. Broadcast on April 24, 2016.

After catching up with familiar faces last week, this second half of the “I’m Sorry, I Love You” special will focus on the people who have shaped our cast members’ lives. The goal: clear the missions at seven different locations within 12 hours.

First stop is Yongmun-dong, where Jae-suk spent his growing years at. It’s been decades since he’s been in this area, and he describes how his dear childhood friend is now a huge star. Cue actor Lee Seung-joon (Descended From the Sun, Hyde, Jekyll, Me).

The others are quick to point out the awkward hug he and Jae-suk share, to which Seung-joon attributes to not seeing each other for 26 years. He admits they were close when they were younger, even if it’s hard for him to look at Jae-suk now.

Looking at their grades from school, Jae-suk ranked within the top third of his grade in his first year of high school… but then dropped to near the bottom of his class the next year. It’s at this moment Seung-joon explains how Jae-suk attending private academy didn’t help his grades.

Seung-joon describes Jae-suk as a class clown, a quality that the girls liked at first. He even says Jae-suk had a long-term girlfriend, and when Jae-suk rises from his seat, the others hold him back so Seung-joon can spill more high school secrets.

Seung-joon even remembers what she looked like: “She was tall… but wasn’t pretty.” In short, Jae-suk was whipped as a boyfriend. To that, Haha tells Kwang-soo that this is why Jae-suk tries to give him dating advice because he sees so much of himself in him.

Kwang-soo: “I’m so not like what you were back then! I don’t like tall girls who aren’t pretty.” Seung-joon says there was another girl Jae-suk dated for a month in their final year of high school, and Jae-suk confesses he did go out with her… once.

Pointing out that Seung-joon had a cutie face when they were young, Jae-suk pinches his cheek. Seung-joon doesn’t appreciate it, and immediately returns the favor.

Seung-joon remembers one time where he and Jae-suk had argued (over what, he doesn’t remember), and he’d later gotten a call from a mutual friend asking why he hadn’t come out to hang out with everyone. So he’d run out, had seen them across the road, then knocked Jae-suk down with a flying kick. Jae-suk: “Did you hit me?”

Seung-joon still feels bad about it now, and he apologizes. However he’d like to point out that he has no recollection of Jae-suk hitting him back then. Jae-suk has a funny story to share too: a group of bullies had approached him while his friend had gone out for ice cream. That friend had stopped in his tracks when he’d returned, then left again.

So naturally Jae-suk had thought he’d gone to the police, but then that friend came back… with even more ice cream. LOL.

Seung-joon doesn’t miss an opportunity to reveal more of Jae-suk’s past upon mention of how they used to prank call another classmate. Jae-suk used to call at 2 AM claiming to be a radio show host, and his buddies found it hilarious.

Both Jae-suk and Seung-joon admit that they drifted apart in college, but Seung-joon disagrees that the acting department were ever rivals with Jae-suk’s department.

They take a walk down memory lane with a pop quiz about their past, but then Jae-suk stumbles on the last question: What’s the name of Seung-joon’s character on Descended From the Sun? He knows it’s “Doctor Song (Sang-hyun)”, which is an acceptable answer.

Seung-joon is given a locket that contains a picture of them both, and the old friends part ways with a hug.

Hanging out with Seung-joon shaved off a good 2.5 hours, so now they’re headed off to meet Suk-jin’s childhood crush: the school nurse from junior high. She’s a college professor now, and his face reddens to see her again.

Asked if she remembers Suk-jin, she hesitates. She says there were a lot of students who faked being sick back then, and Jae-suk notes how awkward it sounds when the professor calls Suk-jin “our Suk-jin”.

Suk-jin’s mission is to treat the whole class to lunch, and he presents his childhood crush with a locket.

Next is Ji-hyo, who lights up to see her friend Chae Young-in arrive with her infant daughter. As an actress in Damo and Temptation of Wife, she also appeared in X-Man. However, Kwang-soo knows her from her girl group days in Red Sox, whom he followed during his military service.

Young-in still vaguely remembers the lyrics and moves from “Sweet Dream”, then shares how she and Ji-hyo would talk about boys back then. That makes Ji-hyo flustered, and Jae-suk says that’s exactly how he felt earlier.

She says Ji-hyo’s boyfriend back then was a celebrity, but doesn’t share any other clues. Their mission here is an elaborate one that involves completing a series of tasks within 100 seconds.

It starts off with reenacting a scene from Temptation of Wife and Young-in screaming Ji-hyo’s given name (Chun Sung-im) to hit way past 120 dB: 137.8 dB. Then Kwang-soo removes the post-its from his face using only his facial muscles, and then he bounces a ball he and Ji-hyo must catch together. The first time’s a dud, but they get it the second time and succeed.

Haha doesn’t know who his person is, but they arrive at a theatre to meet singer Lee Moon-sae. The singer thought Haha would be coming alone today, then shares how Haha was a surprise guest at his album showcase last year.

He’s happy to see the cast, and the mission here is to hear a specific compliment from Moon-sae (“Wow, you sing really well.”). Haha sings the song “Girl”, only to get his mic stolen by Jae-suk, and Suk-jin steals the mic from him.

They choose a different song “Old Love”, but when Moon-sae isn’t impressed by the singing, Haha says they have to get going. Moon-sae: “I haven’t been on TV in a year!”

After getting to hear a bit of the singer’s voice, it’s off to Anyang to see Jong-kook’s mother, Jo Hye-sun. She’s hoping her son would get married soon, and her top requirement would be that her future daughter-in-law would be a good cook (but would need to fix breakfast at 3 AM to work around Jong-kook’s schedule).

The cast can’t believe that Jong-kook would ever be like a daughter to a family of all sons. She shares how Jong-kook would pack two lunches to make sure a fellow classmate would get to eat, an endearing story none of them can truly believe.

They have four and a half hours remaining, and Jong-kook’s mission is to cook a meal and write a handwritten letter for his mother. Meanwhile in the living room, Jong-kook’s mother says she’s gotten so impatient that she would be okay if her son gave her grandchildren first before marriage.

She laughs warmly at her sons leading successful lives, and Suk-jin notes how she’s always smiling. In the kitchen, Jong-kook prepares samgyetang for his mother, then writes her a letter.

He reads said letter to her aloud after she tries his dish; it’s heartfelt and full of love, and now I’m about to cry.

With barely two hours remaining, the cast is then headed off to meet Kwang-soo’s first love. He says it would be 25 years since they last saw each other, and calls her up. When he explains who he is, she responds with his childhood nickname: “Oh, King Kong?”

She coolly acknowledges that she’d be Kwang-soo’s first love, and they’re off to meet her: Song Hye-jin. Kwang-soo has his back turned when she walks in, though acknowledges that her voice hasn’t changed one bit.

He turns… and they both burst out laughing. Yeah, it’s awkward. He goes to pat her head, and she backs away. The wall between them breaks down when they talk about their childhood days—she admits she was popular, but he wasn’t.

Hye-jin also remembers beating up the kids who bullied her friend, and Kwang-soo recalls their first kiss: they’d been looking out the window and she kissed his cheek. Hitting him, she vehemently denies it. LOL.

Jae-suk asks if Hye-jin is seeing anyone nowadays… and she says she’s married. When asked in what year, she says ” ’14” which the cast initially misinterprets as 14 years ago. Kwang-soo has nothing but best wishes for his first love who’s now a married woman.

Hye-jin is asked for her insight on what kind of woman Kwang-soo should be with, and she says someone who’s good to his parents. Haha points out the tears in her eyes as she said that, and Gary jokes that those are tears of regret.

As Kwang-soo walks Hye-jin home, the others hurry to meet the special someone in Gary’s life. They text Kwang-soo to meet them there, and he gets there before they do with 20 minutes left on the clock.

That someone is singer Yoon Gun, who will make coffee for everyone while Gary runs out to buy snacks. He runs to the convenience store and buys everything but the chips Yoon Gun wanted.

He runs to another store for those, then runs back to the cafe… with three minutes remaining. Now they can freely talk about how Yoon Gun helped Gary out with side jobs and featurettes, and how Yoon Gun gave him a melody in return.

It may have been a whirlwind of a day visiting these special people in our cast’s lives and reminiscing about the past. One can only hope that the future will be filled with even greater memories.

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I liked this episode and new format a lot, but I miss the laugh out loud moments from the other silly games of the old format...wish we could get an episode with both! Next episode looks interesting ?

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This episode is better than the previous one but still not that fun, hoping it will get better.
So excited for the next episode! Goowon couple!!

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I did not like Ji Hyo's part.
They told juicy embarrassing things about the guys.
But when it came to Ji hyo it's like they skipped a lot of it.

I find something because she is a girl they are a bit to lenient to her. That it makes me see why sometimes they don't add girls in somethings.

Like Ji Hyo kicks, bites, pulls hair, scratches and sometimes if a guy is rough with her they act like he is so bad.

I really wanted to know who she dated and etc...
We see a lot of detail and embarrassing stuff about the guys.

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I will say in regards to that though - Jihyo is the one who will undergo a witch hunt if this stuff is released. For the guys, they revealed that they had girlfriends who were non-celebrities or girls they liked. Or if it's a female celebrity, it's more "laughed" at because these guys have a certain image that is more comedic than anything else.

For Jihyo's past boyfriend, who is still someone famous, to be revealed? A whole different story. It would be a hate fest, netizens would blame her or say she's "using" his name to be more popular since he's so big, people saying she must've dated a lot of guys (bringing up her past), etc.

Just think of what a lot of female idols and actresses revealed to be in relationships get. Think of how Seolhyun has been dragged all over for saying - just saying - her ideal type is Joongki, people saying she's "using" him, etc. Even Kwangsoo - who everyone knows is a sweetheart - got accused by same crazy "fans"! It's multiplied tenfold when it's a famous male entertainer, mentioned by a famous female one.

And embarrassing stories about her will be used to malign her character. It may be a double standard, but it's one that usually benefits men (men are "cool" if they've had lots of girlfriends, girls are "sluts", etc). So if it means they are either lenient on the women in the show, better that then the women suffer far more in news/comments/society.

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Not trying to discredit anything you say (I happen to agree with most of it) but part of that is on Ji Hyo. There are other female celebrities who are quite open with their crushes (Shin Bong Sun's adoration of Jong Kook comes to mind) who haven't been crucified in the manner you describe. It really comes down to the images that they are trying to embody. For Bong Sun, as a comedian, she can ham it up a bit and laugh off any criticisms but Ji Hyo's image is such that she can't just laugh it off.

The truth is Ji Hyo has been defined by the public in a certain way and thus has to behave a certain way. It's kind of like how Jong Kook gets flustered when Yoon Eun Hye is mentioned. He gets far more crap than HaHa or Kwang Soo regarding his "ex/rumored ex" because of the image he's crafted, even though he's a guy and on the opposite side of the double standard you pointed out.

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The two you pointed out were different and can't be use in this argument. Bong Sun is a comedian and the whole thing was played for laughs, no one expects her 'crush' to become real or take it seriously.

Jong Kook's relationship with Yoon Eun Hye gets brought up because it was the 1st variety shipping that spawned into head line news, back then there were less idols and less focus on celebrities love lives, so their relationship is still one of the most famous ship to have never sailed but has that 'was there' or 'wasn't there' tags.

JiHyo's is a real romance with their real personalities, not a persona on film. Regardless of what image she has as long as she is an unmarried woman she will still get backlash.

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There are plenty of female celebs who reveal their crushes or who have done the Ideal World Cup (every time KJK had done it w/ YEH as a choice, he ended up picking YEH).

Yes, there are rabid fans of certain male actors/idols who go all nuts - esp. on the female celeb revealed to be dating their favorite actor/idol, but they are crazy fans.

Some things are changing - not long ago, there was a singer who had compromising pics released thru a certain US Korean pop culture site via an ex-bf and that site and ex got tons of flack from Korean netizens.

Korean outlets refused to publish the pics and while there were the low-lives who attacked the victim, many were supportive (as was the industry).

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Running Man could have edited out the part where her friend said she had a celebrity boyfriend.
Now it looks sketchy. Why bring it up an avoid it.
Delete that part.

In fact her part was plain uninteresting and boring.

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Can't help but notice, Ji Hyo's friend must have gone to the same plastic surgeon as hwang jung eum, the similarities are uncanny!

I am not too sure about the timeline but was she confirming the rumor about Ji Hyo's bf during Goong days then?

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Nope Goong was in 2007, they're are talking about 2001

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Is this the new format of running man or this is just interval while they're figuring out new format?
While I like this type of format for Infinity Challenge, am not sure I like this for runningman. Keeping an open mind for now. There's always changes and adjusments when pd team changes. Lets hope the new pd finds his footing soon.

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Ji Hyo and Gary don't suit this new format, i think they need to leave the show.

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yup. they are definitely awkward. both of them are the best when they are doing physical game. at this point i dont even know what they were doing anymore. where is the game? where is the race? where is the running? name tag ripping had bee missing in a lot of episode. it is what represent their show. i would suggest kim jong kook to leave too. he had nothing to offer except for when they need someone who are strong. the three of them look like they are staying for the sake of staying. they sort of like not there. its upsetting since my most favourite member was gary. i liked jihyo too but she seems to have reached her limit.

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Think Gary is fine - for this ep, Gary had the least amount of time w/ his friend and this was the one time the PD had someone running around (like the old RM) away from the rest of the gang (as well as his friend).

As for Ji-hyo, she doesn't like revealing private stuff and it's a different factor when it comes to past romantic relationships on her end.

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I hope they don't make this format permanent. It is fun for IC. But IC and RM are two different shows for a reason. Moreover, the members are perfect for RM's format, as proven by the past 6 years. I understand the many restrictions and difficulties they face now. But I'd really rather they end the show or change cast members than to change the format. Actually, no, maybe not even change the cast members. These seven are too much like a family to try and take someone out or add someone in. At this point, it's seven or none.

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Running Man

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Running Man

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After watching this episode and the previous one ,I keep on getting the feeling that rm is going to end soon or it is about to make a very new beginning with new relations maybe..
But still I miss the previous format and those LOL moments.
New PD nim please bring the funny rm.

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To be honest, my favorite part of this episode was probably the preview for the next one. All I could think was - Yes! THERE'S Running Man!!

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Reuniting the RM cast members w/ a close friend from the past (or in the case of KJK - his mother), isn't a bad theme, but the execution was lacking.

The best part was finding more about YJS's younger years via Lee Seung-joon (1st noticed him in "Discovery of Love"; didn't remember in "War of the Arrows" - but after starting off in theater, nice to see achieving a certain level of recognition for his work in film and TV).

There was a bit of awkwardness btwn the old friends, but that made it more interesting and hopefully, after reconnecting, the 2 will keep in touch (figure later on, YJS was doing his clubbing days w/ his gag-men friends).

Not surprisingly, YJS was a prankster back in the day and a whipped boyfriend.

The 2.5 hours spent w/ LSJ was worth it, but that's one of the major issues w/ this format - the time limit just seems arbitrary and not really pressing (if they can spend 2.5 hours doing the 1st leg).

Another problem were the games/tasks - they also seemed completely arbitrary and even worse, like an afterthought (none were really compelling or that difficult).

It was funny seeing Kookie act all cute in front of his mother and when she stated that KJK is like a daughter (he really is a "mama's boy" - nothing wrong w/ that, tho may impinge on marriage prospects, but Kookie's mom seems laid-back and fun) and Kwangsoo's "first love," but there really wasn't any sense of drama even when Gary had to find the things on the shopping list when time was running out since that pretty much on the gang for spending too much time early on.

Clearing the missions when they are given 12 hours and the games/tasks aren't that difficult or interesting really takes the air out of the whole thing.

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Where are people watching the Eng-subbed episodes? Running Man used to be on youtube, but now only brief clips are shown (at least the last time I checked).

Viki is absolutely OUT for me. The shows as well as the ads keep jerking forward in slow motion. I don't know why I have this problem.

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Running Man is there on Youtube. Try clicking on the filters option and choosing Long (>20 minutes) for the length.

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lol seriously? you should use google :p JK erm..you can go to kshowonline, gooddrama, myasiantv..these are bunch of many good websites out there. You can watch via streaming, or download using Internet Download Manager.

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I watch on kshowonline, but just recently have had to start using Hola and changing my country to UK. If you don't mind commercials as long as they work, Dramafever has the show subbed.

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Kshowonline

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I volunteer to wake up at 3am to make breakfast for KJK

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