Running Man: Episode 98

by gummimochi

Nothing like a little haunting in order to cool you down on a hot summer day. The Running Man cast returns to high school on a class trip. You’ll need to keep your wits about you in this game of Humans versus Zombies because at any moment you can be turned to an undead.

EPISODE 98. Broadcast on June 10, 2012.

We’re introduced to our Running Man High students who are all thinking about their school trip. And what a world we’re living in where Kwang-soo is the school’s best fighter (covered in bandaids, keh), Jong-kook is top of his class, and Haha is a chaebol son (cue “Almost Paradise”).

Funny that Yoo Hyuk should run into Haha and his cats(?) and start bickering right away. Haha: “This cat is worth more than your life!”

So he resigns to take the bus like the masses. Kwang-soo slips into the back seat like the cool cat he is, but whenever Jae-suk addresses him, he reverts back to reality: “Yes, hyung.” So much for being badass.

Kwang-soo warns not to mess with him today and his hyungs shrug their shoulders – they won’t mess with him nor speak to him. Oh no, don’t outcast him!

Mr. PD hands out the schedule and explains that the most well-behaved student will earn a shiny gold badge. Ji-hyo’s one of those students who’s a stickler to the rules and suspects that Haha’s brought alcohol.

Jae-suk reminds him that now he’s got to buy IU a car and now they’re both spouting jokes as Haha retorts that he was supposed to play soccer with Ji-sung

But as they laugh and reminisce together,we’re given flashes that this tip will not be what it seems…

At their first mission location, Mr. PD explains that the first two people to complete their mission will earn a prize. Kwang-soo rubs into the others’ faces that his mission is easy until Jae-suk quips, “It’ll be so easy that it won’t be entertaining.” Aww.

Everyone gets to work and as Kwang-soo and Suk-jin both complete their mission, they’re met by a female student who confess their feelings and ask for a minute of their time. The Easy Brothers can barely contain their excitement.

Kwang-soo all but jumps around, commenting that usually this is when the girl gives the guy her number. She is here to give him something and hands him… a towel? And Suk-jin gets a toothbrush? These sure are weird gifts.

With that the girls leave and the boys don’t even bat an eye to suspect them.

Poor Gary has lost his way when another female student call him over. Like the others, he gloats when he hears her confession and replies, “I don’t have any money and I’m not capable… all I have is my confidence!” Heh, you sure do (he gets crackers and a letter).

I love that Spartakooks gets all flustered in front of pretty women as his visitor drops off a T-shirt.

When everyone gets together again, they gripe at Mr. PD because they’re headed for Muuido Island again and won’t be returning until tomorrow morning.

They make a pitstop at the same house where they filmed Stairway to Heaven and Mr. PD sends them off to look for notes with a R sticker.

It looks like the girls are visiting the cast members in turn because Haha receives a hairspray. Dude, if I walked into a bathroom and saw something in the reflection, I’d have the living daylights scared out of me too.

How much do I love that when they talk to Ji-hyo, they talk to her like jjang to jjang (Ace to Ace) of their own schools? Ji-hyo picks up a makeup pouch and Jae-suk receives flip-flops.

After they arrive at their “dormitory” for the night, the cast gathers together by the c
ampfire. Jae-suk notes that they’ve curiously all brought out their backpacks but they cast aside their suspicions for now, singing and dancing to old favorites.

In a good ol’ summer school trip tradition, Kwang-soo suggest that they share ghost stories. Oh please don’t; my mind tends to concoct things.

So the others share (la la la la la Ican’thearyou! la la la) some (Gary saw a few reflections pass in the mirror) and Haha brings it back to happy variety land: “That was me.” Gary: “Well, he was pretty short…”

Then suddenly a darkened figure appears in the distance and they freak out that it’s a ghost without feet. I’m starting to think that it’s one of the students we saw earlier but then a close-up confirms that it’s just a PD.

Mr. PD introduces the next part of the mission as treasure hunting and the cast heads inside as a group.

Then… someone else locks them inside. Are you going to kill the lights too?

Sure enough, they walk through darkened halls, searching through room by room. I love it how Kwang-soo does that little kid thing of yelling to make yourself seem bigger and braver than you are. Then he looks in the mirror and stops in horror… to see his own reflection. HA.

Gary’s voice alerts them to check down the hall and he suddenly POPS out of the closet, scaring them. He immediately apologizes after he registers their reactions. “I wanna go home now.” Me too honey, me too.

Jae-suk backtracks to their rooms and discovers a curious item: a walkie-talkie. All of their room have one and the Suk Brothers collect them all. This is getting weirder and weirder…

Now with Gary, Haha comments that they have to be careful because in all the horror movies, it’s the Idiot Trio (Gary, Haha, and Kwang-soo) who get killed off first. Another mystery appears: the room numbers have been covered by country flags.

Jong-kook points out the obvious that they have to keep their wits about them because something is off. Jae-suk: “Of course there’s something ’cause we’re running around like this!” Jong-kook follows him around and Jae-suk sighs, exasperated, “When did he become such a chatterbox?” Oh you two and your endless bickering.

Another mystery pops up: The same video clips keeps continuously running…

Kwang-soo suspects that something’s up with Gary and asks if he’s hiding something. It must take a terrible liar to know one and the fact that you can read Gary like a book because he simply stutters in response.

However, later, Gary enters his room and Mr. PD asks what his status is. His eyes glow red and he answers: “Zombie.” Gasp!

Turn back the clock to the earlier conversation with that strange student. She had asked him to read the attached letter aloud. A game of Humans vs. Zombies, Gary is assigned to turn the cast members into zombies.

Gary accepts his fate, “I knew that something else was living inside of me.”

The Jail Brothers Trio begin to deduce about the strangeness of the entire situation. One by one they fess up about how a young female student approached them and gave them an item.

Suk-jin admits that he thought it was weird that she professed his undying love for him and Kwang-soo deadpans, “I thought it was for real.”

Given ridiculous common items in order to survive, Suk-jin bursts, “Doesn’t it make you mad?”

Zombie Gary roams the halls when he runs into Jong-kook who’s spent from trying to hunt down the treasures. He shares that everyone has admitted they received some kind of gift so Gary shows his right away to divert suspicion from himself.

Jong-kook holds up the cracker canister and something catches his eye… “This has 137 calories.” Oh the health nut – of course you’d be worried about that.

Ji-hyo soon joins them and she’s wary to share hers. Interesting that she’d confide in Spartakooks over her ex-variety boyfriend and they sit Gary down. With Jong-kook’s back in clear view, the gears start to churn in Zombie Gary’s brain… rrrriippp off goes Jong-kook’s name tag.

Surprisingly, Ji-hyo apologizes to Jong-kook – what’s going on?

We flashback to a little earlier when Zombie Gary was walking with Ji-hyo (Are they holding hands?! *flail* Hey, a girl can dream) when he turned her into a zombie.

Now with Zombie Jong-kook on his side, Zombie Gary figures that he’ll complete his mission in 30 minutes. Zombie Jong-kook corrects him: “20 minutes.” Damn SpartAce is the first to turn? Impressive, Gary.

The remaining humans are puzzled at the TV screen – why is it always the same clip? Suddenly the TV statics and abruptly changes to the news – there’s been a zombie outbreak in Muuido.

Highly contagious, the reporter reports that the zombies hate dark spaces. The only way to be rid of the zombies is to shoot their name tags with water. These guns are hidden in 6 “country” rooms… and then it cuts short again as the reporter screams in terror.

With his dying breath, the reporter informs them that they must also rip off the zombies’ name tags as well.

They eye each other suspiciously and then freak out. Both humans and zombies search the rooms from top to bottom again to look for the water guns.

Haha assesses the entire situation alone. There must be one zombie amongst them. A thought pops into his mind and he takes out the hairspray he received earlier that day. It’s Made in Japan… Way to use your noggin’ Haroro!

At the same time, Jae-suk reaches the same revelation. He wonders if he should keep this a secret since the walkie-talkies aren’t necessarily safe to relay that information.

Suk-jin is the first one to discover his water gun and boy is it a monster. Time to take out some zombies!

Human Jae-suk runs into Zombie Jong-kook and finds the conversation strange. He muses, “Why does he keep looking for me?” He asks as much the next time Jong-kook inquires about his whereabouts.

He races through the hallways, confused whether who’s human or not and radios Haha: “Don’t believe anyone…” They meet by the door of the Japan room and Haha hurries that this is where his water gun is.

Jae-suk goes to check… but it’s missing. Oh nooes! He repeatedly whisper-shouts through the cracked door that the water gun’s missing and accuses Haha as a zombie while the latter insists that he’s not.

Soon Zombie Ji-hyo swings by and Human Jae-suk has every right to be cautious. Maybe a little too cautious because he mistakenly runs into the doorknob with his butt. HAHA.

Elsewhere Suk-jin has tracked down where Ji-hyo’s item was hidden and there is a bottle of Zombie Be Gone needed to take out the zombies.

The humans continue to scrutinize every word out of their mouths and Haha grows jealous that he doesn’t have a water gun. They turn their suspicions to Kwang-soo.

As luck would have it they run into him a minute later and search his bag… that contains a bottle of Zombie Be Gone. Kwang-soo defends: “Are you suspecting me of being a zombie?” Then what, are you holding it for them?

Jong-kook joins them and they point fingers at each other again. Why did they take it from Kwang-soo? Is Haha a zombie? Here’s an idea – how bout you share that Zombie Be Gone juice?

They do so in the bathroom but the problem is that the juice to gun ratio is too disproportionate. When bribing doesn’t work, Jae-suk resorts to scold Kwang-soo instead.

They run into Suk-jin who checks if Jae-suk and Kwang-soo are human when Kwang-soo suddenly suggests that they move into the light. Er?

Suk-jin shoot Kwang-soo and Jae-suk tears off his name tag. Zombie Kwang-soo is eliminated.

Flashback to earlier when Human Kwang-soo found the Zombie Be Gone in Haha’s room before Jae-suk arrived. He showed it to the zombies (first mistake) and they show them why the zombies hate the dark – their name tags glow in the dark. COOL!!

Humans Jae-suk and Suk-jin figure this out as well as Jae-suk exclaims, “The zombies love dark places… wait, no. They love bright places!” Upset, Kwang-soo sighs, “To be eliminated by these people…”

The remaining members gather together, each declaring themselves as humans. That’s when Human Suk-jin strikes again eliminating Zombie Jong-kook.

Zombie Gary sits alone, feeling his power slowly drain away. It’s time to move before anyone else gets taken out by the humans.

Zombie Ji-hyo and Human Jae-suk finds themselves alone in a bright place when he notices that she gives a curt nod in the distance. Which is when Original Zombie Gary makes his appearance and Jae-suk darts down the stairs, “It’s Gary!”

Zombie Gary adores the attention and asks the staff, “Is it okay if I drag this a bit further? To have people run away from me whenever they see me?” Hehe.

Jae-suk retreats to a darkened floor. Haha gets off at the same floor, his name tag glowing. When did YOU become a zombie? Attacking Jae-suk, he lunges for the water gun, taking it away from him.

Without the only evidence of being a human, Jae-suk runs down the hall now unarmed. Haha whispers that they can fool Suk-jin that he’s human. Unfortunately that’s overheard by Suk-jin and as soon as they spot each other, they fire.

Ji-hyo and Haha corner Suk-jin and she races to get Zombie Gary who is the only one able to turn humans into zombies. That creates the perfect opportunity for Jae-suk to sneak up and grab Haha. Together, they eliminate the zombie.

It’s the Human Suk Brothers against the Zombie ex-Monday Couple. Each side is careful to turn every corner. Human Suk-jin finds himself face to face with the zombies. The zombies pin him to the wall, moments from overtaking him.

Human Jae-suk runs after he hears Suk-jin’s cries in the distance. But on the stairwell, he overhears Suk-jin and Gary whispering. So when he runs into Suk-jin (in the light, mind you) he swiftly lies that his gun doesn’t work and Suk-jin will have to do the shooting.

When his back is turned, Jae-suk shoots Suk-jin… and sure enough, he’s been turned.

Jae-suk roams the halls alone, looking for the two remaining zombies. Like a sixth sense Jae-suk says, “Ji-hyo. I can smell her perfume.” His fear must heighten his senses. Her Oh crap! face confirms that it’s true and Jae-suk retreats.

Later, he passes right by her and he says, “I smell it again.” PUHAHA. This is freakin’ hilarious and Ji-hyo has to do her best to stifle her laughter.

Just when Jae-suk thought he would be safe, Zombie Gary attacks and tears off his name tag. Have the zombies won?

Morning. The zombie high school student overlooks the sea with a textbook in hand. And we see a photo of Gary(?) 100 years ago. Is Gary immortal?!

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