Running Man: Episode 304

by gummimochi

Last week’s chase will come to an end this week in order to make way for three beautiful goddesses. Although only one of them is a true goddess, all of our men will break their backs to appease them and prove their loyalty. Not only that, each of these ladies have a variety of talents to offer as well, from wit to persuasion to one pair of ridiculously strong pair of legs.

EPISODE 304. Broadcast on June 19, 2016.

After a lengthy recap of Part 1 of The Hunt, we pick right back up with Kwang-soo, who is told that Ahn Sung-ki would like to speak with him. Merp. But unlike his tough characters onscreen, the veteran actor worries that Kwang-soo is thirsty and tired and adds that they should grab a beer together.

Kwang-soo joins Haha in a taxi, but they have to move quickly since Haha is still trackable. Ji-hyo rejoins them at the former university admin building after picking up another hint, and though it’s getting dark out, the sun hasn’t set on Jin-woong’s desire to catch them.

The Hunters can tell that Haha is the lookout while Ji-hyo takes a crack at the mission to spot the differences in the photos. Haha makes a run for it when Jae-suk pursues him. He eventually chases Haha down and Jin-woong arrives to do the honors.

While Ji-hyo takes temporary refuge in a dark corner, Kwang-soo is still trapped in the mission area inside the building. Ha.

And who should come to his rescue but Jin-woong and the other hunters. His elimination is swift, and he’s readily game to go after Ji-hyo. Speaking of whom, she heads to the location with 30 minutes to spare.

She approaches the safe, and then jumps a foot when Ahn Sung-ki emerges to greet her. Turns out the walking encyclopedia zeroed in on the important locations from the Korean War to this exact spot: Hill 104 in Yeonhui-dong.

All of those numbers indicate a date: July 27, 1953, the day the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. The Hunters crack the safe to retrieve their gold badges as the gold expert, Ji-hyo, explains to Ahn Sung-ki that the middle is real.

Ahn Sung-ki: “I’ll cut this [middle part out] at home!” Hahaha. That concludes the race, and we open up on a new day. The guys already know about today’s female guests, which includes Park Shin-hye and Kwang-soo’s co-star from It’s Okay, It’s Love, Lee Sung-kyung.

Jae-suk points out an interesting trend: all the actresses he’s failed in romancing have all found success (see: Seo Hyun-jin, and now Sung-kyung). Since today’s guests are all from the medical drama Doctors, the guys are also joined by actors Yoon Kyun-sang and Kim Min-seok.

Then it’s time to introduce our goddesses, led by Ji-hyo. Sung-kyung isn’t far behind, and then Shin-hye rounds out the group. The PD says only one of the three ladies is the “true goddess”, and the ladies have their own special prize if they win today: a diamond-encrusted tiara.

It’ll be up to the guys to figure out who the true goddess is, and they’ll be given clues following each mission. The catch: Choose the wrong goddess and face punishment.

Jae-suk pulls out his trademark dance moves during the ladies’ dance time, and when the song is done, the ladies turn to see which guys think they’re the real goddess. Here are our teams: Sung-kyung: Haha, Gary, and Kwang-soo; Shin-hye: Jae-suk, Suk-jin, and Jong-kook; and Ji-hyo: Kyun-sang and Min-seok.

The PD offers their first clue about the true goddess: She danced until the very last second.

Once the teams change into their uniforms, our goddesses will be carried by open palanquins. Ji-hyo feels bad that she only has two actors uneven in height to share the burden, then it’s off to the pool for their first official game.

Here the guys will piggyback the other team’s goddess in a relay race. The faster team to traverse the platforms will win. Those ladies can use a variety of items as distraction techniques, then a picture-in-picture informs us that Team Ji-hyo is automatically placed in the finals thanks to a warm-up game.

Jae-suk thinks that an air-filled rubber glove is enough while Sung-kyung asks if she can spray the spray bottle directly up someone’s nostril. Once the whistle blows, Shin-hye squirms until she gets Haha to slip and fall. Sung-kyung goes for the nostril attack until wriggling around herself.

Kyun-sang starts to worry while watching the first round as the ladies keep working to pull down the guys. Suk-jin is first to make the trade-off, though Sung-kyung makes sure to make things hard for Jae-suk.

Shin-hye starts rubbing the rubber glove up and down Kwang-soo’s face when he does seemingly well. She employs the same tactic on Gary while Jong-kook just powers through.

Sung-kyung manages to make Jong-kook tip over, however, giving Gary enough time to take back the lead and the win. Haha realizes that they’ve still got the finals, and Gary reminds him that the other goddess is Ji-hyo.

Gary pulls the hyung card when he learns that only two of them need to compete in the finals. But then he loses the rock-paper-scissors round to Haha, so yep, it’s time for Round 2.

Ji-hyo prepares attaching clips to her hat while Min-seok says Sung-kyung grabbed a scrubbing towel. At the start, she squeezes her legs until Gary collapses while Sung-kyung makes sure Min-seok is squeaky clean.

Ji-hyo attaches the clips to Gary’s face then gives him another squeeze that sends him into the pool. Her powerful legs and bites to the ear puts Gary in constant pain and gives her a new nickname: “Hell Ji-hyo.”

Kwang-soo is no match for Ji-hyo’s strength either as he crumples into the water. Meanwhile, Kyun-sang keeps running as fast as he can until he finally crosses the pool. Once victory is secure, Ji-hyo makes sure that Kwang-soo’s all right.

She’s happy to give Haha a taste of her powerful leg strength, and sure enough, he goes down too. Gary and Kwang-soo claim that her legs have healing powers (“The disc in my back is better!” “My cold is gone!”), and Min-seok crumples when Ji-hyo tests out her power on him.

The group is given their next hint: the true goddess has fallen into the water the most based on the average of each guy.

Everyone climbs into their respective cars after they hit the showers. Shin-hye shares that a burglar broke into her home and stole the gold badge she won in the 007 Special. She’s determined to replace that today.

In Team Ji-hyo’s car, she says it’ll be sad if their team doesn’t win today, especially since it’s the boys first time on the show. Apparently the punishment means getting hit with a paddle, which she describes as a memorable experience.

The guys get goosebumps when Sung-kyung starts freestyling in their car. They arrive to the track where the second game, the Goddess Olympics will take place. The crew has invited a special guest: taekwondo athlete Kim So-hee.

The goal here is for the goddess and one male rep from each team to try and beat So-hee’s record in destroying as many styrofoam boards as possible. Although Kyun-sang might look like a prime candidate because of his long legs, Ji-hyo says those same legs give him the nickname “Eiffel Tower”.

Everyone argues that he played Moo-hyul, to which Kyun-sang replies, “But he didn’t kick! He only used his sword!”

So-hee displays her accurate high kick for the group, and breaks through 19 boards easily. So the teams need to break through at least 20 boards to beat that record and obtain a hint.

When Suk-jin remarks that Sung-kyung is very pale, she says she doesn’t really tan. Kwang-soo seconds that, which prompts everyone else to ask just how he happens to know that.

Sung-kyung breaks 18 boards while Ji-hyo breaks 11. Shin-hye breaks 19 but also makes a nick at board 20. Everyone’s jaws drops when Gary breaks 22 boards, and then Jong-kook brings his team’s record to 21.

Kyun-sang kicks down a few boards (though one hilariously is still attached). It still counts, though, and all the teams get to hear the hint: the true goddess held hands with a male teammate.

Min-seok asks if taking their lady’s arm counts too, a question Ji-hyo makes sure to follow up with when they’re in the car. Kwang-soo doesn’t think Sung-kyung is the true goddess, but she argues that she herself is a goddess. If he doesn’t see that, he can leave without the diamond tiara.

When the teams arrive at the final mission location, our goddesses are led to separate rooms. It’s decision-making time, where the guys have a final chance to either stick with their original ladies or jump onto a different team.

Sung-kyung is delighted to see that Kwang-soo has stuck with her, though he’d momentarily hesitated. Meanwhile, both Jong-kook and Min-seok choose Shin-hye. Jae-suk chooses her too, as well as Gary… and Suk-jin.

Haha jumps on the Sung-kyung bandwagon and Ji-hyo is relieved that Kyun-sang has decided to stay with her.

The final mission is a nametag race where the guys must protect their goddess to the end. Only the ladies can eliminate one another, but once she’s eliminated, so is her entire team. If, however, the fake goddess wins the game, all the men will face punishment. Yet if the real goddess wins, only the ones who made the wrong decision will be punished.

There’s another twist: somewhere in the building are three Betrayal Rooms that contains a key hint about the true goddess. Whoever enters that room must stick with their decision to switch teams, which means there’s a chance the decision could backfire on them in a big way—they’ll be punished twice over if they choose incorrectly.

From the start, Team Shin-hye wanders the halls, wondering where the other teams are. Team Sung-kyung is busy powering up on kimbap and taking selcas. Hahaha.

Jong-kook is skeptical when Jae-suk, Suk-jin, and Gary are about to split with the group—are they headed to the Betrayal Rooms? He warns them against making such a foolish decision.

Ji-hyo calls up Kwang-soo, who whispers that he’ll be there soon. Team Sung-kyung holds their breaths because Suk-jin, Gary, and Min-seok are right outside the door. Haha cracks open the door and encourages the three to betray their own and join their ranks.

Gary admits that he felt at ease once he saw Sung-kyung, so the question is whether they’ll head for the Betrayal Rooms.

Ji-hyo thinks that they will, then takes a beat before telling Kyun-sang to switch teams before it’s too late. The moment is a tender one as she expresses how grateful she is for his loyalty, but she doesn’t want to see him be eliminated.

Kyun-sang says she’ll always be a goddess to him (awwww), though a flashback teaches us that she isn’t. So when Team Sung-kyung arrives, she flat out says she’s not the true goddess.

So Kyun-sang slips out of the room and discovers a Betrayal Room and reads the hint that should help him make an informed decision.

His betrayal is broadcasted through the speakers and everyone heads to the fourth floor. And there he is, wearing a yellow-colored shirt for Sung-kyung.

He honestly says he read the hint and made his choice before running down the hallway. Team Shin-hye runs into Ji-hyo who proudly says she encouraged Kyun-sang to switch teams.

Eliminating her is useless now, but she allows herself to be taken out anyway. Upon hearing that Kyun-sang is wearing yellow, she tells the other guys to think about their decision.

Once they’re gone, she says this was her plan all along—throwing a wrench into that team’s solidarity.

Jae-suk spots Team Sung-kyung on the fifth floor and calls down the others. Gary hobbles with his bad back, and when the teams meet, Haha says the key hint was “crazy.” Haha argues that word perfectly describes Sung-kyung, though Shin-hye wonders if Ji-hyo purposely sent Kyun-sang to that team.

Jong-kook checks what room Kyun-sang went to before deciding that Team Sung-kyung should meet him downstairs. Whoa, is he going to switch teams?

He makes it, and Shin-hye is convinced that the three of them can take Jong-kook on once he exits that room. But there’s the matter of the third Betrayal Room on the third floor—what if someone else leaves them too?

Funnily enough, that’s exactly what Gary is doing, only to find out that Suk-jin has beat him to it. A little later, Min-seok is eliminated, and then Gary finds Suk-jin sporting a yellow shirt.

Team Sung-kyung rejoices at this discovery, then burst into more celebration to see that Jong-kook is on their side too. Turns out Kyun-sang was right about that hint, and that Sung-kyung is our true goddess.

Now that there’s no chance of betrayal, Shin-hye comes clean to Jae-suk and Gary that she’s not the true goddess. The only chance they have now is to eliminate Sung-kyung, so the guys need to be on their feet.

The trio manage to pull Sung-kyung towards them… and we hear the sound of a nametag ripped off of someone’s back. It wasn’t Sung-kyung’s but it was Jae-suk’s, which means the game is still on.

Shin-hye marches towards Sung-kyung while Gary is eliminated. It takes a group to take Shin-hye down, then everyone regroups to celebrate Sung-kyung’s sparkling victory.

Then it’s time for the other guys’ punishment—Min-seok is first and then Jong-kook makes sure he’ll get a good hit in before hitting Jae-suk’s behind. Kwang-soo gets to bring the final swing, but then the PD interjects that they should do the closing and the paddle can serve as the stand-in slate.

But while the actresses are busy chatting up Doctors, Kwang-soo starts doing push-ups to prepare for his moment. Jae-suk takes that opportunity to swoop in and deliver that final swing himself. One painful end, indeed.

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