Undercover K-Cops

• Ari: Running Man Part 4 •

The staff puts our team in red track suits and attaches our name tags to our backs. I can't believe they made a name tag just for me; I mean I knew they would do it for all of us as guests, but the fact that a name tag has "아리" printed on it is insanely surreal.

The next hour is filled with behind-the-scenes introductions and instructions from the PD's and Running Man members about how to position yourself around a camera, what you should refrain from saying on camera, and that yes, they really are going to film us the whole time.

It's hard for me to stop using honorifics toward HaHa, even though he told us to speak comfortably, and he and Jackson tease me in the car on the way to our first mission location. We get there, and I squeal at the sight of the staff member holding up a Running Man sign. I can already tell that they'll get a lot of material from my Running Man fangirling, especially if Jackson's laughing at me is any indication. I jump out of the car and skip over to the staff member. HaHa and Jackson follow me, and I gesture for HaHa oppa to stand next to me and the running man landmark."

"잭슨, 사진!" {Jackson, picture!}

"사진? 난 빼고?" {Picture? Without me?}

"그냥 해~~~" I whine. {Just do it~~~} HaHa chuckles and makes fun of Jackson, who grumbles but still takes my phone and snaps a photo for me. HaHa poses with his typical "야만" hand signal. It's cute.

We're the first to arrive at the location, a park by the Han River. My personal VJ for the day is at the filming spot when we get to it. He's a tall man, probably about my age or a little older, and his name is Jin Woo. I greet him politely and joke that he'll need to be able to keep up with me all day.

The other two couples arrive one after the other, and my group members join me near the staff, who are setting up our first mission. It's some kind of race along the park sidewalk path, as far as I can tell.

"Oh this is so awkward," K mumbles mostly to herself. I laugh. I don't really mind the cameras, but K hates attention; that's why we didn't nominate her as our tv representative.

"Yeah, but it'll be fun. You love running man, too." She raises an eyebrow at me, but I explain, "C'mon, I've seen you watch it even without me or Sasha." I pause, thinking of something else to add. "Oh, and speaking of," I say and hold out my hand. "Temporary alliance?"

She narrows her eyes. "I don't... why?"

"Because I'm serious about running man, and I always told myself I would be loyal to an alliance until the last few people are left. And you're too much of a threat to me to not have you on my side. So what do you say?"

Her bright red lips curve into an amused smirk, and she nods, taking my hand and shaking it firmly.

I expect Sasha to comment on my not including her, but she's not paying attention to anything. I see her lips moving, and I guess that she's practicing Korean. I've seen her do this a few times before schedules.

"Sasha," I call to her. Her head snaps up.

"Before we go out, I just want to remind you guys that we can't say anything even remotely related to the case today. We're being filmed 24/7 while we're here. Okay?" They nod. I know they already knew that, but I have to cover all my bases.

We're called back over to the cameras once the mission is set up. In Korean, the PD explains that our mission is, in fact, a race, but it's more complicated than that. Jackson, Chanyeol, Gary, and GD are supposed to race each other while carrying their respective female team members on their backs. And as if that was too easy, they've added the task of pulling our teams' Running Man members in a wheelbarrow. The running men grumble, saying "isn't this too much" and "I'm going crazy," and Jae Suk recounts the tale of how GD was forced to swim through mud one time he was on the show and how this is even worse because it's three idols instead of the one being forced into humiliating games.