Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 458

All four teams had found their ordinary participants.

When Park Young-jin relayed the newcomer’s request to keep his face and name hidden, the PD and the writer nodded readily.

“That’s a good character to have.”

“A mysterious newcomer. That sounds interesting.”

Having ordinary participants with strong personalities was helpful for filling up the broadcast time.

Soon after.

The second game began.

It was a game where one person explained a word with their body and the other three guessed the answer. 

The person who explained the word was decided by taking turns among the team members.

“Let’s do it in this order: me, Jung-hoon, So-young, and the newcomer.”

“Okay!”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

The two celebrities and the newcomer nodded at Park Young-jin’s words. 

Choi So-young’s team decided that Park Young-jin would go first and the newcomer would go last.

Then, the PD added a new condition.

“You have to follow the same condition that was in the first game.”

The staff brought out four paper cups filled with water.

“The fish cake soup team has to hold a paper cup with fish cake soup while explaining and guessing the word. Of course, the real fish cake soup is hot, so we’ll give you a water cup instead. Be careful not to spill it.”

“What? What about the other teams?”

The member holding the paper cup asked.

“The goggle team has to wear goggles for everyone. The ski team has to put on ski equipment on their feet.”

Choi So-young and the newcomer’s goggle team had to wear goggles and guess, while the ski team, which had the easiest time finding people, had to explain and guess the word with their body while wearing ski equipment.

“Ah. This is going to be hard.”

The Running Man member who had attached the long ski boards to his feet lifted his legs awkwardly. 

It was difficult to move because of the ski. 

He thought he would have to use only his upper body when explaining the word.

Moreover, since the game required the person who explained the word and the person who guessed the answer to switch places, he had to move quickly, and the long ski was a hindrance.

“Finding people was hard, but this game seems easy!”

Choi So-young’s team, who only had to wear goggles, was happy with the balanced difficulty.

It was a problem that their vision was narrowed and they couldn’t read the other person’s expression because of the goggles, but since it was a game of explaining with their body, the expression didn’t seem to matter much.

Jung-hoon nodded at Park Young-jin’s words.

“I agree. We’ve been last all the time, so we have to win this time… Ah. I’m counting on you. Newcomer. If you have a hard word to explain, you can pass right away.”

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

Under the goggles, the newcomer smiled brightly. 

Somehow, Choi So-young felt that his voice was familiar.

The first turn was for the ski team, who had arrived first.

Since their condition was [Ski. 

Male in his 40s], they found the person easily, but it was not an easy task to explain a word with their body while wearing ski. 

It also took some time to switch places between the explainer and the guesser.

“This is not snowboarding. Hyung.”

“…You’re right.”

The member who slid like a sled using poles and then slid heavily nodded quietly at Jung-hoon’s words, who patted his shoulder.

The second and third teams finished their turns, and it was finally Choi So-young’s team’s turn.

The camera captured Park Young-jin, Jung-hoon, Choi So-young, and the newcomer, whose lips and chin were barely visible because of the large goggles, shouting “One, two, fighting!”

Team leader Choi So-young picked one of the many mission papers. 

The PD opened his mouth with a regretful face.

“It’s a one-star difficulty. The word is sports.”

“Easy!”

The first batter Park Young-jin shouted cheerfully.

He quickly guessed the answer, as it was a topic that was easy to explain with his body and there was nothing to hinder him.

After Jung-hoon and Choi So-young’s turns, it was the newcomer’s turn.

From behind the newcomer, where he was standing, a cheering sound came from among the spectators. 

They seemed to be his friends. 

The camera that was filming the spectators’ reactions turned to the friends. 

Maybe because they were friends of the goggle guy, they all wore goggles.

[Archery]

Pfft!

A laughter-like sound seemed to come from among the newcomer’s friends.

The youngest cameraman who was filming them tilted his head.

‘Why is that funny?’

The newcomer lowered his arms. 

And then he pretended to grab something. 

It was a smooth movement, as if he was pulling something back.

Park Young-jin, Choi So-young, and Jung-hoon, who had prepared themselves after seeing the clumsy explanations of the ordinary participants, widened their eyes.

He fixed something with his left hand and slowly pulled his right hand back. 

The two hands that were holding nothing in the air felt a strange weight, as if there was tension.

As the newcomer pulled something invisible to the side of his goggles, it looked like he had a transparent bow.

“Archery!”

The three of them shouted at the same time.

The PD shouted ‘Correct!’ and the newcomer and Park Young-jin switched places.

The spectators were impressed by the newcomer’s high-quality explanation. 

It was not an ordinary movement even for ordinary people.

“He’s really good.”

“He looks familiar… Is he an archery player?”

One of the spectators asked the kids who looked like the newcomer’s friends.

“Do you guys do sports?”

The friends of ‘Go Ju-won’ barely held back their laughter and said no.

Again, Park Young-jin, Jung-hoon, Choi So-young’s turns passed and it was the newcomer’s turn.

The newcomer wearing goggles looked at the word and paused for a moment. Choi So-young asked him.

“Pass? Do you want to pass?”

“No. I’m fine.”

He said that and walked forward a little bit.

As everyone raised a question mark above their heads at his sudden movement, the newcomer turned his head and looked behind him, then nodded and looked forward again.

Before anyone could think what he was doing, he bent his knees and bounced back, reaching out his hand to touch the ground and flipping his body backwards.

‘…!’

And then he bounced again, touching the ground with his hands and flipping his body backwards, and landed.

He spread his arms wide and posed with a bang!

The shooting site fell silent.

The newcomer wearing goggles did two backflips.

“…Circus?”

Jung-hoon opened his mouth wide and Choi So-young unknowingly blurted out, while Park Young-jin who came to his senses shouted urgently.

“…No no no, gymnastics! Artistic gymnastics!”

“…Correct…”

The PD who shouted the answer, the writer who sat next to him, the Running Man member who had [Artistic gymnastics] as the word, and everyone else had surprised faces.

The spectator asked the newcomer’s friends again.

“…Are you guys really not from a sports high school?”

“…Only he does that.”

****

“Thank you!”

“We won thanks to you!”

Choi So-young, Park Young-jin, and Jung-hoon grabbed the newcomer’s hand and shouted “Wow!” They were so happy that they even played rock-paper-scissors together.

“We were last!”

“We’re first!”

That’s right.

They arrived last but guessed the words quickly, plus they got extra points (?) for the newcomer’s flashy performance, so Choi So-young’s team became first.

The writer and PD who gave them points smiled contentedly. He was a unique and charismatic character, perfect for filling up the broadcast time.

“What? How can you give points for flashiness?!”

“What about us? Don’t we get points for laughter?”

When the Running Man member who had fallen heavily while moving with ski equipment protested, the PD said calmly as if he was used to it.

“We did.”

“Oh… You did? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

When you say [Running Man!], you think of bluffing, cunningness, betrayal, rule breaking.

The spectators laughed at seeing the familiar faces of Running Man in front of them.

That’s how the second game ended and they took a group photo with Running Man members, guests, and ordinary participants.

“It was fun!”

“You explained really well.”

While the celebrities continued shooting, the ordinary participants came out of the camera range.

The staff called out to four ordinary participants in a small voice. 

They still had excited faces after meeting celebrities and solving problems with them. 

Except for the newcomer whose face was hidden by goggles.

‘Is it because of the goggles that I can’t see his expression?’

The staff who thought he was strangely calm thanked the four of them and handed them department store gift cards. 

The ordinary participants who met celebrities and received gift cards returned to their companions with happy faces.

Seo Joon, who wore goggles, also took the white envelope and headed to his friends. 

The camera of the youngest cameraman who was filming the spectators’ reactions focused on the newcomer who had left a strong impression.

“Backflips?”

“Technically, it’s a back handspring. It’s when you flip your body backwards while touching the ground with your hands.”

Seong-min said with a serious expression at Seo Joon’s explanation.

“That’s not the point, right? Buddy.”

They all laughed at that. Seo Joon also laughed and then scratched his neck as if he was embarrassed.

“I haven’t been on a variety show for a long time. I wanted to have some fun.”

“It looked like that. It’ll probably be a hot topic when it airs.”

“It’s like… You know, when you randomly pick someone from a concert and ask them to sing, and they turn out to be a professional?! Something like that?”

Everyone nodded and laughed at Ju-kyung’s words.

“Someone asked me if we were from a sports high school.”

“There were people filming with their phones… My friend is going to be a star.”

“He’s born to be a superstar. Superstar.”

Seo Joon and his friends, who were used to shooting, quietly chatted and laughed so that they wouldn’t be caught by the audio.

Meanwhile, [Running Man!] was doing a bonus game.

The Running Man members and guests were holding their own phones with microphones connected. The PD opened his mouth to explain.

“This is a bonus game where you contact your celebrity friends and see how fast they answer your phone. We’ll give extra points to the person who gets the fastest answer.”

“I have to figure out their schedule well.”

“Me too. It’s an awkward time.”

They all looked at their phone books and pondered seriously, while Choi So-young also slowly scrolled through her phone screen.

‘Da-jin is shooting and so are the other actors.’

She stopped her finger as she scrolled through her phone book.

Come to think of it…

The newcomer’s voice sounded similar to him.

Choi So-young looked up and saw the newcomer and his friends standing among the spectators. One of the actors from [Babel Top], who was close to Choi So-young, glanced at her phone and widened his eyes. 

He quickly poked Choi So-young’s side.

“So-young, call him. Just once. Please!”

“Hmm.”

“What is it, noona? So-young?”

Jung-hoon stuck his face between the two people who were whispering. He looked at the phone screen and opened his mouth wide.

“Wow! Seo-joon!”

Suddenly.

The shooting site stopped.

Seo-joon.

The two letters changed the atmosphere of the shooting site. 

He was a star who could do that with just his name.

The Running Man members gathered around Choi So-young with excited faces. The actors from [Babel Top] did the same.

“Seo-joon? The actor Lee Seo-joon?”

“Me, just once! Even a greeting! I collected all the Shadowman figures…”

“So-young, are you going to call Seo-joon?”

They reacted strongly and Choi So-young rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Yes. I heard he has a day off today. But he might not answer the phone.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay! Who doesn’t know that our Seo-joon is busy these days!”

Park Young-jin shouted with a happy face.

“Wow. Our Seo-joon.”

The Running Man members whispered loudly, but Park Young-jin ignored them and continued with a smile.

“Then, let’s have So-young go last…”

While the other members called their friends and the staff measured the time with a stopwatch, the spectators were also excited. It was worth staying until the end of the shooting.

“Wow. She’s really calling Lee Seo-joon.”

“Oh, right. Choi So-young did a play with him, right?”

The sound of their conversation reached the ears of the newcomer and his friends who were among the spectators. Seo-joon and his friends were surprised by the sudden situation and soon fell into thought.

“Hmm. Should I go somewhere else to answer the phone?”

Seo-joon’s words made his friends tilt their heads.

“But then it would be okay to reveal it, right?”

“Yeah. It was fine until now because his face and name didn’t come out, but I think it would be better to reveal it if we’re going to talk on the phone.”

“But then it would be hard to go back later…”

Seo-joon’s words made his friends imagine what would happen when his identity was revealed. It seemed unlikely that they could leave the ski resort quietly.

“And we still have some lift time left, right? Don’t you guys want to play more?”

He was fine himself, but he cared about his friends.

“It’s okay. We played all day.”

“I’m sure my muscles will ache tomorrow.”

Kang Jae-han and Han Ji-ho shrugged their shoulders.

“And there’s less than an hour left for the lift.”

“What about the car… Should we take a taxi?”

“Will a taxi come here?”

Kim Ju-kyung, Jeon Seong-min, and Yang Ju-hee took out their phones and looked for a way to go back.

“Get me Choi So-young sunbae-nim’s autograph later.”

Park Si-young, who was a fan of Choi So-young, also joined in.

Thankfully, his friends’ minds seemed to lean towards revealing his identity. But Seo-joon was still hesitating.

“But that was a long time ago, right?”

Then, a voice came out.

“It’s been a long time since he did a play with him. Who knows if they’re still close?”

It was a mocking voice.

Seo-joon and his friends stopped moving and listened silently.

“Lee Da-jin is doing a lot of works with him and even got articles as Seo-joon’s group, but Choi So-young doesn’t have anything like that.”

“That’s true. Just because they did a work together when they were young, does that mean they have a connection? Then there would be no celebrities without connections.”

“What if she calls him and it’s a wrong number? Or someone else answers.”

“She always tries to take advantage of others when she’s not famous.”

“They say she got into this work by pushing herself in too. I don’t know if Choi So-young can act well.”

A nasty laughter sounded.

It probably didn’t reach the celebrities inside, but it was clearly heard by the spectators around them. 

Some of them frowned and some of them nodded as if they agreed.

His friends quietly grabbed Seo-joon’s shoulder and arm.

Especially Park Si-young, who touched Seo-joon’s shoulder, had a strange force in his hand. He spat out a word with a growl, as a fan of Choi So-young.

“Seo-joon. Let’s go.”

“Roger.”

Seo-joon answered with a more serious voice than ever.