The Variety Show's Sneaky Little Game
“Wow... really, what can’t you do? Aren’t you just a scam character?”
Hihi said, genuinely surprised.
I wiped the sweat from my brow as I looked around and found everyone staring at me with shocked expressions.
“Hyung Kwan-soo, I did everything~”
“Wow, Tae-woo, let’s get close and hang out.”
Kwan-soo rubbed his hands obsequiously and gave me a friendly slap on the shoulder.
“Hahaha, that’s something I need to think about.”
“Krkrk, Tae-woo, you’re secretly a gag character.”
“Iya, the production team is going to cry tears of blood, right? This is just Tae-woo using items and knocking out eighty on his own.”
The PDs were in chaos, just as Yoo Jae-seung had predicted.
“Um... this is unexpected.”
One PD said with a bewildered voice.
“Could the mission difficulty become too easy because of this?”
Another PD asked worriedly.
The main PD rubbed his chin with a troubled expression.
“Um... Jung Tae-woo’s ability really exceeded expectations. If we keep going like this, the tension in the mission might drop...”
Some insisted we had to raise the difficulty,
while others said we could use Jung Tae-woo’s ability to make the program even more interesting.
“Olympic fencing gold medalist Lee Chang-seop showed that fifteen is plenty difficult, so raising the difficulty here doesn’t make sense. Let’s just keep this as is and raise the next mission’s difficulty a little.”
The main PD thought for a moment, then made his decision.
“Good, we’ll be satisfied with the item-using mission this time and raise the difficulty from the next one.”
Completely unaware of the short commotion happening outside the camera,
I and the other participants were practicing the mission and waiting.
“Huhuahaha, how did Seok-jin-hyung get two?”
“Yo, Kwan-soo, you only got five!”
Even after practice, the existing members couldn’t manage more than ten,
and Lee Chang-seop, the fencing player, quickly got the hang of it and set a record of twenty-five.
“Wow, but seriously, that’s amazing. Chang-seop only got twenty-five as his maximum, but how did Tae-woo, who doesn’t even know the fencing stance, get forty-two?”
Lee Chang-seop nodded in agreement with Jin Seok-jin’s question.
“Exactly. It’s not easy to say it’s simple, you know. Because of the motion timing—thrusting, then getting ready again—it’s actually hard to do many. But your reaction speed is really good.”
“Hahaha, thank you. That’s my job, so I have to be fast.”
Lee Chang-seop continued with a serious expression.
“Honestly, Tae-woo, you would have been great at fencing too.”
Fencing...
Actually, with that reaction speed, I had thought I could eat half of any sport.
‘But if I tried another sport, Cheong-shin would probably come at me with a straight face.’
“I like soccer.”
Lee Chang-seop said with regret.
“It’s really a shame. If Tae-woo had done fencing, it would have been even more popular than now. You’re handsome.”
“You’re handsome too, hyung.”
“Yo yo, you little brat. Having you next to me feels like I’m in the ocean. Ah, I hope the viewers aren’t too disappointed.”
As Lee Chang-seop said, among sports, soccer, baseball, and basketball are considered popular in Korea, while others are classified as unpopular,
the gap caused by capital or such things was fairly large.
‘Volleyball is on the rise these days, but it’s still not easy to call it a popular sport.’
It’s the presence of star players that keeps these unpopular sports alive.
Of course, like hyung Chang-seop, if he wins a medal at a competition like the Olympics, people will pay attention for a while, but that’s just a while and then reality sets in that people will forget about him soon.
While I was lost in these thoughts, the PD’s voice echoed through the studio.
“Everyone, we’re starting the fencing mission ‘Surpass Human Reaction Speed’!”
“Already? Seok-jin-hyung can’t even get past two yet. Give us a little more!”
To Lee Kwan-soo’s words, Jin Seok-jin shouted, riled up.
“No way, I really can do it well. Let’s go right away!”
“We can set the order and start right away.”
“Okay, good. How about the order? What should we go with?”
Hihi said playfully.
“I think it makes sense to have Seok-jin-hyung go first in the order of who can’t do it.”
Jin Seok-jin glared at Hihi and said.
“Yo Hihi, come here.”
“Ah, why? It’s true, right?”
“Okay, good. First, Seok-jin-hyung goes.”
“Jae-seung-ah, are you also doing this?”
“No, Seok-jin-hyung, listen carefully. Hyung is showing first. ‘I can do this much, I am the real Jung Tae-woo of Sumi University.’ How about it?”
Ah... I don’t know if Seok-jin-hyung’s concept is real or not,
but it’s really simple. Just one of Jae-seung-hyung’s words makes the person look happy.
‘He must have been serious and cool like a senior on the bus.’
The image shown when the camera wasn’t rolling was the most charismatic and serious personality I had seen among his broadcasting career.
He was definitely that. As expected, the variety genius, our hyung.
“Good, I’ll show you. Even I was flying around in my prime!”
At that moment, Hihi threw in another line.
“It’s not prime time anymore, it’s menopause.”
“What the...”
After discussing that, the order that came out was like this.
1. Jin Seok-jin 2. Lee Kwan-soo 3. Song Ji-hee 4. Yoo Jae-seung 5. Kim Jeong-guk 6. Hihi 7. Kim Chul-min 8. Lee Chang-seop 9. Jung Tae-woo
Of course, there was a bit of a commotion,
“No, I’m second? That doesn’t make sense! I’m the one who can’t do it!”
Kim Jeong-guk went quiet after hyung’s one punch massaging hand.
The game then started,
and Jin Seok-jin proved why he wasn’t “the real Jung Tae-woo of Sumi University” with a “huge” score of one.
Next, Lee Kwan-soo, Song Ji-hee, Yoo Jae-seung, Kim Jeong-guk, and Hihi each set records under ten.
The total of six people was only thirty. Compared to there still being three people left, the numbers looked pitifully small.
But surprisingly, the studio atmosphere was good.
“Yeah, we have Olympic medalists among us!”
Yoo Jae-seung said with a grin.
To his words, everyone nodded and laughed.
Kim Chul-min, Lee Chang-seop, and me. All the expectations were on our three.
Kim Chul-min, the basketball player, was the owner of an impressive 205-centimeter height.
Everyone had expected his long arms to work to his advantage,
but the reality was different.
Perhaps because of his large size, he was a hindrance, and Kim Chul-min only managed to achieve a record of ten in a surprising way.
His movements were slower than expected, and he seemed to have trouble controlling his large body in the narrow space.
Next, hyung Chang-seop also recorded only twenty, fewer than in practice.
Now I was the only one left who had to set a record of forty.
“Come on, Tae-woo!”
“What kind of Pokémon am I, hyung Kwan-soo.”
Then hyung Kwan-soo said with a grin.
“If you’re like you, I’ll call you a legendary Pokémon.”
‘Okay, I’ll just follow the practice.’
Anyway, as long as I did it according to practice, it would pass,
and since there was an item in case of unforeseen circumstances, I had a sense of certainty that this mission would definitely be cleared.
I concentrated and responded quickly every time the light turned on.
It went easier than expected, and I was riding an even better flow than in practice.
“Good Tae-woo, now come back!”
I snapped out of my thoughts at hyung Kwan-soo’s voice and saw I had achieved a record of forty-five.
“Wiiiiing~”
“Yo, are you making a sound like you’re going into a Pokémon ball now?”
I said with a grin.
“You have great sense, right?”
Then hyung Kwan-soo patted my shoulder.
“You don’t take care of your body like your face. Hey, hyung will push you. How about one more fixed pose?”
At that moment, Jae-seung-hyung butted in.
“Yo Kwan-soo, what are you doing pushing Tae-woo? You should be protecting your own spot.”
“What?”
“Look, the mic is loose too. So instead of pushing, he’s getting pushed.”
“The mic is loose?”
Hyung Kwan-soo was about to check the mic and bend down,
when Jae-seung-hyung’s hand smacked his cheek.
Slap—
“Ack! Why did you hit me?”
Hyung Kwan-soo clutched his cheek and shouted.
“Shut up.”
Hyung Kwan-soo turned to me as if angry.
“Yo Tae-woo, you’re being insolent—”
At that moment,
again with a slap— sound, hyung Kwan-soo’s words cut off.
“Eek! Why are you hitting me?”
“Jae-seung-hyung told me to.”
“Ah, really Jae-seung-hyung!”
Hyung Kwan-soo exclaimed pitifully.
I could see why hyung Kwan-soo was hitting hyung Kwan-soo’s cheek, and it really stung.
Of course, it was an act, but...
‘Huh? But it looks like he’s really angry? Eh~ It must be acting.’
Since I was an actor anyway...
It probably wasn’t really angry, right?
* * *
After successfully completing the fencing mission, we climbed back onto the bus.
While heading to the basketball mission location,
we started the second mini-game inside the bus.
The name of this game was “Death’s Initial Letter Quiz.”
“SsSs”
The PD called out the initials.
Answers came in order from those seated.
“Sa-sa-shim,”
“Su-seong,”
“Se...”
Hihi started but hesitated.
Thump!
The Death Initial Letter Game was a game where you said five initials correctly in a short time. But the game ended because of Hihi’s hesitation.
“Yo Hihi, what were you trying to say?”
To Hee-hee’s question, Hihi answered anxiously.
“Ah, no, se-su-yo. Se-su!”
“No, then you have to say it faster. You failed because of you,”
In that way, the second mini-game ended in failure, and we arrived at the basketball mission location.
“This basketball mission is the blind shooting mission. Everyone gets three chances and has to throw the ball from the three-point line with their eyes covered. If you get a total of fifteen, it’s a success,”
This mission was also an impossible challenge close to being unbelievable.
“No way. How are you supposed to score without seeing?”
Like that, everyone except basketball player Kim Chul-min tried without properly getting the feel and attempted.
Most shots flew in completely wrong directions from the basket,
and some even threw the ball out of the court.
Only Kim Chul-min barely managed a few goals,
but he was far short of the target fifteen.
“Well, shall we go to the final mission, soccer?”
“You devils...”
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