Chapter 56: The Qin King Circles the Pillar 2.0

Kang Jae-hyun had originally thought that his time of two minutes and twenty-nine seconds was quite long.

To his surprise, Lee Kwang-soo took twenty seconds longer than him to finish.

Looking at the chaotic mess all over the floor, Kang Jae-hyun came to a sudden realization—hard work truly counts for nothing in front of raw talent.

His own performance earlier had been "calculated clumsiness," whereas Lee Kwang-soo was quite literally "clumsiness incarnate."

Those angles of falling, the timing of his screams, and even the parabolic trajectory of the flying plunger seemed deeply embedded with variety show genes straight from his bones.

"No wonder the teacher said I should buy a ticket to study..."

He muttered to himself.

The first round of the individual battle came to an end.

Kang Jae-hyun secured the victory with a twenty-second advantage.

The second round was the men's doubles battle, meaning two people pulled together.

As the winners of the previous round, Kang Jae-hyun's team still held the priority.

"Choose to go second."

Yoo Jae-suk wore a cunning smile, pulling Kang Gary over to whisper a few words.

After hearing the plan, Kang Gary walked over to a load-bearing pillar and knelt on one knee, the marble floor tiles reflecting the determined expression of a man facing certain death as his knee pressed down.

Yoo Jae-suk kicked off his sneakers and stepped back seven paces for a running start.

The moment he leaped, he precisely stepped onto Kang Gary's thigh, slamming the toilet plunger onto the pillar three meters up the wall.

When he landed, he tucked his body and rolled across the foam mat, rising to push up his glasses in a pose that looked exactly like he had just completed a high-dive:

"Art, this is installation art!"

Lee Kwang-soo walked up to the pillar and looked up at the wobbling rubber suction cup.

He stood on tiptoe and gently hooked his finger—the toilet plunger dropped right into his palm with a pop.

"Jae-suk hyung."

Waving the trophy, Lee Kwang-soo looked utterly bewildered:

"You were jumping around like a shaman performing an exorcism, and this is it?"

"Hahaha—"

Kang Jae-hyun's face grew stiff from laughing.

This hyung's variety show instincts were truly innate.

Even knowing he was acting, he simply couldn't help but laugh.

Amidst the roaring laughter, the second round of competition commenced.

The Oil Industry Team sent out the combination of Ji Suk-jin and Haha.

Producer Myeong directly delivered a face-to-face roast:

"This is an athletic competition, the two of you... can you even handle it?"

"What's wrong with the two of us!?"

Ji Suk-jin's fur instantly stood on end.

Haha cooperatively rolled up his sleeves, revealing muscles that clearly did not exist: "PD-nim, we are the original ace duo of Running Man!"

"That's right!" Ji Suk-jin patted his chest, "Back in the day when I ran faster than Jae-suk—"

"Which year? BC?"

Yoo Jae-suk delivered a piercing counter-attack.

"Hahaha..."

The entire cast burst into laughter.

In truth, the Oil Industry Team choosing Ji Suk-jin and Haha to participate was also for the sake of the program's entertainment value.

If winning was the sole objective, they would have simply sent Kim Jong-kook.

The behaviors of the two men unfolded precisely as expected.

Although their performance lacked the natural, effortless comedy of Lee Kwang-soo, Ji Suk-jin's trembling "elderly arms and legs" and Haha's exaggerated, melodramatic acting still successfully breathed new life into the trope of "old men refusing to admit defeat."

"The Oil Industry Team's final time—one minute and thirty-eight seconds! Next, please prepare the Fashion Team for their challenge."

Almost the moment those words left his mouth, Yoo Jae-suk pushed Kang Jae-hyun and Kim Woo-bin directly into the center of the arena.

As a seasoned main MC, he understood the rules of screen-time distribution in variety shows better than anyone else—

Newcomers needed exposure, the show needed a sense of freshness, and artists in the middle of promotional cycles needed plenty of screen time to maintain their popularity.

If guests spent the entire episode acting as mere background props,

Once the episode aired, viewers wouldn't even remember their faces, so how could they talk about promotional impact?

Kang Jae-hyun took half a step back, subtly ceding the primary offensive position to Kim Woo-bin.

He knew Kim Woo-bin possessed a strong desire to win.

Having previously appeared on Running Man at the same time as Lee Jong-suk, he had been brutally tormented by Kim Jong-kook back then, which was the exact reason he had begged the production team to let him participate in this recording.

"It's starting."

Kang Jae-hyun symbolically pressed his palm against the small of Kim Woo-bin's back.

He could clearly feel the taut waist muscles beneath the fabric trembling slightly, like a compound bow pulled to its absolute limit.

"Beep—"

The timer started.

Kim Woo-bin suddenly burst forward, his sneaker rubber soles scraping a short, mournful shriek from the foam floor mat.

Kang Jae-hyun cooperated by striking an exaggerated pushing posture, his loosely curled knuckles maintaining a strict three-centimeter distance from the athletic wear—a distance just sufficient for the VJ to capture a flawless collaborative shot without actually applying any driving force.

"Seventeen, eighteen..."

The floor manager's counting blended with the popping sounds of suction cups releasing.

"Beep—"

The electronic timer locked in at twenty-five seconds.

Kang Jae-hyun timely displayed a look of pleasant surprise, high-fiving Kim Woo-bin in celebration.

The first game concluded.

The Fashion Team won both rounds, earning three savings passbooks.

Yoo Jae-suk distributed the three passbooks to the three guests.

Producer Myeong's explanatory voice rang out right on cue:

"If the passbook remains in the holder's possession until the very end, all the money inside belongs entirely to them."

Hearing this, Kang Jae-hyun opened the passbook.

The figure of one million Korean Won shimmered faintly under the lights, and he subconsciously stroked the edge of the printed text with his thumb.

Calculating based on this pace—if the Fashion Team could maintain their winning streak, he would accumulate at least four passbooks by the final stage.

If he also won the final showdown...

He could walk away with at least ten million Korean Won.

"Ten million..."

The number rolled around on the tip of Kang Jae-hyun's tongue.

His originally relaxed posture suddenly straightened, and his sneakers unconsciously ground against the floorboards.

"Jae-hyun—"

Lee Kwang-soo suddenly crept up to him with a stealthy demeanor.

"Yes?"

"Hyung will teach you a secret—"

Lee Kwang-soo suddenly lowered his voice: "You have to hide the passbook in the lining of your underwear to be safe."

"???"

The moment Kang Jae-hyun instinctively looked down at his waistband, Lee Kwang-soo's long legs had already darted out like lightning toward the edge of the passbook.

- "Yah! Sunbaenim!!!"

He rushed forward in a single bound, but Lee Kwang-soo was already tearing around the entire floor like an unleashed wild horse, looking back to provoke him as he ran:

"Jae-hyun! The essence of variety shows is—whoever grabs it first keeps it!"

"PD-nim!"

Kang Jae-hyun pointed at Lee Kwang-soo in accusation: "Isn't this a foul?"

Producer Myeong gave a light cough:

"The Passbook Defense Battle... is also considered part of the Heir's Trial."

Without another word, Kang Jae-hyun accelerated into a sprint.

The two of them once again staged a classic game of running in circles around a pillar.

Only this time, the roles of offense and defense had reversed.

As he ran, Lee Kwang-soo shoved the passbook deeper into his waistband, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"This is mine now! Mine!"

Haha stood on the sidelines, fanning the flames:

"Jae-hyun! Just pull down his pants! Don't hold back!"

Hearing this, Kang Jae-hyun lunged forward and grabbed Lee Kwang-soo by the trouser leg, sending the two of them crashing into a tangled heap.

Lee Kwang-soo desperately protected his waistband, while Kang Jae-hyun reached out in an attempt to fish it out, plunging the scene into absolute chaos.

"Ahem..."

Stifling a laugh, Producer Myeong said: "Please mind your boundaries, you two..."

Ultimately.

Leveraging his youth and physical strength, Kang Jae-hyun successfully snatched the passbook back from Lee Kwang-soo's waistband.

The latter sprawled flat on the floor, wailing:

"The juniors these days have no respect for their elders! All the dignity of a senior is gone..."

"Soo-jung."

Kang Jae-hyun suddenly shoved the recovered passbook straight into Krystal's palm:

"Hold onto this for me. They won't dare pull anything with you."

Krystal's fingertips curled inward slightly:

"But what about Ji-hyo sunbaenim..."

"I'll protect you, and you protect it."

He stepped sideways to block Song Ji-hyo's probing gaze.

"Then what about my custody fee?"

"I'll treat you to ice cream."

"Deal~"

Krystal lowered her gaze to conceal her smile—

This fool delivered lines meant for a scripted show couple as if they were wedding vows.

If Kim Ji-won saw this, she would probably send twenty KakaoTalk messages mocking her for the tips of her ears turning red.