We open with a solemn-looking Kim Woo-bin (♥) asking someone off-screen if he wants to hear about a big deal that’s about to go down tonight. It involves a noble, ancient script, and he wants to swipe it for themselves. Does he want in?
“Yeah,” a stone-faced Kwang-soo flatly replies. That response has Woo-bin momentarily break character, then resumes to explain today’s “special” elimination method for their spy mission: find blank nametags and write the others’ names on them. None of the others will understand how they’ve been ousted.
After some affected praise about how dignified this method is compared to the traditional system of nametag-elimination, Woo-bin says they’ll be given an implement for their secret mission if they win the other mission today. “Like a pen?” Kwang-soo asks.
Ha, even the production crew is surprised by Kwang-soo’s deduction skills today, given their murmurings. Kwang-soo swears that he’ll break his variety image and impress with his brains today.
Now we get a rundown on our other technicians in this field: human opener Jae-suk, who can open any lock or door using flour, retina scan master Suk-jin (who puts in a contact lens through his lens-less glasses, hee), human tank Jong-kook, who uses his brute strength.
I love how Kwang-soo cracks up at this moment: “So Jong-kook isn’t anything special.” Ha, nope—just your everyday brawny Spartakooks. Moonlight Monday Couple, Gary and Ji-hyo, are exceptional climbers… on a green screen.
Then there’s bomb expert Haha, and last but not least the master of concealment Kwang-soo, who shows off his skills by lying on a table in plain sight when someone walks by. Kwang-soo shows off his skills by flying past just then, and both he and Woo-bin insist that their past babo image is just an act.
With their umpteenth hug, the two seal the deal. And then Woo-bin asks, “…where do we go now?” Oh, these heodangs.
Today’s official opening takes place one hour later, and this is going to sound weird, but I wouldn’t mind opening my safe to find Kim Woo-bin and Lee Hyun-woo inside. It probably goes without saying that these two are here to promote their upcoming film Con Artists.
Has it really been a year and a half since Hyun-woo’s
last RM visit? It must be, and then it’s time to announce teams:
Black (Woo-bin, Kwang-soo, and Jae-suk (the latter of whom coins themselves the “handsome trio”) versus
Blue (Hyun-woo and
SpartAce) versus
Red(Haha, Suk-jin, and Gary).
Entitled ‘The Technicians Race,’ our cast must located an ancient script—the same one Woo-bin and Kwang-soo are looking for. The others also have the same opportunity to acquire a handy tool to find that script by winning today’s mini-missions.
In a quick flashback, Kwang-soo says that their third team member will be totally fooled today. Cut to: Jae-suk, who asks outright if Kwang-soo’s a spy. Woo-bin plays along so that the moment passes.
Our teams gather at Myung-dong for their first mission: a member from each team must hang on a high bar until their teammates complete their mission. The first team to strike the bell to finish will receive a hint and move on.
Everyone is rarin’ to go, and the first mission is a coffee run with verrry specific preferences. Thinking of their greater mission at hand, Woo-bin wraps his legs around Suk-jin for support. So does Jong-kook, and all Taek PD says that falling off the bar results in elimination.
While Jae-suk and Kwang-soo run a good distance looking for a coffee shop, the other two teams discover the closest one. Ji-hyo and Hyun-woo recite their order in verbatim, and Gary and Haha whisper to the cashier if their drink can come out first.
Unfortunately Jae-suk and Kwang-soo leave with a hot drink instead of iced, hurrying back to Woo-bin. Ji-hyo and Hyun-woo believe they’re in first place, only to see Jong-kook on the ground. It looks like Suk-jin’s the only one still hanging on, but then Taek PD confirms that all three teams failed.
It turns out Woo-bin’s dragged both Suk-jin and Jong-kook down, and then slipped off not too long afterwards. And then they had Suk-jin jump back onto the bar. Heh.
The teams will have to pick up the pace, and as soon as the next round starts (find someone whose nationality exceeds three syllables in Korean), they start yelling in English, “Where are you from?”
Kwang-soo and Woo-bin keep running into tourists who are from two-syllable countries (when translated into Korean), but then eventually run back with someone from Bajamia? That’s not a country, Kwang-soo.
Too bad Jae-suk has already fallen, and Kwang-soo belatedly learns that his new friend is from Belgium instead. Despite finding someone from Singapore, the Red Team fails too because Suk-jin had fallen off moments before they rang the bell.
So it’s onto Round 3, and while the others are away, Hyun-woo adorable squeals when Woo-bin wraps his legs around him. Hyun-woo hangs on for a good long while until he finally falls off.
While Hyun-woo and Suk-jin try to convince Woo-bin to come down already, his teammates are busy buying a packed lunch. They seem pretty far away, but Woo-bin manages to hang on until Kwang-soo and Jae-suk make it back and secure their win.
They open up their hint in the car—it’s a bagful of writing implements. I wonder if we’ll keep seeing that same opening conversation throughout the episode, but Kwang-soo is surprised to find that he guessed right.
Their second mission is a staredown contest, and Haha tests Kwang-soo’s claim that he hasn’t blinked in the past twelve years with a sudden fist towards his face. Kwang-soo blinks. Hehehe. Haha: “Today must be the first in twelve years.”
Jae-suk shares a story of how Jong-kook’s small eyes give him an advantage, because there was a time on the plane when a stewardess covered him with a blanket while he was watching a movie, thinking he was asleep.
Kwang-soo puts an end to Haha and Jae-suk’s bickering about who’s uglier between them by saying they’re both ugly. Haha (to Jae-suk): “You should remain silent about your ugliness, like Gary does!” Gary’s all, Why’re you dragging me into this?!
Both Haha and Jong-kook wear similarly scary-looking stares, and it isn’t long before both start tearing up. Haha blinks first, and Jong-kook comes at him about the question he asked during the game (“Do you like Yoon Eun-hye or Moon Geun-young better?”).
Jae-suk brings up the concept of a “squid” puzzle, which is basically compiling a group of good-looking men in the edges, and the one unfortunate man stuck in the middle is the squid. The results are pretty funny, and then Jae-suk asks the resident squid-of-the-day Kwang-soo to speak.
Gary looks like he’s going to break right at the start, so he desperately calls out Yoon Eun-hye’s name, which causes Jong-kook to blink.
Then it’s the Monday Couple’s turn, and hahahaha—they start making kissy faces at each other. Gary’s the one to blush though, and then Ji-hyo ups the ante by licking her lips seductively. HAHAHA, this is great.
Ji-hyo blinks at least twice afterwards, but this exchange is too funny to cut away from because Gary legit cannot handle himself. But Ji-hyo gets caught the last time, giving Gary the win.
So the Red Team move on to take on the Black Team, the latter of whom take up their pens for a makeover. But two can play at this game and Suk-jin asks for some tape. Omg, they start taping up Suk-jin’s entire body from head to crotch. And yes, you read that sentence correctly.
It honestly looks like Suk-jin has a wedgie, but Jae-suk won’t lose as he tapes up his face. THIS is what variety is all about—it’s going to be fantastic, innit?
OH. MY. GOD. It’s even better than words. I… I… honestly don’t know how to describe this. Jae-suk ends up losing the battle due to pain.
Aw, it’s too bad that both the show and the cast are trying to preserve Woo-bin’s star image today, because we all know it’s a helluva lot funnier when an actor will throw that right out the door (Exhibit A:
Jung Woo-sung). But to Woo-bin’s credit, he asks for his face to be taped up, even giving them ideas.
Then at the reveal, Woo-bin goes for it, rolling his eyes backwards to make himself look even stranger. Gary ends up losing. The Black Team wins after another round (picking up more hints), and Kwang-soo jokes that his whole family played this game together earlier. The winner? His mom.
Then it’s to their final mission location where everyone is separated and it’s every man or woman for themselves. They change back into their original black attire, then told of the mission: Find the Ancient Script.
In order to do that, our cast members must search the place for clues (parchment papers) and find the script. Only one name can be written inside, and that person will be the winner. Great secrets are hidden within the hints, which can be stolen away from each other.
Of course Woo-bin and Kwang-soo are well-aware of this mission, but this name-writing mission has a catch: They’ll need to eliminate the other seven cast members, but each nametag corresponds to a certain type of pen. Only by matching these together will they be able to oust the others, and getting it wrong (i.e., writing a name with the wrong pen) will result in their own elimination.
Kwang-soo notices that the word “pen” is written differently, and he wonders if it’s the calligraphy pen in his pocket. It is. Eureka!
Kwang-soo makes sure to tuck that calligraphy pen away before pulling Jong-kook aside later to show him the caseful of pens. A smiling Hyun-woo joins them and his aegyo attempts at trying to get Kwang-soo to open the case are downright adorable.
Even though this is an individual mission, Jong-kook and Kwang-soo convince Hyun-woo that three is a perfect number for an alliance. Aww, Hyun-woo just eats it up excitedly, and Jong-kook warns Kwang-soo against betraying them.
Woo-bin meets up with Kwang-soo after discovering a blank nametag. After reiterating the warning that they run the risk of their own elimination, Kwang-soo tells Woo-bin to try first. He isn’t readily willing to give up information, and when Woo-bin asks why they have to use a calligraphy pen, Kwang-soo sighs, asking if he has to teach him everything.
Kwang-soo offers him a tip: hide the calligraphy pens, but leave the others in the open to confuse the others. A little while later, Kwang-soo tattletales on Jae-suk to Jong-kook, claiming that the grasshopper wanted to steal his case.
Hyun-woo places a hand to Jae-suk’s arm in warning, only to remove it seconds later. Jae-suk is offended being treated this way by his former teammate, giving him a mini-slap in return.
Meanwhile, Ji-hyo discovers a scroll informing her that there’s a spy among them. She’s mighty cautious around Woo-bin, offering that they exchange hints. Once they do, Woo-bin realizes that the parchment scrolls let on about their secret mission. Looks who’s going to have to get a move on.
Woo-bin discovers another blank nametag, in a different color this time, then steps back out to meet Haha and Ji-hyo. As expected, they think the pens Woo-bin has on his person are the pens they need. After distributing bogus pens, Woo-bin’s figured it out: the colors corresponds to the color of the cast member’s buttons.
Wow, that’s super specific, but it turns out to be true, as both Haha and Ji-hyo’s shirts have different-colored buttons. So Jae-suk is wearing green buttons and Jong-kook is wearing red.
It just so happens that Woo-bin has found a blank nametag with a red border already. He writes Jong-kook’s name, and moments later, the speakers blare his elimination.
Haha suspects Kwang-soo, and it’s then he reads his scroll to discover that he must eliminate the spy to learn of the ancient script’s location. The clue doesn’t specify how, but it confirms that spies are afoot.
Suk-jin has discovered the same clue, and so Jae-suk decides to have some fun by checking their surroundings and writing Suk-jin’s name on his palm. Suk-jin does the same, and both argue that the protagonist (meaning themselves) can’t be eliminated so easily.
Elsewhere, Kwang-soo writes down Ji-hyo’s name to eliminate her. She hands over the case to Gary, telling him to remember that there’s a spy among them and not to go wandering around. Our spies’ clues add up to the following so far: “The star…”
Now everyone knows about the spy, but none know how to eliminate them. Until Jae-suk finds a scroll describing how, that is: find the colored nametag that corresponds with the spy to write their name down and eliminate them.
It doesn’t take long for Jae-suk to realize that the spy has the same mission, running around trying to eliminate them via the same method. That’s how Jong-kook was eliminated. Smart, smart.
Haha finds a blank blue-colored nametag (Gary’s), and elsewhere, Hyun-woo shows off a sky-colored nametag to Woo-bin. Little does Hyun-woo know that he’s holding his own elimination in his hands, and Woo-bin quickly checks their surroundings.
Aww, Hyun-woo is so wonderfully naive with the biggest smile on his face, so proud of himself. He doesn’t even mind Woo-bin writing his name on it… until his own elimination is announced. Aw man, I actually feel kinda bad for him.
Unfortunately for our spies, Jae-suk has caught the tail-end of this exchange, and Woo-bin claims that Hyun-woo wrote in his own name. Jae-suk is still suspicious though, and Kwang-soo whispers that they have to eliminate Jae-suk ASAP.
Haha finally figures out the colored buttons-nametag connection and hears Suk-jin’s elimination moments later. It seems Kwang-soo wrote down Suk-jin’s name in secret, and when Woo-bin asks if they’re also at risk, Kwang-soo says no…
…though their black and white buttons indicate yes, their nametags are out in the open, too. Woo-bin casts a suspicious eye on Kwang-soo.
Haha discovers another hint scroll that indicate “baduk” (the pieces are black and white). After sifting through the case, he realizes that Kwang-soo’s pen is the only one that works. So he turns out Kwang-soo’s pockets and takes a handful.
He hands off a pen to Kwang-soo upon his request, but seeing as Kwang-soo asks for one more, Haha deduces that the calligraphy pen must be the one. He starts running with Kwang-soo hot on his tail, then a little later, Jae-suk is eliminated.
Now it’s down to Woo-bin and Kwang-soo vs. Haha and Gary, the last of whom has yet to figure out the rules of the game. Gary shows him a nametag he’s been hiding in his cap—it’s yellow, aka Haha’s. Aw, it’s cute how Gary’s like, “Did I do well?” With a little kiss, Haha tells him: “Yeah, you did.”
Haha hands over Gary’s nametag to him, and elsewhere, Kwang-soo deduces that the others must have one nametag on their person. So Kwang-soo and Woo-bin approach Haha and Gary, to find a nametag.
Haha runs off, allowing our spies to pin Gary to the ground. After discovering Gary’s nametag in his hat, Kwang-soo starts writing his name. And to make things extra cruel, Kwang-soo places the pen in Gary’s hand to write the final character by his own hand.
Gary makes sure to tell the spies that Haha’s basically figured everything out, and Woo-bin figures that Haha must be protecting his own nametag.
Haha and Kwang-soo cross paths and are busy searching each other’s pockets… when the speakers announce Kwang-soo’s elimination. HA, did Woo-bin do that? Oh snap, theBetrayal Icon just got betrayed.
Hahaha, he did. Woo-bin: “Sorry, hyung. I learned this from you.” Truth is, Woo-bin had found Kwang-soo’s nametag a while ago, and he just needed one more clue (via one more elimination) to know where the ancient script is located.
Of course neither Kwang-soo nor Haha have any clue as to what just happened, but now Woo-bin has figured out the clue: the second-floor library. Nothing else matters now as he chucks the scrolls behind him like a boss and shouts into the air: “There’s a spy amongst you! I’m the spy!”
So Woo-bin heads over and writes his name in the ancient script, giving him the win. When everyone gathers together again, he admits that he’s learned one thing in his four RM appearances: betrayal. Well, it sure comes in handy.
