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Simply watching and recapping ‘Midnight Runners’ was not enough. I decided to re-watch and recap Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul’s appearance on ‘Running Man’ back in August of 2017 to keep me satisfied. This episode is one of those Running Man episodes that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of. It’s also the one Running Man episode I’m going to watch when I’m sad from missing Kang Ha-neul too much or want to watch something to cheer me up. Just like before, I miss Kang Ha-neul just as much after watching this episode.

Running Man: Episode 362 Recap

The episode starts off with our 8 Running Man cast members standing outside at a park on a nice summer day. They notice how feminine, shy, and pretty Somin looks which is unusual of her. It turns out she wants to look nice for the two guests Running Man has invited for the episode: popular actors Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul (CUTIESSS).

Upon their arrival, the two actors are greeted excitedly by the cast members and everyone even teases So-min for acting super shy in front of them. The two are on the variety show to promote their movie ‘Midnight Runners’ which Kwang-soo claims is receiving a lot of good reviews. But when Yoo Jae-suk asks him what kind of reviews, Kwang-soo quickly becomes flustered because he actually hasn’t heard much news about the movie. Asdkfjd.

Ji Suk-jin also wishes Kang Ha-neul good luck on his military service he’ll be starting in a few weeks which throws everyone off. They were purposely avoiding that topic to not remind Kang Ha-neul about it, but Ji Suk-jin ruined all of that with just one try. So much for avoiding it! Haha. (Speaking of Kang Ha-neul, I MISS HIM SOOOO MUCH T___T).

The PD explains the game for the day: Find the Boss. The ten of them will be divided into two teams: Team Police and Team Boss. Team Police consists of Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul who will work together to catch the Boss. One of the Running Man cast members has been selected as the Boss who overlooks the remaining six cast members called villains. Meanwhile, there’s 1 undercover officer from the Running Man cast who’s been selected to help Team Police catch the Boss. Team Police will win $1,000 if they discover who the Boss is. However, Team Boss will win if they find and escape with a briefcase with $1,000 in it. They also win if Team Police mistakenly arrests the Undercover Officer instead of the Boss.

Upon learning the rules, some of the cast members approach Team Police and try to persuade them that they’re the Undercover Officer helping them. It’s a little tricky and the two actors have to be careful or else they’ll get tricked!

The episode then takes us back to when the cast members discovered which roles they were going to play for the game. Kwang-soo is randomly selected to be the Undercover Officer while everyone else are the villains. They kick Kwang-soo out of the room so that they can discuss which out of the 7 cast members will be the boss of the team. Hahaha, poor Kwang-soo. He’s supposedly the protagonist of the episode, but gets treated so miserably. The PD then announces which cast member will play the Boss and the reactions to the decision are mixed. Of course, us viewers are also left to discover who the Boss is ourselves.

It’s time for the first game: Show Me Your Charm. Everyone gathers inside a room and the constant teasing of Somin continues. We discover that between the two actors, Somin would rather choose Seo-joon over Ha-neul since Ha-neul will be entering the military service soon. Asdkfjd. Why you gotta expose her like thaaat? They also notice the 5 judges sitting across from them in the corner with numbers in their hands. All the girls are looking extra nice today and even the strict security guard has put on some make-up. Hahaha.

Using the two roulette’s standing on the side of the room, the selected person will have to display the charm that’s chosen on the roulette. The five judges will give them each a score for their talent. Whoever scores the highest for each charm will receive a hint depending on which team they’re in.

When asked who they think is the Undercover Officer, Seo-joon chooses Jong-kook while Ha-neul chooses Somin. Kwang-soo – the actual Undercover Officer – is clearly frustrated. They’re not even looking in his direction. Hahaha.

Ha-neul prepares to spin the roulette. He’s too cute for words and all the female judges are already in love with his cuteness (ME TOO!). The first charm that the roulette lands on is dancing. Music begins to play and Somin is the first to go up. She dances scandalously in front of the judges, but they’re not too impressed. She earns 10 points. Next up is Ji-hyo who does a little bit better than Somin with 18. Kwang-soo’s dance does him worse than good as he scores a total of -3 points. ASHSDKFJDK. Ha-neul wins the round when he charms his way into the hearts and minds of the judges. He earns a total of 363 points and will be given a hint about the identity of who the Boss is.

Seo-joon is the next one to spin the roulette and he lands on ‘power’ for the charm. So who’s going to prove themselves as the most powerful? Seo-joon ends up picking himself. Askdfjd. Seo-joon pls! They all predict that Jong-kook will win the game, but whoever is the Undercover Officer will also easily allow the Team Police to win right?

Through the game ‘Leg Wrestling’, Se-chan easily defeats Haha, Kwang-soo, Ji Suk-jin, but he loses against Jong-kook. Even Kwang-soo’s double jabs at Jong-kook’s thighs proves to be futile as he easily wins. Ha-neul (AKA ‘Strong Sky’ because that’s the literal translation of his name in english) is up against Jong-kook, but he too is powerless against the singer. Last but not least is Seo-joon who had been anxiously watching this entire time. Everyone anticipates the final match, but Seo-joon too proves to be no match for powerful Jong-kook. His legs easily spread within seconds of the fight and Jong-kook is the winner.

It’s time for the third charm: expression. Haha is the first one to go and does a bunch of aegyo expressions (THE CRINGE IS REAL). He earns 3 points in total. Ji-hyo is next and fares a little better, receiving over 50 points thanks to one of the judges. It’s powerful Jong-kook’s turn and everyone looks forward to his aegyo. However, his aegyo is more scary than cute and everyone in the room is shocked at how scary he is (“the room vibrated!”). Somin is up next and she performs her aegyo on both Seo-joon and Ha-neul. She’s a little too cute and the cast members tease her for acting like a child. Ha-neul earns the most amount of points so far with a total of 80.

It’s Seo-joon’s turn to perform aegyo and he’s determined. He performs his famous aegyo from ‘Fight My Way’ right in front of the judges and manages to impress them. He earns more than 500 points and the security guard who’s usually been objective and serious this entire time gives him the highest score yet of 50 points. Kwang-soo’s a little desperate for the same attention from the judges and goes up to them with some aegyo, but his impact isn’t obviously the same as Seo-joon’s. Instead of blushing, the judges are easily turned away. Hahaha.

Team Police and Team Boss receive their hints respectively after the games. Jong-kook – who won the leg wrestling game – checks his hint: the number 70. Since the missions have just begun, it’s too early to tell what the number has to do with the location of the briefcase.

Seo-joon and Ha-neul look at the hints they earned from the first game. The Boss uses his real name and has acted in movies before. The two stars conclude that Haha must be the Undercover Officer while Kwang-soo is the Boss. Hahaha. Poor Kwang-soo!

Everyone gathers at a swimming pool this time to play the second game: Find the Three. Team Police will go up against Team Boss. One person from each team sits on the flying chairs while another two members take turns asking each other questions that they have to answer within 5 seconds. If Team Police wins and answers the question within the time limit, the person on the flying chair from Team Boss will be thrown into the pool and transferred over to Team Police. They continue to play the game until Team Police has 5 members total.

Ha-neul and Kwang-soo are up first while Haha and Seo-joon wait on the flying chairs. Before Ha-neul and Kwang-soo start the game, Ha-neul shares with the rest about the trauma he’s suffered with quizzes since his last appearance on ‘Running Man.’ He didn’t do so well with quizzes the last time he was on ‘Running Man’ so he ‘s a little worried about how he’ll do in this game. Aww, he’s so precious.

Kwang-soo asks the first question to Ha-neul: name 3 celebrities you’ve dated. Ha-neul is taken aback and he struggles to name 3 random celebrities. Seo-joon falls into the water and Haha remains on Team Boss. Meanwhile, it’s Seo-joon’s turn against Kwang-soo and he asks Kwang-soo to name 3 women who’s visited Kwang-soo’s place. Kwang-soo isn’t afraid to blurt out names and mentions 3 women just like Seo-joon asked. But Kwang-soo immediately regrets his quick decision and gives up so Ji-hyo is transferred over to Team Police.

Next up is Somin versus Ha-neul. OOOOH. He first asks her 3 reasons why she likes him to which she answers: I just like everything about you! Everything! Everything! This shocks everyone and they nag at her to stop. ASSKDJFD. He then follows it up with another question: name 3 of Kwang-soo’s strength. Somin quickly answers the question and Kwang-soo gets shy. HAHAHHA. AHHHH I’M SCREAMING. Ha-neul is unable to answer Somin’s question so Kwang-soo stays on Team Boss and Seo-joon falls into the water.

Ji-hyo is up against Ji Suk-jin. He struggles to answer her questions relating to marriage so he loses and Yoo Jae-suk becomes one with Team Police.

Somin plays the last round against Seo-joon. The cast members once again tease her for being shy and quiet in front of the handsome actor (OKAY BUT I CAN TOTALLY RELATE! That would totally be me if I was Somin hahah). She loses in one go against Seo-joon’s question and Suk-jin is recruited onto Team Police.

The two teams travel in the car to their next destination. In Team Police’s car, our two officers try to gain more hints on who the undercover police is. Meanwhile, Kwang-soo is surrounded by a bunch of villains in the other car. While talking to the other villains, Somin accidentally slips the Boss’s name and exposes Suk-jin as their Boss. Kwang-soo catches on and is shocked at Somin’s slip-up. However, it’s not exactly clear if she did this on purpose to mislead and confuse Kwang-soo or if she did mistakenly reveal Suk-jin’s identity.

The two teams head to a restaurant for some food. After playing a game, Se-chan, Kwang-soo, and Ji-hyo are the winners. The other members try to impress the 3 winners in order to get some food. The only ones who do manage to get some food are Ha-neul who causes some laugh by sticking a piece of seaweed on his teeth. Meanwhile, Haha wins over the 3 winners with his impersonations of Jang Moon-bok and the Wolverine. ASDKFJD. HAHA IS SO FUNNY. Our 3 winners receive hints depending on the team they’re in. Kwang-soo’s hint reveals that the Boss’s name has the letter ‘S’ in it, but he’s confident he doesn’t need anymore hints. He already knows who the boss is.

Everyone splits into two different cars again. In Team Police’s car is Somin, Kwangsoo, and Haha – the three members that Seo-joon and Ha-neul are the most suspicious of. Haha continues to fool the two guests by making up stories and memories of when they used to attend the police academy together back in the old days. Ha-neul and Seo-joon play along without knowing that the real undercover officer is in the same car as them – Kwang-soo.

It’s the last and final game: Find the Boss. There are mobile phones with ‘R’ stickers labeled on them hidden throughout the building. Villains will receive hints about the location of the briefcase with $1,000 in it while Team Police will receive hints about the undercover officer. Team Police has to eliminate all the villains and the Boss using the hints in order for them to win. They will also receive more hints about the Boss with each villain they eliminate. On the other hand, Team Boss will win if they either trick Team Police into arresting the undercover officer or if they find the briefcase and all escape together.

Kwang-soo is desperate to be noticed by the two police officers. They’re suspicious of him though and assumes that he’s the boss. Kwang-soo is clearly frustrated with the assumptions and the situation, but he’s determined to prove himself.

Everyone is placed into separate spots throughout the building and gets ready to start the race. The countdown finishes and our members are off to find mobile phones to earn more hints. Yoo Jae-suk finds a mobile phone and receives a hint as a villain: it’s the number 8065.

Seo-joon also finds a phone and calls to receive a hint: the undercover officer doesn’t live with their parents. This rules out Jong-kook and Ji-hyo. With that, the two guests make their move to eliminate either villains and finds Ji-hyo first. They rip off her name tag and receive a hint about the boss: the boss is known to not have good luck. The boss must be Kwang-soo then. ASDKFJD. NOOOO SEO-JOON AND HA-NEUL. HE’S THE ONE YOU NEED.

Se-chan tries to trick Kwang-soo into thinking he’s the Boss, but Kwang-soo doesn’t fall for it (“you treat me like a fool sometimes I’m kind of fed up with it!). Meanwhile, Seo-joon and Ha-neul’s next target is Jong-kook. They confront him about his identity and instead of putting up a useless fight, he lets them eliminate his name tag effortlessly. They receive another hint and this time they discover that the boss is a male.

Kwang-soo continues to get teased by the villains for his role as the undercover officer. Poor Kwang-soo. Lol. Yoo Jae-suk finds another mobile phone so he receives another hint: 70H. It finally dawns on him that the 8065 and the 70H combines to make a license plate of a car. He rushes out to the parking lot to find a vehicle with the exact license plate, but there’s no key. Haha and Somin also receive the same hints and reach the same conclusion that the numbers and letters make up a license plate.

Somin reunites with the two guests on the first floor of the building. Nothing seems suspicious at first and the three run towards Kwang-soo until Ha-neul rips Somin’s name tag off. 5 minutes ago they had received another hint that the undercover officer is a male, leaving out Somin. Somin is eliminated from the game.

Kwang-soo attempts to persuade Seo-joon that the Boss is Suk-jin. At that moment, an announcement revealing another hint about the Boss gets reported: the Boss is a coward. But wait… that means the Boss must be Kwang-soo. ASKSDJFD. Haha interrupts them and tries to pinpoint Kwang-soo as the Boss, but Seo-joon needs more evidence. The two cops takes Kwang-soo with them to hunt down the Boss, but they also remain suspicious of him (“is there a lock?”). But no matter what Kwang-soo says, no one believes in him.

Back in the prison cell for those who are eliminated, Somin shares with Ji-hyo and Jong-kook a story about Ha-neul that made her shy. ASDFKJD. While walking to the jail cell after getting eliminated, Ha-neul had followed after her and grabbed both of her wrists. She comments that his actions made her heart flutter. Ji-hyo and Kwang-soo replies that Somin falls in love easily.. like Kwang-soo does. Hahaha. But Ha-neul was smooooth I gotta admit. I was squealing watching the scene between Somin and Ha-neul.

Kwang-soo persuades Ha-neul and Seo-joon to eliminate Suk-jin because he’s the Boss. While Seo-joon watches after Kwang-soo, Ha-neul heads off to find Suk-jin and eliminate him. In the meantime, Jae-suk updates Suk-jin on his findings. He’s found the car in the parking lot, but he just needs to find the keys to the car. While he does that, Suk-jin needs to be careful and hide properly.

Why is Jae-suk sharing information with Ji Suk-jin so discreetly? It turns out that the Boss is none other than Suk-jin! That means the incident in the car when Somin revealed Suk-jin as the Boss was an honest and real mistake. They weren’t acting! AHHHH.

Team Boss receives another hint that the car keys are located on the 18th floor. They finally discover the car keys and urges Suk-jin to head out to the parking lot. But just as he’s about to make his exit, he comes across Seo-joon and Kwang-soo. Seo-joon is stuck between eliminating the Boss or the Undercover Officer.

Jae-suk and Se-chan wait for Suk-jin, but he doesn’t arrive. The Boss is too busy trying to persuade Seo-joon that he’s the undercover officer. At that moment, Jae-suk calls Kwang-soo so Kwang-soo picks up to prove to Seo-joon that he’s the actual undercover officer. But the phone call does the opposite. Jae-suk refers to Kwang-soo as his boss which throws Seo-joon off. That confirms any suspicions he has of Kwang-soo and he rips Kwang-soo’s name tag off. But as Kwang-soo has been trying to tell him this entire time, Kwang-soo was the actual undercover officer.

Jae-suk purposely staged Kwang-soo so that Seo-joon would listen to his instincts and eliminate Kwang-soo like how he had already been contemplating. Ha-neul was with Haha at the time of the elimination and hears about his loss of the game through the announcement. He unleashes all his anger on Haha who successfully fooled him the entire time. Haha can only laugh as a response.

Team Villain wins the game and are awarded the $1,000. However, it’s not cash like some of them were expecting. It’s a donation of $1,000 that Running Man will be making under their names. The members are just as satisfied (well maybe expect Suk-jin who might have been wanting more) with the donation. The episode ends with a farewell from Ha-neul and everyone wishing him well with his military service.

My Thoughts:

After watching this episode, there was one thing that I’ve concluded: I really miss Kang Ha-neul. ASDFKJD. It hasn’t even been a year since he’s left for his military service, but I miss him so so much. That could explain for why I recapped ‘Midnight Runners’ and then this Running Man episode of him and Park Seo-joon. We all know that Kang Ha-neul plays a wide variety of characters and is a talented actor, but he’s such a dork and cutie pie in real life. The contrast between the types of characters he plays and then his real life persona will always surprise me because he’s so different when acting and in real life. It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for his return when really it hasn’t even been a year yet. The long is definitely long, but it’ll be worth it when he returns to us all safely and hopefully with the same cheerful, upbeat, and happy personality that he’s always been.

This episode was so sad and bad for Kwang-soo. He was at a disadvantage no matter what he did and he tried so hard to establish his role as the undercover officer to Seo-joon and Ha-neul, but failed with every attempt. They unfortunately already had suspicions of him and didn’t trust him from the beginning so he wasn’t in the best position. No matter what he did to prove himself or to expose the villains, they didn’t believe in him. It didn’t help that the hints of the Boss’s identity were also so vague and purposely created in a way where Seo-joon and Ha-neul would be suspicious of Kwang-soo (“he’s a coward”/”he has bad luck” like really?? Lol). I know this was all just for entertainment, but it was also heart-breaking watching Kwang-soo lose, be teased, and be ridiculed. I know that’s a part of his image and reputation on the show, but still, he was seriously at such a disadvantage in this episode. I feel like as the undercover officer, there should have been more benefits or advantages to him. He was always losing every time and it was hard for him to prove himself to the two cops.

Somin’s fangirling over Seo-joon and Ha-neul was so relatable in this episode. It was so cute and funny how they kept on teasing her and asking her who she would choose between the two. That’s like being asked who your favorite is between your mom and dad. Askdfd.

This episode overall was fun and enjoyable not just because our two guests were fun but also because the games were fairly simple to follow. They weren’t too complicated and the games were fun as well. The pool game with the flying chairs are always fun. The judges in the first game were funny with the points they gave each cast member. Even the very last mission where they had to find clues and hints was entertaining which is often rare for me because it’s my least favorite portion of each Running Man episode. Although this episode was a little predictable in who was going to be eliminated, it was still funny watching Kwang-soo try to win as if he had a chance. The episode truly was difficult and challenging for him to film because he was losing in every direction he went.

And as usual, Seo-joon and Ha-neul remain entertaining as the guests. They’ve both been on the show before so it was great seeing them on the show again. This episode is one of those that I can re-watch over and over again because everything about it was great. There’s also a few other Running Man episodes that stand out to me that I can repeatedly re-watch. Watching this episode a third time around was still just as fun as the first and second time around and I think it’ll always be fun no matter how many times I watch it 🙂