Gai

—Gai

**Gai** (Korean: **가이** [rom. Gai]) is the chosen representative of the Mong Tribe for the Running Man Games. After years of isolation, he was chosen to compete in order to regain the honor of his tribe.

He is the ninja of the seven, his main ability being able to create 4-8 clones of himself, as well as the ability of teleporting from one place to another.

## Physical Description

Gai, has a tan complexion with brown hair teased upwards and sideburns of a lighter shade, as well as big ears. Unlike a regular monkey however, he doesn't have a tail.

He wears a blue drawstring hoodie over a white shirt, and blue iga-bakama with white bandages wrapped to his knees and black slip-ons. He also wears blue and white striped sweatbands and black gloves.

## **Background**

An assassin from the Mong Tribe, Gai was entrusted the role as being the representative of the Mong Tribe, competing in order to gain the honor of his tribe back Among being a representative of the Mong Tribe, the chieftain secretly gave him a mission to act as a puppet for Charming Gold in exchange for the Materion

Gai is implied to be an orphan, commenting about how he was the only one to take care of his brothers after smuggling them in the game

His character is based on Gary.

## Personality

Gai is a confident, cool, and collected boy who often gets himself in trouble due to his infatuation with Miyo. Despite his calm and collected exterior however, he holds an extreme guilt over hiding his true identity to his friends and getting them hurt in the process.

Being the eldest son, he is shown to take great care of his brothers, stealing snacks and drinks to feed them as well as making sure they were unharmed when Charming Gold came to kidnap him.
He also has a strong sense of justice, choosing his friends' safety and well-being over the Materion, despite Charming Gold's threats.

## Abilities and Equipment

### Abilities

* **Agility** - Throughout the show, he is known to be highly agile, an ability noticed by Liu multiple times.
* **Cloning** - Like his tribe, he has the ability to replicate and control copies of himself.
* **Teleportation** - He has the natural ability to move from one place to another instantaneously. He mostly uses this as a defense technique against enemies.

### Equipment

#### Shuriken

* Gai is shown to use shurikens, a four-sided, hand concealed weapon that he uses to distract his victims.

#### Man X Ring

It is the ring which was used by Gai to control the games

## Relationships

### Charming Gold

He was shown to be his mole, his tribe chief making a deal with Charming Gold to win the Materion. Charming Gold, as per the deal, rigs the game so he could advance to the finals at the cost of the other players' safety. He later betrays Charming Gold in the Pyramid Race and in turn, gets kidnapped and brainwashed into a DV7 member.

### Miyo

Gai is shown to be infatuated with Miyo, falling in love with her during the first game and constantly trying to get her attention throughout the series. Though Miyo is annoyed with Gai's constant advances, she is shown to trust him a lot, eventually being implied to return his feelings when Gai saves her a second time and sacrifices himself to the DV7 for her.

### Liu

Gai and Liu first met each other when the latter accidentally kicked Gai in the face after being pulled off his platform unintentionally due to the magnetic room attracting Liu's metal boots. At first these two started out having a rocky relationship and seemed to be at odds with each other due to the previous incident, but later on as the series progressed they have shown to be best friends and have a close friendship with each other, especially after Liu saves him from his brainwashing.

### Zai, Pai, and Mai

Pai, Mai, and Zai are Gai's younger brothers.

Gai, being the eldest brother and only caretaker is shown to very extremely caring and loving towards them, smuggling them in the games so they wouldn't be alone while he was out competing. In turn, his brothers return the love by helping him in the games by posing as one of his shadow clones and seeking help from the Running Men when Gai got kidnapped.

## Quotes

"If someone is a spy, then it would be unbearable for them to do it."

"People get hurt while playing this game. If we stop for everything, it's no longer a game."

"Miyo is very pretty too today!"

## Trivia

* Gai, along with Liu, is one of the only characters shown to have siblings.
* Gai is absent in season two due to the fact Detective Frank blamed him for all of the damage Charming Gold did.
* He is one of the most popular characters in the show, most likely due to his crush on Miyo.
* Strangely, when his mask was taken off, his brainwashing took a lot longer to disappear than the DV7 despite being the only DV member to be brainwashed the shortest.
* He is rumored to be Ninja K in Season 2. Though it hasn't been confirmed in canon, the similarities between him and Gai are uncanny.
* Him and Miyo are the expys of Gary Kang and Song Ji Hyo, who are also shipped by fans of the variety show. Gary Kang is also known to have a crush on Ji-Hyo.

## Video

-애니메이션 런닝맨- 캐릭터 소개 5.가이 - RunningMan Animation - GAI
## References

1. ↑ NAMU Wiki.
2. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 31 - Liu's Plan.
3. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 23 - Mission Undercover.
4. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 23 - Mission Undercover
5. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 31 - Liu's Plan
6. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 27 - A Risky Plan
7. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 38 - Battle of the Thrones Part 2
8. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 35 - Gaining Ground Part 4
9. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 31 - Liu's Plan