Running Man Championship

* Korean
* English

## Synopsis

The opening ceremony for the 100th Running Man Championship begins, each tribe competes to win the sacred fruit of the soul tree. There will be 3 solo matches, 3 team matches, and 3 final matches.

## Plot

The episode starts with the Running Men at the center of the main stadium, standing on floating platforms as they wait for the ceremony to begin. Lonky stands in the middle of them, boasting his win in the opening game until a gong interrupts him, catching the attention of the other players, who look up at the giant holographic screen in front of them, re-telling the origin of the Championships.

After explaining, a robot pops out off the ground, activating and introducing itself as the game anchor before announcing the introduction of Charming Gold, the main host as well as the coordinator of the competition. The camera switches to Charming Gold inside his mansion, walking towards the catwalk, spotlights shining down on him once he reaches the end of the platform. He welcomes the audience to the Running Man Championships and poses dramatically as the Materion glows brightly from above. He continues posing before getting cut off by the anchor from earlier, who begins to explain the main rules of the championship.

The scene cuts to the players staring at the holographic screens in front of them. When Liu taps on the screen, a shield containing his tribe emblem appears on his back with a ring locking it in place. The same goes for the rest of the Running Men as the robot explains the mechanics of the watch. Liu takes a look at his watch and curiously taps on one of it's buttons, staring in surprise when the watch projects a full 3D render of the stadium. He continues playing around with the watch while the Running Men do the same.

After the explanation, Charming Gold, who had stayed in the same position, points at the audience and asks them if they are ready for the competition to begin. The audience cheer louder in response and Charming Gold smiles, taking a deep bow before raising his arms up dramatically, announcing the beginning of the championship while the audience cheer for him. The Running Men smile at the audience but get distracted when Lonky's platform suddenly rises up while Kuga's sinks down. The anchor from earlier comes into frame, explaining how the placements indicate the ranking of the Running Men currently, stating that since Lonky won the opening game, he's placed above everyone else while Kuga, the one who lost, is at the bottom. Confused, Pala wonders aloud why Kuga was placed at the bottom since to his knowledge, he had won the game. The other players shake their head at his naivety and Popo tells him to keep quiet. Kuga, ashamed, glares up at Lonky while boasts about his win, scoffing at the other players while Kuga growls at him, clenching his fists. Liu looks at Lonky, commenting how Lonky is asking to get beat up and a holographic screen of Miyo appears in front of him, telling him not to intervene and instead, watch it all unfold as they both look at Lonky.

The anchor begins to introduce the Running Men, starting with the winner of the opening game; Lonky of the Giraf Tribe. It begins describing him, praising his deception while Lonky waves excitedly at the audience, ridiculing Kuga's loss. The Running Men giggle at Lonky's comment while Kuga growls at them. The anchor then introduces Liu of the Bug Tribe, praising his jumping ability and making a passing comment that the Bug Tribe are known to be naturally kind, barely causing conflict with the other tribes. Contrasting it's comment, the holographic screen shows an out of context photo of Liu kicking Gai with his steel shoes. Gai sighs, doubting the anchor's words while Liu tries (and fails) to explain his side of the story. The anchor introduces the next participant; Popo of the Peng Tribe. He continues posing for the audience, using his cuteness to his advantage despite the holographic screen projecting him in a bad light while the Running Men grimace at the sight. Popo notices their expressions and turns to see what's wrong, screaming when he sees the projections; the anchor starts to explain how the Peng Tribe won the most competitions in the games, teasingly wondering if Popo will continue their legacy.

It then introduces Miyo, from the Nyanya Tribe. It mentions Miyo's growing fanbase due to her attractive looks while Gai blows a kiss her way, Miyo responding by turning away. The hologram then showcases Miyo struggling to walk in her flippers from the opening game, making the other members, sans Gai and Kuga, laugh at her ridiculousness while she scowls in return. The anchor starts to introduce the next player, Gai. Before it can describe him, the hologram suddenly shifts to a photo of Gai holding Miyo, making the audience coo and the players grimace from the corniness. The scene is cut short, however, as it shows a series of photos of Miyo kicking Gai in the face and jumping off. The audience groan in displeasure as Miyo rolls her eyes at them. The sixth player, Pala, is introduced briefly, the impala ignoring the anchor and weeding out a plant from the floor of the stadium. Lastly, Kuga is introduced as the final competitor of the competition, the anchor announcing his loss at the opening games and doubting his ability to win due to his rough start.

The Running Men begin to laugh at him, Lonky chortling the loudest as he begins ridiculing him. Kuga tries to hold himself back but Lonky continues to mock him, the mention of his heels making Kuga snap, using his platform to chase after Lonky and knock Liu off his platform. While Liu is falling, he lands on Gai once more, kicking him in the face before jumping and grabbing onto his ears, hanging as they both spin around aimlessly. Meanwhile, Kuga reaches Lonky, who screams and grabs Popo to use as a shield from Kuga's attacks. Kuga attempts to punch Lonky, purposely missing when Lonky puts Popo in front of his fists. Lonky scolds Kuga, calling him crazy and Kuga responds by threatening him, grabbing Popo from Lonky's hands and tossing him out of the way to chase after the giraffe. After getting flung off by Kuga, Popo lands on Miyo, knocking her out of her platform, both of them landing of the ground. The two lay unconscious once they reach the ground and Miyo wakes up first, grabbing Popo by the hood with a scowl.

Meanwhile, Kuga continues to chase Lonky, who swerves all around the stadium to avoid him. As Lonky continues to glide away from him, Kuga pauses to look at the giant hologram of himself walking in heels before continuing the chase with new-found vigor. Lonky flies over to Charming Gold's platform and ducks down when Kuga treis to throw a punch at him. A puff of smoke appears on the platform where Charming Gold stood and it shows Kuga's punch cracking the wall, Charming Gold barely avoiding his fist while he stares in horror at the wall. Kuga pulls his fist back and turns to Lonky, determined to catch him as Lonky glides away once more. Two service bots fly towards Charming Gold, dusting him off while the peacock is frozen in shock.

A mashup of events happen in the stadium; Kuga continues chasing Lonky around the place, Miyo holds an unconscious Popo by the collar while threatening him and Gai and Liu continue gliding around the stadium aimlessly. Meanwhile, Pala is shown finishing his latest potion, taking a swig from his vial and wiping his lips with a satisfied smile before turning around after hearing the commotion.

The scene then cuts off to an interview section between the characters; specifically Lonky and Kuga. The anchor asks Lonky why he's so upset since he won the opening game. Lonky rolls his eyes at the question and retorts by asking the anchor why he should be happy when he almost died because of Kuga. He ends his segment by warning Kuga, telling him that he will soon be kneeling before him once he wins the game. The interview then goes to Kuga and the anchor asks him if he's ready to make up with Lonky. Kuga replies with threatening Lonky for messing with him and the Bars Tribe as a whole. The episode ends with the Running Man logo appearing when Kuga finishes his segment.

## Cast

### Main

* **Kim Seo-young/Rachel Slotky - Liu**
* **Kwon Chang-wook/Daniel J. Edwards - Kuga**
* **Eom Sang-hyeon/Daniel J. Edwards - Lonky**
* **Kim Yeon-woo-I/Carrie Savage - Miyo**
* **Nam Doh-Hyeong/Matthew Ip Shaw - Gai**
* **Kang Si-hyeon/Syndi Szabo - Popo**
* **Jeon Tae-yeol/Mark Szabo - Pala**

### Side

* **Kim Yeon-woo - Alt 332**
* **Park No-sik/Daniel J. Edwards - Charming Gold**

## Trivia

* The English version on the show's YouTube channel shows that Kuga is about to punch Lonky with his swear words. However, in the Cartoon Network dub the swear words are not seen. It's mainly because it is meant for younger audiences.