In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

After the treasure hunt instructions ended, each team began their meeting

“Do you know any of the quiz answers?”

“Um... I know a few, but there are so many side details...”

“I don’t really know.”

For Teams A and B, white was just paper and black was just text. But racking our brains for every scrap of memory, we managed to fill out part of the answer sheet

“With this we should secure some keys. We’ll handle the rest with missions...”

“If that fails, we’ll have to steal some.”

On Team B, which had the fewest golden keys, many agreed

“Let’s just steal right when it starts. We only have two anyway so we have nothing to lose. I heard that even with zero keys you can still challenge for them—though only one at a time...”

“Then we should target the team with the most keys.”

Their eyes naturally shifted to Team C. Having won the first mission, Team C held seven keys

In Girls on Top, Gil Chae-kyung glanced over at someone and gave a subtle smile

“Then we’ll target New Black from Team C.”

“Idol vs. idol—that’s not a bad idea.”

“Think you can handle them? They were on fire in variety today.”

“Yes! Trust us.”

Meanwhile Team A was also strategizing

“I think we filled about forty percent of the sheet. Let’s quickly go to those houses first.”

“Good.”

“And... about stealing keys, we should probably steal too, right?”

When Oh Hyung-seok spoke, the other guests nodded, and model Han So-ra offered an opinion

“I think we should be more worried about getting our keys stolen.”

“That makes sense too.”

Then comedian Seo Ji-hyung proposed something

“What if we assign someone solely to steal keys?”

“You want to do it?”

“Yes, hyung. I may not be funny, but I’ve done lots of variety missions.”

“That’s true.”

“Don’t worry.”

Seo Ji-hyung said in a hearty voice

“I’m confident in missions.”

Hearing that, Yang Ok-boon peeled a tangerine and asked

“Then who will you target?”

“Of course Team C.”

“Hmm...”

The veteran actor asked, worried

“Are you sure? They were on a roll today, and Hee-chan and Hee-yeon looked in top form too. You know you can’t beat Hee-yeon physically, right? If you’re not a fellow athlete, you can’t win.”

“Oh, I know. That’s why I’ll target someone else.”

“Someone else? New Black?”

To actor Lee Kang-jin’s question, Seo Ji-hyung nodded

“Yes.”

“They’re rookies but they look tough. You think you can do it?”

That must have hurt his pride because his eyebrows twitched before settling into a determined look

“Don’t worry everyone. I’ll show you— I’ll steal their keys right before your eyes.”

“Don’t worry everyone. I’ll show you— I’ll steal their keys right before your eyes.”

“Well then.”

Yeo Hee-yeon crossed her arms and tapped the ground with her sneaker

“They really see our team as pushovers. I’ll smack them so they wake right up.”

“Uh, Hee-yeon... calm down...”

“Calm down nothing. I’ll smash them as soon as it starts!”

Like a volcano ready to erupt, she scared Lee Gun-woo back, while Maxi kept eavesdropping

“Ji-hyung. Avoid Hee-yeon. She holds grudges forever. If you lose she’ll chase you all day. You can’t handle that, right? You think you can run away? Go ahead...”

“Teacher, you’re too much! What grudge do I have?”

“Hey you.”

Maxi wiped spit off her cheek with a sad expression

“Why are you mad at me? I’m just passing on the message.”

“Oh, sorry, unnie.”

“No, it’s fine. It happens.”

“Get back to the plan.”

While the others eavesdropped and drew up plans, I worked on the quiz

“Question 39 is Grandma Kang Bok-sun... I wrote her birthplace in my notes. She said she was born in the North, near Wonsan.”

“If it’s Wonsan that’s option seven.”

“The next one’s someone I didn’t meet.”

“Don’t worry. I remember.”

Lee Gun-woo neatly circled his choice. The two of us formed a duo and solved the questions that way

When the mission briefing ended and I was deep in solving the quiz, that senior spoke up

“I’m pretty good at remembering things.”

He stepped in when we were stuck for a while and began answering questions about people he’d only met once

He was an unusual character—at first he seemed like a supremely confident Hallyu star, but one step closer he was quite introverted

He responded gently to everyone who spoke to him but seemed drained by such interactions, like an introvert meeting strangers

Watching him breeze through the quiz, I gave a thumbs-up

“Wow, hyung. Your memory is amazing.”

“I’ve had to memorize scripts.”

“No, this really takes a gift for memory.”

“Is that so? ...Oh, all done.”

Before I knew it I was on the last page

In the meantime our teammates had been devising strategy. Unlike other teams, we needed no gimmicks

There was literally a correct answer for every question, so the challenge was less where to go and more how to move

Our focus was on route planning

Haesheon and Jung-hyun, who had scouted the village when chased by the black goat, shared quick routes, and Yeo Hee-yeon spoke up

“We need hit-and-run—grab keys as fast as possible. Once we have sixteen, head straight for the back mountain, okay?”

“Lay off, Yeo Hee-yeon. Your eyes are shooting flames...!”

As she playfully chided her brother, she turned to me

“And Woo-joo?”

“Yes, unnie?”

“You said you practiced digging? Stay near the back mountain entrance. We’ll grab the keys there. Be ready to hop over as soon as we call.”

“Yes, will do.”

I nodded, then suddenly asked

“By the way, how do we shake off the other teams chasing us?”

“Just run faster.”

“....”

Everyone fell silent, and Yeo Hee-chan clicked his tongue

“That might work for you, kid.”

“Oh, right? Then...”

Just then Jung-hyun offered an idea

“I have one.”

It was an idea everyone liked

7:00 p.m.

“Mission start! Ready... One, two, three—go!”

At the PD’s signal through the megaphone, thirty celebrities sprinted off

Each headed for their preplanned houses, while behind Team C several challengers clung to them from the start

The opportunity to steal keys came around the village midpoint

As guests and VJs alike panted, all of Team C finally began entering a house

Somewhere in the darkness the ominous clink of chains sounded, but Team A’s Seo Ji-hyung and Team B’s Song Jin-woo dashed in without hesitation

“...?”

But Team C had vanished

Screech—

With the back door closing, Ji-hyung and Jin-woo tried to follow but couldn’t reach the yard

Because something stood there

Baa—

A heavy bleat rolled up from its belly, and in the darkness two yellow eyes glowed

The two men swallowed hard before the big black-furred shape before them

‘Come to think of it...’

I remembered Team C had been chased by a black goat. I’d laughed when I first heard it, but as Ji-hyung and Jin-woo now found out, it was no joke

Meanwhile, recalling Kim Jung-hyun’s whisper, the goat Da-gil started stomping toward the intruders

And then

Clank—

As the goat charged, its chain snapped taut. But it couldn’t reach the humans, who peered at each other and chuckled

“Ha, it’s chained and still scared.”

“I know right. Go ahead, goat, we’ll just pass through~”

“Silly goat.”

With each laugh, the goat grew angrier and twisted its body

Then at last

Thud—

“....”

When the goat and the two humans locked eyes, the exact same scene from earlier played out again, just with different people

Wang Ji-ho moved in pairs with Haesheon

“Chilseong-dae! Number 8! She’s from Geoje, Gyeongnam.”

“Oh.”

They rattled off the code and collected their certificate papers

As they happily emerged from the first house, they ran straight into rivals

Girls on Top’s Oh Hye-na and Gil Chae-kyung burst out of an alley and pointed at Ji-ho

“I challenge you!”

Ji-ho forced a polite smile at the girl group members

Recalling that earlier talk, he felt at ease

“Hello, sunbaenims.”

“Hey, long time no see.”

Seeing their friendly exchange, Haesheon asked

“You know each other?”

“Same ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) high school class. I was class president, she was vice president.”

“Oh, class president you were?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, you’re a natural leader.”

“No, I just brought them pizza and chicken and they made me president.”

“....”

Meanwhile the staff spoke

“The challenger is Gil Chae-kyung, and the chosen is Wang Ji-ho, correct?”

“Yes.”

“How many keys will you wager?”

“One... no, two.”

The staff nodded

“A best-of-three quiz. First question: What is the capital of the United States?”

“Chae-kyung! New York!”

“Incorrect.”

“Ji-ho! LA!”

“Incorrect.”

“Chae-kyung! Los Angeles!”

“Absolutely not.”

Surprisingly, he felt calm

They were equally clueless

Behind them Haesheon and Oh Hye-na beat their chests in frustration, but class president and vice president proudly displayed their ignorance

“Chae-kyung! Washington!”

“Correct!”

“Ah... I was about to say it!”

After fifty or more city names, it happened

Chae-kyung gave Ji-ho a triumphant look while he kept his mouth shut

The next quiz brightened Ji-ho’s eyes

“When I called his name, he came to me and became a flower. Who wrote this poem?”

“Uh... uh...”

He’d heard it before

When our fans named Suple and teased Woo-joo, Jung-hyun had recited this poem

But why couldn’t he recall it? He’d learned the title too.

Stupid Ji-ho... At that word his brain clicked

Ji-ho shot up his hand

“Ji-ho! Kim Chun-su!”

“Ooh... wow.”

Behind them, Haesheon pressed her hand to her chest in relief as Ji-ho beamed in victory

He even smiled at Chae-kyung

“We learned this in literature class.”

“We didn’t have literature class that year.”

“...Next quiz please!”

Now it was one-on-one

The two idols, fired up, faced the final quiz

“Last question: Name the six metropolitan cities of our country.”

“...Metropolitan cities?”

Ji-ho couldn’t believe his luck

He’d just heard their names and locations from Grandma Im Soon-hyun, who said even her Pomeranian knew them

What were they?

As he searched his mind, Chae-kyung shot up her hand

“Chae-kyung! Seoul, Incheon...”

“Incorrect.”

“Ji-ho! Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Incheon, Gwangju, U—U—Ulsan!”

“Correct!”

Chae-kyung’s eyes went wide, unbelieving, and somehow Ji-ho felt triumphant too

He didn’t know why Haesheon wore the same expression

In any case he approached Chae-kyung with a bright smile

“Thank you, sunbaenim. I’ll take the key!”

I teamed up with Maxi to canvass the village

Team C was leading with eleven keys, B had seven, and A was hot on our heels with nine

After visiting a couple of planned spots and resting near the back mountain, the staff brought sad news

“Team C lost one key!”

“Why?”

When Maxi asked, a VJ checked his phone and replied

“Haesheon’s team gained two keys, and Ri-hyeok’s lost three—so we’re down one. Both were quizzes.”

“...What?”

Did he mishear? The maknae won a quiz and Ri-hyeok lost?

“They said Ri-hyeok’s was a nonsense quiz.”

“Oh...”

“And Haesheon’s was general knowledge.”

“Oh...?”

One made sense, the other didn’t, but it wasn’t the end of the world

And then it began

Once each team had some keys, stealing became rampant. Whenever one pulled ahead, the other two ganged up

It was a truly dynamic battle

But from the sidelines I just yawned

Actually I thought

“I hope someone comes after us.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of boring.”

While we chatted, bushes rustled and a disheveled man appeared

It was Seo Ji-hyung

But he looked even more surprised to see us

“Oh. What are you doing here...?”

Then his face lit up, and he pointed at me

“I challenge you!”

Suddenly things moved fast

Our mission was revealed: chicken fight

As the crew drew a line in the dirt with a stone, Seo Ji-hyung wore a confident grin

Why was he like that? He looked like he already won

Physical games were my specialty

Seo Ji-hyung grabbed my leg and stood ready

On the windswept clearing he stared at me with solemn eyes

Chicken fight was his forte

Ten years of variety had honed him on games like balloon popping and chicken fight

‘I will win this.’

He was ninety-nine percent certain

What chance did I have? One percent at best, unless he was a chicken in a past life

Look at him—almost as handsome as Lee Gun-woo and slender-built

He must outweigh me by twenty kilos. With that weight difference, a single bump would suffice

So he confidently wagered two keys

The match began immediately: best of three

‘I’ll crush him from the start!’

The moment it began, Seo Ji-hyung charged

And as he launched himself at an unguarded idol

‘...Huh?’

It felt like he should collide with something, but there was nothing there. Then his vision flashed

He woke up to find himself lying face-down

“...What just happened?”

“Are you okay?”

What had occurred? He vanished just before impact, then took a blow from behind

He wanted to watch a replay on a VJ’s camera

So in the second round he approached cautiously

As he probed, Woo-joo matched his motions like a taunting mirror

The opponent also seemed to account for the weight difference

‘But what is this guy?’

He’d said he couldn’t be beaten unless you were also a chicken in a past life. Yet now he fought like a master who’d spent years in chicken fight rings

‘Why won’t he get caught!’

Every time he tried to catch Woo-joo, he slipped away, then grinned slyly

It was infuriating

Partly personal—he’d already embarrassed people during the opening, and rendered their cooking efforts pointless

Not Woo-joo’s fault, but he just rubbed me the wrong way

So I planned to pin him decisively when the chance came, but it never worked out

Until finally the opportunity arrived

Seo Ji-hyung realized his opponent was tiring

‘Now!’

He leaped at Woo-joo, who barely showed an opening

In that instant a subtle curve formed at Woo-joo’s lips

‘...What?’

Just before collision, Woo-joo’s body slid sideways. And when Seo Ji-hyung stopped, he stood on the dirt line drawn with a stone

“Oooo!”

Teetering like a tumbler on that edge, Woo-joo stepped forward and nudged his center of gravity

“Ugh! Oof!”

Seo Ji-hyung tumbled forward

Embarrassed, he stayed face-down for a moment until someone crouched beside him

Leopard-print pants. Sunglasses worn at night

Maxi looked at him with pity in her eyes and spoke softly

“Oh dear... you lost your keys for nothing.”

“....”

For some reason Seo Ji-hyung felt like crying