[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Hyesoo] On the afternoon of the 5th, Song Ji-hyo played a major role as the original zombie on SBS's 'Running Man,' leading the zombie team to victory.
On this day, 'Running Man' featured guests Zico, Sunmi, Jo Se-ho, and Lee Do-hyun. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this episode was styled as the '2020 Reincarnation Special,' where each participant was reincarnated in different races that viewers wanted to see again.
The members, guided by Sunmi, headed to the reincarnation camp and met Zico, Lee Do-hyun, and Jo Se-ho along the way. During a meal, they were suddenly attacked by a horde of zombies, triggering a siren.
In the safe zone, the members gathered information about the zombies and began the zombie race. Zombies, sensitive to smell and hearing, could be temporarily avoided using hand sanitizer. It was also revealed that zombies were divided into low-level and high-level zombies. Low-level zombies were easily recognizable, but high-level zombies did not wear makeup and were indistinguishable from humans.
Using zombie identification tickets, they could find zombies hiding among humans. Meanwhile, Ji Seok-jin failed to avoid the zombie attack outside the safe zone and became the first low-level zombie. As a low-level zombie, Ji Seok-jin, wearing makeup, was mocked by the members for "why he had been wearing makeup since last week."
Additionally, Yang Se-chan was suspected of being a high-level zombie for mistakenly calling a blue potion a red potion. Eventually, Yang Se-chan was identified as a true high-level zombie through Lee Kwang-soo's judgment ticket. After his identity was revealed, Yang Se-chan was demoted from high-level to low-level zombie, sharing the same fate as Ji Seok-jin.
In the second judgment, Kim Jong-kook was targeted. If Kim Jong-kook had been human, the judgment would have been invalid, but he was also revealed to be a high-level zombie. Subsequently, Haha and Lee Kwang-soo were also turned into low-level zombies one after another after having their name tags torn off by zombies. Sunmi entered the red room alone, found a mysterious tablet, but was also attacked by zombies.
In the end, Zico, Yoo Jae-suk, Song Ji-hyo, and Jeon So-min survived. Yoo Jae-suk infiltrated the zombie container with 10 minutes left in the game and discovered a mysterious room where the original zombie produced zombies.
There was a red box with the members' names on it, each containing items related to the members. Yoo Jae-suk realized that possessing these items caused zombie infection and, noticing that only Jeon So-min's box contained unrelated photos, suspected her as the original zombie.
However, the original zombie was Song Ji-hyo, and Zico was revealed to be a human antibody (immune to infection even if bitten by a zombie). Sunmi, who discovered the tablet and learned that Song Ji-hyo was the original zombie, was also turned into a zombie by Song Ji-hyo.
Before the race started, Song Ji-hyo was informed by the production team that she had been reincarnated infected with the zombie virus from episode 277's 'Zombie War.' Through this reincarnation-zombie race, she was given a chance to take revenge on the members.
Furthermore, Song Ji-hyo chose Jeon So-min as her ally, and together they successfully led the zombie race. Ultimately, the teamwork of Song Ji-hyo and Jeon So-min led the zombie team to victory, while Yoo Jae-suk and Zico's human team was defeated.
SBS's variety show 'Running Man' airs every Sunday at 5 p.m.
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