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Bros on Foot: Episode 6
by stroopwafel
The cast leaves the wilderness for city life, but their road back to civilization is wet and wild. A great reward awaits all four of them after their new mission — if they survive, that is.
EPISODE 6
Things are looking different this morning in New Zealand — everyone’s already up and Jung-woo and Ji-hoon are taking a morning stroll around the farm while the dongsaengs handle breakfast. The hyungs had been wanting a nice, peaceful walk among nature and the reality doesn’t quite live up to their imagination.
Yes, it’s beautiful, but there are sharp gusts of wind that keep puncturing their imagined ideal of a nice spring morning walk. While Ji-hoon and Jung-woo half freeze and say hello to the sheep, the dongsaengs are cooking it up. Well, attempting to cook it up. They’re eager to make a meal for the hyungs, but the wind is working against them too.
Their little gas burner won’t turn on because the wind blows out the flame and keeps it from really turning the heat up on their hamburger patties and ramyun. Min-ho improvises a windscreen, but they’ve barely started cooking when he spots the hyungs returning from their walk. You can feel how much he and Jin-gu want to pull off the breakfast successfully, and the hyungs’ presence seems to add to the pressure of it all.
It’s all furtive glances at the burner and the hyungs, even though Ji-hoon and Jung-woo keep telling them not to stress about the cooking. But in the moment, everything amps up the pressure on Min-ho and Jin-gu. Worst of all, the wind keeps coming at them from all directions so they just can’t get anything to cook. The hyungs start to pitch in, with Jung-woo standing in as a human windscreen to protect the burner and Ji-hoon working on the ramyun.
As the cooking time stretches on, experience wins out over enthusiasm and Ji-hoon ends up as the main chef again. He’s really efficient and fast and Jin-gu slides back to let the cooking veteran finish up. Jin-gu does whip up a sweet and salty apple-based sauce for the burgers, so it’s not like he didn’t get to put his own touch on the meal. But in a talking head, Jin-gu talks about the unplanned kitchen takeover. “The plan was to finish cooking quickly, and to serve the hyungs burgers Jin-gu and Min-ho style. But… maybe next time.” (Yesss, Season 2 please!)
Jin-gu and Min-ho may have gotten help with breakfast, but it’s delicious all the same, with raves for Jin-gu’s apple sauce. After breakfast is over, Lee PD comments that they seem to be feeling the full effects of sleeping outdoors. Ji-hoon: “I’m covered in bruises.”
On that note, they receive their latest mission note and Min-ho gets the honor of reading it aloud. He scans it and then he smiles but can’t speak a word at first. The note tells them their next destination is the city of Queenstown. And there’s a promise too: The cast will get to sleep indoors tonight.
Cheers, applause, and mamma mimis break out from the guys, and Jung-woo even gives a deep bow to the sky, in honor of the god of New Zealand roofs. There’s just one catch: they’ll have to complete their mission before they can head indoors. And they won’t learn what their mission is until after they reach Queenstown.
The guys are thrilled either way, so they begin their drive to their mission location in Queenstown. They pull up to the shores of the Shotover River and there’s a giant sign for jet boat rides. The river is known for its rapids and fast-moving current, and their mission is to go on a boat ride.
They watch a boat zoom by and Jung-woo’s feelings are written all over his face (he’s not happy). He interviews later that he found the jet boat’s whole color motif off-putting. “The red color was intimidating. I don’t even ride merry-go-rounds. I wasn’t born to enjoy these types of attractions.”
There are five Dream Tickets on the line, and as a reward for completing their mission they’ll get to use their personal credit cards instead of earning allowance money for their meals. (LOL only a variety show could make spending your own money a reward.)
To successfully carry out their mission, they’ll also have to keep their eyes peeled and spot cameramen who will be standing in various places along the river during their ride. (Smart cookie Ji-hoon figures the cameramen will be holding up signs.)
Jung-woo is anxious and confuzzled — he even has trouble understanding what the mission is the first time they get their instructions — but he settles in for the ride all the same. The driver revs up and they shoot down the river.
They whiz past rock walls and rapids, and all I can say is that my brain knows that this is a safe boat ride and a tourist attraction, but my eyes are telling my brain that it’s a deathtrap. Min-ho is loving it though, and watching him and Jung-woo sit together on the boat is like watching the comedy/tragedy masks come to life.
Not long into the ride, they see one cameraman holding up a number, and along the way the spot the others, all holding up either a number or a math symbol.
The correct answer to this long math problem is tied to completing the mission, so yikes. It’s basically a nightmare mission if you are bad at math, prone to motion sickness, or have poor eyesight. Jung-woo’s hanging in there, despite having some trouble keeping his eyes open, ha.
But Jung-woo can rely on the others to read the signs and memorize the math. Finally, they return to the dock and the first thing Jung-woo does is check his watch. “It took 15 minutes, huh. It was the longest 15 minutes.” They disembark and Jung-woo looks slightly worse for wear, but he’s as funny as ever. “You can check out how I looked via the broadcast. I want to be alone.”
Alone time aside, it’s time to give Lee PD the answer to the math problem. The answer they’ve reached: five. It’s correct, and thanks to math and an extreme boat ride, they’ve grabbed five more Dream Tickets for the youth.
After their boat ride they drive into Queenstown proper and it feels downright urban — there are cars and buildings everywhere, and even a 24-hour shop. Queenstown sits right on a lake and it’s a pretty city bustling with people. Their hostel room for the night comes with bunk beds and at long last everyone will get to sleep on a real mattress. Out of the four beds in the room, only one is a double mattress, so they play rock paper scissors for it. Jung-woo’s luck reappears and he wins the big bed.
He hops into the big bed while singing, “I’m sorry,” and that’s when Jin-gu pulls shut the bed’s little privacy curtain lol. Jung-woo has a request though, “Let my feet be on TV, these are my favorite sneakers.” Ji-hoon and Min-ho take the top bunks and Ji-hoon looks around, “The view up here is great — I can see Min-ho so clearly.” How cute is that? I love that Min-ho instantly strikes a pose at Ji-hoon’s comment. Lee PD sends the cast a text saying that they’re getting another treat today: they’ll get the rest of the day to themselves. Free day!
They explore Queenstown and look for a lunch spot, settling on a Chinese restaurant. The plan is to split up afterwards; Min-ho and Ji-hoon will exercise, Jung-woo and Jin-gu will go for a walk. They’d been craving Asian food so Jung-woo was all for Chinese, but he realized too late that it was a Sichuan restaurant, so most of the dishes are spicy. Ji-hoon plates servings for the dongsaengs first and Jung-woo tries one of the dishes that look the least spicy but even that proves to be too much; he starts coughing and even sweating.
He orders plain rice to cool down his mouth, which he shares with the table. They all dig in and they realize that this is the first time they’ve had rice while they’ve been traveling.
Ji-hoon puts down his spoon and says he should stop eating so much, but Jung-woo tells him to eat more, and that he should plump himself up even. Jung-woo continues and tells Min-ho, “When we get back to Korea, shave your head. And pull out one front tooth.” It’ll give him character and the casting calls will come rolling in. LOL. Jung-woo gives Jin-gu a long appraising look and tells him to pull a tooth too, and he should develop a cauliflower ear.
Everyone has a good laugh at the advice but Jung-woo’s face suddenly falls and he spits something out, “One of my veneers fell off.” This is not a joke! In what is cosmically perfect timing, after telling the guys to pull out their teeth, his own tooth fell out. Jung-woo clutches his veneer and says he can’t smile anymore. I know the situation must be uncomfortable for him, but the cameraman repeatedly focusing in on his hand clutching the veneer is cracking me up.
The vibe gets sort of subdued, kind of like an impromptu try not to laugh challenge has started. On one hand, their hyung’s tooth has popped out, and on the other hand, the whole situation and scenario is so absurd. Jin-gu says the variety gods stepped in for this moment, and it really does seem like Jung-woo’s been blessed by the variety gods.
Jin-gu asks to see Jung-woo’s smile and Jung-woo just shoots back a no on that. “Look it up on the internet. Look up cases of fallen out veneers.” The good news is that Jung-woo’s tooth was fine, but the bad news is that he spent half his free day at a local dentist.
Min-ho and Ji-hoon have a detour to take before they have their exercise session, and it’s something Min-ho’s been dying to do. Bungee jumping. I always thought a bungee jump was in their futures as a mission, but I never guessed that they’d voluntarily just go for a casual jump. They’re at Kawarau Bridge Bungy, which is a wooden bridge that’s high above a river. Min-ho is pumped as he tells Ji-hoon that bungee jumping in New Zealand is his dream.
Ji-hoon replies, in English, “Good for you.” Ha! Min-ho says that since they’ve realized Ji-hoon’s dream of biking, Min-ho wants to realize his bungee dream together. Ji-hoon is… the opposite of thrilled, and he’s extra funny when he wants to get out of doing something. For instance, he suddenly, mysteriously, is having trouble hearing so he has no idea what Min-ho is asking.
The staff ask Ji-hoon in a talking head what he thought when Min-ho asked him to bungee jump: “I thought he was a crazy bastard. It’s not like we’re married. We’re friends, why do we have to do everything together?”
Despite his wavering, they both get tickets to jump and Min-ho looks so excited and happy. I don’t fully understand him, but I admire his passion all the same. When the bungee instructor/operator comes along and asks the guys how they’re doing, Ji-hoon tells him, “I’m bad.” Nothing deters Min-ho, though, and he’ll be jumping first. The two of them together are very dramatic and hilarious. Min-ho steps out on the bungee platform but turns back to say, “Hyung, this dongsaeng loves you.” (i.e. You’ll jump too, right?) Ji-hoon: “I love you, baby.”
Min-ho jumps and flies down, beaming all the while during his near-death bungee experience. What was exhilirating for Min-ho was more on the terror-inducing side for Ji-hoon and he says to the operator in English, “Maybe I can’t.” Min-ho on the other hand is on his way back up to Ji-hoon and he shouts, “I want to go again!”
Ji-hoon: “Let’s just have Min-ho jump again!” For some reason, Ji-hoon thinks having a practice jump might ease his nerves so he looks down at the river and does a tiny jump. It’s precious. It also makes him feel more nervous about the actual jump, oops.
Min-ho runs back to Ji-hoon, who’s all harnessed up, but is still having second thoughts. Min-ho can’t recommend it enough and explains, “As you jump the scenery opens up in front of you, and then it feels like the water is pulling you in.” But Ji-hoon replies, “That’s right. That’s exactly the feeling I hate.”
Out of nerves, Ji-hoon grabs part of the bridge and starts an impromptu pole dance; it’s like he’s trying to stop time with his dancing skills. Even the operator cheers him on, “You can do it.” Ji-hoon: “I don’t think so.”
Ji-hoon might grumble a lot but he’s such a good sport and he never backs away, even when he’s nervous. Even now, he simply slowly steps onto the platform. He takes a deep breath and the operator starts to count down.
Epilogue
At the Chinese restaurant Jung-woo takes his tooth and tucks it into his (zippered) jacket pocket. It’s time to pay their check and they decide to do a classic variety game of chance. Everyone offers up a credit card and the cashier gets to choose a card to cover the check. Jin-gu is the unlucky winner who gets the privilege of paying for their giant meal. Jung-woo’s luck continues!
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