To Become a King

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Episode 124:
Guests: Han Hyo Joo, Go Soo (same as previous week).
Location: Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do.
Taste race: In four rounds, each member chooses between two locally famous dishes and goes to that dish's restaurant location and must complete a challenge before being able to eat. After eating, they choose between another two dishes for the next round. The first to pass all four rounds and reach the final destination becomes the first king. (Round one: bean sprout soup (wrapped up in a blanket, jump over a pile of pillows (Jong Kook, Ji Hyo, Suk Jin, Jae Suk, Go Soo)); bibimbap (balancing on a pile of mats, jump to a pile of blankets without falling over on either one (Haha, Gwang Soo, Han Hyo Joo, Gary)); Round two: set-menu meal (follow 10 quick instructions by the PD on what to do with the food to pass (Haha, Han Hyo Joo, Go Soo, Jae Suk, Suk Jin)); full-spread meal (choose and eat dishes in the spread, but if a dish infused with hot pepper is chosen, they must endure it or be eliminated (Ji Hyo, Gary, Jong Kook, Gwang Soo)); Round three: kalbi soup (firewood splitting (Han Hyo Joo, Jae Suk, Jong Kook, Gary)); clay pot soup (break clay tiles with their fists (Haha, Suk Jin, Go Soo, Ji Hyo, Gwang Soo)); Round four: red bean noodle soup (blindly select a type of  grain or small fruit and move 20 from one plate to another using chopsticks before running out of breath singing "suk dae meo ri (mugwort head)" (Jae Suk, Jong Kook, Gary, Han Hyo Joo, Suk Jin(?))); knife cut noodle soup (blindly select an item and blow it across a table from a tray of cocaine (Gwang Soo, Ji Hyo, Haha, Go Soo))).
To Become a King race (Jeonju University*): The king cannot be eliminated and rips off nametags to eliminate the peasants but has to tend to palace duties every 10 minutes. The peasants search for ballot slips hidden throughout the building and vote for a (new) king. Once half the ballots of remaining members have been cast, action is stopped and the person with the most votes becomes king and action re-starts with the same premise (if there is no majority after half vote, action continues until there's a tie-breaker). The last person standing wins.
Comments: I wonder if the voting concept, complete with ballots and voting booth, had anything to do with reminding and encouraging South Koreans to vote in the presidential election on Dec. 19 (to become a king . . . get elected). The guests' emphasis on Running Man really being unscripted possibly suggests that it also may be a discussion among South Korean viewers about whether or how much is "scripted" (i.e., staged, guided, directed or otherwise manipulated). In accord with the guests' statement, even the math regarding the ballots works out (two out of the 12 ballot slips weren't found, but the rest are accounted for in the voting). Suk Jin is not shown during Round Four, but mention of someone arriving late during the red bean noodle challenge makes me think it was him (having finally passed Round Three), since everyone else is accounted for. Gwang Soo must have been driving pretty fast after Round Four after all that cocaine.