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"That's nothing," Chan says, voice unimpressed and haughty, "I had to walk through the ran to buy him a new umbrella because he broke his!"
His audience looks impressed at the work, but Hansol is quick to scoff, leaning back against the tree trunk and pointing an accusing finger at the younger. "You had the umbrella though! In my case, I didn't!"
Chan doesn't step down, he refuses to do so even if that means he has to stand up against Hansol. Chan did go to extremes to earn free meals from their senior, Lee Jihoon, and he wants to be acknowledged for his sacrifices. They all did things for Jihoon, but he did things that they had refused and he wants them to recognize that feat. He wants them to praise him for the show of strength, courage and will power to get up at the crack of dawn, leave the warm cocoon of blankets and sleep behind to buy Jihoon an umbrella because he had an interview that day and couldn't afford getting wet.
He shakes his head vehemently in objection, leaning side ways to get a proper view of his friend. He is met with a Hansol bathed aesthetically in the afternoon sun, golden rays making the tan look delicious and eyes glowing like drops of molten gold. He looks godlike and Chan shakes his head again to regain his thoughts. Focus.
"No, I lost mine ages ago, and I went out just for him! And in the pouring rain, no less! Plus, you could've used an umbrella, you chose not to. That's not on hyung, that is on you. You can't call something a sacrifice if you had the full liberty to utilise it." He throws in a little bit of eyebrow raise and shoulder shrug at the end, dismissing Hansol's unhappy 'my point still stands, whatever.'
He's cute. Chan loves to tease him solely for his reactions.
"Whenever hyung would get sick, he'd ask me to run errands for him back when I had newly joined and befriended Junnie hyung and Shua hyung," Mingyu buts in when it looks like Chan is about to go off on another tangent as to why his sacrifice is more note worthy.
Chan waits for him say something more, add to that tiny bit of information. Make some cheesy comment about how he has clearly been there for Jihoon even before Chan and Hansol. But nothing follows, just Mingyu sighing and lying down on the grass.
Chan stares at his hyung. He really doesn't expect to top Chan's act with that little input, does he? Because that's the least polite thing to do when your friend is sick.
To Chan's relief, even Seokmin seems to be on the same wavelength as him. He looks at Mingyu, eyebrow raised, disbelief on his face.
"That's invalid, you know right?"
Mingyu gasps, hand flying to rest on his heart. Chan squints to get a better view of Mingyu's expression, but the Sun fails him and he's left squinting at Mingyu's not-so-much-visible face.
"Why not? It should count and have much more worth to it!" He exclaims and Chan can't figure out if he's being serious or he's just mocking the other three's enthusiasm to decide who has done more for a single free meal from Jihoon this year alone.
Sure, it isn't that serious, but it's fun. They have nothing better to do anyway. He has more fifteen minutes to pass and such things make Hansol happy and Chan likes it when Hansol is happy. And Seokmin too.
"You're telling me that if Jihoon hyung wouldn't have offered a free meal in return to your service, you wouldn't have helped him while he was sick?" Hansol asks, still lazily leaning against the tree trunk, but this time facing away from the sun. And Chan finds himself missing the way Hansol looked with half of his face drenched in the warm glow. Hansol is a pretty view regardless, so this will do too.
This time Mingyu splutters, shooting up, his eyes blown wide and staring at Hansol in utter betrayal. "You think I'd do that?"
He wouldn't, they all know. But Chan just wants to spite him, pull his leg, so he blurts out a loud and confident, "Yes!" smiling in amusement when Mingyu's face falls. The innocent man-child looks really shocked at Chan's, what he must believe, sincerity.
"How could you," he whines leaning over Seokmin's body to swat at Chan's arm.
"How could who, what?" A voice enquires calmly over their heads, a shadow falling over Seokmin's chest.
Seokmin opens his right eye, perking up when he finds Minghao looming over him. He incessantly pats at the small patch of free space by his head, beaming brightly. "Minghao," he coos softly, "come, sit here and lend me your lap."
Chan looks up just in time to see Minghao smiling down fondly at their oldest friend. Chan wonders if Minghao has ever directed such a fond smile to him too. He hopes he did, he really likes Minghao.
He also discreetly hopes Hansol also smiles at him like that.
"What were you guys talking about?" He slides the strap of his bag off his shoulder and lays it next to Chan's own. Chan gently adjusts his bag, earning a soft smile from the Chinese. His heart skips a beat or two and Chan glows internally. What a blessed day.
With a pat to Chan's head, Minghao takes the offered place by Seokmin's head, settling down before letting Seokmin plant his head in his lap. This is the gross level of friendship Chan hopes to achieve with Minghao one day. He can't wait to demand Minghao lend him his lap for nap some day.
"Where is Seungkwan?" Minghao asks, immediately noticing his absence.
"Running an errand," Hansol says, "for Jihoonie hyung."
Chan almost melts when he realises that Hansol is actually wearing the bracelet Chan had bought for him from the fair in his hometown last month. The stones embedded into the delicate chain gleams beautifully when the sun rays strike it, the blue and red of the stones decorating Hansol's veiny hands elegantly.
He should buy something like this for Hansol again. Or, wait, how about matching necklaces? Chan hates necklaces, but he can endure wearing one for Hansol, for sure.
When it looks like Hansol is going to look at him, Chan shifts his gaze from the fine specimen to, um, well, not so fine specimen. Mingyu is all smiley and giggly, shuffling to rest his head on Minghao's shoulder without an ounce of hesitation. Again, Chan hopes he'll be able to do that in the near future. Sooner than later hopefully. He'll wait patiently till then.
"Speaking of which," he says, internally vibrating when Minghao diverts his attention from Mingyu to him, "we were talking about the lengths we went to earn a free meal from Jihoon hyung."
Minghao's face lights up, mouth opening and a small, cute 'ah' slipping past his lips. What is he so cute for? Even Hansol won't be able to outdo that cuteness. Or maybe he could. Chan doesn't care, Hansol is on a whole different plane of existence anyway. But he'll have to get Hansol to act cute one of these days. You know, for science.
"He does that? Why?" He sounds intrigued and Chan feels excited to retell the brave tale that happened on a gloomy Sunday morning when raining was falling. Or maybe it was Monday, who knows.
Seokmin hums, eyes closed and basking in the warmth of the day's weather. "Hyung," he pauses, smacks his lips in contemplation and continues, "isn't stingy in any sense. But he makes us work for free meals, if it makes sense? Like he'll make us do something for him and then treat us to a meal. I honestly, don't mind that. But that's just me."
This time Minghao looks confused, eyebrows pinching together and head tilted slightly. Chan half wonders how it must feel to look this gorgeous this effortlessly. Hansol probably could relate.
"But he doesn't make me work for a free meal?"
Chan's jaw almost drops open at that, brain short-circuiting at the blunt display of favouratism. That hyung thinks he's being sly with his acts, huh, but Chan sees you, Lee Jihoon, Chan sees you. When was the last time Jihoon treated him to a meal because he felt like and not because Chan 'earned' it? That's right, he can't remember. So probably, never.
Chan knew there was something when Jihoon had chatted Minghao up all those months ago in a party instead of isolating himself like he always did. Tipsy Chan had choked it up to Minghao forcing Jihoon into a conversation seeing as a drunk Minghao was a clingy and emotional Minghao. And a sober Jihoon was a responsible party-goer, so he thought Jihoon was just keeping lonely Minghao a company. Yeah, company. Pfff.
But if he thinks hard, even Chan would do things for Minghao in return for a head pat, and Chan never does anything without a promise of a hefty reward in return.
"Hyung," Hansol calls, finally leaving the tree trunk alone in favour of spreading his upper torso across Mingyu's lap. "You had helped him choreograph a piece for his annual talent show stage. It was a well deserved free meal."
Mingyu nods, "Yeah, you worked for it. In fact, he should have taken you to a better restaurant and not just to that ramyeon shop down the street."
Chan's Kitchen actually serves a lot of different things, and not just noodles. Maybe if Mingyu actually opened the dang menu, he'd know. Chan assures himself that Mingyu being stupid is what triggers him and not the need to protect a shop he shares the name with. Nope. Chans are superior species anyway. Mingyus can't relate.
Minghao shakes his head. "No, no. He took me to see that art gallery as a thank you for that help."
They all collectively gasp, as dramatic as it sounds, in a perfect unison. Even Minghao looks impressed at that and Chan can't believe that all it took was for them to gasp together to impress Minghao.
"No way," Hansol exclaims, bouncing in his place joyously, clapping his hands.
Chan feels a small bud of affection bloom in the middle of his chest, the raw happiness Hansol was radiating only aids the bud to grow bigger in his chest. The way his eyes widened and his body outwardly showing just how happy he is, is precious. Hansol is precious.
Minghao giggles cutely, pinching Hansol's cheeks in a very endearing way. "So cute." Hansol doesn't seem like he heard it but Chan did and you can bet Chan is going to tell him this, just to see him smile like this again.
"Wow –I, well, you deserved that! Good he took you somewhere that wasn't a rundown ramyeon shop." Mingyu cheers. Though he smiles, his voice lacks the usual bright tone.
Guess, he wanted to go there with Minghao?
Chan kind of gets why Jihoon must have taken Minghao to an art gallery. Minghao is interested in art and Jihoon, being Jihoon, must have decided on taking Minghao somewhere his interests lie. That talent stage was what got Jihoon a chance to intern at Pledis. He must really think he owed it to Minghao, even if just a little bit.
"Which means, you did something to earn that." Chan pauses. And then adds in a pleading tone, "Please tell me he took you for dinner afterwards."
Minghao smiles, eyes crinkling and cheeks bunching up, his hand coming to pat Chan's cheek gently. Chan's traitorous heart stutters at that. He wouldn't mind if Minghao patted him more like this, so gentle and soft and warm. It gives him good tingles.
"He did. He paid for it too."
Seokmin claps suddenly, making the remaining jump at the abruptness of it. He giggles and apologises, patting at Chan and Minghao's thighs.
"Well, that settles then, Minghao did go the most extreme length to earn a Woozi meal, regardless of its intention. Or lack thereof."
Chan feels deflated, all that sacrifice for no acknowledgement at all. What a shame. But if it's Minghao he's losing against, he's fine, after all Minghao kind of did the most. And that too without the intent of obtaining a free meal out of the help.
"No," Minghao whines, slumping against the tree trunk in a dramatic manner, "you're not listening." He crosses his arms and sulks. Chan has to really work to not coo outright at that hyung. How is Chan supposed to take him seriously when here he is, acting this cute?
Minghao looks up and pouts. Eyes practically twinkling.
Fuck. Chan usually doesn't find anyone to be uwu level of cute but Minghao easily surpasses the uwu level cute (Sorry, Hansol). Ugh, why is Minghao so cute for. No one makes his heart race like Minghao.
Well, besides Hansol.
"We're all ears, Hao," Seokmin placates, cupping Minghao's face in his hands and running his thumb over his cheek.
It's not even been a good five minutes since Chan wished for a development of a comfortable friendship between Minghao and him in the near future, and he's already tired of waiting. When will it be his time to shine in Minghao's eyes? When will he be able to all those things without hesitating?
"That choreo help is an old tale," Minghao starts, waving his hand in the air to dismiss the 'old tale', "even after that we've gone out to eat. And no, Mingyu, he didn't take me to 'Chan's Kitchen' for ramyeon."
Chan instinctively pinches whatever his hands can find, which just so happens to be Seokmin's meaty thighs. The taunt muscles of the thigh leave no flesh to pinch, and it's almost dissatisfying. But it does fulfil the purpose of making Chan aware that he wasn't dreaming and that Jihoon, in fact, was paying for someone's meal without making them work for it.
Seokmin yelps surprised, slapping his hand away, and pinches at Chan's thigh harshly, in return. And as the small patch of skin under his cotton shorts sting, Chan understands the pain his small thoughtless act brings on others. At least my thighs are thick, he thinks, and that makes him smile through the pain.
Hansol is looking at him as if he's nothing but a weird man dancing in a clown hat on the side of an abandoned gas-station. He has that judgemental face on, but Chan can also spy a microscopic level fond smile. And that's enough for his heart to thud maniacally hard. Hansol doesn't break their eye contact, staring brazenly. So Chan takes his chance and winks at him, groaning softly when Hansol rolls his eyes and proceeds to ignores him. Well, wow, no wonder Hansol is single. Loser.
"Why does he not make you work for those meals?!" Mingyu yells, looking as offended as a person can. His veins make a clear appearance as he yells, and Chan has to fight the urge to flick them. "He takes you to a much better place to eat and doesn't even utter a single word about a favour in return for those treats?"
"Am I the only one who doesn't see the issue here?" Mingyu blatantly ignores Seokmin in favour of yelling more. Seokmin doesn't seem much affected at this revelation, just happy to be treated to a free meal every now and then for a favour. And Chan suddenly realises how Seokmin view things in a simple manner, unlike the annoying pterodactyl that's screeching on top of his lungs next to him.
Speaking of which, Chan now has to work on suppressing the want to tape Mingyu's mouth shut too. Not only because he's being too loud and kind of gathering attention, but also because Minghao looks more and more upset as mildly harsh and completely unnecessary words are thrown at him, Mingyu unintentionally putting down Minghao's worth in the process of freaking out.
He's hovering over Minghao now, sat on his knees and face still looking like Jihoon treating Minghao different is the betrayal of the century. It's obvious Mingyu is very affected by this.
Seokmin has Minghao's hand safely enveloped in his own, pressing a kiss whenever Mingyu hits too hard.
Hansol looks over at him. It's clearly visible that he is also not happy with the way Mingyu is behaving. Chan doesn't know why he nods but it seems like Hansol takes it as a green light for whatever he's about to do.
Mingyu now has resorted to pulling at his hair, muttering something non-stop. In a blink of an eye, Hansol, in a smooth move, pulls at Mingyu's collar and brings the man down. Mingyu falls on his butt, his rant coming to a sudden halt as soon as he falls. Chan watches him blink, and then his scowl melts to a confused expression.
"I'm so sorry, Hao, for how I was behaving," he apologizes immediately. "But I don't get it," he continues, "why would Jihoon hyung take you to a fancier place and pay for your meal?"
"T-that's," someone pants behind Chan, a shadow fusing with Chan's own in the grass below. "That's how you treat your date, Kim Mingyu."
Everyone's head snap up to look at Seungkwan, all looking terribly surprised.
Jihoon and date? Now, that's something new.
On a different note though, Chan would definitely date Minghao over their group of ragtag friends.
Something about Xu Minghao hits different, you know?
He looks over at Hansol, who looks like he has seen the ghost of his past. Perhaps he'd give Hansol a chance, with his multicoloured beanie and hoodie and all.
"Date?!" Minghao squeaks, squirming when all eyes land on him.
A hand comes to rest on Chan's shoulder, Seungkwan lowering his body on the grass below shortly after.
"Don't tell me you didn't know that Jihoon hyung was asking you out on dates every time he took you to a 'fancier' restaurant!"
Minghao shakes his head cautiously, eyes looking at Seungkwan in disbelief. He reminds Chan of that pouty, shiny eyes emoji. Would it be too weird if Chan just whipped his phone out, took a nice picture of Minghao looking like that emoji and used that picture in place of the emoji? He hopes not since he firmly believes this picture would be much more depictive of the-puppy-dog-eyes than a mere emoji.
"Was I supposed to?" The way Minghao's voice rises as he progresses through his question is plain adorable and endearing. Say, fellas, is it gay if Chan wants to smooch this hyung's face? Will it still be gay if tacks on a no homo?
"I mean, did he make it clear that it was a date?" Hansol prods.
He watches in fascination as Minghao puts on his typical thinking face, lips pouty and eyes narrowed. How does God not expect Chan to develop a crush on him when he sits there looking like that! Oh wait, God made Hansol sit right there as well.
Surprised, Chan does a double take at his own train of thoughts.
What the fuck, Lee Chan?
"I can't recall," Minghao concludes finally, still pouting and looking very upset with himself. "I was preoccupied trying not to freak out that I didn't pay much attention to what he said."
Chan has to give Jihoon kudos for not being a chicken for once and acting on his feeli– wait, wait wait. Rewind a whole second?!
Freak out? Why was Minghao freaking out? Minghao doesn't look like the one to freak out? How can Xu Minghao, the Lord and saviour of the Lesbians, freak out?
"Why were you freaking out?" Seokmin asks, his hands once again reaching out to hold his friends face in his hands.
Chan and Seokmin really are sharing the same braincell. That's good. Also, is it gay to hold your bro's face in your hand and stare into their eyes like they hold your world in the palm of their hands?
Maybe not.
So it should be fine for Chan to do that to Hansol, then. Chan will do that to Hansol, then.
"Because that's what you do when your crush asks you to have dinner with them? Isn't that a normal human behaviour?"
Is it? Chan must be crushing the wrong way then. Every time his 'crush' asked him out on a dinner, he'd ask God why him. He has dated three people and none of their dinner date propositions had him half as excited as Hansol's lazy take-out dinner propositions.
"Really? Tell me more," Chan finds himself saying, interest suddenly spiking up. He must learn to crush the right way.
They give him a weird look; slack jaw, eyebrow raise and all. And that's okay, he has always been weird and not really interested in conversations that involved sappy crap like this. This probably is their first time seeing him even this minutely interested in a topic he would only idly listen to on a normal day.
Minghao clicks his tongue, "If you're being sarcastic —"
Chan sits up straight, mildly appalled. "I'm not!"
Seungkwan chuckles, poking at his cheek. "Since when has our baby been interested in these topics, huh?"
One day. One day Chan would be done with Boo Seungkwan and his antics. and that would the end of all this cocky behaviour. Just because Jihoon has a soft spot for him, has him flying too damn high. Wait till Minghao and Jihoon get together and Chan has Minghao wrapped around his pinky. It'll be all over for Seungkwan.
For now, he settles with pushing the older away harshly, not even batting an eye when Seungkwan groans and grumbles.
"No, really, how did you come to a conclusion that you have a crush on Jihoon hyung?"
Minghao blinks at him, still suspicious of Chan's intents.
"You've a crush on me?!" A pitched voice exclaims from behind the tree they were gathered at, scaring everyone to death. Seokmin and Seungkwan's bloody screams only add to the jump scare, forcing the entire group to scramble around to find a secure footing.
Chan watches as Jihoon walks from behind the tree, eyes as wide as saucers, mouth wide open and his pale skin pink from neck up. It a very non-Jihoon scene; blushing and looking this flustered. He looks very.....fresh too. He looks like he'd smell of Dove soap.
Jihoon is dressed in a baby blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbow, jeans so tight Chan can make out the distinct shape of a singular coin in the right pocket. The shirt is tucked in the front and untucked at the back.
Chan has never seen Jihoon dress this good, usually his fashion never in par with recent trends. He likes it. The black cap somehow gives an edge to his otherwise pastel look, and Chan fails to understand how that cap goes so well with that outfit. It shouldn't, but it does. And it baffles his mind.
Like it always does when it comes to Hansol and his choice of multicoloured hoodie, topped with equally eye sore of a beanie. And it shouldn't work out, everyone says so too, but for Chan, it works just fine. Seungkwan says he's biased, but he thinks fashion is subjective. The smiles he is rewarded with after he lets Hansol know he looks great, makes him want to throw on a rainbow coloured hoodie, a beanie and a shorts to make Hansol even more happier. To let it known that Chan appreciates his fashion sense.
Chan is hit hard with a sudden realisation that it's not Jihoon's fashion sense that's improved, it's his eagerness to impress Minghao that's grown. Of course, Jihoon wouldn't just decide to ditch his comfy sweatpants and Gucci slides for skinny jeans and converses, without a reason.
And he feels like banging his head on the tree. Is this what infatuation makes one do? Glad he would never do these things just to impress someone. Imagine wanting to dress a certain way to just impress their crush. Can't be Chan!
Besides him, Minghao falls silent, mouth opening and closing and no words audible. It makes him wonder – was Minghao impressed by Jihoon's transformation or was he just stressed that Jihoon found out about his tiny crush. Or it could be both, knowing Minghao's ability to worry about several things simultaneously.
"What crush?" He finally manages to say, voice all weird and dialect all over the place. It's cute. Jihoon tries to hide the smile and Chan sees it. Gross. Please get Chan out of there.
"Your crush on me?" Jihoon asks all cocky, pocketing his hands and leaning against the tree. Wasn't he just blushing a while ago? Can someone please get Chan out of there.
"Listen," Minghao starts, probably still not registering that Jihoon is enjoying him being a flustered mess. Which, again, how could the Lord and saviour of the Lesbians get flustered so easily? Unfathomable!
Jihoon was supposed to be the panic gay, not the confident one! What is wrong with this world?
His eyes widen when Minghao trips on his feet as he slowly moves towards Jihoon. But Jihoon easily steadies him, the grace and elegance he portrays while doing so, has even Chan swooning. Those gym rounds are doing him good, huh? Would Hansol be impressed if Chan also got a gym membership?
"You didn't answer," Jihoon whispers.
At least that's what Chan hears and that's what Chan thinks he hears and it makes sense so he assumes that's what was being said.
"Y-yeah?"
Chan can't fathom this! His entire impression of Minghao was that Minghao was the coolest, most composed person he knew, the ultimate Lord and saviour of Lesbians, and that's why he admired Minghao so much. What would happen of the Lesbians now? Why is he stuttering like a fool? Does this what love makes you? A fool? That explains the term love fool then.
They're all just standing there still, like a bunch of extras from a kdrama, watching Minghao and Jihoon stand in each others arms, staring into each others eyes with so much fondness, it puts all kdrama lead couples to shame. Chan hates this even more now that this actually looks like a scene right from a cheesy drama and he can't believe he's playing the role of those measly extras.
He blinks in disbelief.
He hates this but can't find it in himself to move and break the fragile atmosphere the two have created unknowingly. He hates it yet he can't take his eyes off the couple that's whispering to themselves, honey soaked words being exchanged just for them to listen and why the fuck are they talking so low? Chan needs to hear what's being said, however cringey and cheesy it is.
He stealthily glides slightly closer, making sure that he doesn't catch Jihoon's attention. Not even God knows what he'll do if Chan, God forbid, disturbs their 'moment.' He shivers at the thought.
"–was flirting with you at that party, Hao. I don't flirt with just anyone," Jihoon whisper yells. What rubbish is this? Why does he sound desperate? What happened to honey soaked words? The world is just disappointing Chan today.
Jihoon doesn't flirt, that's true. It's hard to even get Jihoon to talk more than seventeen words on some days. And flirting was the last thing Chan ever expected Jihoon to do and for some reason, he's grateful that he didn't get to witness Jihoon's failed attempt at flirting.
Minghao's giggle snaps him back to the reality and he realises that someone is leaning against him, the warmth uncomfortably pressed to his back. He turns to look at the culprit, only to come face to face with Hansol.
He's too damn pretty, is his first thought. How come Chan never truly paid attention to him before. He knew Hansol was handsome, but he never sat down and pondered over it.
Hansol blinks. Chan blinks back.
Hansol's eyes are warm, the the pool of warm chocolate brown easily trapping Chan into them. They're staring right into his own and Chan wonders what he must see in them. The small nose scrunch Hansol does, is cute. The nose is cute. Hansol is even cuter. The sharp jawline and mature face structure doesn't take away from the softness that Hansol is. Only if Chan could run his finger over the chiselled jaw and get away with it. Hansol's dirty blond hair falls beautifully in his eyes and Chan's fingers twitch by his side with the need to touch them, feel them. To run them through the hair.
Chan can't believe he didn't sit down and ponder about Hansol's beauty. Why didn't he do that? What a wasted opportunity. Wait, no, he can still do it. In fact, he has organic chemistry next, he'll do it then. Professor Yoon is kind of boring anyway and it's not like he hasn't gotten in trouble with the man before. He has on multiple occasions and getting in trouble, this time for admiring Hansol's raw beauty, would be totally worth it. Hansol is worth it.
Damn. Those jawlines are practically singing for Chan to run his fingers across them. The thirst is real.
His eyes flutter from admiring Hansol's jaw to his lips, they're plush–
A sharp cough breaks Chan from his thoughts, dragging him right back into the world where it's not just Hansol and his beauty, but it's also Seungkwan's annoying ass and Mingyu's pterodactyl screeching.
World is fucking disappointing Chan today.
"What was that?" Hansol asks, voice nearly inaudible over the sound of gushing of blood in Chan's ears.
Chan doesn't know what that was. Again, what the fuck, Lee Chan?
To avoid Hansol's eyes, he turns away, and blinks in surprise. Jihoon and Minghao are already gone. How long was Chan busy in his world?
Seungkwan clears his throat and Chan hurries towards his bag. Minghao's bag is gone as well. He wordlessly grabs his bag and turns on heels to run to his next lecture. He has an organic chemistry class to daydream through, he'll figure everything out then.
Hopefully when he runs into Hansol next time, he'd have an answer then.