As Seventeen’s angelic Jeonghan turns 25, we look back at 5 of his most mischievous moments as the group’s resident prankster

Contrary to his angel-like features and the fact that his birthday is on October 4 (1004 – which means “cheonsa” or angel in Korean – coincidence? We don’t think so), Seventeen’s Jeonghan is widely known by fans as the group’s cheekiest and most mischievous member.

Since his debut, he’s become Prankster in Chief among his fellow group members and is constantly coming up with devious strategies to win games in their variety shows. He may push his luck sometimes, but it’s clear Jeonghan loves Seventeen, always making sure they know he’s there for them and that everyone feels included. He’s quick to defend the group in press interviews with witty answers and comes over as the most protective too, being one of the group’s oldest members and all.

So, in celebration of Seventeen’s one and only Libra celebrating his 25th (26th in Korea) birthday soon, as well as the group’s long-awaited comeback, here are some of Jeonghan’s most mischievous moments.

1. The go-kart consolation match

During the second episode of their reality show Going Seventeen in the Four-Wheeled Rider segment, the group had to undergo a challenge to find out which member would advance to the final kart round: they were required to go through a small track made of cones while wearing a jigsaw mask to cover their eyes. While others dutifully did the task according to the instructions, Jeonghan immediately found a way to cheat the system – even asking the rest of Seventeen for their permission to outright game the system. He did the entire track in only five seconds and managed it with only a single point deducted for lifting one of the cones so he could pass through. Classic Jeonghan.

2. The telepathy game

Cheeky Jeonghan tried a similar tactic in another Going Seventeen episode, Camping TTT, in which the group took part in a telepathy game where members had to have the same answers to win. As usual, Jeonghan was the first to initiate the cheating. He would walk casually to the opposite end of the line of his group mates to fetch Hoshi’s water bottle; as he passed each member on the way back he would whisper what they should write. Sadly, it only succeeded for two rounds before the staff caught on to what they were doing.

3. Jeonghan on Battle Trip

Jeonghan travelled to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with Wonwoo and S.Coups for an episode of travel variety show Battle Trip. The trio learned basic Indonesian, and one of the words that seemed to stick in Jeonghan’s head was mahal, which means “expensive”. When it was time for them to hit the shops and buy some goodies, every price that was presented to them got the same reply from Jeonghan: “mahal”!

When using his favourite word didn’t achieve the price he wanted, he employed a different tactic – wooing the sellers with aegyo (cuteness) to get what he wanted instead – and it worked, of course.

4. The salt incident

“The salt incident” still ranks as one of Jeonghan’s most memorable cheating moments of all time. In the first episode of Going Seventeen Spin-off, the group were in a cook-off and had been divided into three groups where required to take turns to get ingredients for their dishes. His team had been so focused on the main ingredients that they’d forgotten a major component – salt. Not wanting to lose, he waited for the right moment, casually strolled to the other side of the room and sneaked the salt from the counter in to his pocket – in plain sight.