The civil engineering course load for Fall Semester of junior year was notoriously known for being absolutely hellish - one hour each of Structures, Hydro, Soils, and Enviro from Monday through Thursday, and two hours of discussion for each class on Friday.

A whopping 8 hours of classes on Fridays. Granted, they were only discussions but still. However, since Thursday had been the first day back, discussions were cancelled for today only.

But instead of taking the day off, Seulgi had KSCE General Meeting to worry about. As project managers for the upcoming school year, she and Seungwan had to introduce the Eco Concrete project. Basically every civil engineering major joined KSCE, so she was going to be publicly speaking to about 300 people.

She and Seungwan had finished practicing their recruitment spiel hours ago. But whereas Seungwan was currently calm, unbothered, and relaxing on her bed while binging Hotel del Luna, Seulgi was a nervous wreck and kept on mentally reciting her parts. She wished she had her best friend's confidence, wondering why the gods hadn't sprinkled a little more on those who clearly needed some.

The clock read 5:00 PM. One more hour.

Not wanting to look lame and bother Seungwan about her nerves for the umpteenth time, Seulgi turned to the only other person she could vent to:

Sujebi: Baechu-ssiiiiii I'm so nervous

Instantly, a reply:

Baechu: I was just going to message you haha. I'm also kind of on edge. What's up with you?

Sujebi: My club has their General Meeting tonight, and I'm presenting something :(

Baechu: Hey, I have to present at mine too! That's why I'm a mess right now :(

Interesting, Seulgi thought. So Baechu was also some kind of lead in her club. But it was common for clubs to host their General Meeting on the second day of school, so it wasn't like she could weed her out or anything.

Sujebi: Aww it's okay, makes me feel better that I'm not the only one who at public speaking :)

Baechu: Meanie >:( Never said I …I just get some nerves

Sujebi: Oh….I for real :(

Baechu: I'm sure you're not THAT bad :)

Sujebi: But you've never even met me :O

Baechu: From the you're capable of writing, you've got to be at least somewhat confident ;)

Sujebi: …

Sujebi: Unsubscribed

Baechu: Nooo forgive me <3

Baechu: Tell me how you do later yeah? Just channel your inner JoyRi!

Sujebi: Fine, forgiven >.< And good luck to you too :D

Civil engineering is stereotypically known as the "most social" and even "fratty" type of engineering, and KSCE at SNU only served to reinforce that image.

As soon as Seulgi entered the giant lecture hall where the meeting was to be held, she was instantly bombarded with the chatter of her peers exchanging details of their summer internships and gossiping about who had hooked up with who for a summer fling. Freshmen were already up to upperclassmen, trying to network and climb the social ranks. Really, no other organization could offer academic opportunities and social drama like KSCE could. The duality was thrilling and a lot of people lived for it.

Not everyone was like that, though. Either you were a popular hotshot who was heavily involved in KSCE's administrative management, like Joohyun's squad, or a nerdy member of KSCE's civil engineering projects, like Seulgi and Seungwan. Or both, like Park Bogum who held both an administrative position and was project manager of the Construction project, which predictably always had the largest membership.

At least Seungwan was respected for being outspoken and having the top rank in the class. Seulgi had a high ranking herself, certainly in the top 5, but even though people knew she was smart many usually saw her as weird and antisocial because she kept to herself.

Seulgi honestly thought she was more compatible with the geeky, quiet electrical and computer engineer types, but was it really her fault that she much more enjoyed math and physics applied to tangible, concrete objects?

She and Seungwan took their seats amongst the group of project managers. She spotted Byulyi who was leading the Steel project, and Jennie who was leading the Water Treatment project. Both waved and she felt less alone in the boisterous atmosphere.

"OMG, did you hear? Apparently Bogum is planning to ask Joohyun out during the meeting," Seungwan whispered to her, pointing to Bogum and his obnoxious cronies a couple of rows ahead.

"Why wouldn't she want me back?" Bogum was saying cockily.

Variations of "Hell yeah, that's my bro!" erupted from his followers. Several vulgar comments followed, and Seulgi wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Joohyun doesn't deserve that," she murmured, and Seungwan nodded her head in agreement.

"Everyone! Please take a seat, meeting starts in 5 minutes," Yongsun said from up front at the podium. In a few minutes, everyone was seated save for a few stragglers. Seulgi watched as Joohyun then ascended the stage gracefully, donning a KSCE polo and jeans. She wondered how someone could look so perfect in such a simple ensemble.

A couple of immature guys wolf-whistled, causing snickers to echo across the hall. If Joohyun was bothered, she didn't show it. She seemed like a born leader, stepping atop the podium and taking in her audience with large, receptive eyes alight with the passion for her role as KSCE's president. She cleared once, immediately rendering everyone silent, and proceeded with her opening speech, enrapturing everyone even though she was talking about mundane details regarding the club's background. After Yongsun and Jisoo introduced themselves as Vice President and Treasurer respectively, the administrative board took to the stage to make their introductions.

"And that's our administrative board…Now for projects. KSCE is home to a variety of civil engineering projects where you can discover your interests within this diverse field and gain technical skills. Can project managers please come up and present their projects?" Joohyun motioned them to the stage.

Seulgi watched as the projects were introduced one by one to the "oohs" and "ahs" of the new freshmen. Joohyun stood a little to the side, smiling proudly. Silently, Seulgi hoped people would think Eco Concrete was cool too.

When it got to their turn, Seungwan grinned at her. "Are you ready for this?"

Seulgi gave a tight-lipped smile in response, making some kind of unintelligible sound along the lines of "ZimzalabiiiIiiimm". With that they stepped up to the podium, with Seungwan to her left and Joohyun on her right.

Seungwan began first, "I'm sure you all are familiar with concrete, a building material essential to construction because of its structural integrity and economic efficiency. But did you know that concrete can be unsustainable? The production of cement, a component of concrete, is responsible for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions!" She went on describing the woes of environmentally-unfriendly concrete, until it was time for Seulgi to introduce the project objective. She remembered Baechu's advice to channel JoyRi and felt a sudden calm ade her senses.

"The Eco Concrete project competes at the annual National Eco Concrete Competition, with the objective of designing a sustainable concrete mix that is environmentally-friendly and retains optimal mechanical properties…" From the side, she saw Bogum snickering at her and began to stutter, losing her train of thought. "A-and, uh, sorry…"

Suddenly, she felt a cool hand take her sweaty one under the podium. Shocked, she looked down at Joohyun, then at their hands interlocked, then at Joohyun again. The shorter girl gave her an encouraging nod, her eyes kind and patient.

It's alright, Joohyun mouthed, and squeezed her hand.

Theoretically, Seulgi should have died on the spot because Bae Joohyun? Holding her freaking hand in public, but in a way that only the two of them could see? This was intimate fanfiction material and Seulgi felt her heart thundering out of her chest.

But she instantly remembered Joohyun had dated stupid Bogum, emphasis on dated but it had been a male nonetheless. She was just being the supportive Mother Teresa of a person that she'd always been.

That took Seulgi right out of her gay shock and straight back into her intellectual mindset. "Yes, we'll be experimenting with innovative replacements for cement and other components in concrete. Like, uh, we could even try reinforcing the concrete with, I don't know…body hair." To her surprise, some of the audience gigg