"Can you believe that only two years ago, we met as tiny freshmen during sign-ups for Eco Concrete and now, we're leading our very own workday?" Seungwan tugged at Seulgi's arm excitedly.

"Can't imagine leading it with anyone else," Seulgi grinned back as they did their signature bro handshake.

They were just filing out of Enviro along with the rest of their peers. While it was the last class of the day, it definitely wasn't the last commitment of the day for many of the busy engineers, with everyone rushing to research labs, side hustles, or in Seulgi's case, the first project workday of the school year.

Every nerve in her body was tingling with the nervous anticipation of actually being a role model for project engineers to look up to. And of course, there was something else totally not engineering related on her mind - Joohyun.

She hadn't talked to the president all day, save for a smile and wave during Soils, since Joohyun was keeping true to her word by embarking on her humanitarian mission to sit with someone new for every single lecture. She knew it was by a long shot, but she secretly hoped that Joohyun would attend Eco Concrete's first workday even though she had historically been a member of Construction for the past two years.

Craning her neck, she searched for the president in the crowd. Her heart dropped when she saw Joohyun a little ways ahead of them, heading in the direction of the KSCE Lounge. Not only was that where Construction was going to be taking place, she was also accompanied by Minho.

Seungwan immediately noticed the change in her friend's expression and followed her gaze, instantly seeing what had dampened her mood.

She patted the monolid girl on the back comfortingly, "Aw, c'mon Seulgi…cheer up!"

"Wait, no - look."

Seulgi grabbed Seungwan's hand, forcing them to stop in their tracks and fully observe the crowd. It seemed to split into a 'V' shape, with one clearly larger stream of students making their way to the KSCE Lounge, the other line heading to the Structures Lab looking like a weak trickle in comparison.

"Are you going to Construction? I heard Bogum-sunbae's going to hook up all the members with internships."

"Oh… I was gonna check out Eco Concrete, but I'd sure like a free internship!"

"Yeah, we should all join Construction. That's where the cool people are."

Despite herself, Seulgi began to feel a stinging behind her eyes. "I guess Bogum wins," she muttered sadly. "We're gonna be that lame, nobody project again, huh?"

Truthfully, Seungwan felt crushed, having expected more interest given the response to their spiel at General Meeting. But she knew how sensitive Seulgi could be; she couldn't let her friend get affected by her disappointment as well.

So she gritted her teeth, feeling her doubts being replaced by a fiery determination. "We are not a lame, nobody project. Didn't you see at General Meeting? We slayed our presentation! It's not our fault we're not able to give out internships."

Emboldened by Seungwan's outburst, Seulgi began to feel her own resolve welling up inside of her. "That's true. A lot of Bogum's members will only be there for the free jobs, but our members will genuinely be interested in what we do."

"That's the spirit!" Seungwan grinned.

"But also, I thought that Joohyun might've wanted to attend our workday…" Seulgi said softly, staring at the president's retreating figure.

"She's really not obligated to," Seungwan pointed out. "She's been a star Construction member for two years, and Yongsun and Jisoo are there as well."

Seulgi noticed her friend had decided to avoid the topic of Minho altogether, and figured it was probably in her best interest to not be sulking about that at their first workday. "Yeah… you're right."

They approached the Structures Lab, where a small group of prospective members was already flocked at the entrance, awaiting the arrival of the project managers. Seungwan turned to her with that familiar glint of anticipation in her eyes.

"No matter what, I got your back."

"And I got yours too."

Although it wasn't quite the number of people she and Seungwan had been expecting, they still managed to have the biggest turnout in Eco Concrete's recent history. Byulyi and Jennie even showed up, despite being busy project managers for their own projects. "Of course we came! Project managers support each other," Byulyi grinned.

"Well, except for Bogum. His corruption alone supports him sufficiently," Jennie snorted, to the laughter of the other three.

Seungwan led introductions around the room, everyone laughing good-naturedly when Seulgi confessed that she was a huge Red Velvet fan, to the point where she thought they were the best people in the world and no one could compare.

"Except for you guys, of course! I'd choose you over Red Velvet anytime!" she dorkily added after realizing her previous statement could be misconstrued as unwelcoming, which caused the newcomers to giggle at her awkwardness again. Already she felt the mood lightening up and the new members getting comfortable around her and Seungwan, making her feel more confident and at ease herself.

Next, they transitioned to the mandatory project overview and lecture about concrete in preparation for the actual mixing portion of the workday.

"As you all heard at General Meeting, we'll be judged on the sustainability of our concrete mix, as well as mechanical properties such as compressive strength and electrical resistivity. We'll also perform a Life-Cycle Assessment and present our findings in a written report and oral presentation. But before we can start tackling that, Seulgi will teach us some concrete basics first." Seungwan motioned for her to take over.

"Yes! At its simplest, concrete is defined as a mixture of cement, water, and aggregates which are structural fillers such as sand, gravel and crushed rock. The chemical reaction between cement and water is what creates the paste that binds all the constituents together…"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door open slowly. Probably someone coming in late, she thought, but to her very unexpected surprise, that someone was no other than Joohyun herself.

The president slipped in quietly as to not disturb her lecture, quickly greeting Seungwan before taking a seat in the back and giving Seulgi a little smile and wave. Flustered, Seulgi felt the urge to impress Joohyun using the only way she currently knew how - launching into a nerdy civil engineering digression.

She was enthusiastically delving into the microstructure of that paste formed by the chemical reaction be