Sunggyu took a deep breath as he stepped out of the spacecraft. Woohyun had taken a week off to tag along, much to the amusement of Eunji. She snuck a look backward at the both of them, only to see Woohyun latching himself onto Sunggyu’s arm, a comical smile plastered on his face. 

Woohyun’s excuse to tag along was that he needed some soil data from planet 480 to compare against the data he had about planet 487, a weak excuse in Sunggyu’s opinion because he was going to get the data anyway without Woohyun.

Sunggyu could not help but notice how different the air on planet 480 smelled compared to the air on their home planet. The air here had a moist and cooling texture to it, without the rancid smell present on planet 477. He would have enjoyed the atmosphere a lot more, if not for a certain male clinging onto him. 

“You have been hanging onto me like a koala on a eucalyptus tree.” Sunggyu pointed out, as the trio made their way toward the exit of the space base of planet 480. 

Woohyun pouted as he hugged Sunggyu’s arm closer to his chest. “I’ll miss you too much if I let you go.”

Eunji made a gagging noise as she hastened her pace forward, trying to block the noise out of her head. 

“Quit playing, we are here for work,” Sunggyu whispered, chuckling at Eunji’s expression, “and spare a thought for Eunji will you? She is here without a partner.” 

Eunji rolled her eyes at Sunggyu’s words, before shooting him a glare. “Thanks for thinking about me.” Playful sarcasm was laced in her voice as she threw one of the bags she was holding at Woohyun. “Help your boyfriend carry his bag, I’m not your maid. Kim Sunggyu, you'll pay for this."

She ended with a playful jab at Sunggyu, as said male stuck his tongue out at her. 

Woohyun glared playfully at the female as he took the bags from her. “Will there be someone receiving us here?” He looked around curiously, the vast emptiness around him intriguing him to no end. Compared to the cluttered mess of buildings and flying vehicles on planet 477, planet 480 had a rather empty skyline, and there were empty fields as far as the eye could see. 

Eunji nodded with a more serious look on her face this time. “The agriculture planning team will be here to receive us. We will be working closely with them. However, they have been quite busy recently as it is spring, and they are scheduling the planting schedule according to the weather forecast of the year. As for accommodations, we will be staying in the administrative buildings of the different regions we will be visiting.”

“This feels more like a vacation rather than a business trip.” 

Woohyun winked at Sunggyu, who only shuddered in mock disgust. 

"It's only a vacation to you," Eunji piped up, mirroring Sunggyu's expression.

“Because it is,” Sunggyu laughed. “ We will be spending most of the time out collecting samples, so just find some way to entertain yourself for the next week or two.” 

Before the trio knew it, they were already at the exit they were assigned, and a familiar face greeted them. 

“Sungjong?”

Said male had a cheeky smile on his face as he went up to them, a clipboard nestled in his arms. 

“I happen to be with this team for the next few months, and my team will be helping you guys with your data collection.”

Sunggyu was pleasantly surprised by how confident Sungjong looked, especially since it was only a little more than a week since he last saw the other male. He observed with slight interest at the way his uniform hugged his body, making him look better than he did previously.

There was a short pause. 

“If you were wondering about Dongwoo-hyung, he is in a different department, but we can catch him during lunch. He is responsible for showing me around for these few weeks anyway.” Sungjong continued, as he hastened his pace towards the dormitory. “We will head over to the dormitory first to put your things down before I orientate you guys to this planet. This planet is rather small, thus you will probably get all the data you need within a week or two.” 

Even Sungjong himself was surprised by how quickly he adapted to the work here. Perhaps everything was good as long as he did not have to sit in the same position studying all day. During the past week, Sungjong had managed to familiarise himself with the work that had to be done. He was still slowly adapting to the way of life on this planet, and Dongwoo had been a great help. 

He had been spending almost all his time outside work with the other male, and was starting to get used to his quirks. Sungjong still felt that he was being kept in the dark about some things in relation to the workings of the planet, but it was easy to keep such feelings buried in the depths of his mind with the mountain of work he was handed. 

The guest rooms were located on the first floor of the dormitory and were furnished in a similar manner as Sungjong’s room. As Woohyun was a last-minute addition to the group, a makeshift bed was added to Sunggyu’s room. 

Sungjong laughed to himself in amusement as he watched the satisfied grin plastered on Woohyun’s face. He was secretly glad to himself that his room was too far away for him to hear any weird noises at night.

“Whatever you were thinking, no.” Sunggyu muttered, as laughter erupted from both Eunji and Sungjong. 

“We will meet outside in ten. Eunji-noona, your room is next door.” Sungjong smiled as he handed a key to Eunji. His eyes were glued onto the clipboard, as he