Lesson 4: Direct Messaging

"Detective Song, please report your findings."

Woo Bin cleared his throat, and faced the rest of the guys, who were eager to know the outcome.

"After briefly analyzing the search results, conducting a surface background search and poring over the merits that have lead me to my present conclusion, I have inferred that our subject has been possibly eliminated to a singular denomination."

There was a brief silence in the room. Ji Hoo coughed, and Jun Pyo was staring off into space with his mouth hanging open, a bead of drool threatening to trickle down his chin. Yi Jeong just had that eager puppy look on his face.

The mafia prince sighed. His friends were hopeless at appreciating dramatic effects.

"I believe that Ga Eul-yang's username is 'MissGaEul'."

Before the celebrations could begin, there was a harrumph from the resident voice of reason. (Party pooper, a blah looking Woo Bin thought to himself.)

"What makes you think so?" Ji Hoo questioned, "We haven't been able to find her on Twitter all this while."

"Well, that's because we haven't looked hard enough. Here's evidence that she's who I think she is," Woo Bin replied confidently, taking up the challenge, "If you take a look at first of two tweets she has, it says on February 17th," he paused to clear his throat, and began mimicking a high-pitched female voice, "'I can't believe it! I've waited so long for his return, and now he's back!' Ahem. Does the date ring a bell to any of you?" He looked straight at his best friend.

"That's the day after I came back from Sweden," Yi Jeong murmured in amazement.

Woo Bin nodded. "Exactly. How about the other one? March 1st," he cleared his throat again, and Yi Jeong rolled his eyes.

"'I saw him today… he looked so good. He makes my heart beat faster every time I see his gorgeous smile…' Sigh," he paused to flutter his eyelashes, and laughed. "Ooh, sounds like she's in loooove."

Jun Pyo elbowed Yi Jeong in the ribs, a little too hard, making the potter cough, and then blush, once he caught his breath. "Uhh… I think that was the day we went to the teddy bear museum."

"It all adds up! What are you waiting for then! Send her a message!" F4Chaebol said in his trademark booming voice.

"Although," F4Firefighter interrupted, stepping in again, "You might just want to be sure that it's her." He handed Yi Jeong his mobile phone. "And the best way to find out is from the girl herself."

"Yah, Yoon Ji Hoo," Woo Bin jumped up to grab the phone from the voice of reason, "Where's your sense of mystery and espionage? You can't talk about these things in real life! It's against the rules of online social networking! What happens online, stays online. So let the boy just go about it the modern, traditional way…"

Yi Jeong was uneasy at how fast this was going. He did agree with Ji Hoo, on one hand. It's not like he wasn't on talking terms with Ga Eul-yang, anyway. If anything, they were doing pretty well. He didn't want to make it seem like he was spying on her…

"Ah guys…" the guys heard Jun Pyo say from behind them, "You… might want to take a look at this…"

"Not now, Jun Pyo, " Woo Bin said, brushing him off, "We're thinking about what to do."

"But it's important!" the curly-haired chaebol insisted, "You need to come lo-"

"Aish! Jun Pyo! We're thinki-"

"MISSGAEUL HAS REPLIED!"

The F3 turned to look in horror/surprise/confusion at a beaming Jun Pyo.

"I sent her a direct message while you boobies were busy yabbering away. And she's just replied!"

Yi Jeong almost bowled the other two guys over to get to the computer.

"hi! ^^" was MsGaEul's reply, "how r u? nice 2 mt u! ure kute ^^"

He clicked on the 'Sent' button and checked on the direct message Jun Pyo had kindly sent on his behalf:

Hi~~! Ga Eul-yang! Nice to see you here! Hehe. Do you know who I am? I am your lover boy! ^^

F4Casanova buried his head in his hands and groaned. Whether she was really Ga Eul-yang or not, Jun Pyo was going to get it from him. Severely.

…

Meanwhile, the girls were still blissfully and completely unaware of the shenanigans happening at the F4 lounge.

"Does it feel weird to have Yi Jeong sunbae back in Seoul?" Jan Di asked out loud, as the BFFs were lying on her bed, their faces covered in cucumber slices.

Ga Eul's tinkling laughter resonated through the room. "I don't know… It's kind of nice, I guess? We're slowly getting over the awkward stage and just starting over as friends. Four years is a long time to-"

She was interrupted by the beep of Jan Di's phone, informing her of a message that had just come through. Jan Di sighed, plucked a cucumber slice from her right eye, and reached for her phone to check on the message.

"WHAT!" Jan Di yelled, as she sat upright, the cucumber slices falling off her face.

"Yah! Jan Di! What happened?" Ga Eul asked, her cucumber laced brow furrowed in confusion.

Her best friend blinked at her phone, and then at her. "That was from Ji Hoo sunbae. Apparently the guys are looking for you on Twitter… and they claim to have found you."

"WHAT!?"