Citing details from the police investigation, entertainment news outlet Dispatch reported on October 13 that the sender of the 2016 KakaoTalk conversation—which Hover Lab and the family had claimed was an exchange between Kim Sae-ron and Kim Soo-hyun—was actually celebrity "A," not Kim Soo-hyun.
In March of last year, Hover Lab CEO Kim Se-ui and Attorney Bu Ji-seok, the legal representative for the bereaved family, held a press conference and made public several KakaoTalk exchanges from 2016. In those messages, the person chatting with Kim Sae-ron sent texts suggestive of a romantic relationship, including, "When can I fall asleep holding you?" At the time, the bereaved family claimed the other party was Kim Soo-hyun and released image files containing Kim Soo-hyun's photo and name.
Police conducted an exhaustive investigation into nearly 200 KakaoTalk screenshots saved by Kim Sae-ron on N Cloud. While most of them were saved alongside the sender's name, about ten screenshots showed the chat partner as "Unknown," which included the controversial 2016 KakaoTalk messages. After comparing the "Unknown" chat logs with conversations showing real names and analyzing texting styles, police reportedly identified the sender as celebrity "A."
According to Dispatch, police conducted forensic examinations on devices used by Kim Sae-ron, including an iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone SE, and iPhone 13 mini, but found no material proving a romantic relationship with Kim Soo-hyun. On the iPhone 7 she used between 2017 and 2018, phone calls with Kim Soo-hyun occurred only three times. During that same period, she was found to have maintained close relationships with at least four men, and Kim Soo-hyun was not among them, the outlet reported.
Police have also reportedly secured a statement from an internal Hover Lab employee who claimed that prior to the press conference, "Kim Se-ui ordered that 'Unknown' be changed to 'Kim Soo-hyun.'"
Meanwhile, CEO Kim Se-ui has been detained and is currently on trial on charges including defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act, violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (such as the distribution of photographs taken with cameras), intimidation, and attempted coercion. Prosecutors determined that Kim broadcast allegations regarding Kim Soo-hyun dating a minor more than 25 times, earning a total of 169.4 million won, which includes 115 million won in advertising revenue and 54.4 million won in viewer donations.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)