The Unmuted

By: Pixie

I’ll admit, some of the recent follow-up posts from Lee Jin-ho and Reporter Strong haven’t exactly been gripping. But maybe that’s because so many of us have the same unanswered questions bouncing around in our heads — questions we’ve been carrying for months, still waiting on clarity.

We get impatient. We just want them to say it already.

But it’s not that simple. In South Korea, even telling the truth can get you sued. That means these reporters have to walk a legal tightrope — telling the story just enough to satisfy public interest, while avoiding litigation.

To their credit, they’ve been giving us clues. Clues about who really dated Sae-ron when she was a minor, and who she dated before and after Kim Soo-hyun.

After reading the latest blog post, my mind has been completely blown.

It’s not that the revelations were shocking — not entirely. But it’s the process of breaking them down, one by one, that’s overwhelming. The implications. The questions it raises. The unsettling pieces that start to connect.

So I’m going to lay it out point by point — just to get my thoughts in order, and hopefully make them easier to follow.

1) The Funeral

Why was Kwon Young-chan even at Sae-ron’s funeral? Was he one of the “professionals” she sought help from? And why on earth did he think that was the right time to be handing out business cards?

Even worse — why were her exes a topic of conversation at all?

This was supposed to be a time to grieve. To put a daughter to rest with dignity. And yet… it became a gossip session. Why would her parents even bring that up with Kwon? Had they already been floating these topics quietly before?

Honestly, I can’t make sense of it. I don’t know any parent who, in the wake of losing their child, would be able to discuss anything beyond memories, stories, and the life they had shared. Not plotting. Not name-dropping. Not preparing a narrative.

And then there’s the kicker: the original target wasn’t even Kim Soo-hyun. It was someone referred to as “Ye Jin-ho” — a name that doesn’t exist. But, as usual, that alias was a clue meant to point us toward the real person they were considering.

Ultimately, they pivoted. They chose Soo-hyun.

And let’s be real — it wasn’t a shocking decision. They’d already taken petty jabs about him not attending the funeral of a woman he hadn’t dated in years. It reeked of resentment.

Why didn’t they go after the first target? Simple: that person is connected to a major label — the kind of company known to shut things down quickly. Gold Medalist, by contrast, is a smaller agency without the same clout.

They likely believed Soo-hyun would be easier to pressure. Easier to manipulate. Maybe even easy to drop. A softer moral target. Someone they could squeeze into paying hush money.

It’s a blueprint we’ve seen before — and they thought he’d fold like the rest.

2) The Lawyer for Hire

Hearing Bu Ji-seok repeatedly referred to as “the bereaved family attorney” was already odd enough — but learning that Kwon is the one who sought him out? That rocked my head a little.

This wasn’t a grieving family reaching for legal advice in sorrow. This was a pre-selected lawyer, brought in to assist with what can only be described as a scheme. I can’t even call it anything else.

So how does that conversation go?

Did Kwon walk into a law office and lay out a celebrity frame-up turned money grab? Did he pitch the case like a business deal?

Because no matter how you spin it, there’s no version of that conversation that isn’t ethically rotten — regardless of what country you’re licensed in. A grieving family deserves compassion and legal guidance. But orchestrating a legal trap rooted in fabricated evidence? That’s not advocacy. That’s complicity.

3) Lekka Here

The “family” (for lack of a better term) filed a complaint against YouTuber Lee Jin-ho, claiming his reporting on Kim Sae-ron contributed to her being bullied. Now, Lee Jin-ho has been called a lekka before, but I haven’t actually seen that label stick to him publicly.

What makes this hit so differently is the glaring double standard — because they’re clearly fine working hand-in-hand with South Korea’s most notorious lekka, Kim Se-ui of Ga Se Yeon. I guess slapping the label “political commentator” on him makes it feel less lekkaist? (lol)

This isn’t Se-ui’s first brush with wild, sensational claims about celebrities — far from it. But this may be the first time his ego outpaced the plan. According to Kwon, Se-ui was only supposed to do one report on SooHyun. That’s it. But SooHyun didn’t bow, didn’t cave, and didn’t offer “goodwill money.” That apparently ruffled Se-ui’s pride.

From that moment on, the way Se-ui doubled down — pushing more content, holding press conferences, throwing out AI fakes and doctored materials — started to feel deeply personal.

4) Bu Ji-seok

This man was a major influence in this saga. And frankly, the more you learn, the more staggering it becomes. As a practicing lawyer, how do you look someone in the face and agree to orchestrate what can only be described as a coordinated crime?

Did “the family” and Kwon Young-chan float a number? Did they promise him a figure so enticing that 20% success compensation was enough to forget the oath he took when he passed the bar?

Sadly, it’s not surprising anymore. This is the same man who was caught on video dancing in a club to the audio clip of his client’s deceased daughter — the very same clip that he helped release as “evidence.” If that doesn’t speak volumes about his character, I don’t know what does.

Bu Ji-seok wasn’t just an accessory — he was the legal architect. When the plot was brought to him, there wasn’t even a viable case. But he had the knowledge to shape one. He laid out what they needed: an emotional trigger, a public confession, and the illusion of legal grounds. That’s how the fake audio entered the chat.

That 20% fee? It was for a civil suit that never got filed. Why? Because SooHyun didn’t cave. He didn’t settle. He took them to court — and the second that happened, everything changed.

Kim Se-ui panicked. We know this not from speculation, but from the scammer himself, who said Se-ui called repeatedly, demanding something — anything. That “something” became the infamous AI-generated audio, meant to imply lewd acts between Sae-ron and SooHyun.

What parent would co-sign that? What lawyer would distribute it?

This wasn’t justice. This was desperation from a financially strained family, enabled by a disgraced legal mind and a reckless lekka. And it didn’t stop there — they even used that audio to file a child welfare complaint, despite knowing it was fake.

And they knew the world knew. Because on the same day, in the same building, in the room next door, Lee Jin-ho gave a counter press conference, showing conclusive proof the audio was AI-generated. He even tracked it to a New Jersey scammer, who admitted to making it.

Still, Bu Ji-seok pressed on. He gave Kwon, Se-ui, and the family legal legs. They needed an admission. A clean statement from SooHyun: “Yes, I dated her when she was a minor.” Without it, they had nothing.

They had no credible photos. They had no verified chats. They had no timeline that made sense. They knew the metadata. They knew the context. They knew the person behind the chats wasn’t SooHyun.

The entire thing depended on breaking him.

But he didn’t break.

And when that failed, all they had left was a badly constructed lie and a crumbling legal scam — one that fans, reporters, and independent investigators exposed piece by piece.

Final Thoughts

This should have never happened.

We live in a world where someone — anyone — should have been a stop sign. Why didn’t the other lawyers shut this down? Why wasn’t it reported before it spiraled out of control?

In this entire saga, the only person who was truly innocent yet caught in the crossfire was Kim Soo-hyun. He had a brief relationship with Sae-ron after ending a long-term relationship and returning from his military enlistment.

Some argue that because he’s wealthy, he should have “fixed” Sae-ron’s problems. But what they deliberately ignore is this: he wasn’t in a relationship with her when the DUI happened. These trolls also refuse to talk about what’s now been disclosed — that Sae-ron carried debt for her family and was their primary financial support. That she issued a 500 million won loan at age 14 to her father — a loan he never had to repay because he filed bankruptcy. A child legally tied to debt, while adults around her avoided responsibility.

All of this added unimaginable pressure to her adult life. And yet, when tragedy struck, those same adults chose to redirect blame — not at themselves — but at a man who had moved on.

I look forward to the court case and pray justice is served — for Kim Soo-hyun, an innocent man who became the target of a plot fueled by desperation and greed.

Thanks for reading

Pixie