"You should have come last week. Back then, if you bought a Galaxy S25, we could give you up to 400,000 won in 'travel expenses' (cash payment on the spot), but now it's barely possible to get the device for free. Even this level of support could end at any time." On the afternoon of May 6, the last day of the golden holiday, a mobile phone shop owner at Gangbyeon Technomart in Seoul responded this way to a customer who said, "It's more expensive than I thought."

The mobile phone retail area, known as a "holy ground" (a place that offers higher subsidies than others), was quiet. There were few customers browsing the shops, and only a handful of stores were actively soliciting. Han Jiwoo, a 32-year-old SKT subscriber, said, "After the hacking incident, I wanted to leave SKT, and I heard other carriers were offering bigger subsidies, so I came here, but within a week, prices suddenly went up." She turned away disappointed. The mobile phone shops at Sindorim Technomart were just as empty. One shop owner said, "The real frenzy lasted until the end of April, and now the atmosphere has cooled rapidly. Since there are no subsidies, of course there are no customers," adding, "In just one week, the actual purchase price of the SKT S25 Ultra jumped from 410,000 won to 1,090,000 won."

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The main reason the market, which was described as a "subsidy frenzy" at the end of April, cooled rapidly was the government's on-site inspections. After the hacking incident triggered an "exodus" of SKT customers, SKT tried to retain its subscribers, while KT and LG Uplus engaged in intense competition to attract those leaving SKT, leading to overheated subsidy competition. Starting May 5, when SKT shops stopped accepting new subscribers, the Korea Communications Commission responded to the subsidy war by conducting on-site inspections at collective retail centers like Technomart throughout the holiday. Once the crackdown began, not only SKT but also KT and LG Uplus started to reduce their subsidies.

At these "holy ground" locations, SKT headquarters employees were seen directly inspecting sales activities, strengthening price controls at distribution sites. A shop owner at Gangbyeon Technomart showed a KT policy notice and said, "Starting at 6 p.m. today, we've been told to reduce the 'travel expense' for iPhone 16 by 80,000 won. It's a full-scale reduction mode."

This industry trend is also reflected in the actual number portability statistics. At the end of April, the number of SKT subscribers leaving exceeded 30,000 per day, but by May 6, it had dropped to 13,050. An industry insider said, "As the subsidy war subsides, the large-scale SKT subscriber exodus through number portability seems to have been curbed for now," adding, "For SKT, this means they can finally breathe a sigh of relief."