133: Chapter 132 Internal Division of SM Entertainment

Seoul.

8:40 AM.

Top-floor meeting room of SM Entertainment headquarters.

Three documents lay in the center of the long table.

The first, a stock price report.

The second, a notice of response served by a Chinese court.

The third, the public live-streaming data from Tencent Video.

50,370,000.

This number was printed on the front page in a large font.

No one turned the page.

The screen on the wall of the meeting room was playing clips from last night's live stream.

Su Chen stood on the wooden floor, his footsteps, joints, and vocals locking into the rhythm simultaneously.

On the right side of the screen, Huang Zitao put down his microphone.

The video ended.

The screen automatically switched to the overseas public opinion page.

Trending third on the North American music charts.

Front page of a British entertainment website.

First in real-time searches on South Korean portals.

News headlines scrolled upwards one after another.

"Shut it off."

Park Jung-soo sat on the left side of the long table.

He was in his fifties, his tie was impeccably tied, and his right hand pressed down on a fountain pen.

The secretary immediately turned off the screen.

The meeting room fell silent.

Chief Financial Officer Choi Myung-ho pushed up his glasses.

"Over the past week, the company's stock price has dropped by 16.8%. Thirteen brands have requested a reassessment of our cooperation, and four of them have already suspended contract renewals."

He turned to the next page.

"What's more troublesome is the music copyright department. Out of the thirty-seven works involved in the case, nine are still generating stable revenue for the company. Once the Chinese court issues a preliminary injunction, this portion of the revenue will be frozen."

"The court hasn't ruled yet."

Park Jung-soo interrupted him.

"Nor has the company lost."

Choi Myung-ho looked at him: "The market won't wait for the verdict."

Independent director Han Xiuzhen, sitting on the right side of the long table, took over the conversation.

"This is not an ordinary lawsuit. Su Chen has the project source files, creative drafts, equipment serial numbers, and notarized timestamps in his hands. Our legal team reassessed last night, and the probability of winning the lawsuit is less than twenty percent."

Park Jung-soo raised his eyes.

"Who gave that twenty percent figure?"

The head of the legal department did not speak.

Park Jung-soo stared at him: "Answer."

"A joint assessment by the external legal counsel."

"Replace them."

The head of the legal department was stunned for a moment.

Park Jung-soo threw the fountain pen onto the table.

"The company pays them so much money every year not to listen to them help competitors declare victory."

Han Xiuzhen closed the document.

"You could replace ten batches of lawyers, and the original documents still wouldn't disappear."

People on both sides of the conference table exchanged glances.

Kim Young-min sat in the primary seat and had not spoken since the meeting began.

A cup of coffee was placed in front of him, and the ice in the cup had mostly melted.

Park Jung-soo turned to him.

"Representative, we cannot back down."

"What Su Chen wants now is not compensation. He wants to use this lawsuit to negate the company's decision from five years ago. Once we settle, the outside world will conclude that the company misappropriated a Trainee's works and forged disciplinary reports."

"In the future, every departing artist will be able to use this matter to attack us."

Han Xiuzhen said coldly: "So your solution is to continue attacking him?"

"Yes."

Park Jung-soo answered quickly.

"Public opinion has no memory. Fifty million online viewers is just a number. Once the hype passes, the public will naturally move on to the next topic."

He reached out and tapped the live-streaming report on the table.

"We have artists, media, and distribution channels. As long as we continuously question his dance copyrights and investigate his taxes, contracts, and personal relationships, we will eventually find problems."

Choi Myung-ho frowned: "The last dance accusation already failed."

"Then change directions."

"What if it fails again?"

"Keep changing."

Han Xiuzhen let out a laugh.

The sound was not loud.

Park Jung-soo looked over: "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing because you're still living five years in the past."

Han Xiuzhen opened her tablet and projected a map onto the wall.

The regional distribution of the 4.6 million synchronous overseas viewers immediately appeared.

"Over the past twenty-four hours, overseas views for videos related to Su Chen exceeded 170 million. The seventeen sets of subtitles weren't made by his team; they were spontaneously translated by audiences from various countries."

"In New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo, professional musicians have publicly analyzed his performances."

She swiped the screen.

A monitoring report from an overseas institution appeared.

"He no longer relies on the Chinese market. If you ban one platform, he will appear on ten others. If you buy a batch of internet trolls, the other side will put on a brand-new stage performance."

"What do you plan to use to suppress him?"

Park Jung-soo did not answer.

Han Xiuzhen continued: "Are you going to use those groups we've cloned over the past few years?"

Someone in the meeting room lowered their head.

This sentence hit everyone's sore spot.

In five years, the company had launched four boy bands.

The investments had grown higher and higher.

Yet their achievements grew worse year by year.

The title tracks of two of those groups happened to be on the list of those thirty-seven disputed works.

Without those songs, the company's proud industrial system suddenly lost a main pillar.

Park Jung-soo picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip.

"Director Han, what do you want to do?"

"Proactively settle."

"Publicly admit copyright infringement?"

"Return the authorship rights, settle historical earnings, and revoke the dance accusations. Then invite Su Chen to cooperate with the company again."

As her voice fell, several directors raised their heads simultaneously.

Lee Sang-hyeok couldn't help speaking up: "He won't come back."

"Whether he comes back or not is his choice; whether we apologize or not is our choice."

Han Xiuzhen looked at Kim Young-min.

"The company needs to cut its losses."

"As long as we show goodwill first, the stock price and brand partnerships will have a chance to stabilize. Even if Su Chen refuses, the outside world will still see our attitude."

Park Jung-soo's palm pressed down on the documents.

"Make the company apologize to a dismissed Chinese Trainee?"

"He currently has thirty million new fans, fifty million live-streaming viewers, and thirty-seven complete sets of creative evidence."

Han Xiuzhen paused for a second.

"You'd better stop calling him a Trainee."

Several young directors nodded.

The situation began to tilt.

Park Jung-soo swept his gaze over them and stopped on the CFO's face.

"Do you also support a settlement?"

Choi Myung-ho didn't dodge.

"I support the company surviving."

"Fine."

Park Jung-soo nodded.

He suddenly pulled out another document and threw it onto the table.

"Then explain this first."

The documents scattered.

The first page was an internal email record.

The sender's information was obscured.

But the attachment name was clearly visible.

"Internal Usage Details of Su Chen's Original Works".

The air in the meeting room changed.

Park Jung-soo stared at everyone.

"In the evidence submitted by the Chinese legal team, an internal ledger appeared that only the board of directors and senior executives of the copyright department could access."

"Someone leaked the materials."

The head of the legal department quickly picked up the document and flipped through two pages.

"This ledger records the licensing destinations of the thirty-seven songs. If the court accepts it, the compensation amount might exceed 320 million."

Choi Myung-ho looked up: "Where did you get these email records?"

"The information security department."

Han Xiuzhen asked: "Was it authorized by the board of directors?"

Park Jung-soo ignored her.

"Now is not the time to discuss procedures."

"There is a traitor inside the company."

No one answered in the meeting room.

Kim Young-min finally picked up his coffee.

"Can we trace the sender?"

"The other party used an overseas server and deleted the local logs."

Park Jung-soo looked at every face around the table.

"But no more than twelve people could access this document."

Lee Sang-hyeok's phone vibrated in his pocket.

He did not take it out.

But a layer of sweat broke out on his back.

That ledger wasn't sent by him.

But five years ago, the person who organized the warehousing records of Su Chen's works was none other than him.

Once they continued investigating, many things would be dug up.

Including the approval form for modifying the creator's signature.

Including that disciplinary report that had been modified twice.

And including the authorization order personally signed by Park Jung-soo.

Kim Young-min put down his coffee cup.

"Establish an internal investigation team."

"Deactivate the work accounts of all related personnel and hand communication devices over to the audit department."

Lee Sang-hyeok's expression changed: "Representative, deactivating accounts now will affect the new albums of several groups."

"Then postpone them."

"But—"

"Do you have any other opinions?"

Lee Sang-hyeok shut his mouth.

The meeting entered the voting stage.

Continuing confrontation, five votes.

Proactive settlement, five votes.

The final vote was in Kim Young-min's hands.

Everyone looked at the main seat.

Kim Young-min remained silent for a long time.

"Suspend all public attacks against Su Chen."

Park Jung-soo abruptly raised his head.

"Representative!"

"At the same time, initiate settlement assessments."

After speaking, Kim Young-min closed the file.

"Meeting adjourned."

Chairs dragged across the floor.

The directors got up one after another.

Park Jung-soo did not move.

Until Han Xiuzhen walked to the door, he suddenly slammed his palm onto the table.

"As long as I am still in this position, that Chinese person will never have a chance to turn things around."

Han Xiuzhen stopped, turned back, and looked at him.

"You might have misunderstood one thing."

"The person who needs to consider whether they can keep their position right now is not Su Chen."

The door closed.

Park Jung-soo stood in the emptied meeting room and picked up his phone.

He dialed an unsaved number.

"Release the second batch of prepared materials."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment.

"Still according to the original plan?"

"Move it up."

Park Jung-soo walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

"Also, find out who handed the internal ledger over to Su Chen."

The call ended.

Corridor corner.

Lee Sang-hyeok stood inside the fire escape and opened the message he had just received.

Sender unknown.

The content was just one line.

"The original disciplinary report is in my hands. If you want to save yourself, come see me at ten tonight."

His breath hitched for a beat.

At the same time.

Chengdu, Morning Star Dance Studio.

Lin Yue's computer chimed with an email notification.

An encrypted email from overseas broke through the company's firewall and landed in the work inbox.

The email had no body text.

Only an attachment with a golden logo.

The title was a string of Chinese translation names.

Lin Yue looked at it three times, then stood up.

"Su Chen."

The beat sounds in the training room stopped.

Su Chen pushed open the door and came out.

Lin Yue turned the computer screen toward him.

"You had better look at this invitation yourself."