161: Chapter 160 I can dance openly now

Yanjing, Morning Star Dance Studio.

Su Chen pushed open the door of his private office and locked it behind him. The cheers outside were shut out by the solid wood door.

The midday sun flooded the floor, dazzlingly bright.

Su Chen walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside was the endless flow of traffic in Yanjing City.

For five years, whenever he walked on the street, he would pull down his hat and wear a mask. In any place with cameras, he always stood in the darkest corner. When he participated in the World Street Dance Competition, he broke the rules to enter as a special guest, risking being pinned down by a multinational lawsuit at any moment.

Now, all obstacles were swept away.

He took out his phone and unlocked it with his fingerprint. He opened the pinned group chat, which was named with just three words: basement.

He pressed the voice message button.

"The verdict is out. Void from the beginning."

He released his finger. Sent.

Su Chen opened his private chat with Zhang Yixing and typed a few words.

"Junior brother, I'm free."

Three seconds later, the screen lit up. Zhang Yixing replied with a crying-laughing emoji.

Immediately after, a video call request popped up in the group chat. Initiated by: Huang Zitao.

Su Chen clicked to connect.

The phone screen was split into four frames.

In the top right corner, Lu Han was wearing the thick inner lining of ancient armor, sitting in a motorhome on the Hengdian film set, his hair messy and his eyes rimmed with red.

In the bottom left corner, Zhang Yixing was in the backstage dressing room of a recording hall in Changsha, clutching a bottle of water so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the exertion.

In the bottom right corner, Huang Zitao was in a top-tier recording studio in Yanjing. He stared at the camera, biting clean through the lollipop in his mouth and spitting the plastic stick into a nearby wastebasket.

No one spoke. Only the sound of four heavy breaths rose and fell in turn.

Five years ago, the four of them were squeezed into a dark basement in Seoul, staring at the mold on the ceiling and counting down the days until their debut.

Four years ago, Su Chen tore up the exploitative contract, pushed these three boys onto flights back home, and turned around to step into the darkness of being blacklisted.

Three days ago, the three of them risked ruining their futures to declare war on multinational capital.

Now, the chains were broken.

"Brother," Zhang Yixing spoke, his voice hoarse and thick with nasal congestion.

Su Chen looked at the screen. "Why are you crying?"

Huang Zitao pulled up the sleeve of his expensive jacket and wiped his face hard. "Fuck. The wind from this crappy exhaust fan in the studio is too strong, it got in my eyes."

Lu Han tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling of the motorhome. He took a deep breath, forcing back the tears that were about to fall.

"I'll go to Yanjing to find you tomorrow." Lu Han looked down at the screen. "This meal is on you. We're eating the most expensive thing."

"Alright," Su Chen nodded. "My treat."

The call disconnected.

Su Chen threw his phone onto the desk. He looked at his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window. No disguise, his face was clear.

He turned around, twisted the doorknob, and strode out.

Inside the office area, the fifty team members and staff instantly fell silent. All eyes were focused on Su Chen.

"Lin Yue," Su Chen gave the order, "post the last page of the verdict on the studio's official Weibo and pin it."

Lin Yue nodded heavily, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

"Guan Heng."

"Here!" Guan Heng straightened his back.

"Book a venue for tonight. A team-wide dinner, and no one goes home sober."

"Understood!" Guan Heng grinned, showing two rows of white teeth.

Chen Yu rushed forward and punched Su Chen on the shoulder. Brother Cai followed, lunging over. In an instant, fifty people surrounded Su Chen in the center, their roars nearly bringing down the ceiling.

Su Chen let them pull and shove him, a smile curving the corners of his lips.

Two minutes later, the Sina Weibo servers hit their biggest peak of the year.

The official Weibo of Morning Star Studio posted an update.

No text. Just a high-definition scanned image.

The last page of the civil judgment from the Beijing Intermediate Peoples Court. A bright red court seal was stamped over the black text.

The words "Void From the Beginning" were displayed in bold.

The comment section surpassed ten thousand within ten seconds, and bullet-screen-style comments flooded the feed:

[We won! The court has made the final ruling! Huaxia's rules are the bottom line!]

[Korea's exploitative terms are completely void! SM, get out of China!]

[Seeing the words "void from the beginning," I literally jumped up at my desk.]

[Su Chen finally doesn't have to carry the blame for that liquidated damages fee.]

[Congratulations to the Returning Four! Congratulations to the Huaxia Team!]

[SM tried to play dirty but ended up losing everything down to their underpants.]

[More than just their underpants, even their foundation has been overturned!]

[God Su is free! He suffered so much grievance over these five years!]

[He can finally dance openly and honorably!]

Within ten minutes.

The personal accounts of Zhang Yixing, Lu Han, and Huang Zitao reposted this Weibo at the same time.

Without any accompanying text. Each of them only left a fire emoji.

Immediately following that, three top talent agencies in the Chinese Entertainment Industry issued a joint statement, fully resuming all commercial activities for their three respective artists. Major brands scrambled to release renewal posters. The pause button that had been pressed was restarted, and capital flooded back to these three top stars on a geometric scale.

Lin Yue, holding two burning-hot phones, quickly walked up to Su Chen.

"Half an hour." Lin Yue swallowed, speaking extremely fast. "Seven top global luxury brands have sent invitations for Asia-wide ambassadorships, all specifically naming you. Producers from three S-class talent shows on Mango TV and Blue TV have blown up our landline, offering appearance fees of up to one hundred million just for you to be a mentor for one season. There are also screenplay scripts for male leads sent by two famous directors."

"Decline them." Su Chen didn't stop, walking straight toward the innermost First Training Room.

"All of them?" Lin Yue was stunned, following behind.

"All of them. No work talk today."

Su Chen pushed open the heavy wooden door of the training room.

The floor-to-ceiling mirror covering the entire wall was wiped spotless. The solid wood assembled floor was spacious and flat.

Guan Heng, Chen Yu, and the others followed. They stopped outside the door, none of them stepping over the threshold.

Su Chen walked to the sound equipment in the corner. He plugged in the data cable and connected his phone. He opened a folder and found an old audio file.

It was 'Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies,' which he had recorded with an old acoustic guitar while singing in the Seoul basement. Upon returning here, he registered all the copyrights; in this world, this song bore his name.

He pushed the volume to the maximum.

A rich piano prelude flowed from the high-end speakers, filling the entire room.

Su Chen walked to the center of the room.

"Today, I watch the snow drift by in the cold night."

A deep, raspy voice sounded.

Su Chen moved.

There was no complex framework of moves. With his hands hanging by his sides, his lower spine suddenly dropped.

A most basic Glide.

Gliding through the narrow, waterlogged basement; gliding through the cold, deserted alleys in the dead of night.

"With a chilled heart, drifting to distant lands."

The moment the drumbeat dropped, his body shifted horizontally. His joints locked in milliseconds. The Wave of Popping shot from his heels, pierced through his spine, and went straight to his head.

The exertion of force was clean, pure to the extreme.

"Chasing in the wind and rain, unable to distinguish shadows in the mist."

Su Chen raised his center of gravity. He ran to gain momentum, leaped into the air, and executed three consecutive backflips. Mid-air, his limbs fully extended, and the moment he hit the floor, he held himself up steadily with one hand.

Outside the door, Guan Heng held his breath. Chen Yu's mouth fell wide open.

This dance had no competitive elements; it wasn't for points, nor for judges, but solely for release and breaking free.

"Forgive me for my life of wild untamed love for freedom."

The chorus exploded. Electric guitars and drums roared.

Su Chen's knees slammed onto the floor, his upper body folding backward. An astonishing power erupted from his core. Pushing off with a single arm, he leaped up with the momentum, throwing a fierce right punch that struck hard into the empty air.

He looked at himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror.

The stray hairs on his forehead were soaked with sweat. Sweat drops fell from his chin, splashing onto the floor.

Clean, clear, and perfectly honorable.

"Also fearing that one day I might fall."

"Anyone can abandon their ideals."

"No fear if one day there is only you and me!"

The final heavy drum beat cut off.

Su Chen's right arm pointed straight up to the sky, his fingers splayed open.

The movement froze.

The music stopped.

Only Su Chen's rapid breathing remained in the training room, his chest heaving violently.

Two seconds later, Guan Heng raised his hands outside the door and clapped them hard together.

Chen Yu followed suit. Brother Cai followed suit. Fifty people, thunderous applause.

Su Chen turned around. He looked at this group of brothers who had fought alongside him, and the ice in his eyes completely melted away.

On the other side of the globe.

Seoul, South Korea. The eleventh floor of SM Entertainment Headquarters.

The streets outside were completely blocked by thousands of protesters. The three barricade lines set up by the Seoul police were teetering. Slogans and banners covered the sky, demanding a thorough investigation into high-level corruption.

Park Jung-soo collapsed into the leather chair reserved for the Managing Director.

The fine wool carpet was covered in scattered documents and shattered porcelain coffee cups.

Hurried footsteps came from the corridor.

The Head of Legal crashed through the mahogany door, falling directly onto the carpet. He didn't even bother to straighten his suit, scrambling on all fours toward the desk.

"Director!" the Head of Legal gasped, his lips completely pale. "The Huaxia court's ruling has taken effect! Void from the beginning! The contract has turned into waste paper!"

Park Jung-soo's Adam's apple bobbed, but he couldn't make a sound.

The Head of Legal held up a tablet screen. "Within one hour, all multinational partners in Greater China, Japan, and even Southeast Asia have sent mandatory termination letters! They demand the return of all advance payments within three days, as well as compensation for reputational damage!"

Before he could finish speaking,

the red light on the black internal hotline on the desk lit up.

The harsh electronic synthetic ringtone exploded in the dead silent office.

On the caller ID screen, three words flashed.

Chairman, Lee Soo-hyuk.

This hotline call represented the final ruling of the conglomerate's highest power.

The decapitation horn to sacrifice the pawn to save the general.

Park Jung-soo stared fixedly at that red phone.

The ringing continued relentlessly, piercing his eardrums.

He slowly raised his right hand. His fingertips hovered three inches above the receiver, staying there, not daring to pick it up.