162: Chapter 161 Park Jung-soo's Resignation

"Park Jung-soo."

Lee Soo-hyuk's cold voice came through the speakerphone.

Park Jung-soo propped his hands on the desk, remaining silent.

"The board of directors has just finished voting."

Lee Soo-hyuk spoke rapidly. "You have been dismissed as executive representative and from all company positions. The company's legal department is gathering evidence of your embezzlement and illegal operations, which will be submitted to the prosecution immediately."

"President."

Park Jung-soo's voice was dry. "You know how much money I've made for the company over the years. The Huaxia market is still there; as long as we re-establish communication with those investors..."

"Enough."

Lee Soo-hyuk interrupted him. "Because of your decision, the company's market value evaporated by two trillion won in half a day. The head of LG Group's legal department was just sitting in my office throwing a temper tantrum. You should be glad; reporting to the prosecution is safer than facing those furious shareholders."

"Beep, beep, beep."

The call was disconnected.

The double wooden doors of the office were pushed open.

Four burly security guards strode in.

The leading captain reached out his hand. "Mr. Park Jung-soo, please hand over all electronic devices issued by the company. You have five minutes to pack your personal belongings."

Park Jung-soo slumped back into his leather swivel chair, motionless.

Two security guards stepped forward, grabbing his arms from both sides and dragging him out of his seat.

The captain unplugged the computer and confiscated the tablet and phone on the desk.

Park Jung-soo was escorted out of the office.

In the hallway, the department heads and assistants who usually bowed and scraped to him averted their eyes; not a single person stepped forward to say a word.

Going downstairs, the main doors were pushed open.

Outside, camera flashes erupted instantly.

When the angry crowd of protesters saw Park Jung-soo, they immediately erupted into deafening boos.

Water bottles and rotten vegetable leaves pelted his suit.

Bowing his head, he was stuffed into a plain black sedan by the security guards, driving away from the building where he once wielded absolute power.

Two hours later.

Hall 1 of the Seoul Press Center.

More than three hundred international media outlets pointed their cameras and microphones at the podium.

The side door opened.

SM Entertainment's newly appointed acting CEO, Kim Young-min, walked to the front of the stage wearing a dark suit.

He did not sit down, nor did he hold any notes.

Facing the cameras, Kim Young-min brought his feet together and bowed deeply, forming a ninety-degree angle.

The sound of camera shutters joined into a continuous roar.

He held this bow for a full ten seconds.

Standing up, Kim Young-min walked to the microphone.

"On behalf of the board of directors of SM Entertainment, I would like to express our sincerest apologies to Mr. Su Chen, captain of the Huaxia Team, as well as Mr. Zhang Yixing, Mr. Lu Han, and Mr. Huang Zitao."

A suppressed gasp erupted throughout the venue.

The high-and-mighty star-making hegemon of Asia had bowed its head before the entire world.

"Following a rigorous internal investigation, the personal actions of Kim Sung-hoon and Park Jung-soo violated the company's operational bottom line."

Kim Young-min's expression was solemn. "The company has handed both individuals over to the judicial authorities and reserves the right to pursue compensation. SM Entertainment fully respects the ruling handed down by the Chinese court and accepts all legal consequences. We promise to immediately withdraw all relevant warning letters and will not file any form of appeal or international arbitration."

Kim Young-min paused for a moment.

"Regarding the unresolved issues from the past, SM Entertainment hopes to initiate friendly consultations with Mr. Su Chen and his team in the near future to properly make amends for our mistakes."

The entire press conference was broadcast in real-time back to major domestic live streaming platforms via internet signals.

Yanjing, the meeting room of Morning Star Studio.

On the seventy-inch television on the wall, the footage of Kim Young-min bowing was playing.

Lin Yue stood with her arms crossed, watching the screen.

Guan Heng rubbed his face vigorously and turned to look at Su Chen, who was sitting on the sofa.

Su Chen held a glass of warm water, his expression calm.

He thought to himself: *Baring their fangs one second, bowing and begging for mercy the next.*

A classic example of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"Friendly consultations?"

Wishful thinking.

The bullet comment section of the domestic broadcasting platforms had completely exploded:

[Hahaha, they apologized! They actually apologized!]

[A full ninety-degree bow! Is the backbone of capital really that soft? Yesterday they wanted to ban him, and today they're on their knees!]

["Fully respect the Chinese ruling!" Hearing that makes me feel so good all over.]

[What is true prestige? This is true prestige! A perfect-score championship plus a court ruling literally forced South Korea's top conglomerate to submit!]

[Friendly consultations? They're just afraid their cash cow channel in China will be completely cut off. Su Chen, ignore them!]

[So satisfying! After holding it in for five years, we finally get to see these capitalists admit their mistakes in public!]

[Zhang Yixing and the other two don't have to pay liquidated damages anymore, and they can go solo openly and legitimately. What a massive win!]

[God Su's move can be written directly into the textbooks of the Chinese Entertainment Industry.]

Chen Yu slapped his thigh hard and burst out laughing.

"Captain, that old geezer's bow is actually quite standard."

Chen Yu pointed at the screen.

Lin Yue's phone vibrated repeatedly.

She picked up, listened for a few moments, and hung up.

Then she picked up her tablet and refreshed the page.

"The management agencies of Zhang Yixing, Lu Han, and Huang Zitao have just jointly released an official announcement."

Lin Yue looked up. "They are completely terminating all remaining commercial cooperation with SM Entertainment. From this day forward, the three of them have absolutely nothing to do with that Korean company anymore."

Guan Heng clenched his fist and punched it heavily into his palm.

"This is so satisfying."

Brother Cai leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

Night fell over Yanjing.

The streetlights lit up one by one.

In online data monitoring centers, server temperatures were climbing in a straight line.

Traffic across major social media platforms, short-video platforms, and entertainment forums was skyrocketing exponentially.

Search terms like "Su Chen is free," "SM apologizes," and "Perfect Score Championship" dominated all trending search spots, with heat values ten times higher than the second-place topic.

This was no ordinary entertainment news.

This was the release of long-suppressed emotions.

On the Douyu Live Streaming Platform, Yan Yu's stream had not even started yet, but three hundred thousand people had already flooded into the black screen.

On a certain short-video platform, the homepage of the Buqi Dance Troupe updated with a five-minute-long dance video teaser.

On the streets of Sanlitun in Yanjing, the car advertisements on the big screens were urgently replaced with footage of Su Chen raising the gold trophy high in Los Angeles.

At the center of the storm, Morning Star Studio.

Su Chen put down his water glass and stood up.

Guan Heng, Chen Yu, Brother Cai, and Lin Yue all looked at him at the same time.

"Have you decided on a place?"

Su Chen asked.

"It's decided."

Guan Heng straightened his back. "The biggest barbecue food stall in Yanjing. We booked the whole venue."

"Let's go."

Su Chen pulled open the meeting room door.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

A massive internet-wide carnival five years in the making, involving three hundred million people, was about to raise its curtains.