Chapter 171: Victory in Court
The live broadcast of “Produce 48” finale had ended, but discussions about the Three Greats girl groups born from “Produce 48” were just beginning.
Especially for IZONE, after the live broadcast of the finale, Jiang Shu announced that he would personally take charge as IZONE's general producer, responsible for the production of all of IZONE's title songs, and strive to have IZONE meet the public in the second half of this year.
As a group that included half of the top ten contestants, IZONE garnered much more attention than aespa and NMIXX.
Furthermore, IZONE was also K-pop's first super-large girl group, inherently carrying a certain buzz that easily attracted attention.
Besides the increasingly fierce fan wars among Liu Yuan's fans after the finale's live broadcast, screenshots of Jiang Shu and Sakura's eye contact were also circulating wildly in the K-pop circle.
This kind of drama-like eye contact made these viewers, who also watched Korean dramas, incredibly hyped, and overnight, even CP fan clubs emerged.
One could only say, as expected of the strongest fandom in the world, their efficiency was high.
And while the news of “Produce 48”'s sensational finale was flying everywhere, a court hearing in the Seoul District Court proceeded as scheduled.
The scene of Xu Suizhen vs. Seo Shin-ae defamation case hearing.
Li Duohui sat in the spectator's gallery, looking at the calm Xu Suizhen and their lawyer on the plaintiff's side, then turned to face the opposite side, where a haggard Seo Shin-ae and her lawyer came into view.
A hint of mockery flashed in her eyes.
Being used as a pawn, now that her utility was gone, she was abandoned and had to pay for her own lawyer, losing both the battle and the war.
Seo Shin-ae's lawyer subtly glanced at Li Duohui, who seemed not to notice his gaze, her expression serene.
Soon, the judge entered.
“Court is in session.”
Two hours later.
The judge pronounced Seo Shin-ae guilty in court, ordering her to publicly apologize to Xu Suizhen, clarify the rumors, and restore her reputation.
Xu Suizhen's lawyer immediately stated in court that they would transfer the relevant evidence of Seo Shin-ae's defamation case to the prosecutor's office.
Defamation cases in Korea can be civil or criminal; it depends on the evidence. Clearly, DM Entertainment did not intend to let Seo Shin-ae off the hook.
With the verdict released, DM Entertainment, which had already prepared, quickly activated its online army to clear Xu Suizhen's name, widely publicizing Xu Suizhen's victory and Seo Shin-ae's apology and admission of spreading rumors.
Countless IVE fans rose up, verbally attacking Seo Shin-ae and the passersby and anti-fans who had previously criticized them.
Liu Yuan's fans, who were busy bickering, also temporarily ceased their hostilities. Since they couldn't defeat each other in a short time, it was better to deal with external enemies first.
Yes, in the eyes of Liu Yuan's fans, their bickering was just an internal conflict, while Seo Shin-ae was an external enemy.
Countless experiences have proven that the way to make internal conflicts subside is to have an external enemy.
And while the four hangers-on had a weak sense of presence, for those like Xu Suizhen and Lily who didn't contend or compete, Liu Yuan's fans generally held the greatest goodwill.
Who would dislike their idol's followers?
Even though IVE no longer existed, they still treated Xu Suizhen and Lily very kindly.
With the addition of Liu Yuan's fans, these two currently largest fan groups in K-pop, the situation instantly became one-sided, and even with the participation of anti-fans, it was still no match.
Mainly, this was a favorable situation. Liu Yuan could even perform well in unfavorable situations, let alone such a greatly favorable one?
It was simply a massacre.
The news of Xu Suizhen's victory spread rapidly, but due to it coinciding with the formation of “Produce 48”, the news's heat was significantly suppressed.
The reason Xu Suizhen and Seo Shin-ae's incident garnered so much attention was ultimately because she was a member of IVE, and now with Liu Yuan's reorganization and leading the group, with such news preceding it, the public naturally had less interest in her matter.
After the finale, the trainees, who had undergone a month of high-intensity competition, finally relaxed. Especially the members of the three formed groups, they all went out to celebrate together.
Jiang Shu had arrangements for IZONE, but he didn't choose to do it on this celebratory night. Instead, he waited for them to rest well for a day and summoned them to the company on June 8th.
NMIXX was managed by JYP, so DM Entertainment did not prepare a practice room for NMIXX. Their daily training and comeback schedules were conducted at JYP.
The same applied to aespa. Although S.M. did not provide personnel, due to the deal between Jiang Shu and Li Xiuman, half of aespa's operational rights were in S.M.'s hands, and because there were currently too many girl groups, aespa was primarily managed by S.M. However, unlike NMIXX, aespa was not fully managed by S.M. DM Entertainment did not concern itself with NMIXX, only taking a share of the profits, but DM Entertainment would intervene in aespa's debut and comebacks.
And the most important group, IZONE, was fully managed by DM Entertainment, and an exclusive practice room for IZONE was set up.
This time, Jiang Shu summoned IZONE to this newly opened practice room.
“Wow! Is this our practice room? It's so big!”
The girls were shocked by the size of the practice room as soon as they arrived.
They had mostly been to other groups' practice rooms, but those were much smaller than theirs; the smallest practice room was even only half the size of theirs.
“The company calculates area per person, not by popularity,” Jiang Shu's voice came from behind them.
Currently, the smallest practice room belonged to Lee Ji-eun, because she was the only one.
The girls immediately turned around upon hearing this, bowing and greeting Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu waved his hand, glanced at Sakura in the corner, then fixed his gaze on Zhang Yuanying.
“Has Xiao Yuan grown taller again?”
“No, right?” Zhang Yuanying was startled, then looked at Ahn Yujin.
“Let me see!” Ahn Yujin said, standing next to Zhang Yuanying and measuring herself against her. “It looks like she's grown a little bit.”
Looking at these two tallest maknaes in the team, Jiang Shu couldn't help but sigh. The visual effect of them standing next to him was almost as tall as him.
“Alright, everyone, sit down. Yena, get me a chair.”
“Alrighty!” Choi Yena scurried to get a chair and placed it behind Jiang Shu.
After Jiang Shu sat down, the girls gathered around him and sat on the floor.
Currently, IZONE's team had not yet been fully formed. Support staff like managers and assistants were still being assembled. Only the members and Jiang Shu were in the practice room.
“I came here today to talk to you about your debut. The specific details will be discussed thoroughly with you by the staff from the performance department. What I'm going to talk about today are some things they won't mention.”
“First,” Jiang Shu took out a USB drive from his pocket and handed it to Sakura, who was closest to him.
“Sakura, plug this USB drive into the speaker and play the two songs inside for everyone.”
“Yes.” Sakura quickly got up, took the USB drive, and went to set up the speaker.
Soon, the sound of the first song began to play.
“The first song…”
“again meeting world.”