Chapter 44

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Kangsung Electronics seems to be doing well. The stock price keeps rising.”

“They’re trying to hit record sales now, aren’t they? K7 sold too well.”

Kangsung Electronics stock price exceeded 1.7 million won.

Such large-cap stocks were somewhat burdensome for ordinary people to buy.

Nevertheless, the stock price kept pumping.

It wasn’t rising at a speed simply because of good news.

“Actually, operators are gathering now.”

“Operators?”

“Yes. Someone seems to be spreading rumors that some force heavily shorted Kangsung Electronics. Hearing that, hunters from overseas are gathering.”

“Huh. Don’t know who, but seems their position got properly exposed.”

The reason Kangsung Electronics stock price is high is not only because it’s Korea’s best-performing company, but also because institutional and foreign investor ratios are large.

Especially foreign investment ratio is a whopping 50%.

Domestic retail investor ratio was actually very low compared to expectations.

Because the price is too high and volatility isn’t large.

But fire ignited in such a place.

Usually hunters mean many foreign investors.

Don’t overseas investment companies wander from country to country to fleece short sellers?

Someone threw prey to them.

Spreading information that someone is trying to fleece Kangsung Electronics trying to hit its peak right now.

“So that’s why the price is rising like this? Just how much are they shorting?”

“Certainly shorting on a tremendous scale. To short, you have to sell volume first, right? Institutions stepped up massively and suddenly scattered volume, so the price seemed to drop a bit, but because of hunters who flocked hearing rumors, the price is rising crazily again.”

Usually as short selling volume gets released, the price should drop.

But instead the price is rising.

Both because short selling forces keep releasing volume, and because hunters who flocked from overseas hearing rumors are pumping the stock price even more to squeeze short forces to death.

“Don’t know who, but they’re really screwed.”

“Yes. Big trouble.”

Seeing Executive Director Tak sighing deeply, President Hwang tilted his head.

“But why’s your reaction like that? We didn’t short it.”

“..”

“Executive Director Tak?”

There President Hwang had an “oh no” thought.

“Executive Director Tak. D-don’t tell me we..”

“President. Don’t be surprised. The short force whose position got exposed is exactly our side.”

His heart felt like it dropped.

“Jin-ho did it?”

“Yes. I also learned from receiving reports this time. Like before, he proceeded with securities lending transactions through prime brokers to borrow shares.”

“How much did he put in?”

“Since it’d be troublesome if the price keeps rising, seems he proceeded with sales in portions, but plans to put up to 1 trillion won. The remaining capital must be used as margin.”

Shorting hundreds of billions in our country is extremely difficult.

But at Kangsung Electronics scale, it’s possible.

Isn’t it the nation’s largest company with market cap exceeding 270 trillion won?

But 1 trillion won!

They say during the securities firm stock manipulation incident before, 3 trillion won in sell orders got scattered right before market close.

But taking a short position with 1 trillion won would be KOSPI history’s first.

“Even when Kangsung Electronics is doing this well?”

“Yes. Should we stop it even now? Probably haven’t put all 1 trillion won into the market yet.”

Masked investment.

A technique of investing by borrowing shares from various institutions and funds.

In Germany too, Jin-ho cleanly fleeced the market and left using this method.

Doing only this, though there’s risk of position exposure, finding the complete identity is difficult.

Because all transactions proceed anonymously through brokers.

If trading without such safety devices, President Hwang would’ve stepped up to stop it himself.

But when Kangsung Electronics is doing well like now.

Also proceeding with transactions so Gwangwoon Securities’ name doesn’t come out through securities lending transactions.

“If the stock price keeps rising like this, they’ll demand additional margin, and if that limit gets exceeded too, it’s a margin call. The 1 trillion won we struggled to earn could all fly away at once. We’d be fortunate if it ends there, but if the stock price rises again, then even our company..”

Executive Director Tak gulped dry saliva.

Usually for Jeong Jin-ho, he wouldn’t have cared what investments he makes.

Because as President Hwang said, unnecessarily caring might make him overstep with old-womanish worries.

So he tried to stop caring as much as possible, but this couldn’t be ignored.

If only blowing away Jeong Jin-ho’s accumulated investment funds until now, it doesn’t matter, but if this grows, the company could fly away.

That’s why short squeezes are scary.

Because when operators gather and deliberately submerge you, the danger is big enough to bankrupt one company.

“President. So even now, position liquidation..”

“No. Already put money in, right? Getting out now already has big damage too. And forgot our rule?”

First rule. Regarding investments, don’t doubt Jeong Jin-ho.

Second rule. Follow the first rule.

“But this.!”

“Enough. It’s already an arrow that left our hands.”

President Hwang said so and picked up the coffee cup in front.

“I’m believing in Jin-ho.”

“..”

But can the body not be deceived?

Tremble tremble.

Because of trembling hands, the coffee inside was all spilling outside.

People call Kangsung Electronics the people’s stock.

But actually Kangsung Electronics has such low domestic citizen shareholding ratio it could be viewed as an overseas stock.

Even institutions including national pension holding shares in bulk have overwhelmingly more overseas institutions than domestic ones.

Especially BlackRock was one of them.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company, with assets under management reaching 7,000 trillion won alone, holding shares of almost all major corporations worldwide including Kangsung Electronics.

From there, borrowed shares a little, and from other institutions and overseas investment funds too, borrowed shares bit by bit through brokers to take short positions.

They say many drops make an ocean.

The shares accumulated like that reached a whopping 1 trillion won.

But when calculating Kangsung Electronics’ total shareholding ratio, 1 trillion won was only 0.37%.

Truly a major corporation unbelievable as our country’s company.

But no matter how little when calculating total ratio.

Taking a position with 1 trillion won takes time anyway.

“Department Head. All sold.”

But transactions happened much faster than I expected.

The volume released for short selling sold out in an instant.

“The rumor must’ve really been true. They say operators from overseas all gathered preparing to tear it apart..”

“What do we do? Isn’t it already too late to turn back now?”

Overseas hyungs were charging like cavalry entering our country’s stock market en masse.

Their purpose was one.

To sweep away the target at once.

The legion of death that flocks whenever large positions get exposed set our department as that target. When hooves charge like a storm, we absolutely couldn’t handle all that volume.

“..”

Even I as a person got a bit scared.

Because I didn’t know I’d be hunted by the short hunters I’d only heard about.

No. Maybe if trying to take a short position of this scale, this was naturally something to prepare for.

“Department Head.”

Everyone was looking at me.

They know too.

At this speed, we’ll soon face forced position liquidation.

Did I perhaps make a wrong judgment?

I quietly touched my hand to Kangsung Electronics stock.

“..”

No feeling comes at all.

Then this means one thing.

“Let’s wait.”

Grit teeth and endure.

Russia, Malaysia, Netherlands, etc.

K7’s popularity was skyrocketing to the point of supply shortages occurring in various countries.

Though still insufficient compared to Raptor occupying the world’s number 1 smartphone market.

If riding this momentum to hit jackpot even with the next model, could take some market share.

Proving that.

Isn’t the stock price continuously rising right now?

Of course, the stock price was a bit abnormal because of hunters who flocked from overseas.

‘About time for news about those bastards to come out.’

By now, a short squeeze should’ve burst so breaking news should appear here and there.

But the expected breaking news didn’t come out and something unexpected popped up.

“Wh-what is all this? Bursting on airplanes!”

“Fortunately the fire started before takeoff, so no casualties.”

“That’s not what’s important!”

Cases of batteries in K7 suddenly igniting or exploding kept increasing.

Initially they thought it was a manipulation incident maliciously staged to slander K7.

But as the ratio increased, at first they implemented free replacements, but finally a big incident burst.

“Is it true that now America and Europe completely banned carrying and using K7 on all flights?”

“Yes. The problem is not only airports, but now the US Transportation Department’s announcement banning use in all public facilities..”

Bang!

As Chairman Kang Seong-ho strongly struck the table, executives all froze in silence.

As if calming his own anger, Chairman Kang Seong-ho who was taking deep breaths soon opened his mouth.

“..Did you identify the problem? When the first explosion incident happened before, you said there was no big problem then.”

His voice was almost dying out.

“At that time finding problems wasn’t easy but.. Running various tests revealed insulation tape was missing from some cells, and separator damage and bent electrodes meant insufficient space between components causing problems.”

“Can it be fixed with AS?”

The SDI president in charge of batteries swallowed dry saliva and answered.

“..Impossible. Seems we need to remake from scratch.”

A chilling wind blew through the conference room.

Even shouting loudly wouldn’t be enough, but right now the chairman didn’t even seem to have that presence of mind.

“..”

How much time passed like that.

“Let’s recall everything.”

“Pardon? By recall.. You mean do a recall?”

“Yes. Recall everything.”

“But Chairman. If doing a recall now, it’s millions of units.”

Can’t even imagine how much damage amount would be.

“If we can’t properly handle this situation, we’ll have to leave the smartphone market forever going forward. Want to do that?”

“..”

Even the US Transportation Department stepped up to completely ban K7.

If not quickly putting out the fire, Kangsung might have to fold the phone business going forward.

The greatest crisis since Kangsung Group’s founding.

“And after recalling all phones, replace them all with new phones. Also announce we’ll strictly change battery design and testing systems so such things never happen again.”

But didn’t Father always say that.

Turn crisis into opportunity.

“Pour in however much money it takes. We’re tearing apart and fixing everything from processing to testing processes this time.”

Also said that.

Change everything except family.

This now seemed to be that “time” he spoke of.

Today Prime department employees really felt the words “moment of life or death.”

Really felt like blade tips touched up to the uvula.

Now the moment that blade would pierce through the throat.

“Th-throwing!”

Foreigners started throwing shares crazily.

Especially even hunters who endured unbudging even at news of batteries bursting on airplanes ultimately threw away their holdings at today’s mass recall situation announced by Kangsung Group.

Trying to suffocate short forces to death but instead fearing they themselves might die, everyone was disposing shares crazily.

“Wow. Really thought I’d die from fear.”

“No. Not dying from fear, we really almost died. If the stock price rose a bit more here, we couldn’t pay more margin so forced position liquidation.”

Really a hair’s breadth difference.

If Kangsung Electronics’ announcement had been slightly delayed, we would’ve blown all the money like this.

Like bombs getting defused 1 second before exploding in movies, such a dramatic situation.

“Ha. My whole body is sweat.”

“Me too. My heart’s still pounding so I can’t breathe.”

Then doubt arose.

“But.. Did Department Head know in advance there were battery problems?”

“Must be? Otherwise why would he make such a death-defying investment?”

“Even so. Just how many hearts does he have? And this time was really dangerous.”

“Was dangerous but.. Seeing all those hunter bastards dying feels thrilling too.”

“Wow. How absurd must those hunters feel too. They must’ve thought it’s a game they’d definitely win.”

But again this time, the victor wasn’t foreigners but Department Head Jeong Jin-ho.

But it’s not over yet.

Because when to catch sell timing was important.

After Kangsung Electronics’ announcement.

Amid the stock price plunging.

For several days, Department Head Jeong kept just watching the situation without separate instructions.

“Still dropping hard.”

“Won’t it continue like this for a while?”

“Though Kangsung Electronics said they’d bow their heads and change the entire system.”

“Has Department Head said anything yet?”

“No. Not yet. Probably wants to watch a few more days..”

Right then, the firmly closed department head office door opened wide.

“Everyone.”

“Ah. Yes! Department Head!”

At the department head’s sudden voice, everyone naturally stood from their seats.

“Please liquidate all positions.”

Now?

Seems like it’ll drop more?

But no one questioned.

As soon as those words dropped, each returned to their seats and started entering position liquidations.

“Ah. After liquidating positions, please put everything back into Kangsung Electronics.”

“What? Are you shorting again?”

“No. This time long.”

“.?”

Employees all tilted their heads.

“This time long?”

Is this the “give disease give medicine” investment they’d only heard about?

While investing, dopamine boils over, but naturally I also felt responsibility for it.

As the money entrusted grew bigger, that burden naturally only grew.

Though the fun of rolling all that money kept spurting out, the mental stress from it was also at an undeniable level.

This case especially so.

Slept so badly these days I even had nightmares of Gwangwoon Securities going bankrupt.

“If I knew it’d be this scary, I wouldn’t have even started.”

Of course, when the last-minute reversal succeeded and our position survived, that exhilaration was indescribably thrilling, but if told to do this once more, don’t think I could.

“But Kangsung Electronics is amazing too.”

With my short insight, I thought Kangsung Electronics might now withdraw from the phone market.

Weren’t they completely pressed on defense to the point where America and Europe completely banned K7 use?

But Chairman Kang Seong-ho’s response was very fast.

Recalled millions of phones, replaced models for free or gave refunds, then even announced they’d change all systems worldwide.

Not just announcing but was massively tearing apart and replacing production lines.

Whether seeing possibility in Kangsung Electronics’ fast response and groundbreaking moves, the plunging Kangsung Electronics stock price was rebounding again.

“So that’s why told me to buy.”

While Kangsung Electronics stock was falling hard, intuition hit me so I liquidated the short position then took a long position again.

At this rebounding momentum, seemed like it could return to right before the plunge.

Given time, seemed like they could sufficiently achieve the 2 million won stock price target they set.

Turning crisis into opportunity.

Right now, isn’t that exactly the words matching Kangsung Electronics?

“What are you muttering about from earlier?”

“Huh? Ah. Just.”

I turned off the news I was watching.

Right. It’s the weekend, should rest at home.

Already had too much mental exhaustion from this Kangsung Electronics matter so rest was needed.

“Oppa. Shall we go on a family trip?”

“Huh?”

“Oppa also worked non-stop without resting. Making lots of money is good, but what’s the point if people only pile up money? Not resting and only working and not even spending the money.”

“That’s.. True.”

Rest.

I too was feeling I needed a bit of rest.

From this incident, feels like my brain melted in dopamine.

“Where for the family trip?”

“Hmm~ Anywhere’s fine. If oppa just sets the date, I’ll decide too. But wouldn’t Japan be best? It’s convenient for trips. Because it’s close.”

The place Koreans travel to most is Japan.

And that number increases every year.

The problem is I’ve never been on overseas trips?

“Where in Japan?”

“Let me see. I’ll show you a map. There are really many tourist attractions.”

My sister excitedly showed me a tablet screen and was pointing one by one.

“Most standard are Tokyo and Osaka. Besides those there are other regions too. If Mom and Dad say they want to go to hot springs..”

My sister was continuing explanations while circling each region.

“Ah. And the place rising lately is here. Kumamoto!”

“!?”

But at my sister’s words Kumamoto, my body shook.

“A place with both city and farm characteristics, especially automotive, motorcycle, and latest electronic technologies can be viewed with well-developed tourism industry. Also hot springs are very good.. Huh? Oppa. What’s wrong?”

From my body to my vision everything shook so I couldn’t sit properly.

“Oppa?”

“Ah. Sorry..”

I barely came to my senses.

An intensity incomparable to anything felt until now.

Felt like the entire apartment was shaking.

“..Let’s go somewhere other than Japan.”

“Huh?”

“America or somewhere far. This opportunity, want to let you and parents sit in first class once.”

“Wow. First class?! Wait a moment, big brother. Then for America~.”

My sister completely erased Japan from her head and set out to find other travel destinations.

But I couldn’t hear my sister’s chattering voice.

‘That feeling just now, what on earth..’