thenovelthief Chapter 85
Chapter 85
Translator: Dreamscribe“CEO-nim. This is the file that just came in from the Research Department.”
“......What time is it in Korea right now?”
“It’s 5 a.m.”
“I made you go through unnecessary trouble.”
“It’s fine. As per the Chairman’s instructions, the Research Department operates on a 24-hour rotation system so we can provide information whenever you request it, CEO-nim.”
When I saw the face of the man named Milon Tusk, my instincts told me this:
That bastard is a crazy bastard.
The same madness I had felt when I first saw Bitcoin seemed to fill Milon Tusk’s entire face. But what triggered my instincts wasn’t to avoid him.
There’s one thing I’ve learned since I started rolling around in the financial markets.
Madness turns into money.
You can tell just by looking at Bitcoin.
To put it bluntly, Bitcoin is a scam.
It’s fraud.
It’s not the stock of any company, just a chunk of data.
But the problem is, people know it’s a scam.
However, when it comes to value, whether it truly exists or is an illusion doesn’t matter.
If people assign meaning to something, it becomes valuable, and the market determines the price of that value.
As a result, Bitcoin’s price reached 20,000 dollars.
It’s a perfect display of the madness of the crowd.
“Tesla was only valued at 1.7 billion dollars in the beginning, but after achieving major success as an electric vehicle brand, its market cap increased to 58 billion dollars. It showed rapid growth in a short period of time.”
Milon Tusk kept developing new electric car models, saying that electric vehicles would soon become the core of future industries.
He managed to solve the chronic battery issues to some extent, but what shocked people the most was the zero to sixty performance.
In the past, many car brands competed over which could achieve the fastest zero to sixty using gasoline engines.
But when Tesla released electric cars with zero to sixty performance faster than any gasoline car in the world, it ended the zero to sixty competition altogether.
Thanks to such performance, even people who had a very negative perception of electric vehicles gradually began to change their views, and as a result, Tesla's market cap reached 60 trillion won.
“But now, it’s starting to decline, isn’t it?”
“Yes. There are two main reasons. One is that Tesla is experiencing difficulties in producing the newly launched T3. CEO Milon Tusk is pushing for full automation of the production line, and the T3 is at the core of that. The problem is, it ended up proving that full automation is difficult with current technology.”
There’s a toy that Wall Street loves to play with the most.
And that’s Tesla.
Wall Street firms frequently short Tesla just for fun, and that’s because its stock price was absurdly high compared to its actual profits.
Currently, Tesla’s stock price is 360 dollars.
Considering Tesla isn’t showing overwhelming production volume, nor is it completely dominating the electric vehicle market, a 360-dollar stock price is clearly problematic.
“Some experts even say Tesla itself is a scam. But ironically, the reason Tesla’s stock price has reached this level is partly due to Wall Street’s own doing.”
They kept short selling and constantly engaged in battles with those holding the opposite positions, and retail investors drawn to the excitement poured in, pumping the stock price.
“On top of that, Milon Tusk enjoys exposure to SNS and media far more than other CEOs.”
“In short, he’s good at drawing attention?”
“Yes. That helped Tesla gain fame, but there are definitely side effects. Still, in the end, he brought the market cap up to 60 trillion won, so wouldn’t you say he succeeded?”
The problem is, even Wall Street people get caught up in that attention-seeking, and short-selling wars break out every time.
It’s literally a toy.
The phrase ‘Wall Street’s amusement park’ fit it perfectly.
“.......”
I reviewed the analysis on Tesla’s current stock price and its future direction. According to the research materials, Wall Street is currently taking on another large short position.
“As I mentioned earlier, because CEO Tusk recklessly pushed for full automation, production errors have occurred here and there, causing them to miss their production targets. Additionally, there have been issues with the products that have already been shipped out.”
In short, Tesla was now facing a major crisis.
And for the bored Wall Street crowd who had been digging around here and there after the Volmageddon incident, this was very welcome news.
If they launch a massive short sell here, they could make a decent profit.
“......!”
Right then, I felt something poke through my body.
Along with an electrifying thrill, the name Tesla gave off a thick scent of money.
“So, they’re preparing for another short-selling war now?”
“Yes. The problem is that given the company’s current situation, it’s likely to be a rather one-sided battle. In other words, short-selling is overwhelmingly advantageous.”
“Should we join the war too?”
“Ah. Then I’ll look into ways we can short-sell through a prime broker.”
I stopped Department Head Seo, who was about to move quickly.
“No. Not short-selling.”
“......What? Y-you’re not thinking of taking a long position, are you?”
“Yes.”
Department Head Seo blinked a few times, clearly with a lot on his mind, but in the end, he didn’t say it out loud.
“Then how much are you thinking of investing?”
We would likely be limited in how much we could put in.
Stocks ultimately require someone to buy and someone to sell, in other words, there needs to be liquidity for a transaction to happen.
“How much capital do we currently have available to operate?”
“4 trillion won.”
But then another strong jolt of intuition hit me, enough to make my whole body twitch again.
“......Then let’s go in with the 4 trillion won.”
Department Head Seo was startled and tried to stop me.
“What? B-but even if Tesla’s market cap is 60 trillion won, absorbing a trading volume of 4 trillion won will be extremely difficult.”
I thought the same.
If we try to shove in 4 trillion won, it would cause a shock to the market, and this time for sure the SEC might try to slap handcuffs on me under the charge of market manipulation.
But even so, my instincts were responding to that exact amount without hesitation.
‘I was trying to avoid looking at the U.S. market if possible.’
After the Volmageddon incident, I almost got caught and taken in.
So I had planned not to bother with that market for a while.
But now, this damn intuition seemed ready to go all-in for another big score.
“Still, please look into it.”
Department Head Seo already knew long ago that trying to convince me would be pointless, so in the end, he nodded.
“I’ll look into how much market liquidity there is in detail. Ah. By the way, CEO-nim. Are you not going to visit Close AI headquarters after acquiring their shares?”
After the acquisition, I also thought I should probably visit their headquarters and meet their people.
But my instincts were locked in on Tesla and not responding at all in that direction.
Was it saying to just leave it alone and it’ll take care of itself?
“I’ll visit them later. For now, let’s focus on Tesla.”
Or maybe it was waiting for something else.
***
“Still no word? Nothing about a board meeting being called?”
“No. It’s quiet.”
Nick McTeman, CEO of Close AI, closed his eyes for a moment.
Though he and Tusk were co-founders, the two were nearly polar opposites.
Or they thought in completely different ways?
Tusk always thought about money first.
But McTeman pursued something other than money.
Perfect AI.
The kind of AI that only existed in our imagination.
The AI that humanity absolutely had to develop in order to evolve and to survive.
That’s why they had started as a nonprofit organization.
They had tried to stay as far away as possible from profit-driven groups, focusing solely on developing that one AI capable of overcoming humanity's apocalyptic crisis.
But Tusk ended up causing a major problem.
He sold off all his shares to a financier obsessed with money.
“And of all people, the one who acquired the shares is no ordinary figure.”
Jung Jin-ho, who operates both Kwangwoon Securities and KW Exchange.
Lately, he has been hearing a lot about this person.
From what he briefly heard from Tusk, LK Group, Deutsche Bank, Dragon Sea Alliance, TSMC, NVIDIA, and even the recent Volmageddon incident.
Several companies have collapsed after being caught up in this man’s schemes.
On top of that, he’s quite young, yet at that age, he’s already shaking up the global financial world.
In other words, his intelligence far exceeds the level of genius.
And such a person, out of nowhere, made a deal with Tusk and acquired 45% of Close AI’s shares.
A 45% stake is enough to wield absolute influence.
He could convene a board meeting right now, turn this nonprofit organization into a for-profit entity, use it for money-making purposes, and discard it afterward.
“But the fact that he hasn’t made any move yet...”
That was even scarier.
Acquiring that much of a stake clearly means he intends to do something with the company, but after the acquisition, there has been no action whatsoever.
“I really can’t tell what he’s thinking.”
At first, he had resolved to stick to his beliefs no matter what tricks he might try with the shares. But this kind of silence?
They say the scariest person is the one whose intentions are completely unknown.
And Jung Jin-ho was exactly that kind of person.
He tried hard to ignore it, but now Nick McTeman was driven mad with curiosity, wanting to meet Jung Jin-ho in person.
***
“Tesla’s daily trading volume is about 3 trillion won. But recently, it’s been increasing little by little.”
“Because of the short-sellers, right?”
“Yes. There are even rumors going around that Tesla will go bankrupt soon, so the short-selling forces seem to be moving aggressively. Though they probably don’t believe it will actually go bankrupt.”
But our Research Department thought differently.
After collecting various data, it turned out Tesla’s situation was quite serious.
“Because they insisted on full automation, cars with serious defects have continued to come out, and they’re currently undergoing recalls. More importantly, the production system at the factory keeps malfunctioning, and they reportedly failed to even reach half of their production target.”
“So they’re in financial danger too?”
“Yes. There’s a funding issue as well. And since many experts are already calling Tesla a scam, failing to meet even half of the production target would put them in a truly critical situation.”
That’s why the Research team is strongly recommending against taking any position, short or long.
“But once they found out CEO-nim is planning to take a long position on Tesla, they started foaming at the mouth. Saying it absolutely must not happen.”
When I met Tusk last time, how should I say it.
He looked like someone without a care in the world.
But was that just bravado?
Just looking at the indicators, Tesla was currently a highly dangerous place to get involved in.
“Still, the Research Department is supposed to gather as much data as possible according to CEO-nim’s orders, right? Although there are indeed many realistic limitations to investing 4 trillion won... it just so happens there are institutions looking to offload their shares.”
4 trillion won is a sum that can exert significant influence in any market.
Therefore, rather than throwing it directly into the market, acquiring shares through over-the-counter (OTC) transactions was the safest way to minimize market shock.
“Fidelis and Price. These two institutions have already listed some of their holdings for sale.”
Fidelis and Price are well-known fund companies in the United States.
“Each company holds a 10% stake, and it looks like they’re planning to reduce their stakes by 3% each.”
“So if we buy through those two companies, the 4 trillion won lines up perfectly?”
“Yes. A 6% stake is worth about 4 trillion won in Korean currency. At the current market price, that is.”
When fund companies suddenly decide to sell off stakes they’ve held with long-term goals, it’s usually due to the nature of the fund itself.
When there are more and more clients wanting short-term profits, holding onto Tesla shares under the current series of bad news would be a heavy burden for them too.
“So, it looks like they’re trying to sell a little below the market price. If that’s the case, we may be able to acquire up to 7%.”
“Or, CEO-nim, if you’re really going to take a long position, how about waiting until the price drops a bit more?”
I hovered my pen over the two companies currently putting their shares up for sale.
“!?”
Then, as if it had been waiting for this moment, a loud siren went off in my head.
It was a warning to buy immediately without delay.
What on earth was going on?
Did this mean Tesla was really about to surge from here?
“......Is there any factor that could cause Tesla to rebound suddenly?”
“The Research team has determined there’s almost no chance of a rebound. With production in such disarray, there’s nothing that could serve as a foothold to reverse the stock price.”
Even from my perspective, there wasn’t a single positive catalyst that could push Tesla’s stock up right now.
And yet my intuition was reacting like this.
What in the world was about to happen?
***
“CEO. We’ve received reports of defects at Factory B as well. Some parts aren’t even being assembled properly.......”
“Sigh. Alright. I’ll head there right away.”
Tusk didn’t have a single day without headaches anymore.
These days, he practically lived at the factory all week.
He had redesigned the factory for full automation and started vehicle production, but all he got in return were defects.
In the end, he went from factory to factory, hastily mobilizing manpower to meet production targets, and even battery production, which should have been mechanized, had to be done manually. The situation had become that dire.
[Another large-scale short selling. Is Tesla finished now?]
[The recurring Tesla crisis rumors.]
[Tesla is a scam.]
“.......”
While running around the factories all night trying to meet production volume, Tusk checked the internet during a short break.
The media was spreading Tesla crisis rumors everywhere.
“These bastards are the biggest problem.”
Tesla had become Wall Street’s plaything, and whenever they had the chance, they shorted it.
They also used the media to shake Tesla every day, pushing the stock price down.
The problem this time was that the crisis wasn’t created by the media.
Of course, the media was making the situation look worse.
Now rumors were spreading that Tesla could actually go bankrupt.
And in reality, Tesla was indeed in a dangerous state.
“.......”
But why was it?
It felt too unfair to die like this.
And more than that, if he was going to go down, he didn’t want to go down alone.
At the very least, he couldn’t let the Wall Street short-selling forces, who attacked him daily and magnified Tesla’s crisis every time, get away with it.
But he couldn’t just let the company go bankrupt either.
Yet if things continued this way, the short sellers would end up feasting again.
“.......”
Was it because of the immense stress?
Or because he truly believed it was possible?
He didn’t know.
Maybe the early morning emotions made it worse, but his feelings were moving impulsively.
Without even taking time to think, he opened his SNS app and posted a message.
[Tesla will soon buy back all shares at a 20% premium and go private. All the money is ready.]
Let’s see you die now.
You short-selling bastards.