Chapter 50
Translator: Dreamscribe
What is short selling?
It is borrowing stocks.
Then, do you have to pay money?
That’s not the case.
You just need to put up margin and borrow the stocks.
You borrow stocks at a high price and sell them on the market, then hold on to the cash secured from the sale. Later, when the stock price drops, you buy them back and return them.
If it’s certain that a specific stock will hit the lower limit, there is no easier way to make money than this.
You simply pay the margin and the commission fee to proceed with the trade.
But what if the stock, which you expected to fall, suddenly starts to rise?
Then a margin call occurs and you must deposit additional margin.
And if the price continues to rise and goes all the way to Mars?
That’s the day you get forcibly liquidated.
“Department Head, here is the data on the Neriet Fund that you requested.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
The Neriet Fund currently operating in Korea originated from the Neriet Asset Management Company.
The total assets they are currently managing amount to 30 trillion won.
Neriet is a highly notorious company focused on activist funds, known for digging into the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of companies to generate profit.
If they spot a weakness in any company, whether it be the Kangseong Group or any other around the world, they bite down hard without hesitation. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a company or a country.
“They say the number of lawsuits they are involved in exceeds several hundred. If something doesn’t sit well with them, they just go ahead and file a lawsuit.”
“It’s good if they win, and even if they lose, they can annoy the other party, right?”
“Yes. You could say they’re a troublesome company. On top of that, they’re good at media manipulation. They claim everything they do is for the benefit of shareholders, but once you dig deeper, it’s actually these bastards who stab everyone in the back.”
It’s unclear exactly how much money Neriet has invested in Korea.
Since they operate globally, the 30 trillion won is likely scattered everywhere.
There was only speculation that perhaps several hundreds of billions of won had been invested in Korea.
“And all that money is concentrated in Hanjong Shipping, right?”
“It’s not certain whether they’ve fully established their position yet or are still in the process, but it’s clear they are gradually building a position.”
The market capitalization of Hanjong Shipping once reached as high as 5 trillion won.
But now it has fallen to 3 trillion won.
“This mess happened because everyone, from the Hanjong Group that controls Hanjong Shipping to institutional investors, dumped their shares. Three trillion won is just the beginning. It’ll soon drop to 2 trillion won, and beyond that point, it’s practically delisting. And it seems the Hanjong Group wants that.”
If you are a manager with controlling rights, the owner of a company, you must bear the corresponding sense of responsibility.
Especially for the investors who trusted you and invested.
But the Hanjong Group shows no intention of protecting Hanjong Shipping.
They just want to dump their shares as quickly as possible, bring the company to ruin, push it into rehabilitation procedures, and take it all the way to bankruptcy, simply to protect their own interest.
“Who knows if Neriet and Hanjong Group are playing a fixed game together, but it’s not just Neriet, Hanjong Group are bad people too. The captain was the first to abandon the ship faster than anyone else.”
This often happens to subsidiaries abandoned by their parent groups.
The group, which should have the obligation to protect the company for the sake of shareholders and creditors, secretly sells off all its controlling shares and then pretends to know nothing.
Then they go crying to the government, saying they no longer have the capability to sustain the company, and beg them to handle it, no matter the outcome.
And the sad reality of our country is that the government ends up pouring taxpayers’ money to rescue the company.
“But judging from how they’re continuing to secretly dispose of controlling shares, it seems like the deal with the government has already been finalized. If the government were to put them on life support, it would have to take on the company’s debt, so they’d rather just let it go bankrupt to minimize the damage.”
“Then only the creditors and shareholders suffer.”
“Yes. In the end, only Neriet and the Hanjong Group benefit.”
Of course, the Hanjong Group would say they have nothing to do with Neriet, but based on circumstantial evidence, they were no different from being in collusion.
‘Something’s strange.’
When reviewing the reports brought in by employees related to Hanjong Shipping, there was always a flicker of blue light like now.
However, when it actually came time to press the buy button, no particular feeling came.
‘Is it telling me that this isn’t the right time to buy yet?’
While I was thinking that.
Bzzz-
“Again…….”
I frowned slightly when I saw the name that popped up in the text notification.
“Looks like you received another advertisement message.”
“Ah, no, that’s not it. Lately, someone’s been sending me texts continuously. It’s getting a bit burdensome.”
“Who dares to bother you, Department Head?”
“Chairman of Kangseong Group.”
“……What?”
Manager Seo blinked, as if his brain had momentarily shut down.
Since returning from Japan to Korea, Chairman Kang had been sending me text messages nearly once a day.
To be honest, there wasn’t anything particularly important in them.
Things like whether I had reconsidered what he said last time, or how he was currently “cooking” the Jintetsu Group and so on.
At first glance, he seemed like someone who would be reticent and very strict, but I didn’t know he was this affectionate.
I wondered what he sent this time.
Just as I was about to check the message.
“……?”
A tingling intuition I hadn’t felt in a while shot up from the phone to the top of my head. Wait a minute. Could it be that this phone is going to explode too… no, that couldn’t be it.
It probably wasn’t the phone itself, but rather Chairman Kang, the sender of the message, that caused it.
‘Which means…….’
I shook Manager Seo, who was still just blinking in place.
“Manager Seo. Manager Seo?”
“Yes? Oh, y-yes. Did… did you call me?”
“Chairman Kang Sung-ho must really hate Neriet, right?”
“Hate? He probably grinds his teeth thinking about them.”
Even I thought that made sense.
It was Neriet that had been shaking up the Kangseong Group.
‘I didn’t want to call him because it’s a bit much…’
But my intuition was ringing a bell in my head, telling me to call him now.
I had no choice but to press the call button.
***
“Hm?”
Did I see that wrong?
There weren’t many people who could call Chairman Kang Sung-ho directly.
Even executives didn’t know his private number.
Everyone contacted him through his secretary.
And now, Chairman Kang Sung-ho’s phone was ringing.
With a familiar name on the screen.
Afraid it might disconnect, he hurried to answer.
“Well, this is unexpected. You’re calling me first?”
[Yes. Since you’ve reached out first so many times, I felt I owed it to you to be the one to contact you this time.]
“So does that mean I can expect something? Did you perhaps change your mind?”
[No. That will probably never change for the rest of my life.]
Well, honestly, he hadn’t expected that anyway.
In fact, if he had said he changed his mind, Chairman Kang would have been disappointed.
“Then what about what I asked last time? I asked if you were seeing anyone, and you said no, right? I even tried to set you up, but you turned me down flat.”
[……I’ll pass on that too.]
“Click. You sure keep a strong wall up. So then, why did you call?”
[I just wanted to vent a little.]
Vent?
There’s probably no one else who would call the Chairman of Kangseong Group, especially during a busy time, just to vent.
[Did you know Hanjong Shipping is shaking badly right now?]
“Yeah, I saw the situation. It’s all lining up. I heard Hanjong Shipping is already dumping its shares to let it collapse and go bankrupt. But why?”
[I’m thinking of going in there this time.]
“What? You’re jumping onto a sinking ship?”
It didn’t make sense.
Hanjong Shipping was following the exact route planned by the Hanjong Group, right into bankruptcy.
Why step into something like that?
He wanted to ask if Jin-ho had made so much money that he had nowhere else to throw it, but Chairman Kang held back.
The other party was Jung Jin-ho.
He wasn’t the type to do something foolish.
[Have you heard there’s a group that shorted Hanjong Shipping heavily this time?]
Only then did he realize Jung Jin-ho’s true intention.
He was aiming for a short squeeze, to devour those who had gone short.
Just like the hunters who once swarmed Kangseong Electronics.
“I haven’t really been paying attention. Besides, it won’t be easy, will it? It’s already a subsidiary abandoned by the group. Once they’ve made up their minds to take it all the way to bankruptcy, there’s no way to stop that momentum. You’ll probably get burned instead.”
[Chairman, shall I tell you who’s holding the short positions right now?]
“You keep bringing it up like you want me to get involved in this mess, but I really don’t care. I’ve got no time to worry about-”
[Neriet.]
“……What?”
[The force shorting right now is Neriet, Chairman.]
“!?”
His face twitched for a moment.
Just hearing that name was enough to make his skin crawl.
Thinking of the hell they’d put him through made his fists clench instinctively.
Those bastards weren’t just notorious for messing with Kangseong, they were infamous for stirring up Korea’s major conglomerates in general.
“Those bastards who aren’t even worth chewing up are still running wild in our country.”
[Yes. If anything, it seems worse than before.]
Just hearing the name, his heart pounded and the blood in his veins surged, proving that the rage was still there.
And for good reason.
He had only ever been on the receiving end with them, never once had he paid them back directly.
“Department Head Jung. Is that why you called?”
[Honestly, I could go at this alone. But I figured you might have some unresolved issues with Neriet, so I reached out just in case.]
“So you contacted me out of consideration?”
[Exactly.]
“I know it’s a sugar-coated line, but for some reason, it still feels good.”
But if Jung Jin-ho hadn’t contacted him, he would never have known that Neriet was quietly up to something again.
“Alright. I’ll look into it and call you back.”
[Got it.]
“Oh, and about that woman I mentioned last time…”
[I’ll hang up now!]
Still not biting.
Well, that’s fine.
With this case, there’ll be plenty of reasons to stay in touch from now on.
“Secretary Kim.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Start digging into Hanjong Shipping right now. There are rumors that Neriet Fund is behind it, find out if it’s true.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll get on it right away.”
His hands started to itch, and his blood boiled.
Neriet…
He’d been so buried in work that he’d almost forgotten about them for a while.
Honestly, even if he had wanted revenge, being a foreign fund made it hard to reach them but now, Jung Jin-ho had kindly told him exactly where they were.
If those bastards really were hiding behind Hanjong Shipping, he would rain down indiscriminate bombardment on that position until they were completely destroyed.
Because revenge is always the sweetest.
“You walked right into it, you bastards.”
Isn’t there an old saying?
Repay kindness twice over.
Repay enmity a hundred times over!
***
There was no contact for two days after that call.
Just when I began to wonder if he’d lost interest.
[When do we go in?]
He reached out again.
“Have you made up your mind?”
[If I can dismember those bastards, what couldn’t I do? Just tell me when to move. I’ll support you all the way.]
Judging by the way he spoke, the delay in contact had been because he was laying the groundwork during those two days.
“Give me a moment.”
I accessed the Hanjong Shipping stock and hovered the mouse over the buy button.
“……!”
A sharp intuition that hadn’t come before pierced through my mind like an arrow.
“Can we go in right now?”
[Hot-blooded. Yeah, go for it. All we have to do is set it off. If we’re doing this, let’s do it now.]
“Sounds like you’ve been preparing a lot.”
[We’ve got stuff lined up that’ll make the Neriet bastards’ jaws drop. And it’s not just Kangseong that holds a grudge against them.]
It seemed Chairman Kang Sung-ho had pulled in other companies with a grudge against Neriet as well, determined to punish them thoroughly.
[Anyway, if we’re moving, do it quickly. We’ll set things off on our end right away.]
After ending the call with Chairman Kang, I quickly stepped out of the Department Head’s Office.
“Everyone!”
“……?”
The employees enjoying tea time turned to look at me in shock.
“Buy up all the Hanjong Shipping stock currently on the market. Right now.”
“……Yes!!”
The employees left their tea behind and rushed back to their desks to begin collecting shares.
Meanwhile, I stared at the breaking news window.
Just what are they planning to blow up?
***
People always point fingers at Neriet.
They say they’re the ones who stab you in the back.
But that’s just talk from people who don’t understand the essence of the financial market.
The financial market is the wild.
The moment someone shows a weakness, no matter how much of a predator they might be, they’ll be torn to pieces by the hyenas that rush in.
Neriet was merely following that wild instinct to the letter.
And on top of that, this method was the easiest way to make money.
Even if they were cursed, it was fine, as long as their returns kept climbing day by day, they could take insults forever.
Because money is everything.
“Looks like it’s about time we started thinking about closing out our position in Hanjong Shipping.”
“Right? It’s fallen way more than I expected.”
“The owner isn’t even trying to save the company.”
Thanks to that, Neriet was steadily profiting.
For activist funds, Korea was an easy market.
“This is why Korea is a problem. The owner risk is way too big. They won’t put up a single penny of their own assets and expect the government to take care of it?”
“If that doesn’t work, they just toss it to the ground.”
Korean companies don’t care about protecting shareholders.
They only obsess over protecting the owner.
That’s why they’re easy to target.
Beep-
Just then, a short warning sound was heard.
It was an alert signaling that Hanjong Shipping’s stock price had risen.
“Huh? Why’s the stock price going up?”
“Probably some clueless suckers buying in.”
“Yeah, must be.”
“Even if it goes up, it’ll only be temporary.”
But the pace of the rise wasn’t normal.
Beep- beep- beep-
“Uh… hey, hey, what’s going on?”
“Why is the stock price rising so fast? Is there some good news or something?”
What kind of good news could a dying company possibly have?
Surprisingly, there was.
[Jintetsu Group to sign major transport contract with Hanjong Shipping. Is it a comeback from crisis?]
“Wait. What is this? Why is Jintetsu suddenly signing a contract with Hanjong? Was this something we released?”
“No. We already said the last deal was scrapped and ended it.”
“Hold on. Jintetsu… wasn’t that just taken over by Kangseong?”
At the mention of Kangseong, a chill ran down their spines.
Wasn’t the timing just too perfect?
Why would Kangseong suddenly…
But that thought didn’t last long.
More good news kept popping up.
[Daekwang Heavy Industries to establish partnership with Hanjong Shipping. Plans to maintain a symbiotic relationship.]
“What now? Why Daekwang!?”
Not just Kangseong, but even Daekwang Heavy Industries had stepped up.
And where is Daekwang Heavy Industries based?
Though they’ve been broken up now, they’re backed by Daekwang Group, Korea’s second-largest conglomerate.
And Neriet had a history with Daekwang Group as well, just like with Kangseong.
They had aggressively targeted Daekwang’s automotive sector in the past.
In fact, when you really thought about it, it was harder to find a Korean conglomerate that hadn’t clashed with Neriet.
“First Kangseong, now Daekwang… this is strange, don’t you think?”
It was unthinkable for this kind of good news to pour out all at once.
And there was no way this was real good news.
Who would dump money into a company like Hanjong that’s already collapsing?
Beep beep beep-!
“No, no! Stop going up!”
“This is all fake news!!”
But the crowd didn’t know that.
All they could see was the big, thick red bar piercing upward through the graph.
*****
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