A Younger Brother Worthy of His Elder Brother (2)
"Be honest with me. I heard someone say that if things went well, you'd snatch the credit the moment the business results were about to show, and if they didn't, you'd pin the blame on me and throw me out of the group."
"What are you talking about? Who the hell did you hear that from?"
He sounded genuinely baffled.
Was that an act, or was it real? At this point, whether it was true or not hardly mattered. Either way, things had gone wrong, and he had managed to dodge the blame.
"Exactly. Who do you think I heard it from?"
At that, Hur Min-hong realized someone had tipped off his younger brother in advance.
"Who told you that ridiculous nonsense, and why are you coming at me with it?"
"If that nonsense saved my hide, then this changes things, doesn’t it?"
"So you messed with me on purpose because of that?"
"What are you talking about? I was genuinely swamped."
Hur Min-hong’s tone turned sharp, almost like a warning.
"I’m not letting this go, not this time."
"Then maybe you should focus on managing the stock price. From the way things look, you’ll probably hit the daily limit down again tomorrow."
"..."
Hur Min-hong didn’t answer. He simply hung up.
We had never exactly been a pair of brothers with a warm bond, but this had crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. Since it was bound to happen sooner or later, I decided to take it in stride.
If I hadn’t gotten the information first, what would have happened?
Then I’d have been finished.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.
I really had come back from the brink of death.
I called Chairman Yoo Jae-ho.
The chairman answered personally instead of passing me to a secretary, and I greeted him respectfully.
"I saw the article. You got through the crisis well."
"That’s only because you helped me, Chairman. I’m truly grateful."
"Haha! I’m glad you see it that way. But shouldn’t you be thanking someone else more than me?"
At those words, I thought of the man who had come looking for me.
At first I’d thought he was an arrogant punk. But if it hadn’t been for him, I had no idea how this would have ended.
"Understood."
Thomas Motors CEO Brad Burton had stayed silent despite the demands from the media and shareholders, but once the SEC and the prosecutors announced they were opening an investigation, he had no choice but to finally speak.
"This is a conspiracy by the short sellers trying to profit from the stock’s decline! While countless retail investors were shedding tears, they were making obscene amounts of money. The SEC should be investigating hedge funds that keep shorting stocks, not Thomas Motors."
When people demanded explanations about the new vehicle and the driving footage, he replied like this:
"That was a model released to help people understand. I only said it was a new car; I never said it was one hundred percent complete. I had no idea this would be misunderstood at the time of the announcement. And all I said in the video was that the car was ‘in motion.’ I never said it was ‘powertrain driven,’ so I honestly never imagined anyone would mistake it for a driving video. I think the media bears a great deal of responsibility here. Journalists who wrote whatever they wanted should be held accountable for it."
He had gone out of his way to encourage the misunderstanding, then when he was caught, he turned around and blamed the press. Investors were left speechless.
And he still wasn’t done making excuses.
"Thomas Motors isn’t just a car company. We’re a comprehensive hydrogen energy company. The launch of a hydrogen vehicle is only one part of the overall business. We’re securing a twenty percent stake in the hydrogen production plant being built in Arizona, and we’ll be building out hydrogen infrastructure as well. The hydrogen vehicle is still under development and being prepared for launch. Don’t be swayed by the smear campaigns from the media and financial firms!"
But public outrage showed no sign of cooling, and in the end Brad Burton announced that he would step down as CEO.
At least that had some effect. Once word of his resignation spread, the stock that had fallen to $5.70 rebounded like a firework, surging back to $10.
There was no point in hanging on until delisting, so when the stock collapsed to $6, we closed the position without a second thought.
When you short a stock, you have to buy back the same number of shares you sold in order to settle the position.
Luckily, there was more than enough supply, so scooping up the shares lying at the bottom and covering our position wasn’t difficult at all.
Continue Capital had directly invested $127 million. After fees and taxes, the combined return from the put options and the short sale came to 3,630 percent.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
The $100 million invested by GTiger PE was shorted entirely through CFD trades, bringing in another $864 million.
As agreed, the profits were split fifty-fifty.
In the end, our total profit from this investment came to $5.042 billion.
“……”
Everyone, including David, looked as if they’d run out of words.
I was shocked too.
It was an almost absurd return. How many investors in the world could boast numbers like that from short selling?
Was making money really this easy?
I told David, “Send the report to GTiger PE.”
“Understood.”
After we returned the principal and the profits to GTiger PE, I took Chairman Yoo Jae-ho’s call.
"You succeeded."
"It was all thanks to your help, Chairman."
Introducing me to Heo Min-woong was one thing, but I still couldn’t quite understand why he’d trusted me enough to invest $100 million.
Still, we’d both made money, so it had worked out in the end.
"When you come to Korea, let’s have a meal together. I’ll pay."
"I’ll treat you to dinner, actually. But may I ask you for another favor?"
"What kind of favor?"
"It’s nothing difficult. And it definitely won’t be anything that could hurt you."
"I’ll judge that after I hear it."
"What I mean is..."
Once he heard my favor, Chairman Yoo Jae-ho answered at once.
"It certainly isn’t a difficult favor. But may I ask why?"
"Because it’s something someone really needs."
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho responded readily.
"All right."
We all raised a toast together at the hotel.
Looking at David and the others, I said, “You all worked incredibly hard. I’ve already transferred the amount we agreed on, so please check your accounts.”
At my words, the three of them exchanged glances in silence, their eyes meeting and moving away as if they each had something to say.
Edward Benson, as the representative, spoke first.
"I have something to say."
"What is it?"
"I want to keep working at Continue Capital."
"All three of you?"
"Yes."
I smiled and asked, “We’re still a startup with no office to speak of. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
"That doesn’t matter. It would be an honor just to work with the two of you."
David and I looked at each other and nodded.
“Representative Lockhart recommended all of you. I was hoping we could keep working together, so thank you for offering first.”
I handed them the documents I had prepared in advance.
"What’s this?"
"Employment contracts. Take a look."
The three of them each read through the papers, then signed the employment contracts without any lengthy hesitation.
"All right, then. To celebrate becoming one family, shall we go out and have a proper drink?"
We were in the middle of drinking heartily when my phone rang.
The caller got straight to the point.
"It’s me."
"What made you call all of a sudden?"
At my question, he grumbled back.
"Why? Am I not allowed to call you?"
"I thought you wouldn’t call me once everything was over."
"What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not such a cold-hearted guy."
"Pfft!"
"You laughing at me?"
"No, I just choked for a second."
"Did you make some money off this thing?"
"More or less."
If he knew how much, he’d probably faint.
"I saw the article. People are saying you made a bold, lightning-fast decision and saved the company from disaster."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Not at all. You really did do a good job."
"Tch. Since I did survive because of you, I’ll at least say thanks."
"Whoa! Did you just thank me?"
"Why, what? You got a problem with that?"
He sounded oddly embarrassed.
Even without his help, the stock would have crashed anyway. But if Hwaan Energy hadn’t turned its back on them, the damage would have stopped at a fifty percent drop at worst.
The reason it had plunged by ninety percent was largely thanks to him.
"When are you coming back to Korea?"
"Let’s see. I’ve still got some things to take care of here. What about you, Heo Min-woong?"
"I have to go back today. My older brother’s going to completely lose his mind when I do."
By now, the entire Hwaan Group must have been in an uproar. They’d probably be arguing back and forth over how to handle future hydrogen energy investments.
Since he’d helped me, I decided to tell him something important.
"Can I give you some advice?"
"What is it?"
"You know what they say: crisis is opportunity, right?"
"What about it?"
"Hydrogen cars are going to take off before long."
"...What?"
Investors hadn’t put money into Thomas Motors because they were fools.
In the commercial vehicle market, hydrogen cars had undeniable advantages over electric vehicles. The timing was still too early, that was all; one day, hydrogen energy would be recognized as a major green energy source.
In the first timeline, Hwaan Group restructured its entire energy division and sold off the hydrogen energy business to a Chinese company.
Since Hur Min-hong had been the one to launch the business in the first place, you could almost call it a kind of erasure of evidence.
So what happened after the business was acquired by the Chinese side?
In the years that followed, hydrogen vehicles really did carve out a place for themselves, and China became the leader in hydrogen energy.
But this time, things had changed because Heo Min-woong had survived.
Maybe Korea could end up taking the lead in the future hydrogen economy after all.
"The failure of Thomas Motors isn’t the failure of hydrogen cars. It’s just the failure of Thomas Motors. The shift toward eco-friendly vehicles is a global trend. The pace may differ, but that trend itself is never going to reverse."
The United States had the most advanced electric vehicle technology, Europe had already announced plans to end sales of internal combustion cars within ten years, and China produced and sold more electric vehicles than anywhere else in the world.
Electric vehicles might be the present trend, but hydrogen cars had real strengths of their own. That was why hydrogen vehicles would eventually secure a place in the commercial vehicle market.
After the Thomas Motors scandal broke, the stocks of hydrogen vehicle and hydrogen energy companies all crashed.
Some investors decided hydrogen vehicles were finished and sold everything to get out. Others saw a new opportunity right there and jumped in.
"Just keep that in mind."
I’d said enough, hadn’t I? If he still didn’t understand, there was nothing more I could do.
After listening to me in silence for a while, he finally spoke.
"Okay. I’ll keep that in mind."
"Then I’m off."
I was about to hang up, thinking we’d said everything we needed to, when he spoke again.
"When you come to Korea later, call your brother. I’ll buy you as many drinks as you want."
A strange word had slipped in there.
"Brother?"
Heo Min-woong said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I’m older than you, aren’t I?"
Wasn’t he supposed to be including the age I had before I regressed?
Still, that aside...
"Ah, I don’t just go around calling anyone brother."
"Anyone?"
"Yes. Anyone."
"..."
Silence fell for a while.
Had the call cut out?
"Hello?"
Heo Min-woong nearly shouted into the phone.
"Fine! Forget it! If you don’t want to, then don’t!"
And then he hung up right away.
What was that about? Had he just gotten offended?
I snorted and set my phone down.
In the first timeline, Heo Min-woong had been forced out of the group after taking responsibility for the failed investment.
Thanks to that, Hur Min-hong had been able to inherit the Hwaan Group without any major conflict.
But this time, Heo Min-woong had listened to me and dodged the disaster, while only Hur Min-hong was left to take the hit.
What kind of change would that bring to the Hwaan Group’s succession structure?
“……”
Well, beyond that, it wasn’t my problem.
I had enough on my plate just worrying about my own business.