CH416 | Heir

The start of the New Year, 2016.

In Captain Kang’s office, a vice chairman joined him for a New Year’s gathering.

“How large is the rental car company you manage, Captain Kang?”

“It’s the largest in South Korea. We have branches in all regions, including Jeju Island, and a total of 250,000 vehicles are registered.”

Captain Kang had a knack for business.

He wasn’t particularly skilled in management, but the employees who followed him were outstanding.

Once he was entrusted with a business, it would quickly expand under his guidance, dominating the Korean market.

“Let’s collaborate with the Taewoo Group AI Center.”

“Collaborate? There’s nothing to collaborate on.
Just give the instructions, and we’ll do whatever you want.”

“We want to test remote control. It’s a perfect system for a rental car company.”

“When you say remote control, do you mean controlling it with a controller like an RC car?
I remember you explaining it before.”

The development of remote control technology had been ongoing for some time.

Technically, the development had been completed several years ago, but regulations had prevented proper application.

“Only now have the regulations finally loosened.
Of course, if an accident occurs, the company normally bears full responsibility—but don’t worry. If anything happens, Taewoo Group will take responsibility at the corporate level.”

“How could I possibly make Taewoo Group take responsibility? Even the smallest issue, I will personally take full responsibility.”

Captain Kang continued to show unwavering loyalty.

It was thanks to devoted employees like him that I could focus entirely on Taewoo Group.

“Then let’s implement the remote control technology from the beginning of this year.
It won’t be anything grand at first—we’ll start by applying it only to vehicle returns.”

“Vehicle returns? You mean a system where, after a customer finishes using a car and leaves it anywhere, it is transported back to the branch via remote control?”

“Exactly. We’ll apply it first to returns, and later, when renting vehicles, we’ll transport them to the desired location using remote control.”

Anyone who had used a rental car knew how cumbersome the rental and return process could be.

Remote control could solve this problem, significantly boosting the competitiveness of Captain Kang’s rental company.

Of course, this wasn’t solely for the rental business.

It was merely a step toward autonomous driving and also a means to demonstrate the stability of autonomous vehicles to the public.

“We’ll prepare so that vehicle returns via remote control can be operational immediately.”

“After rental cars, we’ll expand it to trucks and taxis as well.”

“That will certainly be helpful. I’ve heard that truck drivers on long-haul routes often take short naps while driving. If remote control can be applied, it would be a great help.”

“The idea is to drive remotely from the office for a set period, then finish and leave. The car operates autonomously during the rest of the journey.”

Unmanned vehicles.

It was still a novel concept, but for autonomous driving to succeed, it had to naturally integrate into society.

“We’ll apply this to the U.S. freight company soon as well. Vice Chairman Han, please handle that preparation.”

“As a matter of fact, I contacted David as soon as the executive meeting ended. In terms of remote control and autonomous driving, the opportunities in the U.S. seem to be greater than in Korea.”

In Korea, you could travel anywhere within half a day.

But in the U.S., crossing the continent could take an entire month.

“We’re about to usher in the era of full autonomous driving. It’s time to reveal the technological capabilities developed by the AI Center to the world.”

“I’ve heard that the AI Center possesses many technologies capable of astonishing the world.”

“Remote control is only the beginning. Development of autonomous driving has already reached an advanced stage.”

In fact, autonomous driving systems had already been widely applied.

For example, autopilot systems that adjust speed to surrounding vehicles, lane-keeping systems, and collision-avoidance systems were already implemented in Taewoo Motors vehicles.

However, those systems only served as driving assistance.

They weren’t advanced enough to be called a true autonomous driving system.

But now, they planned to unveil a system capable of driving without any human driver.

“Once the autonomous driving system is released, it will certainly boost vehicle sales significantly.”

“People can only be captivated when a technology worthy of being called an innovation is revealed.”

“I’m very excited too. After all, hasn’t an enormous amount been invested in developing this autonomous driving system?”

Developing the system required vast amounts of information.

They had secured it not only from taxis and rental cars but also by acquiring U.S. freight companies.

It was astronomical spending over more than ten years, and now it was time to recover the investment.

“To outpace competitors, we need superior technology. Korean automakers are latecomers.
For a latecomer to catch up with the leaders, it must possess overwhelming technological strength.”

“Taewoo Motors’ technology is already recognized worldwide. Its brand image continues to improve, and sales are rising even in the European market. Even GM’s performance is recovering considerably.”

Taewoo Group owned multiple automotive subsidiaries: Taewoo, Kai, GM, and they also held nearly half of Tesla’s shares, effectively making it part of the extended Taewoo Group.

Taewoo Motors alone couldn’t dominate the global market.

But if the extended Taewoo automotive companies grew together through fair competition, they could easily capture the global market.

“Let’s stop talking about work and just drink.
Tonight, let’s drink until we drop. Vice Chairman Han, don’t come to the office tomorrow—just rest.”

“The Chinese stock market opens on January 4, so technically we could take a day off, but the financial firms in the Financial Tower are on standby 24 hours. How could I possibly rest?”

“What difference does it make if the market hasn’t even opened? It’s enough to start preparations on January 3.”

The Chinese stock market hadn’t opened yet.

Thus, the financial firms anxiously awaited the start of January.

But I knew.

The Chinese stock market in 2016 would be red-hot from the very beginning.

The long-awaited January 4.

I arrived at the office and immediately headed to the Financial Tower.

Vice Chairman Han joined me as we awaited the opening of the Chinese stock market.

“Have we secured enough short-selling volume?”

“All available funds have been invested in short-selling—over $200 billion.”

“That’s about 270 trillion won. Is that all? I thought it would be more—it seems smaller than expected.”

“Just at Taewoo Securities, it’s 270 trillion won. Add the funds from the fintech bank, and it easily exceeds 400 trillion won. Including all the funds from the Financial Tower, it reaches 700 trillion won.”

It was undeniably a staggering amount.

Taewoo Securities and the fintech bank had gradually built up reserves, allowing them to invest 400 trillion won.

But the financial firms in the Financial Tower had scraped together virtually their entire wealth to invest in the Chinese market.

“This will be recorded as the largest short-selling operation in the world.”

“It’s difficult to compare, since this short-selling isn’t targeting a single company but the entire Chinese stock market. Still, it’s certain that short-selling on this scale has never happened before in history.”

Dozens of financial firms had bet everything simultaneously.

While it wasn’t uncommon for a few Wall Street firms to join forces, this was the first time dozens of financial firms had risked everything at once.

“The market is about to open.”

“I feel strangely nervous.”

“Don’t worry too much. Just follow the plan.”

Finally, the Chinese stock market opened.

At the same time, the financial firms in the Financial Tower unleashed all their short-selling volume.

“Chairman! The Chinese stock market is starting to plummet rapidly!”

“It seems the market can’t handle the Financial Tower’s volume.”

“We’ve been short-selling since December, but the market had held up until now. This time, it’s unusually unresponsive.”

“It seems individual investors have lost hope in the Chinese market as well.”

The Chinese stock market was falling at an unprecedented speed.

Every employee in the Financial Tower executed trades without even blinking.

They had transcended human limits, fully focused—but such extreme concentration can’t last long.

But there was no worry.

The circuit breaker had been implemented starting this year.

“The circuit breaker has been triggered. Stock prices have dropped 7% in just one hour.”

“It gives a 30-minute pause. Tell everyone to take a short break.”

A staggering 7% drop in only one hour.

Considering the scale of the Chinese stock market, nearly 700 trillion won had been erased in just one hour.

The financial firms of the Financial Tower had already secured enormous profits in such a short time, so everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“I never expected such a crash on the very first day. I anticipated it would take at least a week of short-selling attacks for the dam to break.”

“Perhaps we trusted the circuit breaker too much.”

“It seems global events are having a significant impact. The unstable situation in the Middle East, including the severance of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, appears to be affecting the Chinese stock market as well.”

“Even if global affairs were difficult, the Chinese stock market wouldn’t have fallen this drastically if the domestic economy were stable.
Particularly, the sluggish performance of China’s manufacturing sector is making everyone anxious.”

Instability in the Middle East wasn’t new.

Did the Chinese stock market fall just because Saudi Arabia and Iran cut diplomatic ties?

It might have had some impact, but it certainly didn’t explain the current crash.

“I think the real problem is that the Chinese government hid poor indicators in the second half of 2015.”

“Even if the government hides data, eventually everyone finds out.”

“It’s time for the circuit breaker to lift!”

Thirty minutes had already passed.

Those who had taken a short break stretched and returned to their seats.

Fueled with caffeine and nicotine, they unleashed massive volumes the moment the circuit breaker was lifted.

The Chinese stock market couldn’t handle this renewed onslaught.

In just one hour, it effectively surrendered.

“Chairman! The Chinese stock market has declared a trading halt for the day!”

“They declared it just before lunchtime.”

“In the morning, it dropped 7%, then after the circuit breaker lifted, it fell another 7%.
A total drop of 14% this morning alone!”

Vice Chairman Han’s voice acted as a signal.

Simultaneously, a roar of excitement erupted from every financial firm office in the Financial Tower.

[Wooooooah!]

[How much have we made today?!]

[Even if we exit now, it’s at least 50%! Wooooooah!]

During the first circuit breaker, there had been sighs of relief.

But with the trading halt, the Financial Tower echoed with victorious cheers.

“Just today, profits have already reached tens of trillions of won!”

“It’s too early to celebrate. This is just the beginning. Continue short-selling until mid-January.”

“Shouldn’t we start exiting soon? Although the Chinese stock market continues to fall, exiting too late might make profit realization difficult.”

“For now, don’t think about profit realization. Just focus on attacking until the end of this week.”

To realize profits, they would eventually need to buy back the shares they sold.

A massive wave of buying would naturally push prices up.

But it was too early for that.

The Chinese stock market was already consumed by frenzy.