CH396 | Heir

Exactly one week.

That was how long it took David and President Han to prepare for the voluntary delisting.

It was only possible thanks to the approval—and tacit consent—of the U.S. government and the SEC.

“Chairman, starting today, the delisting and tender offer will be officially announced.”

“While President Han is away, please make sure you personally oversee Taewoo Securities’ affairs as well. It’ll only be for a few days, and then President Han will be back.”

The Planning Director was responsible for handling domestic matters.

Of course, the planning office normally operated across both domestic and international fronts. But because so much was handled through President Han and David, the department’s influence had somewhat weakened.

Perhaps that was why—

I sensed the eagerness of a rookie in the Planning Director.

“I’ll make sure everything is handled properly!”

“There’s never been any doubt about your abilities. By the way, Hess’s stock price has risen quite a bit, hasn’t it?”

“Since the Berkshire-related news broke, it has climbed more than forty percent.”

Forty percent in a week.

It was enough to bleed the short-sellers dry.

Especially since short-selling relied on leverage—when a stock rose just one percent, they could suffer losses of five to ten percent.

But what if it didn’t rise by just one percent, but by a hundred?

Losses of a mere hundred billion won could easily snowball into the trillions.

And with just a few more tricks on top of that, inflicting tens of trillions in damage wouldn’t be difficult at all.

“Looks like we’ll be getting quite a few visitors from the U.S. soon.”

“At the planning office level, no official meetings have been scheduled yet.”

“Once the tender offer news breaks, hedge fund managers will be lining up at our door. Nothing special to prepare—just stock up on plenty of cold water. Their insides will be burning.”

“I’ll make sure to have a large supply of ice water ready!”

I went through my tasks, quietly waiting.

And the moment the tender offer announcement appeared on Nasdaq, I stopped what I was doing and fixed my eyes on the stock chart.

“Chairman! Hess’s stock price is skyrocketing!”

The Planning Director burst into the room, breathless.

Even so, I kept watching the chart.

The one-minute candles leaping upward were more dazzling than any dancer’s performance.

“When demand rises but supply doesn’t, prices inevitably soar.”

“At this rate, we can expect a hundred percent increase within a week.”

“If the right news drops, we might even hit that in three days, not a week.”

“Do you have more good news in store?”

I gave a sly smile and shared part of the plan with the Planning Director.

***

Chanos’s office.

Unlike other days, today the hedge fund managers were raising their voices.

One even pointed a finger at Chanos.

All of them had rushed to his office the moment the tender offer announcement came out, and with Hess’s stock price soaring at breakneck speed, their emotions were running high.

“What’s going on here? Didn’t you say the Taewoo Group was broke?”

“With what money are they making a tender offer?”

“The stock’s already up more than forty percent! If you have a mouth, say something!”

The hedge fund managers could no longer see straight.

At this rate, a negative return for the year was inevitable, and with more than half their fund assets on the line, it was no wonder they were furious.

“Calm yourselves. The Taewoo Group has made a blunder. They can use the tender offer to push the stock up for a while, but in the end they’ll fail. And when that happens, the price will crash even faster than before.”

“Are you a broken record? Every time Hess goes up, all you say is it’ll come back down eventually! Not once has it dropped!”

Chanos had lost their trust.

He had always claimed the price would soon fall, yet it never once had.

With the hedge fund managers reaching the end of their patience, Chanos tried to reassert himself with even greater confidence.

“All we have to do is wait for the delisting. That’s when this becomes our victory. If anyone wants to back out now, I won’t stop you. If you can’t endure just a few more months and would rather take a loss to escape, then go ahead.”

“As if we could escape even if we wanted to! To buy back our positions, there’d have to be Hess shares available in the market! We can’t exit because there’s nothing to buy!”

“Don’t worry. The Taewoo Group will never be able to secure more than ninety-five percent of Hess’s shares anyway.”

Chanos spoke with certainty.

But before he could even finish, breaking news came in.

An employee of Chanos Company shouted the update so that everyone could hear:

“Breaking news! Quantum Fund has sold its 3% stake in Hess to Taewoo Group through the tender offer!”

“When did Quantum Fund even hold three percent?”

“It looks like they’ve been quietly scooping up shares released on the market.”

“Calm down, everyone. This doesn’t change the bigger picture. Besides, Quantum Fund has long been rumored to have close ties with Taewoo Group. This is practically collusion, so pay it no mind.”

The hedge fund managers wanted nothing more than to dismiss it.

But how could they stay calm when the Hess stock chart was once again spiking violently on the news?

“…I’d better find my own way out.”

“So much for the so-called King of Short Selling.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

More than half of the hedge fund managers walked out.

They felt that if they stayed put any longer, they’d suffocate, so they left in search of a way to survive.

Watching their retreating backs, Chanos swallowed hard.

Had he ever felt this anxious and unsettled before?

And deep down, he couldn’t shake the strong feeling that this was only the beginning.

***

President Han had returned to Korea.

With Hess’s voluntary delisting strategy complete, control could now be exercised comfortably from home.

“You’ve done well. It couldn’t have been easy, but you handled it quickly and smoothly.”

“It wasn’t too difficult once the SEC and the U.S. government looked the other way. Wall Street’s hedge funds are in complete chaos. With the stock price doubling in such a short span, they’ve completely lost their footing.”

“That kind of reaction already is troublesome. We’re going to push through successive tender offers, and they’re already in a panic.”

The first tender offer had been executed through Quantum Fund.

Taewoo Group acquired its stake at double the price.

Next in line was FinTech Bank.

After that would come Berkshire, with this rotation, at least three rounds could be run.

That would drive Hess’s stock price up by 300%.

And for the hedge funds, that meant losses anywhere from three times to fifteen times their exposure.

Those with light leverage might survive. But those who had leaned on heavy leverage would be facing losses big enough to consider bankruptcy.

“I spotted a few familiar faces on the flight. Looks like the hedge fund heads will be visiting the Financial Tower soon.”

“Keep them at your level, President Han. There’s no point in meeting small fry.”

“If we reel in those small fry to our side, wouldn’t that isolate Chanos?”

“Possibly. But let’s weigh our options first. Chanos will come to Korea eventually, won’t he? We can decide then.”

“Chanos, come here? He’d sooner die. His pride alone wouldn’t allow it.”

The man they called the King of Short Selling.

And with that title came pride beyond measure.

But in finance, unlike other industries, pride always came second to money.

“Chanos will come. He’ll realize it’s the only way to protect his honor. If he realizes too late, the chance will be gone. But he’s not foolish enough to let that happen.”

“Other than appealing directly to the Chairman, he really has no options. In that case, I’ll push Hess’s stock a little higher to force his hand.”

As President Han and the team discussed how best to deal with the short sellers,

Knock, knock—

The planning director entered the office after a polite knock.

“Chairman, we’ve received a call from Assemblyman Choi Jae-seok. He wishes to meet you urgently.”

“It has been quite a while since I last saw him. Tell him tonight works. Since he’s no longer the governor of Gyeonggi Province, we can meet at Captain Kang’s restaurant.”

“I’ll arrange the schedule right away.”

Assemblyman Choi Jae-seok had abandoned his presidential bid.

After stepping down as Gyeonggi’s governor, he was elected as a lawmaker representing Nowon District.

Since neither of the two major parties fielded a candidate, his victory came without much struggle. For now, he was regathering strength and biding his time for a political comeback.

“Come to think of it, the general election is only a year away. This is when Assemblyman Choi and the People’s Economy Party will need to start moving in earnest.”

“Already? Hm… Very well. Leave the political matters to me and the planning director. President Han, I want you focused on the short-selling operation.”

“I’ll have preparations ready to launch the second tender offer within the week!”

***

7 p.m.

It was a little late for dinner.

Perhaps that’s why the smell of food laid out in the annex made my mouth water.

Assemblyman Choi Jae-seok, who also seemed to have skipped his meal, greeted me with a glance at the dishes before I did.

“It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with you, Chairman.”

“My apologies for the neglect. But I’ve always had you and the People’s Economy Party (National Economic Party) in mind.”

“I’m always grateful for that.”

“Let’s eat first. I have a feeling our conversation will stretch late into the night—we should fill ourselves up beforehand, don’t you think?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!”

We devoted ourselves to the meal without another word.

We ate with the intensity of soldiers on a battlefield, and only when the empty bowls had piled up did Assemblyman Choi finally begin to speak.

“With the presidential race behind me, I can now move forward with the constitutional amendment for re-election I’ve been aiming for.”

“So it begins at last.”

“Discussions have been ongoing since last year, and now we’re finally entering the formal process.”

“Will it apply starting with the next presidential election?”

“Yes. From now on, Korea will adopt a four-year renewable term like the United States, and the next president will be eligible for re-election.”

One-term presidencies versus renewable terms.

It was impossible to say which system was inherently better.

But for Choi Jae-seok, pushing for renewable terms meant he could potentially hold the presidency for eight years—hence his drive to make it a reality.

“You’ve worked hard until now. The finish line is finally in sight.”

“It’s still a long way off. Nearly three years remain until the next presidential election.”

But it wouldn’t actually take that long.

If history unfolded as it had before, the current president would be impeached.

That meant the election would be held about seven months earlier, and Assemblyman Choi Jae-seok would only need to endure another two years or so.

“By the way, the outlook for the next general election seems rather complicated. Analysts predict the opposition will split into two, while the ruling party will shrink even further.”

“We intend to absorb as many of those fragmented votes as possible. This could be the perfect opportunity for the People’s Economy Party to rise as the leading party.”

A newborn party rising to become the largest in the nation.

It would be more than enough to pave the way for Choi Jae-seok’s presidency.

“I’ll support you as much as I can. Of course, financial contributions are difficult, but Taewoo Group will back you in many other ways within our capacity.”

“Your words alone mean so much. That said, I’ve heard the Blue House is soon planning to summon the heads of major conglomerates. It seems they want corporate backing to help secure the PyeongChang Olympic bid.”

“In other words, they’re asking for donations.”

And with that, one of the key incidents that would eventually fuel the impeachment was about to begin.

If I weren’t careful, I too could end up splattered with filth from that scandal.

TL/n -

In South Korea, the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye was directly connected to the aftermath of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics bid scandal — more specifically, the Choi Soon-sil corruption scandal.

Samsung & Olympic Sponsorship

As part of PyeongChang’s Olympic bid and later preparations, Samsung (South Korea’s biggest chaebol) played a huge role as a key sponsor and lobbyist.

Prosecutors later uncovered that Samsung provided financial and material support (including multimillion-dollar donations) to foundations linked to Choi Soon-sil, a close confidante of President Park.

In exchange, Choi allegedly used her influence with Park to pressure government agencies and help Samsung with succession planning, such as mergers and regulatory approvals.

The Choi Soon-sil Scandal (2016)

Journalists revealed that Choi, a private citizen with no government position, had access to confidential state documents, influenced presidential decisions, and extracted money from conglomerates (chaebols) like Samsung, Hyundai, and Lotte under the guise of supporting cultural and sports foundations.

These revelations shocked the public, especially because Choi was the daughter of a shadowy religious cult leader, which deepened suspicions of undue influence.

Massive Protests

From late 2016, millions of South Koreans protested weekly in what became known as the Candlelight Demonstrations, demanding Park’s resignation.

Anger was fueled by the perception that corruption and nepotism had undermined South Korea’s democracy — with the Olympic bid and sponsorship deals seen as part of this corrupt nexus between politics and chaebols.

Impeachment & Removal

On December 9, 2016, the National Assembly voted to impeach Park Geun-hye.

On March 10, 2017, the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the impeachment, formally removing her from office — the first time a democratically elected South Korean president was ousted.

Park was later tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison (though pardoned in 2021).