At the heart of the short-selling forces was the Chanos Company.
As usual, several hedge fund representatives had gathered in the office, staring at the stock charts while holding a meeting.
"We dumped all our shares, yet the price isn't moving. Are you telling me Taewoo Group absorbed nearly five billion dollars' worth of stock on their own?"
"They might be able to take it for now, but time is on our side. Don't be too anxious. And if you still can't calm down, take a look at this."
Chanos tossed a thick bundle of newspapers onto the table.
They were Korean newspapers, sourced directly from Seoul.
The front pages of the three leading dailies carried almost identical headlines, all featuring a face the hedge fund representatives knew well, plastered across the front in large print.
"I can't read the Korean text, but if an activist fund leader made the front page, then things in Korea must be getting serious."
"Serious doesn't even begin to cover it. More and more people are declaring support for the activist fund, and every single day, the press is publishing articles slamming Taewoo Group's high-handed and dictatorial management policies."
"Wait—did you manage to sway the Korean media as well?"
"The press is obligated to publish when they have a good story, don't you think? Add just the slightest bit of lubrication, and they'll put out exactly the kind of articles we want."
The anxiety that had gripped the room over the stagnant stock price melted away all at once.
They now fully accepted that it had become a battle of time—and they firmly believed time was on their side.
But time was not on the side of the short sellers.
Barely thirty minutes after they had relaxed, ExxonMobil broke a bombshell report.
[Massive Oil Field Discovered in the Guyana Basin!]
[ExxonMobil and Hess Strike Gold After Ten Years of Joint Efforts.]
[Hess, Once Under Attack by Short Sellers, Delivers a Stunning Counterpunch!]
Breaking headlines rolled in nonstop in real time.
To make matters worse for the short sellers, ExxonMobil's Vice Chairman, Raymond, appeared in a live interview.
"Thanks to the tireless efforts of our exploration team over the past decade, we've discovered a massive oil field. Within five years at the latest, we'll begin production—over 100,000 barrels a day. This was only possible because Hess had the courage to make bold decisions, even in difficult circumstances."
Vice Chairman Raymond handed all the credit to Hess.
The moment the news ended, the hedge fund representatives turned their eyes to the stock chart.
The stock price of Hess, which had shown no movement at all until then, suddenly began to skyrocket.
"Mr. Chanos! Hess's stock is up more than twenty percent!"
"Shouldn't we start buying shares right now?"
"Tsk, tsk. You people should know better. If we start scooping up shares in bulk now, the price will shoot up endlessly."
Chanos raised his voice.
To outsiders, he appeared perfectly composed, showing no change in expression.
But in truth, no one's heart was pounding harder than Chanos's.
A massive oil field discovery—completely unforeseen.
Why now, after ten years without any discovery, did such a find suddenly appear?
"We can't just sit here and watch."
"We need to move the media. If we spread news that the oil field isn't as big as it seems, that profitability is low, and that production will lead to losses, the stock price will naturally fall again."
"Are you suggesting we fabricate fake news?"
"Fake or real—who can know before production begins? Once the media shouts it out, people will believe it for the next five years at least."
Chanos and the hedge fund representatives hurriedly pulled out their phones.
They were mobilizing every connection they had, desperately trying to create and spread false reports to contain the situation.
But even as they scrambled, Hess's stock continued to surge.
In less than two hours, the price had soared nearly thirty-five percent.
In the Korean stock market, there were limits on daily price movements.
From the second half of this year, the limit would be raised to thirty percent, but for now, it was capped at only fifteen percent.
The U.S. stock market, however, had no such limits. Theoretically, a stock price could rise indefinitely.
"Mr. Chanos! Something isn't right. No matter how big the news, the stock is climbing as if it's being orchestrated."
"You're right! Every single share that hits the market is being bought up at higher prices. It's as if everyone has been waiting for this exact moment to buy Hess stock!"
In theory, the stock price could rise without limit.
But a thirty-five percent jump in a single day was extremely rare—and when it did happen, it was usually the result of illegal manipulation.
That was why they still held on to hope.
If the surge had been driven by unlawful means, then once the truth came out, the price would inevitably fall again.
"Let's contact the SEC—the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission—and find out."
"I also have several connections inside the SEC."
Once again, they busied themselves with phone calls.
Clinging to this final shred of hope, their trembling fingers punched in numbers one after another.
***
Korea Financial Hub Tower.
I was in Taewoo Securities' office, watching Hess's stock price rise together with President Han.
"This oil field discovery is definitely good news. The price is climbing much faster than I expected."
"Wasn't this part of your plan, Chairman?"
"What plan are you talking about?"
"I thought when we released our shares, the companies or individuals who had coordinated with you were buying them up at high prices."
"I never made such a plan. Why would I do something that could be used against me?"
Of course, I hadn't made any such arrangement, but I had my suspicions.
First, George from Quantum Fund—he was the type who always followed along with any business I entered.
And Jamie Dimon of Fintech Bank also knew Hess's value well, so he was likely buying aggressively too.
Still, the rally was too strong to be explained by just those two.
Even if retail investors had joined in, at least one more heavyweight had to be involved to create such momentum.
"I'm relieved to hear you weren't directly behind this, Chairman. But we should still find out who's been buying Hess shares. I'll have David and our Wall Street contacts look into it."
"There's no rush—it isn't a critical issue. More importantly, how are the short sellers reacting?"
"They seem to be cooking up something amusing. They're not the type to die quietly."
President Han spoke with a faint smirk tugging at one corner of his lips.
His expression alone was enough to tell me that the short sellers were up to something dirty.
"No matter what they try, it'll be difficult to turn things around in this situation. They must be thrashing about desperately."
"They're fabricating and spreading fake news. They're claiming that the Guyana oil field isn't actually that large, that profitability is poor, and that production will only lead to losses. They're feeding these stories to the media and to Wall Street."
But fake news could only work if there was a loud enough megaphone to amplify it.
Major news outlets only carried stories backed by verified facts.
Of course, that wasn't always the case—but in the United States, a media outlet that spread fake news risked being sued and hit with settlements so massive they could go bankrupt. That made it difficult to broadcast such stories carelessly.
"They're actually reporting that in the media?"
"Some outlets close to Chanos have mentioned it as mere suspicion, but no major media company is giving it broad coverage. However, there are rumors that they're spreading the fake news through social media."
Through social media?
That was like trying to show off a trick in front of a master.
More than 80% of the social platforms used in the United States had close ties with me.
"So, they plan to use social media, is that it?"
"I've heard they've hired video production experts and paid economic content channels to record and upload videos."
"Looks like it's time I made a few calls to the heads of those platforms."
"The problem is, their operation is so vast that catching everything might take quite a bit of time."
"Director Chun will handle that. With the right algorithm, uploads can be deleted the instant they appear."
"You mean a fake-news filtering algorithm?"
I nodded.
If people tried to take them down manually, it would take days. But with an algorithm set up for automatic deletion, the problem could be solved in less than a second.
"But if everything is deleted all at once, there might be backlash—or in the worst case, even lawsuits."
"Let them sue. Even better. We'll just counter-sue. Normally it's hard to obtain personal information through the social media companies, but once a lawsuit is filed, the police or prosecutors automatically gain access to that data. That makes it easy for us to move forward."
Billions of dollars were on the line.
That meant the settlement money would also be astronomical.
We could strip those who made fake news for pocket change down to nothing.
Of course, they must have thought they had someone backing them.
***
Wall Street's famous short-selling hedge funds.
But the short sellers wouldn't come to their aid.
To be precise, they didn't have the capacity to. They were already on their knees before me, crushed by their failed short-selling attack.
Director Chun's algorithm skills were truly remarkable.
The moment the flood of fake news was uploaded, it was all wiped out instantly.
Meanwhile, the stories our side produced about the Guyana oil field were allowed to spread far and wide.
A few days passed like that.
Every day, President Han came into the office wearing an uncontrollable smile.
"Today again, Hess stock has risen by more than ten percent. From its lowest point, it's now up over seventy percent. Even if the short-sellers start buying shares right this moment, they'll be facing losses of billions of won."
"That's not nearly enough. They won't learn their lesson until they lose not billions of won, but billions of dollars."
Losing a few billion won was nothing unusual.
Financial firms wouldn't bat an eye at that kind of loss.
But billions of dollars—that was a different story.
No matter how wealthy a financial institution was, taking a hit in the tens of billions would inflict severe damage.
For mid-sized hedge funds, such losses could mean bankruptcy.
For large hedge funds, while bankruptcy might be avoided, they would still suffer a mass exodus of client capital, leading to enormous liquidity problems.
And the truly frightening part was this—
It wasn't over yet.
Whether they lost billions or tens of billions of dollars was something I could control. That was the true source of fear.
"Oil prices are also on the rise, so Hess stock is expected to climb further for the time being. But a fivefold increase from the current price is nearly impossible."
"Wouldn't it be possible if we resorted to slightly less-than-legal methods?"
"Are you suggesting collusive trading? That would be far too risky, wouldn't it?"
"There are plenty of ways to push up the price besides collusion."
"If we inject Taewoo Group's financial resources, it's possible. And if you even dip into your secret reserves, Chairman, we could push the stock price even higher."
In the end, stock prices always rose when enough money was poured in.
And the fewer shares available on the market, the steeper the climb.
At that moment, only about twenty percent of Hess shares were in circulation.
Thanks to the short sellers practically dumping their shares at rock-bottom prices, we had been able to secure a large stake without spending much. From there, raising the price was simply a matter of how much money we were willing to put in.
"Let's start by pushing the stock price up two hundred percent."
"Even just buying and selling among ourselves on a small scale would be enough to raise it that high. Taewoo Securities has plenty of employees highly skilled in that kind of work."
"Then get started right away."
The short-selling forces were never a tightly bound group.
Once losses began to pile up, they would splinter quickly.
The sharper hedge funds, in fact, would likely be flying to Korea as early as next week—desperate to meet me in person.