After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 104

It didn’t take long to establish the position.

Since Dashi was listed on NASDAQ and its price was rising, there was considerable volume willing to lend Dashi stock in the lending market.

Thanks to this, KH Capital was able to quickly build a short selling position.

Richard Blake received the report with interest upon hearing this news.

‘It’s been a while since Mr. Choi made a move.’

Choi Kang-hyeon’s movements were always interesting news to him.

Since entering Wall Street, no one had conducted such successful trading.

Even the legendary Warren Buffett wouldn’t have been able to make trades of this magnitude.

That’s why he received real-time reports on whatever trades Choi Kang-hyeon made.

‘So this time the target is Dashi?’

Dashi.

Though it was a company listed on NASDAQ, it was essentially conducting business in South Korea.

‘Building a short position against a company that virtually monopolizes the Korean market… interesting. With this scale, it seems like he knows there are problems inside Dashi.’

The short selling position KH Capital established was worth about 5 trillion won.

Of that, the cash portion was around 2.5 trillion won.

The rest was leveraged to expand the position.

Using leverage on funds of this scale was rare even on Wall Street.

But knowing Choi Kang-hyeon’s trading style well, Richard didn’t think much of it.

‘I wonder if he’ll be right again this time? I’m already curious how this will unfold.’

Richard was curious about what sources Kang Hyeon had to take such a position, and what would happen next.

* * *

What makes time bombs scary is that they eventually explode.

And the time bomb that Dashi had been carrying finally exploded.

[Dashi, Massive Personal Information Leak?]

The bomb went off starting with a small article from a news outlet.

[A massive personal information leak occurred at Dashi, the country’s largest e-commerce company.

According to our investigation, the personal information leak already occurred six months ago, but Dashi’s internal response was reportedly focused on covering it up.

Dashi responded to these facts by saying “it’s difficult to confirm the facts.”]

Initially, an article came out whose scale couldn’t be confirmed.

The internet reaction wasn’t that big either.

-Personal information got leaked.

-Our information is public property anyway.

-Telecom companies got hacked recently too. Getting hacked again?

-That’s already the third time this year.

-Why are they stealing information that’s already been stolen?

-Everything’s already been stolen, so there’s nothing left to steal.

Personal information leak incidents weren’t uncommon.

Due to repeated incidents, the public had become numb to them.

But as time passed and related articles poured out, the severity of the situation became apparent.

[Dashi’s Largest Ever Personal Information Leak?]

[Over 30 Million Personal Information Records Leaked! Dashi Still Remains Silent!]

[Government Expresses Serious Concern Over Dashi Incident!]

[Ministry of Science and ICT Speaks Out on Dashi Incident!]

Along with news that over 30 million personal information records were leaked, the government expressed direct concern.

When news came that the Ministry of Science and ICT was taking action, community reactions heated up as well.

-Hey, isn’t this one serious?

-Wait, 30 million records means basically everyone in the country got hacked, right?

-But why is Dashi keeping their mouth shut?

-How can they stay silent when articles are pouring out?

-Do they think it’ll end if they just play dumb?

As community reactions heated up, Dashi finally released an official statement.

[In Dashi’s official statement, they revealed that 34 million personal information records were leaked, but stated that no serious information was compromised.]

[Dashi announced that financial information and sensitive data remained safe during this hacking incident.]

[Can we trust Dashi’s announcement that they needed time to assess the situation?]

Dashi’s official position was simple.

A total of 34 million personal information records were leaked.

However, most were non-sensitive information like names, addresses, and phone numbers.

Their position was that other sensitive information like financial data was encrypted and therefore safe from this hack.

Community reactions to this position were mixed.

-That much personal information got stolen and they say it’s safe? Does that make sense?

-Honestly, that kind of personal information has been public property for a long time.

-Isn’t it good news if financial information is safe?

-Is it real that they announced their position a week after the article came out?

While these mixed reactions were emerging, the stock price was already moving.

“Dashi’s stock price has fallen about 7 percent.”

After the personal information leak incident, Dashi’s price dropped 7 percent.

This was the largest drop since entering an upward trend.

“The domestic reaction isn’t significant, but in the United States, forecasts are pouring out that user exodus won’t be small due to the considerable scale of the personal information leak.”

“Moody’s announced they would downgrade Dashi’s credit rating.”

“Fitch is also continuing to forecast that they may downgrade Dashi’s credit rating.”

Credit rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch downgraded Dashi’s credit rating following this personal information leak incident.

This was an issue taken quite seriously on Wall Street.

Naturally, the downward trend strengthened, and within ten days of the personal information leak article, the price fell by 10 percent.

‘Less than two weeks and we’re already making 500 billion won in profit.’

Thanks to establishing a 5 trillion won position, KH Capital’s profits were increasing rapidly.

‘This should essentially be viewed as a type of panic selling.’

Kwangho was coldly assessing the current situation while considering what to do with the position.

‘Normally, we should start taking partial profits around now, but…’

Short selling positions weren’t meant to be held long-term.

Especially declines caused by specific events were bound to see equally strong rebounds.

Currently, Dashi should be viewed as experiencing panic selling and strong correction from its previous gains.

In this situation, holding the position long-term was a somewhat risky trade.

But since it was Kang Hyeon who told them to take this position, Kwangho decided to wait.

“We’ll hold the position for now. Focus more on domestic news and update quickly.”

“Understood.”

He felt that Dashi’s decline wouldn’t end at 10 percent.

* * *

As Dashi began responding in earnest, the stock price started moving sideways.

With slight rebounds and declines repeating, it showed no major movement.

This meant market participants were watching and waiting.

‘At times like this, they tend to react sensitively to any news.’

Ultimately, there was a high possibility that Dashi’s price would be determined by what news broke.

Kang Hyeon checked the news while monitoring Dashi’s reaction.

‘If they actively cooperate with the government investigation going forward and CEO Kim Jae-beom comes forward to apologize, the price will stabilize quickly.’

There had been various personal information leak incidents domestically.

Most of them initially responded passively.

They didn’t discuss compensation at first, and serious discussions only began after government intervention.

Most recent personal information leak incidents had proceeded this way.

So he expected Dashi would now present a compensation plan as well.

But they moved differently.

[Parliament announced that it has adopted CEO Kim Jae-beom as a witness regarding Dashi’s personal information leak.]

A hearing was held as if it were natural, and CEO Kim Jae-beom was adopted as a witness.

Since major conglomerate heads had also attended hearings before, most public opinion was that CEO Kim Jae-beom would also attend.

However.

[It was revealed that Dashi declined, stating that CEO Kim Jae-beom could not attend the hearing due to scheduling conflicts.]

CEO Kim Jae-beom submitted a response stating he could not attend, using overseas schedules as an excuse.

This fact was extensively reported through the media.

Naturally, Parliament’s backlash was significant.

[Committee Chairman Park Jun-beom, who presided over the hearing, strongly opposed CEO Kim Jae-beom’s absence, saying “This is an act that ignores the people and Parliament. He must return to the country immediately and attend the hearing.”]

Criticism of CEO Kim Jae-beom continued regardless of party lines.

Naturally, the media also attacked him, and public opinion toward Dashi began to deteriorate extremely.

-He’s crazy. Skipping the hearing?

-I heard Kim Jae-beom’s departure timing was when Parliament was discussing the hearing?

-Didn’t he deliberately schedule something and run away because he didn’t want to attend the hearing?

-These bastards are really going all out.

-When he should come to the hearing and apologize profusely, he’s consistently playing dumb?

-These guys are completely ignoring South Korea just because they’re listed on NASDAQ.

Despite this backlash, CEO Kim Jae-beom did not attend the hearing, and a foreigner with the title of Global Chief Officer attended instead.

He made the people even more angry with his ridiculous statements at the hearing.

“This personal information leak incident is literally an accident. But framing this and pushing it as our responsibility—doesn’t the government have other intentions?”

“What kind of statement is that?! The government has other intentions?!”

“We know the current government is close with China. We suspect that Chinese companies lobbied the South Korean government to steal the market share that our Dashi has legitimately occupied.”

This statement caused great controversy.

It was tantamount to openly framing the South Korean government as having joined hands with China to attack them.

Kang Hyeon also clicked his tongue while watching that hearing.

‘What exactly are they trusting to go that far? If they just apologized, the government would let it slide.’

Most accidents related to personal information leaks had been handled that way until now.

It was an established route where the head would come out to apologize and present appropriate compensation measures, and it would be overlooked.

But Dashi took a stance of fighting the government head-on.

It was questionable how such a choice came about.

‘I can maintain my short position for the time being.’

Kang Hyeon gained confidence while watching the foreign executive who appeared at the hearing.

The blue light emanating from his body was indirectly telling him that Dashi’s decline had not stopped.

Dashi’s stock price was the same.

‘It will fall further.’

The intensely emanating blue light meant their decline would not stop.

And as if adding fuel to this situation, one piece of news heated up the community.

[Wasn’t Dashi card information leaked too? My card registered with Dashi was used for payment on a strange overseas website.]

Maybe you just got robbed somewhere else?

No no, that’s not it. This is a benefit card made specifically for use on Dash. It’s only registered with Dash and I’ve only used it on Dash.

No no no, if this is true, doesn’t that mean their official statement is bullshit?

No no no no, I thought financial information was supposed to be secure?

This news instantly spread to the media as well.

[Was Dashi’s financial information also hacked? Cases of illegal transactions on overseas websites continue to pile up!]

The Dashi incident began to grow even larger like a rolling snowball.

And.

“Dashi is increasing its decline!”

Dashi’s stock price, which had been continuing a boring sideways movement, began to shake in earnest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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