The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 80

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

The Regression of a Fallen Chaebol’s Third Generation – Episode 80
Palo Alto, Volta Motors Headquarters.
The building barely deserved the name.
It was a converted warehouse, originally used for logistics, so the sprinkler piping hung exposed from the ceiling.
Half of the second-floor office space sat empty.
Three months ago, nearly thirty people had occupied these desks. Now only eleven remained.
Ryan Holt picked up the phone from inside the glass-partitioned office at the far end of the second floor.
-Ryan.
“Mark, you busy?”
Eight years ago, this was the man who’d written a fifty-thousand-dollar check when Holt built an online payment service prototype in his college dorm.
Two years later, when they sold it, Mark had gotten back forty times his original investment. Ever since then, he’d been a friend before anything else—an investor who never stopped calling.
-If you’re calling, I have to pick up no matter how busy I am. What’s going on?
“The round won’t close.”
Typically, venture companies raise money from external investors in stages. If a round wasn’t closing, it meant they still hadn’t hit their target funding number.
-How much have you brought in?
“Ned put in two million. That’s all we have.”
-……Two million?
“Two million on a thirty-million-dollar round. I know. The numbers are ridiculous.”
-What about Sequoia?
“They said let’s talk after Christmas.”
-That’s a no. You know it.
“I know. Kleiner won’t even set up a meeting.”
Those were the two biggest VCs in Silicon Valley. A significant portion of the companies that had made names for themselves—Apple, Google, Yahoo, Amazon—had grown on money from those two firms.
The fact that such firms showed no interest was almost like the market had already made its judgment. Not even getting a meeting meant they hadn’t even made it to the review stage.
“I’ve been to see two other VCs twice. Both times the same thing. They say the timing’s off.”
-…….
“What does ‘timing’s off’ mean? Because Lehman collapsed, we don’t need electric cars anymore? Is oil going to stop being used?”
-Ryan.
“Did gasoline engines suddenly get more efficient? What’s changed? The only thing that’s different is that Wall Street guys blew themselves up stacking leverage.”
-Yeah, you’re right. But when those guys blow themselves up, all the money freezes.
Holt fell silent for a moment. He tilted his chair back and looked up at the ceiling.
“The Lightning will succeed. It’ll absolutely have market appeal.”
-I know.
“The Lightning. In February, we start delivering to the first customers. Three prototypes are downstairs right now. According to yesterday’s test, we hit zero-to-sixty in 3.9 seconds.”
-…….
“3.9 seconds for an electric car. Fast supercars with internal engines do it in the 4-second range. Mark, once you see it for yourself, you’ll know—this is a business that works.”
-Ryan, I’m not saying electric cars won’t work.
Despite his friend’s words, Ryan Holt felt just as frustrated. Honestly, he was starting to wonder if his friend even believed him.
“Then what’s the problem?”
-The market’s the problem. Lehman blew up, AIG blew up, and nobody knows what blows up next month. Half my portfolio’s gone. Honestly, if you asked me to put money in right now…….
“Five million will do it. Mark, five million.”
-…….
“Then we can make it to the next payroll.”
The payroll for the eleven people left at Volta Motors was due this coming Thursday. With the current balance, they wouldn’t make it past that day.
-What about your house? I heard you’ve been sleeping in the office because you don’t have anywhere else.
“Mortgaged it.”
-The condo?
“That too.”
-Jesus, Ryan. Why’d you go that far?
“Because I had to do it. Anyway, five million will do it, yeah? Just help me out once.”
-…….
Mark’s voice disappeared.
A long silence stretched out, and then a voice began to come through the receiver.
-You know what they’re saying in the market?
“If you mean people saying it’s a scam, that’s because they’ve never actually driven my car.”
-I know you’re not a con artist. I’ve known you since your dorm days. But Ryan, right now, at this moment, there’s nowhere that has the capacity to put money in.
A lie. VCs still hadn’t completely closed their wallets. When they saw promising signs, they threw hundreds of millions, even hundreds of millions in dollars.
Mark on the other end of the line was no different.
In the end, they didn’t believe in Volta, and they didn’t believe in Ryan Holt either. All they did was say out loud that it wasn’t a scam.
“So that’s a no?”
-……I’m sorry.
There was no anger or disappointment in Holt’s voice. What remained was just a factual acknowledgment.
“All right.”
-The car’s really going to be fantastic. I’m sure of it.
“Yeah. Thanks, Mark.”
The line went dead.
Holt set the phone down on the desk. A spreadsheet glowed on the screen.
Cash reserves, component costs, payroll schedules…….
If things continued like this, it would all fall apart.
He turned his head and looked out the window. Engineers were working hard at their desks.
Christmas was five days away, but no one had mentioned taking time off.
“…….”
After staring out for a long moment, Holt got up from his chair and headed downstairs.
Two Lightning vehicles, covered with sheets, stood under the lights in the assembly space below.
He lifted one corner of the sheet.
The low chassis, streamlined roofline, and smooth curves between them—the Volta Emblem gleamed.
An electric car that even the traditional automakers couldn’t build stood right in front of him, but there was no money to launch it.
“Ryan.”
A voice came from behind. It was Jason, the Chief Operating Officer.
“There’s a meeting request from Korea.”
“Korea?”
“A company called Ribbon Capital. They sent materials first.”
Holt’s brow furrowed. Korea was unfamiliar enough, but Ribbon Capital? He’d never heard the name.
“Another tire kicker?”
There was a good chance they were the type who’d just kick the tires without any intention of buying—people who’d show up to kick the tires and leave.
Ryan Holt thought there was a possibility this investor would just pretend to review things and never actually put any money in.
Since they’d opened the round, there had been three or four meetings like that.
Jason shrugged.
“We’re not exactly in a position to be choosy.”
“No, we’re definitely not in a position to be choosy.”
Holt spat out a bitter remark and turned his gaze back to the Lightning.
“Book it. As soon as possible.”

* * *
“Did you wait long?”
San Francisco International Airport.
As soon as we cleared immigration, Danny Kim was waiting with a car pulled up front.
“No, I just got here too. Get in.”
“Thanks. You must be tired coming all the way from New York.”
“Nah, something about being in a warm place—my energy’s shot back up.”
Danny said this and pulled the car into traffic.
Outside the window, December in California rolled past.
Unlike Seoul’s December, the temperature was different—dry air and clear sky.
“Is Christmas break starting already? There’s hardly anyone around.”
A short while later, as we approached our destination of Palo Alto, the scenery began to change.
Two-to-three-story office buildings lined both sides of the road, their signs still up, but parking lots visibly empty.
In the span of a single block, we passed three vacancy signs.
“It’s not Christmas break. They’re bankrupt.”
Danny shook his head.
“See that? The sign halfway torn down. Until three months ago, there was a fintech startup there. They’d even got Series B funding, but when their banking partner collapsed, they went under with them.”
Another one passed outside the window.
A ground-floor office with blinds drawn. A few cardboard boxes stacked in front of the door.
“What about that one?”
“Data analytics company. All their clients were in the financial sector. They shut down a month after Lehman collapsed.”
Danny turned the wheel and continued.
“But don’t get the wrong idea—money isn’t completely frozen.”
“I suppose. VCs need to invest to survive, so they wouldn’t completely shut their wallets even in times like these.”
“Right. The wallets are still open. The problem is that standards have changed.”
Danny spoke, eyes on the road.
“Until last year, if you had the technology, money would flow in. Show them one prototype and hundreds of millions would move. But that doesn’t work anymore. You have to prove not just the technology, but also the commercial viability. You have to show the numbers—that this product will sell, that this business will make money.”
“So that’s why Volta Motors can’t get funded.”
“Right. They built the car, but there’s no proof it’ll sell.”
A brief silence fell.
As we turned toward the outskirts of the industrial park, the buildings became sparse. Danny slowed down and pointed to one side.
“There it is.”
A two-story building came into view beyond the parking lot.
Volta Motors.
As we stepped out of the car, a man emerged from the first-floor entrance.
He was tall and lean. His face hadn’t been shaved in days, dark circles under his eyes, yet his gaze was sharp.
It wasn’t so much the face of someone sleep-deprived as someone being hunted by something.
“Ribbon Capital?”
It was Ryan Holt. His face was far younger than what I’d seen in my previous life, and I found myself smiling naturally.
Danny stepped forward and extended his hand.
“I’m Danny Kim. The one who called you.”
“I’m Ryan Holt. Come on in.”
As we shook hands, Holt’s eyes swept across me.
He clearly thought I was young. But he didn’t let it show.
“Let’s head inside.”
At Danny’s word, I nodded and followed Ryan Holt in.
The interior was desolate. Empty desks, few engineers visible at work.
Holt guided us to a meeting room on the second floor.
Through the window, the first-floor assembly space could be seen below.
“There’s something I want to say first.”
The moment Holt sat down, he spoke up.
“There are people who call us a scam. They say we’re raising money on electric cars and planning to run off. I have nothing to say to those people, and if you’re those kinds of people, you can leave right now.”
Instead of answering, I pointed out the window.
“Is that the Lightning down there?”
“……Yes.”
“And it can actually drive?”
“Of course. I drove a prototype to In-N-Out today and bought hamburgers myself.”
“What about the performance specs? I’d like to know the details.”
“Zero-to-sixty in 3.9 seconds, top speed 125 miles per hour.”
The units were unfamiliar, but roughly it meant a top speed of about 201 kilometers per hour.
Even knowing the future, I was impressed.
“An electric car?”
“An electric car.”
The hostility drained from Holt’s face. Sure enough, when talking to an engineer, starting with the product they’d built—that worked everywhere.
“Would you like to see it?”
I nodded, and Holt led us downstairs.
As the sheet came off, details emerged that photographs couldn’t convey.
The level of completion wasn’t that of a prototype, but something ready for mass production.
“We’re starting customer deliveries in February. Advance orders are already coming in.”
“How many?”
“……About a hundred.”
It was a significant number.
“Is there a deposit? I’d like to buy one myself.”
“The price is 120 thousand dollars, and it’s all paid up front.”
Remarkable. A hundred people had already put down a hundred and twenty thousand dollars in advance for an electric car that hadn’t even been released.
In Korean currency, that was over 150 million won per person.
“That’s impressive. So let me ask you a few questions. How’s the current round progressing?”
“Eighteen million dollars has come in on a thirty-million-dollar target.”
I almost laughed internally. Watching him lie so smoothly showed he had business talent to match his engineering chops.
In my previous life, when I’d heard about Ryan Holt, it was during a time when this Series A was completely collapsing.
Besides, rumors about him were circulating on Wall Street, but I’m guessing he figured since we came from Korea, we wouldn’t know the situation.
“That’s impressive. You’d think the VCs would be lining up to invest.”
“It’s Christmas break, so things are slow, but we have several meetings scheduled after the holidays.”
Holt spoke while looking directly at me.
I nodded and took another look at the Lightning’s chassis.
The Lightning would succeed. It had to, so Volta would survive, the electric car market would open up, and then the battery materials sector would start moving.
“It’s too bad though.”
“What do you mean? Once you see the Lightning……”
“Oh, I don’t mean the car’s too bad.”
I turned and looked at Ryan Holt.
“I didn’t expect the round to be this full already. It bothers me that our equity stake would be so small.”
At my words, Holt’s brow furrowed. Was I bragging?
“Ah, well……”
“Kang Seon-woo.”
“Right. Seon-woo, how much are you thinking of putting in that you’d complain about your equity stake being small?”
“Fifty million dollars.”
Holt’s expression froze.
“……What did you say?”
“Ribbon Capital came here thinking we’d be investing fifty million dollars.”
Fifty million dollars to a company dying from not being able to raise thirty million.
An amount larger than the entire round target.
Holt sat in shock, speechless.
His face couldn’t decide whether this was a con, a joke, or something real.

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