Chanos, known as the King of Short Selling, had founded Kynikos—a hedge fund considered one of the top on Wall Street.
It was also the company at the center of the Tesla short-selling operation, serving as the command hub for the short-selling forces.
"Mr. Chanos! What's going on? You said Tesla had virtually no defense capabilities. So why is the Saudi sovereign wealth fund moving?"
"This was unexpected. I had heard that the Saudis were taking interest in various businesses lately, but I didn't realize they were also interested in Tesla's shares."
"Are you being too complacent? The Saudis are investing huge sums into building electric vehicle infrastructure. That shows they're very interested in the EV market, and they're likely to continue acquiring Tesla shares."
The hedge fund executives were consumed by unease.
What they had thought would be a hunt for a rabbit had turned out to be a hunt for an elephant.
"Don't worry. Even if the Saudi sovereign wealth fund pours all its money in, we're destined to win."
"What do you mean? If the Saudi sovereign wealth fund mobilizes its capital, it could surpass the funds we have available."
"If the Saudi sovereign wealth fund were thinking rationally, would they pour in more money here? Even if they do, it doesn't matter. The outcome of this game is already decided."
"You mean to say… we will win?"
Chanos smiled.
He pulled out revenue structure data from several automakers around the world and showed it to the hedge fund executives.
"Tesla's structure makes it impossible to generate profits."
"There are reports that the upcoming electric vehicle has come out quite well. Couldn't that lead to a profit?"
"Honestly, I don't think Tesla's EV can perform comparably to internal combustion cars. Even if it miraculously did, profit would still be impossible. The automotive market is dominated more than any other by economies of scale."
Despite Chanos' statement, the investors remained anxious.
To reassure them, he presented one more indicator.
"To see profits in the auto market, a manufacturer needs to sell at least one million units per year."
"The government provides subsidies. And if Tesla shares infrastructure with the Taewoo Group, couldn't it realize profits even without hitting one million units?"
"Even then, they'd need to sell at least half a million units just to break even. And Tesla's current factories cannot produce 500,000 cars in a short period."
Everyone nodded at Chanos' words.
Due to the nature of the automotive market, higher sales naturally translate into greater operating profits, and Tesla's infrastructure would require at least another ten years to reach profitability.
"So you mean once the EV is launched, even individual investors will realize Tesla's true situation."
"Exactly. So taking a long-term approach isn't all that bad. Of course, ending it quickly would be cleaner, but because of a variable like the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, it will just take a little longer."
"Then what should we do now?"
"Just keep it from climbing any higher. Let the amount absorbed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund be released accordingly."
Chanos smiled.
No matter how much money the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had, they were merely a state-run fund. Meanwhile, Chanos and his team were investors putting their lives on the line on Wall Street.
Could Wall Street really be defeated by a sovereign wealth fund?
And the variable wasn't necessarily bad.
It could even present a better opportunity—an opportunity to capture the capital being deployed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
***
Twenty days remained until the electric car launch.
Reservations were still flooding in through the online booking site, and the electric cars already produced had begun shipping to various countries.
But there were still many details to manage.
I called in President Han and the head of the planning office for a meeting.
"It's about time the speculative bookings start to drop. How many cancellations have there been?"
"Not many cancellations so far. On the contrary, some early reservation holders are even selling their reservation numbers at a premium."
"I've heard of selling apartment pre-sale rights, but selling a car reservation ranking? That's a first."
Where demand is high, creative loopholes are bound to appear.
Since these issues would resolve once supply met demand, no special measures were necessary.
"Over 70% of the electric car charging stations have been completed. In the U.S., Aramco's active support has pushed progress to over 85%."
"That likely applies only to major cities. The outskirts still lack the infrastructure to support electric cars."
"We'll expedite the distribution of personal EV chargers."
The Apple Car project was proceeding very smoothly.
The remaining challenge was Tesla, which served as the Apple Car's running mate.
"How's the short selling of Tesla progressing?"
"The short-sellers are acting cautiously, for reasons we don't yet understand, while the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which should be defending, is aggressively buying shares. The stock hasn't risen as much as it did at the IPO, but it's hovering around $27."
Tesla had opened at $24 on its first trading day.
Despite the short-sellers, it didn't fall; instead, it rose $3 to $27.
"President Han, have you looked into why the short-sellers are acting so cautiously?"
"Yes. According to our sources on Wall Street, they're being passive because they expect the stock to fall naturally once Tesla launches, so they're not pushing aggressively."
They said the short-sellers were hoping for a long war.
It was a strategy I could somewhat understand.
Tesla's structure made it hard to turn a profit in the early years.
"So they plan to unleash their remaining bullets on the EV launch date, huh."
"They'll probably keep up only small skirmishes until the release."
"They'll go on TV and attack Tesla with negative tones to buy time. We can just leave them be until the car launches."
The fight wasn't as fierce as I'd expected.
King of Short Selling vs. the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
A matchup for the ages — I had expected a battle of unprecedented money against money, but so far it felt lukewarm.
Of course, things would change once the twenty days passed and the EV launched.
The short-sellers would throw every resource into attacking Tesla.
If they wanted to realize gains without taking losses, they'd have to go all out.
But would things go according to their plan?
With the Saudi sovereign wealth fund watching with fully open eyes, profit-taking would never be easy.
The electric car launch was just around the corner.
While affiliates unrelated to the EV continued their usual work, employees at headquarters were practically living at the office around the clock.
The security team was no exception.
Even aside from security concerns, they worked in shifts to prevent issues like site crashes caused by sudden traffic spikes.
"You've all been working hard. Have a cup of coffee," I said.
Professor Hal Finney personally brought coffee for the security team.
Although he held a university professorship and played a key role in multiple projects, seeing Professor Finney arrive late at night left the staff visibly moved.
"Professor, what brings you here at this hour?"
"As you get older, you don't need much sleep. Have your coffee later; for now, try to grab a short nap."
"No, thank you!"
"Ha ha, it's fine. The security system won't be compromised if you're away for an hour or two."
Professor Finney patted the employees on the back as he spoke.
At that moment, a red warning light flashed on the security monitors, accompanied by a sharp beep.
"A hacking attempt has been detected!"
"Another bored hacker trying to poke at the Taewoo Group firewall, I suppose."
"This one's a bit different. The first firewall has already been breached."
"Looks like I'll have to lend a hand. Let's see if they can get past the secondary encryption firewall."
Under Professor Finney's guidance, the team went on full defensive mode.
For more than three hours, the security team successfully fended off every attempt of the multi-layered hacking.
"Already done? I was hoping for a bit more fun, but that ended too easily."
"Still, it was the first hacking attempt to nearly breach the secondary firewall."
"What difference would it make if the secondary firewall fell? The Taewoo Group firewall goes up to the fifth layer."
The security team sipped their now-cold coffee, chatting lightly.
They looked genuinely happy, almost as if they had just enjoyed an entertaining game.
For them, spending time defending against hacks was far more enjoyable than sitting idly doing nothing.
***
The next day.
As soon as I arrived at the office, the head of planning brought a very interesting report.
"Last night, there was an attempt to hack the Taewoo Group headquarters network."
"Did they manage to get through?"
"Fortunately, Professor Hal Finney was with the security team, so they stopped it very easily."
"Seems like it was a hacker without much skill."
The Taewoo Group faced hacker attacks at least twenty times a year.
Most of these hackers were in it for fun, so their skills weren't particularly advanced.
"Actually, it was carried out by a highly skilled hacker. Taewoo Group successfully defended, but apparently 24 other companies were hacked."
"How could 24 companies get breached overnight, even if they managed their security poorly?"
"To be honest, Taewoo Group takes security very seriously—sometimes you might even say excessively."
It was true that we paid close attention to security.
But in reality, the outstanding security system was a byproduct of the Bitcoin development team having little else to do and treating the security system like a playground.
"By the way, how did you get information that 24 companies were hacked? Those companies wouldn't exactly be going around bragging about it."
"We tracked the hackers as they sold information from the 24 companies to contacts in China."
At that time, Korea didn't place much importance on personal information.
Even high school graduation albums sometimes listed names, addresses, and even resident registration numbers.
"Well, we weren't affected, so there's no need to worry."
"Exactly. Now, only two days remain until the electric car launch. But something unusual is happening."
The head of planning pulled out a tablet and played a video.
It showed a massive crowd gathering, creating an atmosphere that felt almost like a festival.
"Are they holding some kind of festival?"
"This is the crowd at the Taewoo Motors LA dealership. They're lining up to get the Apple Car first."
"They're lining up even though the cars are sold according to reservation order?"
"About 20% of the stock is sold on a first-come, first-served basis, so that's why they're lining up like this."
Twenty percent of the reservation stock.
It wasn't actually a large quantity—at most fewer than fifty cars.
Yet, a bizarre phenomenon had occurred: over a hundred people were queuing up.
"Surely they're not lining up just to resell, are they?"
"Some of them seem to have that idea. Even though reservation slots are being sold for money, the actual Apple Car could fetch an even higher price if resold."
The response was growing hotter and hotter.
With only two days left until the official Apple Car launch, the anticipation for the explosive reaction was already building.