The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 174

174. End of Crisis (1)

Karon Victor, the New York branch manager of Bank of America, clicked his tongue as he read the newspaper article.

“Tsk, a CIA investigation to protect national infrastructure? Do they really think this kind of excuse will fly in this day and age?”

Even though the Cold War was still ongoing, he believed the CIA was backing Victoria Corporation and City Bank.

‘It was a good opportunity to completely blow Victoria Corporation away,’ he mused.

He thought that without the CIA’s help, Victoria Corporation wouldn’t have been able to stop the hacking incident.

One of the managers approached him and asked,

“Mr. Victor, what should we do?”

11 a.m.

Victoria Corporation’s stock price was soaring to $11.2 as news of the hacker’s arrest and the announcement that the issue was a crime, not a system malfunction, spread.

If the market closed like this, Karon Victor would lose $30 million in short selling.

‘A loss of $30 million on this side alone?’ he thought, aghast.

Even if he liquidated all his assets, he wouldn’t have $3 million. If Bank of America asked him to cover even a portion of the $30 million loss, he would be bankrupt.

‘Bankrupt because of something like this? Absolutely not!’

Karon Victor frowned and said,

“There’s no choice. We have to raise the stakes.”

“Excuse me? Raise the stakes?”

“Short sell 1 million shares. At 2 p.m.”

His intention was to drive down the stock price by short selling 1 million shares of Victoria Corporation at once.

“Mr. Victor, short selling that much requires approval from above…”

Karon Victor narrowed his eyes and raised his voice.

“Who did I say was backing me?”

He had emphasized to his employees that the CFO, Canny Paul, was his backer.

The manager had no choice but to bow his head when he raised his voice.

“Ah, I understand.”

The managers at Bank of America’s New York branch prepared a massive bomb to detonate at 2 p.m.

Karon Victor clasped his hands together and narrowed his eyes.

‘I need to prepare something on this side too,’ he thought.

He planned to spread negative news on Wall Street at the same time as the short selling.

‘What could it be?’

A good idea came to him as he pondered.

Beep.

Karon Victor called his secretary on the intercom.

“Mr. Victor, who should I connect you to?”

“Tell the head of the technology team to come up.”

“Understood.”

A moment later.

The head of the technology team at Bank of America’s New York branch entered.

“Mr. Victor, you called?”

“Did you hear the news?”

“What news are you referring to?”

“About Victoria Corporation and City Service.”

The head of the New York branch’s technology team was in charge of American Services, so he was slightly nervous.

‘It’s about the City Service hacking. I hope this doesn’t affect us,’ he worried.

He lowered his voice and said,

“I saw it in the newspaper. It was a hacker’s crime…”

Karon Victor narrowed his eyes and asked,

“Is hacking financial services that easy?”

“Basically, it’s not. Financial institutions have multiple layers of security…”

Karon Victor interrupted the technology team leader.

“So, is the guy amazing?”

“Probably.”

Karon Victor leaned back in his chair and placed his hands on his stomach.

“Could our server be hacked by him too?”

The technology team leader answered carefully, avoiding any cause for blame.

“Depending on the hacker’s skill, it could be possible, or it might not be.”

“Could be possible? Then why did he hack City Bank and not us?”

The technology team leader sighed inwardly.

‘Hoo… I don’t know why he’s asking me this,’ he thought, perplexed.

He had no idea what the perpetrator’s intentions were. He cautiously asked back,

“Well, wouldn’t it be because he had more animosity towards City Bank than us?”

Karon Victor slammed the desk and raised his voice.

“Do you think I called you here to ask you something like that? I’m telling you to think about it from a technical perspective as the head of the technology team!”

Think about it from a technical perspective.

The technology team leader realized what Karon Victor wanted to hear.

“If you put it that way, there is one thing that comes to mind.”

“What is it?”

“City Service had a shorter development period compared to our American Service or JP Morgan’s JP Service. So, I think there might have been some shortcomings.”

A smile spread across Karon Victor’s face.

“You’re saying there’s a weakness in security.”

The technology team leader’s eyes widened at Karon Victor’s words.

“W-we can’t jump to such conclusions.”

“No. I’m sure that’s it.”

Karon Victor chuckled softly.

“Hehehe, Victoria Corporation is finished too.”

At 11 a.m., he decided on the title of the flyer to be distributed at 2 p.m.

* * *

John Pierre breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Victoria Corporation’s stock price break through $11 and rise to $11.3.

“Hoo… It was a few days of hard work, but it’s a happy ending.”

The general manager handed him a mug and said,

“You’ve worked hard.”

John Pierre shrugged as he received the mug.

“We just helped out.”

He believed that Jung Hyun-woo and the engineers at Victoria Corporation had prevented this incident.

‘I don’t know how much the CIA helped, but the main force must have been Victoria Corporation,’ he thought.

John Pierre couldn’t help but trust Victoria Corporation’s technology.

“There’s not much time left until the market closes.”

“Don’t let your guard down until the end.”

“Understood.”

John Pierre and the JP Morgan managers thought that if they could just get through today safely.

But around 2 p.m.

An unexpected crash occurred.

“Large sell orders are coming in!”

John Pierre narrowed his brow and asked,

“Is it an actual sell-off? And who’s selling?”

“It’s Bank of America. It looks like short selling.”

John Pierre gritted his teeth.

“Damn it!”

He couldn’t understand why Bank of America was being so aggressive.

‘They have the same 10% stake as us, so I don’t know why they’re doing this,’ he wondered.

The general manager asked him,

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? We have to stop it.”

“Where should we set the resistance line?”

“What’s the price now?”

“It’s $10.7.”

John Pierre said with his arms crossed.

“Inject $5 million immediately.”

“$5 million?”

“Yes.”

The total amount of stock Karon Victor intended to use for the short selling attack was about $11 million.

$5 million could block Karon Victor’s short selling to some extent.

While the battle between JP Morgan and Bank of America’s New York branch was taking place.

A sharp debate unfolded at Bank of America’s headquarters as well.

“Canny, short selling a company our company invested in? Are you out of your mind?”

The one attacking Canny Paul was Paulo Giannini. He was considered a successor to Chairman Carlo Giannini.

“Isn’t it natural to withdraw money if the company’s future is bleak?”

“Are you saying Victoria Corporation’s future is bleak?”

“Look at the series of events.”

Canny Paul’s voice was cold.

“Canny, you were the one who recommended Victoria Corporation, weren’t you?”

“That was over a year ago.”

She was saying that the situation had changed in the past year.

“Isn’t the hacking issue already resolved?”

“Will the hacking really end with just one incident?”

She was saying that problems would continue to arise at Victoria Corporation.

Paulo Giannini’s face hardened at Canny Paul’s question.

“Canny, you will have to take responsibility for this.”

Canny Paul didn’t back down and responded to his words.

“Paulo, what will you do if the opposite of what you want happens?”

“Are you suggesting a bet with me?”

“It’s not a bet, it’s about keeping the company focused.”

Paulo Giannini was the COO [Chief Operating Officer], so he had more authority than Canny Paul.

But Canny Paul was not afraid of him.

“Canny, you’re after my position.”

Canny Paul said with a cold smile.

“No. The position I want is CEO [Chief Executive Officer].”

Paulo Giannini’s eyes widened at Canny Paul’s words.

“What does that…”

The CEO of Bank of America was Chairman Carlo Giannini.

Saying she was aiming for the CEO meant she was going to oust Chairman Carlo Giannini.

“I’ve already finished talking with the major shareholders. If I handle this cleanly, they’ve agreed to support me.”

Canny Paul’s words were like a declaration of war.

“Canny, you’re really bold!”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Canny Paul emphasized to the major shareholders that the Giannini family’s investments were terrible, and that Bank of America would suffer a great loss due to this investment.

She said that only she could prevent that loss, and if the major shareholders supported her, she would try to prevent it.

Paulo Giannini said in a somber voice.

“Canny, not everything will go your way.”

Canny Paul stared at Paulo Giannini with a cold gaze.

“I don’t want to take advice from a man who became rich just because he was born into a good family.”

To her, Paulo Giannini was just a young master [a derogatory term for someone who is rich and entitled].

* * *

Jung Hyun-woo narrowed his brow as he held the flyer that started circulating at 2 p.m.

“It seems we have a spy inside.”

Andrei stood before him.

“More than 50 people developed City Service. We can’t know who leaked the information.”

The fact that City Service’s security was weak was not top-secret information, but a fact known to most of the development team.

“What do you think?”

“It’s definitely not good news for us.”

“What about issuing a rebuttal statement?”

“Do we really need to issue a rebuttal statement to a flyer?”

Since it wasn’t a proper article, he was saying that an overreaction from their side could make the situation worse.

“Hmm, you’re right. It’s better to just ignore this.”

It was when Jung Hyun-woo crumpled the flyer.

Andrei asked him,

“Charlie, what are you going to do?”

Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head and asked back,

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“About the hacker.”

The hacker who hacked the City Bank server was a middle school student.

“Wouldn’t it be better to leave it to the CIA?”

“Without us getting involved?”

“I’m not thinking of recruiting the hacker as a special employee like in the movies.”

Andrei nodded at his words.

“Understood.”

Jung Hyun-woo called out to him as he was about to return to his seat.

“Andrei.”

“Do you have any other instructions?”

“I want you to take over the New York branch for the time being.”

Jung Hyun-woo wanted to leave personnel in New York who could respond immediately.

‘Smith is not enough,’ he thought.

Smith was from Development Team 2 and is currently the head of the New York branch.

“Then what about the collaboration with the CIA?”

“I’ll leave that to Adam.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought that stabilizing City Service was the most important thing right now.

“Let’s do as Charlie says.”

The New York branch employee approached as Andrei turned around.

“CEO, you have a call.”

“Okay.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and moved his feet. A moment later, he picked up the receiver.

“This is Charlie.”

“Charlie, what’s going on?”

This call was from Sarah.

“It’s as announced.”

“I’m talking about the flyer.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew what Sarah was worried about.

‘She must be thinking there’s a spy inside our company,’ he surmised.

He said in a calm voice.

“Sarah, it’s impossible to silence all employees.”

Sarah didn’t like his answer and raised her voice.

“Still, we need to know where it leaked from.”

“The information that leaked this time is information that the entire development team knows. I don’t think we can interrogate everyone in the development team over this.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought this was his responsibility.

‘Just as Robert was negligent in managing the AS Business Division, I also took the security issue lightly. This is my problem,’ he admitted to himself.

He was planning to proceed with the security patch as soon as possible. Of course, there were a few more hurdles to overcome in order to do that.

“Sarah, how’s your side?”

Normalizing the AS Business Division was also one of the hurdles to overcome for the security patch.

“We started negotiations today.”

The one in charge of this negotiation was the new head of the AS Business Division, Mac Coyle.

“Sarah, please trust Mac.”

Sarah sighed briefly.

“Hoo… I’m worried about Charlie.”

“There’s no need to worry. We’ve caught the hacker and the service has been normalized.”

“What about the short selling?”

Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head.

“How did Sarah know about that…”

“Joe contacted me.”

Joe Max.

He was one of the executives at City Bank.

Jung Hyun-woo raised his voice.

“City Bank contacted you about the short selling?”

“According to Joe, Bank of America is actively engaging in short selling. Charlie, you don’t mean you didn’t know?”

Jung Hyun-woo, of course, knew this fact.

“Actually, I received a call from Miss Marine.”

“What did Miss Marine say?”

“She said it was out of her hands.”

Sarah’s eyebrows shot up.

“Does that mean… the Giannini family has abandoned us?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then?”

“I think there are people at Bank of America who don’t like us.”

“Are you saying the Giannini family allowed their short selling?”

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head and replied.

“I don’t know about that.”

Sarah asked him again.

“What are you going to do, Charlie?”

Jung Hyun-woo replied in a calm voice.

“I’m going to accept it all.”

“Accept it all?”

“We have to fight money with money.”

“Charlie?”

“Sarah, don’t worry. Money is meant to be used at times like this.”

Sarah realized that Jung Hyun-woo was going to use his own account to counter the short selling.

‘It’s too dangerous,’ she thought, worried.

She knew that Jung Hyun-woo had a considerable amount of cash assets.

But Bank of America could mobilize billions of dollars.

“How about joining forces with JP Morgan?”

“I’m already working with John Pierre.”

“That’s a relief.”

Sarah thought that if JP Morgan was on their side, they could defend to some extent.

“Sarah.”

“Yes?”

“What’s important is the outcome of your negotiations.”

If the AS Business Division went on a full-scale strike, the short selling forces would inevitably be at an advantage.

Jung Hyun-woo thought that this negotiation had to succeed in order to break their morale.

“I know.”

“Please support Mac.”

Sarah nodded and accepted his words.

“Of course.”

Finally, Jung Hyun-woo said.

“Sarah, let’s be together tonight.”

Saying to have dinner together.

“If the negotiations end on time.”

“We have to hope it’s not a marathon negotiation.”

Jung Hyun-woo hung up the phone and narrowed his brow.

‘This negotiation will not end in a day or two,’ he predicted.

It could take at least three days, or even a week. During that time, he had to endure with his funds and JP Morgan’s support.