Houston, Texas.
At one edge of downtown, where skyscrapers stood in neat rows, sat Enron's headquarters, a company that had drawn national attention in recent years for its explosive growth.
A black limousine glided to a stop. From the back seat stepped Jack Haywood, the chairman of Enron.
The moment he appeared, more than a dozen reporters and cameramen rushed toward him, surrounding him in an instant.
"Is it true the recent drop in your stock is due to short selling?"
"Your share price has fallen more than twenty percent. Do you have anything to say to worried shareholders?"
"If short positions are building, that suggests Enron stock is overvalued. What's your response to that?"
His secretary hurried over with security guards, trying to keep the reporters from getting too close, but they pushed forward like a pack of hyenas that had found fresh prey, shoving out microphones and cameras.
Camera shutters snapped in rapid bursts. Flash after flash exploded in front of him. The barrage of questions and noise pounded against Haywood's ears.
He already knew reporters would be waiting at the front entrance, so his usual warm smile was nowhere to be seen. His face was stiff as he finally spoke.
"It's nonsense!"
Haywood looked around at the circle of reporters and continued in a forceful tone.
"I'm well aware that someone is trying to wreck our stock price using underhanded tactics for their own gain. Wall Street knows who it is, and I'm sure most of you in the press have a fair idea as well."
Haywood stood tall, shoulders squared, projecting absolute confidence in front of the cameras.
"Make sure they hear this clearly. They've picked the wrong man to provoke."
A reporter holding a voice recorder raised his voice over the crowd.
"Are you saying you're confident you can overcome the short-selling attack?"
Haywood lifted his chin, his expression firm.
"I guarantee you this. Before long, the speculators trying to drag down our stock for a quick profit will lose a fortune and regret it with tears of blood."
His bold declaration sent the reporters buzzing again, questions firing off like a swarm of bees.
"Does that mean you have a strategy to beat the short sellers?"
"Can you explain specifically what you plan to do?"
"So you're saying there's absolutely nothing wrong with the company?"
As their voices rose over one another, Haywood spoke again.
"The exact figure will be announced after discussion with the board, but we will soon begin large-scale buybacks of company stock for cancellation to support the share price."
It was a bombshell—an open declaration of war against the short sellers.
"How much stock will you be buying back?"
"And if the short selling still doesn't stop, what will you do then?"
Sensing a potential scoop, the reporters pressed closer, eyes gleaming. But Haywood clamped his mouth shut, clearly finished speaking.
His secretary and the security team pushed the crowd back to clear a path, and Haywood walked forward, ignoring the voices coming at him from every direction.
Even as he stepped through the revolving doors into the lobby, shutters snapped, and reporters' questions chased after him like gnats clinging to his back.
Only after he crossed the marble-floored lobby and entered the executive elevator—doors sliding shut between him and the pack—did he finally escape the ravenous gazes of the press.
Haywood's face twisted, and he yanked at the knot of his tie with a rough hand, spitting out a curse.
"Fuck!"
He turned his head and glared at the secretary standing beside him.
"Has there still been no word from the Eldorado Fund?"
The fierce look in his eyes made the secretary shrink back.
"No, sir. They keep repeating that they can't disclose their investment positions."
"Ridiculous. The whole of Wall Street already knows Eldorado is shorting our stock, so what kind of game are they playing?"
Haywood's anger rose the more he spoke, until he snapped and shouted.
"I think it means they have no intention of speaking with us," the secretary said carefully.
Haywood ground his teeth at the timid response.
"So that's how they want to play it. Fine. Let's get dirty."
Veins stood out on his forehead as he issued his next order.
"Leak the fact that we're in the middle of negotiating an investment agreement with Saudi Arabia."
"What?"
The secretary's eyes widened in shock.
"But the agreement isn't signed yet. We agreed to keep it confidential until then."
"I know that! But if we don't want Eldorado dragging us around by the nose, we need to defend the stock price however we can. I'll handle things with the Saudis. Just do what I said!"
His irritated tone made the secretary flinch.
"Yes, sir. I understand."
Just then, the elevator reached the executive floor, and the doors slid open. Haywood strode out without hesitation.
"Damn it. They dump their entire stake out of nowhere and then stab us in the back like this."
With a face full of suppressed fury, Haywood walked down the corridor as if vowing he wouldn't let it go.
***
[Enron, targeted by short sellers, announces plans for massive stock buybacks and cancellation!]
[Enron in talks with Saudi Arabia on developing oil fields in the northern Red Sea]
[Enron to pursue multibillion-dollar oil field projects with Saudi Arabia]
To counter the Eldorado Fund's short bet, Chairman Jack Haywood struck back by projecting unwavering confidence in the company's fundamentals while releasing a series of major positive announcements.
Echoing his stance, large Wall Street investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, began openly accumulating Enron shares, making no attempt to hide their intent to force a short squeeze.
Seeing that, hedge funds smelling profit swarmed in like starving hyenas. Soon, the entire attention of Wall Street was locked onto Enron's stock price.
"Buy ten thousand shares of Enron at market!"
"What? Seventy-four dollars thirty cents? It was seventy-four flat just a moment ago!"
"Okay. Done!"
"Order confirmed—three thousand Enron shares at seventy-four thirty!"
As always, the Lehman Brothers trading floor was a whirlwind of noise and movement, filled with shouted orders and ringing phones as traders moved at full speed.
Charlie, sleeves rolled up and seated before six glowing monitors, let out a groan.
"This is insane. The market's only been open a few hours, and buy orders have already piled past six hundred million dollars."
Reckman, sitting beside him, leaned back and let out a complicated sigh.
"Can you blame them? The big investment banks are teaming up out in the open to hit Eldorado with a short squeeze. Every hedge fund that smells blood is diving in now."
Even as he spoke, more buy orders poured in. Charlie shook his head in disbelief.
"If it were me, I'd be scrambling to buy back every share I dumped earlier. The fact that Eldorado Fund isn't backing down and is still shorting like this is… impressive."
Even with hundreds of millions of dollars in buy orders pouring in, Enron's stock wasn't skyrocketing. It was only inching upward. The reason was simple: Eldorado kept hammering the stock with shorts without pause.
"Most of the sell orders coming in right now must be Eldorado unloading," Reckman said with a small nod.
"Anyone can see Eldorado is at a disadvantage now that their position has basically been exposed. Jumping into the short side with them at this point would be pure gambling. Even the people who followed Chairman Park into the trade must be sitting still, holding their breath."
Charlie leaned slightly toward Reckman, lowering his voice.
"No matter how big Eldorado is, going up against pretty much the entire Wall Street is another story. They can't win this one… right?"
"It won't be easy," Reckman admitted quietly.
Charlie clicked his tongue, visibly torn. "Still… it's tempting. If a real short squeeze hits, Enron's price could shoot up to who knows where. Should I jump in now? Or pass?"
The chance for a massive profit clearly tempted Reckman too, though he hesitated. Deep down, he felt the odds were low. Yet something about Eldorado being cornered this easily didn't sit right with him. It felt… off.
"Holy—look at this!"
Charlie suddenly shot upright, eyes wide.
Reckman spun toward the monitors—and his eyes widened too.
A sell order of ten million shares hit the market at once. The stock, which had been slowly climbing, collapsed below seventy-four dollars in an instant.
"They're really going for it. Eldorado's taking on all of Wall Street head-on. What kind of nerve does that take?"
As Eldorado continued pressing the stock down without hesitation, the big investment banks came roaring back with another wave of buy orders. Neither side yielded an inch.
Reckman watched the tug-of-war with a stiff expression and muttered under his breath.
"Only two possibilities here."
"What do you mean?"
Reckman pointed at the Enron price chart with his chin, the line jerking up and down without pause.
"Either Chairman Park is recklessly playing a game of chicken… or he's holding a card that can definitely drag Enron's stock down."
Charlie frowned at that.
"Either way, whoever loses is going to take a fatal hit."
"Pretty much."
Reckman's expression darkened as he stared at the monitor showing the growing short interest.
***
Dawn was beginning to creep over the horizon outside the window as Seok-won walked into the trading room, a cup of coffee in one hand. He took his seat at his desk and moved his mouse, checking Enron's closing price from the just-ended New York session.
[ENE: 75.42 (▲2.13)]
After checking the trading volume as well, Seok-won smiled, a deep grin forming at the edge of his lips.
"I'd like to push the big investment banks into buying even more Enron shares, but if I did that, the whole of Wall Street would fall into chaos. Better to wrap things up here."
Having made up his mind, Seok-won picked up his phone from the desk and pressed a speed-dial number.
The line rang, and within seconds, Landon answered.
"Yes, boss. Go ahead."
"How many shares have we shorted up to yesterday?"
"Roughly four hundred twenty million."
"That's more than half of the entire float."
"It's just under fifty-five percent."
Seok-won took a sip of warm coffee and spoke in a casual tone.
"That should be enough. When the market opens tomorrow, file the short-selling report."
Landon responded instantly, almost sounding delighted.
"Heh. The big investment banks must be feeling smug, thinking they've backed us into a corner by scooping up Enron shares. Once that short report goes public, they'll lose their minds."
"After getting burned so many times, they still don't learn. Now they can pay the price for charging in without fear."
His dry smile carried through his voice, and Landon agreed.
"Exactly. The big IBs and the hedge funds that followed their lead soaked up our short positions beautifully. Thanks to them, our profits have ballooned. Honestly, they've done us a huge favor."
Seok-won let out a small laugh at Landon's almost cheerful tone.
"Once we release the short-selling report, short Citi and JPMorgan at the same time."
"Citi and JPMorgan?"
"Yes. Both of them have lent Enron several billion dollars."
"If Enron is pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, they'll never get that money back. Their stock prices will crash with it."
"And the other major investment banks that bought Enron shares for a short squeeze will take damage too. Short them along with the rest."
"Heh. Understood. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when their reverse short attack fails, and their stock prices get crushed."