Ellie's popularity didn't die down easily.
The commercial uploaded to A-Tube surpassed 5 million views, and the Vester homepage crashed due to traffic from people trying to see the released photoshoot pictures.
In the photos, Ellie exuded charm, and the sportswear she modeled sold like hotcakes.
However, this was nothing. Amazingly, the Royal Fish&Chips commercial surpassed 10 million views!
Even music videos from major idol groups often don't reach those numbers. This was possible thanks to perfectly hitting the B-grade aesthetic nerve.
The cheesy set and song, combined with the model's (a part-time employee at the time of filming) cute dance moves and exaggerated, awkward acting, created this result.
It was a perfect contrast to the Vester commercial in every aspect.
Truthfully, I also contributed to the view count by watching it occasionally when I was bored.
Fueled by its explosive popularity online, the Royal Fish&Chips commercial eventually made it onto national broadcast news and was even reported by foreign media—despite the franchise itself having gone bankrupt long ago.
Several variety and comedy shows even parodied it, plunging Ellie further into the depths of despair.
According to Taek-gyu, there's nothing funnier than someone else's embarrassing past.
But this incident spawned another strange phenomenon: a sudden fish and chips craze swept the food industry. Seizing the opportunity, new franchises started recruiting franchisees, and small takeaway shops popped up like mushrooms. Some even used names like 'Royal Fish&Chips' or 'Royal FiChip'.
Ellie now looked as if she had transcended all worldly concerns. "Even British people don't particularly like fish and chips."
She said they eat it because it's there, not because it's particularly delicious.
"It's a characteristic of the Korean food industry to jump on the bandwagon whenever something gets popular."
Fish and chips were highly likely to follow the path of previously short-lived trends like small beer pubs, cheap juice stands, and Taiwanese castella cakes.
Wouldn't they all likely close down in a few months?
Actually, the real major problem was something else. As media competition intensified, paparazzi started following Ellie.
Among them were not only Korean "giregi" (trash reporters) but also professional paparazzi—individuals who make a living by taking photos of celebrities and selling them to tabloids.
They didn't discriminate between inside and outside the hotel. They constantly appeared in coffee shops, restaurants, fitness centers, and swimming pools, shoving cameras in her face.
When the hotel banned them, they disguised themselves as ordinary guests, even pooling their money to rent a room on the same floor as Ellie.
Given the situation, it became difficult for her to even eat breakfast or have coffee, let alone exercise or swim.
When attempts were made to chase them away, they invariably claimed the public's right to know. Why someone's private life falls under the purview of the right to know was beyond me, but there were few effective means of control.
Ellie shook her head. "I think I'll have to move hotels."
Since Golden Gate is a foreign company, about 20 percent of its employees are foreigners. Expatriates or people on business trips who hadn't arranged separate housing stayed at the Grand Dayton Hotel near Samseong Station, in which Golden Gate held shares. Golden Gate employees often referred to it informally as "the dorms."
Ellie had lived there ever since coming to Korea. Originally, Hyun-joo noona and Henry had stayed there too.
"Where to?"
"I'm not sure yet. I'm considering the Dragon Carlton Hotel in Yongsan or the Rete Tower in Jamsil."
"But that would make it farther from the company. Won't the commute be difficult?"
'And farther from my place too.'
If Ellie had merely been a Golden Gate lawyer and an advertising model, she might not have received this much public attention. But adding the fact that she was the girlfriend of the world's richest man created this situation. Therefore, I bore some responsibility for the harassment Ellie was currently enduring.
And moving hotels wouldn't completely solve the problem either. Word would quickly get out about where she moved, and the same thing would likely happen again. Although, moving to a hotel with tighter security might make things slightly better...
"There's a better way."
"What is it?"
I suggested cautiously, "How about staying at my place for a while, until things quiet down?"
At my words, Ellie's eyes widened in surprise. "At your place, Jin-hoo?"
"Yes. It's close to the company and Hyun-joo noona's place too. Commuting is convenient, and it's a residential area, so security is good."
"That's true."
"But if it makes you uncomfortable, then never mind."
"No. Well, it's not particularly uncomfortable, but..." Ellie trailed off, fiddling with her hair with her fingers unnecessarily.
Even now, she stays over at my place three or four nights a week. My room already holds her cosmetics and changes of clothes. But visiting often and sleeping over is different from actually living together.
"Won't Taek-gyu find it inconvenient?"
"He said he's fine with it."
After thinking for a moment, Ellie said cautiously, "Shall we do that for a while then?"
I quickly nodded. "Let's do that. For a while."
Though I didn't know how long "for a while" would last.
Ellie immediately moved her belongings from the hotel to my house, and Taek-gyu readily welcomed the new resident.
To commemorate, we ordered Jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles) from a Chinese restaurant. Jjajangmyeon is essential on moving day.
***
While chaos erupted in the Japanese stock market and political circles, and while we were on vacation, the global economy kept moving busily.
Our main focus currently was CarOS.
The AD3 and AD4, launched at the end of last year, were selling like wildfire. Since production and deliveries began, the number of pre-orders hadn't decreased but rather continued to grow.
Daryl encouraged and supported partner suppliers to increase parts production while also running some factories at full capacity using a 4-team, 3-shift system.
Taek-gyu tilted his head. "If it's a 3-shift system, shouldn't there be three teams?"
"Then they'd have to work without any days off."
Workers need a mandatory 16-hour rest period after an 8-hour shift. But if you rotate three teams on three shifts, they have to return to work immediately after their 16-hour rest. Not only do they get no days off, but it's also impossible to change the work sequence midway.
With four teams, while three teams work in a day, one team can rest completely. And since night shifts are physically demanding, they can appropriately rotate between day, evening, and night shifts.
We couldn't just rejoice that the factories were running at full capacity. Conversely, it meant we had misjudged demand and failed to secure adequate production capacity. Of course, it was also partly due to the backlog of orders in the initial phase, but even considering that, the demand was excessively high.
As CarOS sales exploded, dealerships were also busy.
Like previous models, the AD3 and AD4 were sold concurrently through the website and dealerships. Since there were no discounts, the price was the same regardless of where you bought it.
Dealerships served not only as sales points but also as hubs for parts replacement and maintenance.
Dealerships that had previously struggled to make ends meet selling Chrysler vehicles hit the jackpot along with CarOS. Cars were sold almost as soon as they arrived, making it difficult to even find display models or test-drive vehicles.
Inquiries flooded in from other dealerships. They wanted to switch to becoming CarOS dealerships and requested inventory allocation.
However, since sales were already primarily online, there was little need to entrust sales to dealerships and pay them commissions. But it was a different story for the dealerships that had remained loyal even as Chrysler was collapsing.
Competitors watched CarOS's sales trends with intense nervousness. The launch of the new CarOS models caused the stock prices of most car companies to fall.
The company hit hardest among them was...
I received a report from CarOS's CFO, Sergi Yobanovich.
[Nikola's financial situation is not good. There are rumors they might go bankrupt soon.]
***
Nikola once surpassed the market caps of GM and Ford, becoming America's largest automaker by valuation.
The reason Nikola, selling less than 100,000 cars a year, could exceed the market cap of GM, selling 7 million cars, was the conviction that it would win the fierce competition for future vehicles.
Typically, an automaker's strategy is to release affordable small and mid-size sedans with the highest demand, then build capital and technology to enter the high-end market. Most companies, including Eunsung Motors, grew this way.
But Nikola's strategy was the exact opposite.
They first launched a roadster (a two-seater sports car), followed by a four-seater luxury sedan priced over $100,000. This strategy was possible because it was backed by battery and autonomous driving technology.
They first targeted the niche luxury market to build brand recognition and expand production facilities and sales volume. Based on this, they released a popular mass-market car with high demand: the Model TM, a compact sedan priced around $30,000.
The Model TM proved Nikola's strategy successful by attracting hundreds of thousands of pre-orders, despite requiring a $1,000 deposit.
Nikola was now poised to make money simply by producing and selling the Model TM. Experts also predicted that the Model TM launch would pull Nikola out of its chronic losses and into profitability.
But at this juncture, two problems arose.
First was the Big One.
Unlike most American automakers concentrated in the Rust Belt, Nikola had factories located near Silicon Valley. The Big One severely damaged the Model TM factory in California, and the Gigaplant factory in Nevada also ceased operations.
This disaster struck just as Nikola was ramping up production, causing its production capacity to plummet again. Assembling cars by hand instead of using damaged machinery drove up production costs and increased defect rates.
It was truly the biggest crisis since the company's founding.
However, even this paled in comparison to the second crisis.
That was the launch of CarOS's electric vehicles. The AD3 and AD4 were over $20,000 more expensive than the Model TM, but they featured fully autonomous driving technology and double the battery capacity. This easily justified the $20,000+ price difference.
Just as Nikola was about to profit from the Model TM, a competitor emerged mass-producing and selling superior electric cars.
CarOS swept up the market demand that should have originally gone to Nikola. In fact, a significant number of Model TM reservation holders canceled their orders and switched to the AD3 and AD4.
More damaging than the immediate drop in sales was the decline in image.
While other companies sold more electric cars than Nikola, none made better electric cars. Therefore, driving a Nikola car was a symbol of being trendy and luxurious.
But now, the image of the most advanced future car belonged to CarOS, and no one looked at Nikola cars with the same aspirational gaze anymore.
Once at the pinnacle, Nikola had become just another electric car brand.
CEO Allen Eberhardt fumed. "CarOS stole the market we spent 15 years painstakingly building!"
Indeed, Nikola had strived to expand the electric vehicle base and played a significant role in popularizing EVs. No one could deny they were pioneers.
However, it's common for a Fast Follower to plant its flag on the territory cleared by a First Mover.
Concerns about Nikola's bankruptcy weren't new. The company hadn't turned a profit once in its 15-year history and carried enormous debt.
Nikola posted losses every quarter, sometimes losing as much as $1 billion in a single quarter. Any other company would have gone bankrupt long ago. Yet, it managed to continue investing and growing because of continuous infusions of investment capital.
Facing financial difficulties due to multiple setbacks, Allen Eberhardt attempted to attract new investment through a new share issuance. This was a method they had used repeatedly, and each time, investors had eagerly brought bundles of cash.
But this time, the atmosphere was different. Wall Street investors' reactions were not just lukewarm but frigid.
'Who would buy Nikola stock now, unless perhaps CarOS goes public?'
Some analysts declared buying Nikola stock now was the height of foolishness, advising investors to put their money into GM and Ford instead, given their partnerships with CarOS.
Due to lack of demand, the share issuance failed. As soon as this news broke, Nikola's stock plummeted 60% in a single day.
Its market cap, which had exceeded $60 billion at its peak, was now barely over $12 billion. The exodus of reservation holders intensified, and the factory utilization rate, which had been painstakingly restored, dropped to 50%.
Losses aren't a major problem as long as a company continues to grow. But the moment growth stops, those losses return like a boomerang.
As bond and loan maturities approached, Allen Eberhardt personally went to New York to persuade Wall Street investors. However, their responses were overwhelmingly negative.
Finally unable to hold on any longer, Nikola filed for bankruptcy protection.
It had effectively entered the bankruptcy process.