After the board eting ended.
Hols returned to the CEO’s office and anxiously paced back and forth, biting her nails for a long ti.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of knocking, her secretary entered—only to be t with a voice that sliced through the air.
"Where is Blackwell?"
The secretary froze for a mont.
Hols’s voice had risen an entire octave. The deep, composed tone she had carefully maintained for its air of mystery was gone, replaced by a sharp, almost shrill intensity.
But the secretary quickly suppressed her surprise and t her boss’s piercing gaze.
"He’s expected to arrive in three hours."
"Do you not understand what ‘urgent’ ans? I told you to bring him here imdiately!"
"He has a court appointnt today, so—"
Vincent Blackwell.
He was Theranos’ litigation attorney. And he was also a giant in the Arican legal field.
The lead strategist in Microsoft’s 2001 antitrust lawsuit. The man who took on California’s Proposition 8, opening a new chapter in LGBTQ rights.
She needed him.
Blackwell was a magician—he made the impossible possible. If anyone could pull Theranos out of this crisis, it was him. No, it had to be him.
"He said he would contact us before he departs, but—"
"Then call the in-house lawyer! Right now!"
Hols barked the order and resud pacing.
Finally, she stopped in front of her desk, her gaze sweeping over the stack of docunts piled on top.
An interview request from Ti magazine. An invitation to give a TED Talk. A letter announcing her selection for the Horatio Alger Award of the Year. A fellowship board invitation from Harvard dical School.
She had only just begun to spread her wings.
And now, it was all crumbling in an instant?
That can’t happen.
"There’s still a chance."
Yes, the board had caught onto sothing—but all they had were a few scattered puzzle pieces. And there were ways to spin the whistleblower’s claims. That employee hadn’t handled all of Newton’s verification tests.
If Newton had a 1% error rate, she could argue that the whistleblower had only worked with that 1%. That would turn the employee into a traitor— soone who had recklessly generalized their limited experience to deal a fatal blow to the company.
Whether the board would believe her was uncertain, but there was still a path to regaining their trust.
All she had to do was fix the problem.
Solve Newton’s issues. Perfect the technology. That was the only way out.
Yes, the technology was fundantally unfeasible, but Hols truly believed she could overco this challenge.
With enough funding, soone— soone—would find a solution.
A blueprint took shape in her mind.
Secure a massive influx of capital in record ti. Finalize Newton’s developnt.
Then, expand Newton’s test operations from the current 40 Walgreens locations to all 8,000 stores nationwide.
The impact would be beyond imagination.
From there, everything would fall into place.
Once that dazzling success beca reality, the board mbers who had walked out on her would co crawling back.
Yes, everything would return to its rightful place. As if none of this had ever happened.
And when that day ca, today’s crisis would fade into nothing more than a minor mishap, lost in the recesses of mory…
Knock, knock.
The door opened, and a young man cautiously peeked inside.
The in-house attorney.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, Hols’s voice fell like frost.
"Sue the Wall Street Tis reporter for defamation. Force them to issue a correction. And make them publish a massive public apology."
That article had started all of this.
The absurd comparison to ‘Hitler’ had provoked Kissinger—
which had set off the chain of events that led to everything unraveling.
"Even if they publish a correction now, I doubt the board will co back…"
"We’ll see about that."
Hols knew people like Kissinger.
In the end, what mattered most to them was their reputation.
Right now, they were keeping their distance only because they feared their pristine images would be tainted.
But if she erased that article…
Her expression hardened with certainty.
But the in-house attorney’s face remained full of doubt.
"Still, suing the reporter isn’t possible. Theranos wasn’t directly nad in the article— it only referred to an ‘anonymous startup.’ Legally, that doesn’t constitute defamation."
"But we still suffered damage!"
"I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do."
Even under Hols’s piercing glare, the lawyer refused to back down.
Hols bit her nails, anxiously pacing again.
Then—
Her wild eyes suddenly widened.
A spark of inspiration flickered.
Her face brightened.
"Then sue the witnesses! For breaching their NDAs! If they retract their statents, the entire article collapses. And the reporter will have to issue a correction!"
"Their statents don’t violate the NDA. General remarks about the company’s work environnt don’t fall under its scope."
"Then sue them for defamation! Do I have to spell out everything for you?"
Hols’s voice rose to a near scream.
This ti, the attorney’s tone hardened.
"You cannot sue an anonymous source for making statents about an unnad startup. If that were possible, every disgruntled employee who criticized their workplace on social dia could be taken to court."
As he spoke, his eyes lingered on Hols’s face.
Sothing about her was… off.
Outwardly, she seed composed— but every argunt she made, every demand she insisted on, was completely irrational.
And then—
Bzzzzzzzt!
Hols’s phone vibrated.
Her eyes locked onto the na on the screen.
The Harkner family's private investnt office.
The firm that had recently promised Theranos a $100 million investnt.
As Hols picked up the receiver with trembling hands, a voice as cold as ice ca from the other end.
[I heard that the majority of the board mbers have resigned. Is this true?]
How did they find out so quickly?
[What was the reason for their resignation?]
"It was for personal reasons."
[A mass resignation for personal reasons… A difficult explanation to believe.]
A cynical laugh echoed through the receiver. Then, the cold voice delivered its final ultimatum.
[If the board is in such disarray, we will also suspend the execution of our main contract.]
Hols’s fingers turned pale as she gripped her smartphone.
Without the final signature, neither shares nor money would move.
A contract suspension ant a total freeze of investnt funds.
"Until when… will you put it on hold?"
[Until the board issue is resolved.]
That ant the $100 million investnt would be indefinitely locked.
As soon as the call ended, darkness fell over Hols’s face.
The confidence she had barely managed to muster lted away like snow, leaving only empty eyes.
In the end, even her ambitions were shackled by financial constraints.
To fundantally solve the problem, she needed funding—
and now that funding was in jeopardy.
But this was only the beginning.
Bzzzzzzzt!
For the next two hours, Hols’s phone rang nonstop.
Every caller was an investor, and the ssage was always the sa.
[We are putting the main contract on hold.]
In just a single day, a staggering $2.9 billion had been frozen.
The money needed to fix Newton’s errors, the money that could have wiped away all these problems—
Gone.
Just as her vision darkened—
Bzzzzzzzt!
Another call.
Hols’s face twisted as she saw the na on the screen.
The re sight of the na sent a wave of anger surging through her.
She felt the urge to ignore it— but he was still an investor, and she couldn’t afford to turn her back on him.
At the sa ti, a strange curiosity crept in.
Why is he calling at this mont?
[I heard the board has resigned.]
His voice on the other end was composed, as if he were discussing soone else’s misfortune.
[It’s quite unfortunate. Frankly, part of the reason we invested was the board’s reputation…]
"They’ll co back."
[If you’re that confident, does that an you’re open to repurchasing company shares?]
He was essentially asking if Theranos would buy back RP Solutions' shares— a request that was practically a refund demand.
Many investors had declared a fund freeze, but Ha Si-heon was the first shaless enough to ask for his money back outright.
"…Share repurchases require board approval, per company regulations."
[Is that really a problem?]
"……"
[Ah, but there is no board, so that won’t be possible, will it?]
This was pure provocation.
[Then, when will the board be restored?]
Click.
Hols, unable to contain her disgust, hung up the phone.
But Ha Si-heon’s voice lingered in her mind, gnawing at her thoughts.
"Then, when will the board be restored?"
His voice had carried a trace of amusent.
Co to think of it…
She had been so fixated on the resignations that she had overlooked the real starting point of all this.
"This was all… all his doing."
Her voice started as a whisper but gradually escalated.
"Kissinger was fine— until he had dinner with that bastard. That’s when everything changed. He must have violated his NDA and spilled sothing during that eting. No—he must have trashed completely. Kissinger ca into today’s eting already prepared to take down!"
"Director Kissinger was set off by the Wall Street Tis article…"
The in-house attorney cautiously pointed out.
But Hols wasn’t listening.
"Exactly! That article!"
She suddenly scread.
Her face flushed red, veins bulging from her forehead.
"That journalist—Ha Si-heon orchestrated it! He t with the reporter separately, didn’t he?" The more she spoke, the more convinced she beca.
Her eyes glead with madness, and her words sped up.
"And on top of that, he’s friendly with so of our employees. He must have fed them information, which got turned into an article. Then, over dinner, he poisoned Kissinger’s mind against ! Because of him, $2.9 billion— $2.9 billion has vanished! If this isn’t grounds for a lawsuit, what is?!"
A flicker of unease crossed the attorney’s face.
Hols’s pupils wavered, losing focus.
Her hands swept across the desk, knocking over everything in her path.
Her rationality had long since disappeared.
And yet, she was still the CEO of this company.
"Sue Ha Si-heon. Shut him up. Right. Now."
***
I wonder if I provoked her enough?
After hanging up with Hols, I leaned back in my chair, lost in thought.
I had already heard from old man Kissinger about the board’s resignation. Naturally, Attorney Raymond would have heard by now too.
Even at this mont, Raymond was probably glued to his phone,
spreading the bombshell news to his clients.
Most of the investors had been recruited through him, so the resignation scandal had spread like wildfire.
Once they heard the news, they would freeze their investnts.
aning, my money would not end up in Hols’s pockets.
But… a new issue had arisen.
Because Kissinger had told this—
[You should step back now. I’ll handle the cleanup from here.]
His voice had carried a clear intent— he wanted to keep this scandal as quiet as possible.
Which made sense.
Letting this blow up would only bring embarrassnt.
But.
That’s not what I want.
I didn’t get involved in Theranos to quietly fix the company.
From the start, my goal had been fa.
I wanted this scandal to explode, to dominate every headline, to eventually beco a Hollywood blockbuster.
For that, I needed a courtroom drama.
But if I pulled the trigger on a lawsuit myself, I’d be outright defying Kissinger’s warning. I’d be labeled an ungrateful “disobedient grandson.”
So instead, I gave Hols a little nudge.
Hols wouldn’t just sit still.
Shutting people up was second nature to her.
And sure enough, after just a day or two— things played out exactly as I predicted.
"Mr. Ha Si-heon?"
A stranger barged into my office.
His casual attire clashed awkwardly with the refined atmosphere of Goldman.
"You've been served."
He handed a thick envelope.
I didn’t need to open it.
It was a subpoena.
aning—Hols had officially sued .
With this, she had once again managed to make a reckless, self-destructive move.
"Glad she reacted so quickly."
If she had taken any longer, I might have had to file a lawsuit myself.
Luckily, the provocation had worked.
Still—
I kept my excitent in check, putting on a somber expression.
The other associates had already gathered, watching curiously.
"What’s going on? Are you being sued?"
"It’s been quiet for a while, but now this?"
"Wait—what could you have possibly done?"
I glanced at the subpoena before folding it with a sigh.
Then, I turned to a nearby associate and asked,
"Have you ever been sued for defamation?"
Eyes widened.
"No way…"
"Are you telling … the White Shark sued you?"
It didn’t matter what I actually said.
Rumors had a way of spreading on their own.
And in just a few hours—
The whole of Wall Street was buzzing.
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