(Start of Week 8. Theo's Balance: $11,260.62)
Theo stared at the number glowing on his laptop screen: $11,260.62. It was the most money he'd ever had liquid access to in his life. Weeks ago, a balance like this would have seemed like an impossible dream, viewed from the bottom of a pit of ramen noodles and eviction notices. Despite having a job in a prestigious bank, he still lived pay check to pay check, having had to spend excessively to maintain his image and ambitions of corporate climbing. Now, it felt… adequate. Stable. But far from the towering edifice of wealth he envisioned. It was a solid foundation, yes, but foundations were meant to be built upon, aggressively. The successful, if increasingly tedious, bike flipping operation had proven the core concept, his +1 power could generate significant cash flow. But the research from the past two weeks pointed towards a new, potentially far more lucrative frontier: computer components. GPUs, specifically. High demand, high margins, plausible deniability. It felt right. But launching into a new market required capital for inventory, maybe even some specialized testing gear down the line.
He leaned back, the cheap springs of his chair groaning in protest. "Decision point," his internal analyst stated. "Commit fully to GPU R&D and acquisition? Or run one more bike cycle to bolster capital reserves first?" The bike sourcing was becoming a nightmare, efficiency plummeting with each search. Yet, another $3k+ profit was hard to ignore. It would provide a thicker cushion, more runway if the GPU market proved initially tricky. "Risk mitigation dictates maximizing buffer," he reasoned. "One final bike. Exploit the proven model while minimizing forum exposure." He couldn't keep selling bikes regularly under "PrecisionCycleWorks" without looking like a commercial dealer and risking a ban. A new username meant starting from scratch, losing the small credibility he'd built. "Okay. Secure Bike 5, sell it fast via the forum, then pivot completely. Operation: Final Carbon Buffer."
Executing Operation: Final Carbon Buffer proved significantly more challenging than anticipated. Bikes 3 and 4 were already difficult to procure, this last one, Bike 5 was proving to be a frustrating blur of dead ends, making Bikes 3 and 4 seem like a dream. Theo spent hours each evening after his component research, scrolling through cycling forums, marketplace listings, local classifieds. Promising ads evaporated upon inquiry ("Sorry, sold already," "Actually, decided not to sell"). He wasted a Tuesday evening driving forty minutes to a neighbouring suburb based on an ad showing a pristine-looking Cervelo listed at a "motivated seller" price, only to find a bike with mismatched wheels, a sticky headset, and an owner who reeked of cheap whiskey and tried to haggle upwards. "Never trust listings with blurry photos," Theo cursed silently, driving home empty-handed again. Another trip yielded a bike with undisclosed crash damage clumsily repaired with epoxy. His frustration simmered. The time sunk into these fruitless searches felt like stealing hours directly from his more promising GPU research. This wasn't just inefficient. It was infuriatingly slow. The universe, it seemed, agreed that the bike chapter needed to end.
While the bike search floundered, his GPU research accelerated. He confirmed his target: the Nvidia RTX 4090. The newly launched 5090s were practically mythical objects, instantly bought by bots and resold by scalpers at astronomical markups, far too expensive and risky for him to touch. "Absolute unicorns," he scoffed. "Scalpers asking double MSRP and it wasn't even enhanced with my +1? Forget it. Even if I found one cheap, who's paying $5k+ for a GPU from 'PrecisionCycleWorks' or some random new forum name I'd need to burn? Too niche, too much capital tied up." The rest of the 5000-series were almost as scarce and costly. But the 4090, the previous generation's undisputed king? It occupied the sweet spot. Powerful enough that its performance still commanded respect, yet becoming available on the used market as wealthy enthusiasts and early adopters jumped to the 5000-series hype train. "Perfect," Theo concluded. "A high-demand legacy product ripe for a performance 'refresh' enhancement."
Scouring the hardware swap forums yielded quicker results than the bike hunt. Late Wednesday evening of Week 8, he spotted it. A clean-looking Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC, listed by a user with a solid feedback history who claimed they'd just snagged a 5090. Asking price: $920. Theo messaged immediately, offering $900 cash, citing recent completed sales for similar cards. The seller accepted within minutes. They arranged a quick, safe meetup for the next day in the brightly lit parking lot of a busy suburban police station lobby, a precaution Theo insisted on when dealing with high-value, easily portable electronics.
The transaction was smooth. Theo handed over nine crisp hundred-dollar bills (feeling a pang at parting with nearly a thousand dollars for a single component) and received the GPU, heavy and substantial in its original box and anti-static bag. Back in his apartment, he carefully unboxed it, admiring the intricate design, the massive heatsink, the sheer density of technology. It felt potent, powerful, even before his intervention. "Almost a grand for last year's top dog," he mused, turning it over in his hands. "Has actually defied the normal tech depreciation where stuff drops 50% after a year and held its price reasonably well. Bloody crypto and its impact on GPUs. Guess that is why so many people are flogging their 4090s now while it's still retained some value. Anyway, more opportunities for me."