Jin-woo woke at 5:47 AM to his phone alarm, thirteen minutes before it was supposed to go off. His body had given up on sleep, too wired with anxiety and the phantom sensations of VR combat still lingering in his nervous system. The apartment was dark, the autumn morning not yet showing itself through his grimy window.
He went through his routine on autopilot—bathroom, instant coffee, the second-to-last package of instant noodles. While the noodles cooked, he checked his bank account: -$112.23. The loan agreement sat open on his phone browser, the due date in 27 days now glowing like a countdown to execution.
Jin-woo had spent most of last night lying awake, thinking about what he'd read in the forums. The crafting materials market. Player-to-player trading. The possibility of earning more than vendor prices for his drops. He'd been leaving money on the table by selling everything to NPCs.
Today would be different.
By 6:15 AM, Jin-woo was logged back into ERO, his headset fully charged and ready for another marathon session. He materialized in Havencrest City's plaza, the in-game time showing early morning with both suns just beginning to rise. The city was quieter at this hour—most players were either logged out or grinding in distant zones—but there was still activity. NPCs went about their programmed routines, and a handful of dedicated players moved through the streets.
Jin-woo opened his character sheet to check his status:
Name: Jin Park
Level: 5
Experience: 34/1000
Health: 175/175
Stamina: 140/140
Gold: 0 gold, 1,171 copper
Attributes:
Strength: 22
Agility: 11
Vitality: 17
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Luck: 10
He had eleven silver and seventy-one copper. Not much, but enough for what he needed to do today.
Jin-woo navigated through the city streets, following the directions he'd memorized from the forum posts. The marketplace district was in the eastern section of Havencrest, accessible through the main plaza but set apart in its own massive courtyard. As he walked, the architecture gradually changed from the standard medieval fantasy aesthetic to something more commercial—wider streets, covered pavilions, open spaces designed for crowds and commerce.
And then he saw it.
The Havencrest Marketplace was enormous—easily three times the size of the central plaza where he'd been doing most of his business. The space was a vast open square paved with smooth white stone, surrounded on all sides by permanent shop buildings with ornate facades. But the real activity was in the center, where hundreds of temporary stalls and vendor stands created a maze of commerce.
Players and NPCs mingled in roughly equal numbers. NPC merchants stood behind wooden stalls displaying weapons, armor, potions, food, and countless other goods. But interspersed among them were player-run stalls—temporary setups where players sold items they'd crafted or looted, usually at prices better than what NPCs offered.
The visual overload was immediate. Banners hung above stalls advertising wares in bright colors. Magical effects flickered from enchanted items on display. Players in elaborate armor browsed the stands, their high-level gear making them look like walking advertisements for endgame content. Holographic price tags floated above items, some showing copper amounts, others silver, a few displaying gold values that made Jin-woo's jaw drop.
He walked deeper into the marketplace, his eyes taking in everything. A permanent NPC shop near the entrance sold basic iron weapons—swords, axes, maces—all priced between 80 copper and 2 silver. Jin-woo's current iron sword was probably worth about 1 silver if he tried to sell it.
A player stall nearby had a sign reading "BULK MATERIALS" in glowing text. The vendor—a dwarf character with the nameplate "StoneDelver - Level 34"—was selling stacks of iron ore. The price tag: 1 silver per stack of 10 ore.
Jin-woo stopped to observe. A crafter player approached—a human blacksmith based on the hammer and anvil symbol floating above their head—and engaged the vendor in trade.
"How much for 200 ore?" the blacksmith asked.
"Twenty silver for 200," StoneDelver replied. "That's market rate. I got 500 more if you need it."
"I'll take 300. Thirty silver."
The transaction completed in seconds, the ore stacks transferring from StoneDelver's inventory to the blacksmith's, silver flowing in the opposite direction. Thirty silver. Thirty dollars for about two minutes of trading.
Jin-woo continued walking, cataloging prices as he went. Another player stall was selling wolf pelts—the same pelts Jin-woo had been vendoring to NPCs for 5 copper each. The player's price: 10 copper per pelt.
Double what NPCs paid.
A third stall sold goblin ears. Jin-woo had collected dozens of these during his goblin grinding, each one vendoring for 8 copper to NPCs. This player was selling them for 15 copper each.
Nearly double again.
Jin-woo felt a surge of frustration at his own ignorance. He'd been throwing away money by vendoring everything. The price difference wasn't huge on individual items, but scaled across hundreds of drops, it added up significantly.
He passed a weapon stall where a level 19 warrior was examining a sword with an elaborate crossguard and blade that glowed faintly blue. The nameplate above the weapon read: Uncommon Iron Sword of Striking with a quality indicator showing "Uncommon" in green text. The price tag: 1 gold.
One gold. That was 100 silver. One hundred dollars for a single sword.
Jin-woo watched as the warrior completed the purchase, the gold transferring in a shimmer of light. The buyer equipped the sword immediately, and his attack rating visible in his character panel jumped from +12 to +18.
"Worth it," the warrior muttered to himself before walking away.
Jin-woo stood there for a moment, processing. A hundred dollars for a virtual sword. But it wasn't insane when you considered that the same warrior was probably earning $50-100 per week through ERO. The sword was an investment that would let him kill enemies faster, earn more money more quickly. The economics actually made sense, as perverse as it felt.
He continued exploring, passing stalls selling rare herbs (2-5 silver each), armor sets (10-50 silver for full sets), skill books (prices ranging from 50 copper to 5 gold), and crafting recipes (1-10 gold depending on rarity). A potion vendor was doing brisk business selling healing potions—basic ones for 20 copper, advanced ones for 1 silver.
And throughout it all, Jin-woo kept noticing the same pattern: player prices were consistently higher than NPC vendor prices, usually by 50-100%, because players needed these items for leveling, crafting, or collecting. NPCs bought at vendor price—low, guaranteed, but low. Players bought at market price—higher, but required finding buyers.
Jin-woo found an empty spot near the southern edge of the marketplace, away from the main traffic but still visible. A sign nearby indicated this was the "Open Vendor Area - Temporary Stalls Available." An NPC attendant—a cheerful-looking halfling in merchant's clothes—approached him.
"Setting up shop, adventurer?" the NPC asked. "Temporary stalls rent for 10 copper per hour. Minimum rental: 1 hour. Maximum: 12 hours."
Ten copper per hour. Jin-woo had 1,171 copper. If he rented for three hours, that was 30 copper, leaving him 1,141 copper. Worth the investment if he could sell his materials.
"Three hours," Jin-woo said.
"Excellent!" The NPC waved his hand, and a simple wooden stall materialized in front of Jin-woo. It was basic—just a wooden table with a cloth covering and space for displaying items—but functional. "The stall is yours for three hours. Good luck with your sales!"
Jin-woo opened his inventory and started pulling out the materials he'd been hoarding. Wolf pelts, goblin ears, wolf fangs, torn leather scraps, damaged weapons and armor pieces. Everything he'd been collecting over the past two days of grinding.
He organized the items on the stall's surface, grouping similar items together. Then he opened the vendor interface to set prices. The system was intuitive—he could set prices per item or per stack, and the interface automatically displayed them in floating text above each item pile.
Wolf Pelts: He had 47 of them. NPC vendor price was 5 copper. He'd seen another player selling them for 10 copper. Jin-woo set his price at 9 copper each—slightly undercut the competition to move them faster. If they all sold, that was 423 copper.
Goblin Ears: He had 63 of them. NPC vendor price was 8 copper. Market price seemed to be 15 copper. Jin-woo set his price at 13 copper each. If they all sold: 819 copper.
Wolf Fangs: He had 89 of them. NPC vendor price was 3 copper. He hadn't seen other players selling these, so he wasn't sure of the market price. He set them at 5 copper each—a reasonable markup. Potential: 445 copper.
Torn Leather Scraps: 34 pieces. NPC price: 2 copper. He set them at 3 copper each. Potential: 102 copper.
Damaged Weapons/Armor: Various pieces totaling 23 items. Their NPC vendor value ranged from 5-15 copper each. Jin-woo priced them at 8-20 copper depending on quality. Potential: roughly 250 copper total.
If everything sold at his asking prices, he'd make: 423 + 819 + 445 + 102 + 250 = 2,039 copper. That was 20 silver and 39 copper.
But those were optimistic numbers. Realistically, not everything would sell, and he might need to lower prices to move inventory.
Jin-woo stepped back and examined his stall. It looked... pitiful, honestly. A tiny wooden table covered in gray-quality vendor trash. Compare that to the elaborate stalls nearby selling enchanted weapons and rare crafting materials, and he felt like a kid running a lemonade stand next to a luxury car dealership.
But it was what he had.
The first customer arrived about fifteen minutes later—a level 8 leatherworker based on their profession icon. They browsed Jin-woo's wolf pelts without speaking, then bought 10 pelts at 9 copper each.
Transaction Complete: 90 copper received
Jin-woo's first player-to-player sale. Ninety copper for pelts that would have netted him 50 copper from an NPC vendor. An 80% profit increase.
Over the next hour, more customers trickled by. A crafter bought 20 goblin ears. An alchemist purchased 30 wolf fangs. A player who seemed to be collecting materials for a quest cleaned out his torn leather scraps. The transactions were sporadic—sometimes ten minutes would pass with no activity, then three customers would arrive at once.
After two hours, Jin-woo checked his sales:
Wolf Pelts: 41 sold, 6 remaining (369 copper earned)Goblin Ears: 48 sold, 15 remaining (624 copper earned)Wolf Fangs: 72 sold, 17 remaining (360 copper earned)Torn Leather Scraps: All 34 sold (102 copper earned)Damaged Equipment: 18 sold, 5 remaining (195 copper earned)
Total earned so far: 1,650 copper. That was 16 silver and 50 copper.
Jin-woo's currency counter showed: 0 gold, 2,791 copper (his starting 1,141 minus the 30 copper stall rental, plus the 1,680 copper in sales).
The stall rental had thirty minutes left. Jin-woo lowered his prices on the remaining items to move them faster—wolf pelts dropped to 7 copper, goblin ears to 10 copper, wolf fangs to 4 copper. Within twenty minutes, everything sold except two damaged daggers that no one wanted.
Final tally: 2,059 copper in sales over 3 hours, minus 30 copper for the stall rental = 2,029 copper profit.
His currency counter: 0 gold, 3,170 copper.
That was 31 silver and 70 copper. Nearly thirty-two dollars. Jin-woo had just earned more in three hours of standing at a stall than he'd earned in the previous eight hours of grinding.
The realization was both exciting and frustrating. He'd been working himself into exhaustion killing wolves and goblins when he could have been farming materials and selling them at market prices for significantly better returns.
As Jin-woo was about to dismiss his stall—the rental time expired automatically—a player approached. The character was a male dwarf with an impressive brown beard, wearing blacksmith's work clothes stained with soot. Above his head, the nameplate read: Blacksmith Joe - Level 42.
Level 42. Jin-woo had to consciously not stare. This player was in the top 10% of the entire server based on level alone.
"You selling materials regularly?" Blacksmith Joe asked, his voice gruff through the voice chat. He sounded like he was in his thirties, confident and businesslike.
"Uh, yeah," Jin-woo replied. "I farm and sell. Why?"
"I'm looking for suppliers. I need iron ore. Lots of it. One silver per stack of ten ore, market rate. If you can gather in bulk, I'll buy consistently. I go through about 5,000 ore per week."
Jin-woo's mind raced. Five thousand ore per week. At 1 silver per 10 ore, that was 500 silver per week. Five hundred dollars. Not for Jin-woo personally—that was what the blacksmith was spending—but it represented massive demand.
"Mining?" Jin-woo asked, trying to sound knowledgeable. "Is that profitable? For the miner, I mean."
Blacksmith Joe shrugged. "Depends on how fast you are. Iron nodes respawn every 5-10 minutes. Good mining route can net you maybe 200-300 ore per hour. That's 20-30 silver per hour if you're efficient. Better than grinding trash mobs for copper."
Twenty to thirty silver per hour. That was $20-30 per hour. Three to four times what Jin-woo was making grinding wolves.
"But," Joe continued, "mining is mind-numbing. You're just running a route, clicking nodes, gathering ore. No combat, no excitement. Most players can't handle it for more than an hour or two before getting bored. That's why I need suppliers—not enough miners to meet crafter demand."
"Where do you mine?" Jin-woo asked.
"Ironforge Mountain has the best iron nodes for low-level miners. That's a level 10-20 zone, so you'd need to be at least level 10 to survive the monsters there. There's also the Copper Hills south of here, but that's copper ore, different market."
Level 10. Jin-woo was level 5. He needed to gain five more levels before he could access the profitable mining zones.
"I'm level 5 right now," Jin-woo admitted. "But I'll be level 10 soon. Can I contact you then?"
"Sure." Blacksmith Joe opened his interface and sent a friend request. "Add me. When you hit level 10 and want to mine, send me a message. I'll buy whatever you can gather."
Jin-woo accepted the friend request, and a notification appeared: Blacksmith Joe has been added to your friends list.
"Thanks," Jin-woo said.
Joe nodded and walked away, already browsing other stalls for materials.
Jin-woo stood there for a moment, processing the conversation. Mining. Twenty to thirty silver per hour at level 10. He'd been grinding wolves for two silver per hour. The difference was staggering.
But first, he needed to reach level 10. And that meant more grinding.
Jin-woo checked the time on his phone through the VR interface: 9:47 AM. He'd been logged in for about three and a half hours. His headset battery showed 71% remaining—plenty of time for a long grinding session.
He left the marketplace and headed back toward the west gate. Time to kill more wolves.