Chapter Summaries

After watching Winter Is Coming destroy the South Korean Settlement’s fighter fleet, Ding Chang refused Zhao Shun’s request to ask Lin Ye for an air-combat lecture, saying he had no standing to impose on him. He then told Bai Tianhao to warn Lin Ye about the Jin Family Chaebol and other South Korean chaebols because Kim Geun-seok would likely retaliate.

• Bai Tianhao praised Lin Ye for helping Jianyu vent her anger, while Ding Chang marveled at Winter Is Coming’s overwhelming air-combat technology.
• Zhao Shun called Ding Chang and asked him to invite Lin Ye to lecture at the Fifth Instance Technology Research Institute.
• Ding Chang refused, explaining that Great Xia’s institutes avoided disturbing top designers and that he had no standing to ask Lin Ye for a favor.
• Ding Chang kept secret that Lin Ye had accepted Kim Geun-seok’s challenge for his sake, and Zhao Shun ended the call disappointed.
• Ding Chang told Bai Tianhao to contact Lin Ye and warn him about the Jin Family Chaebol and other South Korean chaebols.

Lin Ye learned that Winter Is Coming had ended its first opening without a clear, earning him doubled points and a seven-day extension to his Points-Doubling Card. After the Firmament raised the dungeon’s capacity to 50,000, Bai Tianhao warned him that Kim Geun-seok and the Kim family might retaliate, but Lin Ye welcomed the prospect of further challenges.

• Lin Ye left Kim Geun-seok’s dungeon livestream and focused on planning The Great Wall Watch while exercising at his villa.
• The Firmament reported that Winter Is Coming had ended after three hours with no clears, earning Lin Ye 48,800 points; Raging Waves added another 20,000 before his Points-Doubling Card brought his daily total to 138,000.
• Lin Ye saw that his ranking had risen to No. 48 and Winter Is Coming had reached TOP2 on the Heavenly Ranking.
• The Firmament extended Lin Ye’s Points-Doubling Card by seven days, then increased Winter Is Coming’s capacity from 10,000 challengers to 50,000 because of its difficulty.
• Bai Tianhao warned Lin Ye that Kim Geun-seok and the Kim family had powerful weapons and connections, but Lin Ye said he knew how to handle the situation and welcomed Kim’s continued challenges.

After Kim Geun-seok lost to Lin Ye in Winter Is Coming, Lin Ye posted a video challenging him to keep playing or publicly apologize. Kim Geun-seok flew into a rage over the humiliation, and his father, Kim Chan-hoon, confronted him.

• Lin Ye recorded and posted a video declaring that he would keep pulling Kim Geun-seok into Winter Is Coming until he conquered it or was eliminated, and offered to spare him if he knelt and apologized publicly.
• News outlets and online spectators mocked Kim Geun-seok and praised Lin Ye, while ordinary people hoped the Jin family would continue challenging the instance.
• Kim Geun-seok brooded over his defeat, then convinced himself that Lin Ye had baited him into aerial combat and resolved to keep challenging Winter Is Coming to uncover its weaknesses.
• Kim Geun-seok saw Lin Ye's video and erupted in anger, overturning a sofa and ordering the women in the villa to leave.
• Kim Chan-hoon came downstairs and rebuked Kim Geun-seok for his tantrum, and Kim Geun-seok admitted that he had lost to Lin Ye.

After Kim Geun-seok’s defeat, Kim Chan-hoon ordered him to expose the Kim family’s secret Kim 7V tank technology and challenge Lin Ye’s instance with a massive Korean group. Kim Geun-seok filled all 50,000 challenger slots with Koreans, and Lin Ye saw that even Level 1 challengers had signed up.

• Kim Chan-hoon scolded Kim Geun-seok for challenging Lin Ye without preparation and told him to clean up the wrecked living room.
• Kim Geun-seok vowed to defeat Lin Ye and reclaim his dignity, and Kim Chan-hoon advised him to choose land warfare next time.
• Kim Chan-hoon explained that the Kim family had secretly modified German Hans 7V tank blueprints into the Kim 7V and ordered the family to use the technology in the next challenge.
• Kim Chan-hoon instructed Kim Geun-seok to recruit company employees skilled in Kim 7V technology or land warfare and announce that only Kim family members would enter the next round of Winter Is Coming.
• Kim Geun-seok posted a video declaring that his Kim Family Conglomerate would keep challenging Lin Ye and telling outsiders to stay away.
• Lin Ye checked the instance roster and saw that Kim Geun-seok had filled all 50,000 places with Korean challengers, including Level 1 entrants.

Kim Geun-seok and 50,000 challengers entered Lin Ye’s new Purgatory-level dungeon, Winter Is Coming, and learned they could freely choose among four spawn points. Kim Geun-seok studied the options but had not yet decided where to deploy.

• Kim Geun-seok selected skilled land-warfare designers and prepared higher-level challengers to attack Lin Ye through land warfare.
• Kim Geun-seok and the other challengers entered Winter Is Coming and found themselves floating above Earth Online rather than spawning in Stick Country.
• The Firmament announced that challengers could choose their spawn point and presented Stick Country and Eastern Ocean Island as options.
• The Firmament revealed Malaysia and Tank Country as the remaining spawn points and allowed challengers to gather at one location or split up.
• Kim Geun-seok weighed the four locations while viewers speculated that spawn-point selection would work with the dungeon’s military battle selection mechanism.

Kim Geun-seok chose Stick Country as the spawn point and led fifty thousand challengers into Winter Is Coming, convinced he had avoided Lin Ye’s traps. As the group prepared to attack Bear Country, the Firmament revealed a special buff that would double rewards and penalties because some challengers had entered the dungeon before.

• Kim Geun-seok rejected splitting his forces and chose Stick Country as the safest spawn point.
• The challengers arrived in the Black House, where the Firmament presented the same missions as before and closed the surrender option after everyone chose Mission 1.
• Kim Geun-seok gathered the challengers and promised rewards, including one hundred thousand points for the most outstanding participant.
• The challengers chanted their resolve to defeat Lin Ye and conquer Winter Is Coming.
• The Firmament announced Russian Bear's Wrath, which would double point rewards and penalties as repeat challengers entered the dungeon more times.

Kim Geun-seok learned that repeated entries into Lin Ye’s instance would make the Russian Bear’s Wrath debuff increasingly deadly, so he chose land combat to reveal the Kim family’s military strength. The instance assembled the family’s weapons around the Black House, and Kim Geun-seok taunted the livestream viewers with the force prepared for South Korea’s Strong Nation Plan.

• The Firmament marked Kim Geun-seok and the returning challengers as Red Names and warned that their penalties would keep doubling with each entry.
• Kim Geun-seok told the challengers to ignore the debuff and conquer the instance, then was appointed commander by the Firmament.
• Kim Geun-seok selected land combat, surprising livestream viewers who had assumed South Korea lacked land forces.
• The Firmament locked unrelated weapons and technologies, stationed the land combat units around the Black House, and set a fifteen-day limit.
• Tanks, armored vehicles, cannons, guns, and ammunition appeared around the Black House as Kim Geun-seok revealed the Kim family’s arsenal and mocked the viewers.

Kim Geun-seok deployed the South Korea Settlement’s ground forces for the Strong Nation Plan and chose a route to Bear Country that avoided Dragon Country. He directed the army toward North Stick Country and Vladivostok, believing he had avoided another trap by Lin Ye.

• Kim Geun-seok revealed a large force of Kim 7V tanks and other ground equipment, prompting Korean viewers to celebrate while other spectators pointed out the tanks resembled Germany’s Hans A7V.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered his challengers to leave the Black House and head for Stick Country’s northern border, with the army’s vehicles and equipment moving out in formation.
• Kim Geun-seok studied the Earth Online map and considered routes through North Stick Country and Dragon Country into Bear Country.
• Kim Geun-seok recalled that Dragon Country had wiped out the Shogun’s forces and decided to avoid entering it so his army would not be treated as invaders.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered his army to travel along North Stick Country’s east coast to Vladivostok in Bear Country.

Kim Geun-seok’s legion crossed the 38th Parallel into North Stick Country to reach Bear Country, triggering a Firmament warning that Dragon Country would retaliate with Dongfeng-41 missiles. The missile barrage began devastating the legion, leaving Kim’s forces under attack with no clear defense.

• Kim Geun-seok ordered his legion to smash through the border fence and cross the 38th Parallel into North Stick Country.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered his troops to head for the east coast and drive toward Vladivostok in Bear Country.
• The Firmament declared the crossing an act of aggression and announced that Dragon Country would bombard the challengers with Dongfeng-41 missiles because North Stick Country was its vassal state.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered the Goryeo Great Cannons and Kim 7V tanks to aim at the sky and shoot down the incoming missiles.
• Dragon Country’s missile barrage struck the legion, destroying a tank and overturning nearby vehicles as more missiles followed.

Kim Geun-seok’s second challenge in Winter Is Coming ended when Dragon Country’s Dongfeng Missiles annihilated his forces, and Lin Ye collected a large points reward. Lin Ye saw that he was nearing the 10 million points needed to advance to LV4.

• Dragon Country’s Dongfeng Missiles obliterated Kim Geun-seok’s corps, killing all the challengers and triggering the Instance’s failure and closure.
• The Firmament’s statistics showed a 0% clear rate and completion rate, while spectators watched the bombardment and reacted in shock.
• Lin Ye received 440,000 points from Winter Is Coming and 20,000 points from Raging Waves, which his Points-Doubling Card raised to a total of 920,000 points.
• Lin Ye reflected that he could earn points without eliminating many challengers and noted that his total had reached 4.92 million, nearly halfway to the 10 million needed for LV4.

Lin Ye learned that the Firmament would leave Winter Is Coming’s challenger count unchanged, then watched the South Korea Settlement face public condemnation over its secret tank buildup. After Kim Geun-seok returned from defeat, Kim Chan-hoon blamed him for the losses and explained how his fear of Lin Ye’s tricks had led him to ignore basic military logic.

• Lin Ye saw his Hero Ranking rise from 48th to 46th and learned that the Firmament would not adjust Winter Is Coming unless he revised it himself.
• Lin Ye noticed online outrage over the South Korea Settlement’s secret tank purchases and anticipated that Kim Geun-seok would have to keep challenging his Instance.
• Kim Geun-seok returned to Kim Family Manor shaken by the Dongfeng Missile bombardment and found his father waiting for him.
• Kim Chan-hoon slapped Kim Geun-seok and accused him of costing hundreds of group members their lives and bringing shame on the family and Settlement.
• Kim Geun-seok blamed Lin Ye’s tricks, but Kim Chan-hoon argued that the Instance’s spawn points had to follow logical rules and rebuked him for failing to choose Malaysia and Tank Country.

After Kim Geun-seok failed to clear Winter Is Coming, Kim Chan-hoon warned him that the exposed Strong Clan Plan had turned the challenge into a South Korea Settlement matter. Park Seong-man ordered South Korea’s four great families to unite for the next Instance and defeat Lin Ye.

• Kim Geun-seok vowed to challenge Winter Is Coming again, but Kim Chan-hoon told him Park Seong-man would take control of the matter.
• Park Seong-man summoned Kim Geun-seok and the heads of the Choi, Park, and Lee families to a meeting at the Shuotian World Tower.
• Lee Jae-yong accused Kim Geun-seok of exposing the Strong Clan Plan, and Kim Geun-seok traded insults with the other family heads.
• Park Seong-man ordered all four families to send challengers into the next Winter Is Coming Instance, with the Kim family in command and the others cooperating.
• Park Seong-man directed the families to bring their modified military equipment, select South Korea’s fifty thousand elite challengers, and publicly declare that they would clear Lin Ye’s Instance and eliminate him.

Lin Ye accepted a challenge from Kim Geun-seok and the four major South Korean families, confident that his Winter Is Coming Instance could withstand their combined forces. As 50,000 challengers entered the Instance, Kim Geun-seok became commander and faced the decision of where to deploy them.

• Bai Tianhao told Lin Ye that Kim Geun-seok and the Choi, Park, and Lee families had declared a joint challenge, but Lin Ye refused settlement intervention and trusted his Instance.
• Lin Ye saw that all 50,000 challenger slots were filled by South Koreans and hoped their numbers would give him a chance to test powerful weapons.
• Kim Geun-seok worried that defeat would ruin his standing and his family’s influence, then resolved to lead the combined forces into the Instance.
• The Purgatory-level Winter Is Coming Instance opened and transported all 50,000 challengers to the virtual battlefield.
• Lee Jae-yong asked Kim Geun-seok to choose a spawn point and decide whether the challengers should stay together or split up.

Kim Geun-seok and the family leaders chose Malaysia as their spawn point for Lin Ye’s new Instance, hoping to attack Bear Country without provoking other nations. They arrived in a barren landscape of Mongolian yurts and learned that their base was a poor, sparsely populated country, leaving Kim Geun-seok blaming Lin Ye for the situation.

• Kim Geun-seok made Choi Tae-won, Park Jeong-yong, and Lee Jae-yong share responsibility for choosing a spawn point, and all four agreed on Malaysia.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered the fifty thousand challengers to choose Malaysia and keep their forces together.
• Kim Geun-seok and the three leaders appeared in a dilapidated tent surrounded by yurts, grasslands, and nomadic herders.
• The Firmament identified their base as Malaysia and their spawn location as the Khan's Mongolian Yurt in Ulaanbaatar.
• Kim Geun-seok realized Malaysia was poor and underdeveloped, then accused Lin Ye of making them run around in circles.

Kim Geun-seok and three other South Korean chaebol leaders entered the Winter Is Coming instance in backward Malaysia, then Kim was appointed commander and chose land warfare. The challengers’ huge arsenal appeared on the grasslands around Ulaanbaatar, leaving them poised to attack Bear Country within seven days.

• Kim Geun-seok urged Choi Tae-won, Park Jeong-yong, and Lee Jae-yong to cooperate and clear the instance quickly despite their miserable surroundings in Malaysia.
• The Firmament announced missions to capture one of Bear Country’s three major cities or surrender, and warned that repeat entrants would face severe point losses for failure.
• The Firmament appointed Kim Geun-seok commander because the challengers held him in high regard, and he chose land warfare.
• The Firmament locked weapons unrelated to land warfare, placed the challengers’ units near Ulaanbaatar, and set a seven-day time limit.
• Thousands of tanks, guns, vehicles, and other weapons belonging to the Kim, Lee, Choi, and Park families appeared across the grasslands.

Kim Geun-seok and the South Korea Settlement assembled a massive land warfare legion and chose a western route into Bear Country to limit the time spent in its territory. He divided the forces among the Kim, Choi, Park, and Lee families and ordered the army to march immediately.

• The South Korea Settlement revealed a huge and varied legion of war machines, astonishing observers and delighting South Korean viewers.
• Kim Geun-seok studied two possible routes from Malaysia into Bear Country and consulted Lee Jae-yong, Park Jeong-yong, and Choi Tae-won.
• The three conglomerate heads favored marching west through the mountains and along the rivers and lakes, and Kim Geun-seok agreed to avoid Bear Country's defenses as much as possible.
• Kim Geun-seok assigned Choi Tae-won and his challengers to reconnaissance, Park Jeong-yong's forces to logistics and communications, Lee Jae-yong's forces to artillery assault, and the Kim family's tanks to the core fighting force.
• The three leaders accepted Kim Geun-seok's assignments, and he ordered the legion to march immediately.

Kim Geun-seok raced west through the Winter Is Coming Instance while Li Yunlong and Ding Chang discussed South Korea’s powerful, assembled army. Li Yunlong revealed that he had already ordered attacks on the Four Great Korean Families’ Instances and proposed that Great Xia’s leaders target Kim Chan-hoon next.

• Kim Geun-seok’s force left Ulaanbaatar at top speed, heading west toward the cities in Bear Country.
• Ding Chang asked Li Yunlong how strong South Korea’s Land Warfare army was, and Li Yunlong described its equipment as among the best on Azure Star.
• Li Yunlong told Ding Chang that he had sent forces to attack the Four Great Korean Families’ Instances without reporting it to the higher-ups.
• Li Yunlong argued that Great Xia should avenge Jianyu and take advantage of South Korea’s weakened defenses while its strongest forces were in the Instance.
• Li Yunlong proposed that he, Ding Chang, Deng Xian, Zhao Shun, and other Research Institute directors team up to clear Kim Chan-hoon’s Instance.

Kim Geun-seok led the South Korean army into Bear Country, where Lin Ye’s extreme cold setting halted their advance and exposed the forces’ lack of preparation. As Russian Bear’s Steel Torrent prepared to attack, the family heads blamed Kim for failing to warn them.

• Kim Geun-seok urged Choi Tae-won, Lee Jae-yong, and the other family leaders to set aside their rivalries and join him in capturing Moscow and eliminating Lin Ye.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered the 50,000-strong army across the border, and the families’ tanks, cannons, howitzers, motorcycles, and excavators advanced into Bear Country.
• Kim Geun-seok found the temperature and blizzard so severe that his vehicle slowed and he could barely function outside it.
• Firmament announced that Bear Country was minus 75 degrees and warned that Russian Bear’s Steel Torrent was about to attack.
• Choi Tae-won, Park Jeong-yong, and Lee Jae-yong complained that the cold disabled their vehicles and blamed Kim Geun-seok for not preparing them.

Kim Geun-seok abandoned the Korean advance into Bear Country’s lethal cold and devised a retreat to Malaysia, where he planned to lure and defeat Bear Country’s army before using its equipment to attack a main city. The Korean forces withdrew toward Uvs Lake as spectators anticipated Lin Ye’s response and the coming land battle.

• Kim Geun-seok struggled as the Korean corps’ equipment and soldiers faltered in Bear Country’s extreme cold, while the other family heads criticized his planning.
• Kim Geun-seok proposed retreating to Malaysia to exploit its terrain and wait for Bear Country’s army to attack.
• Lee Jae-yong questioned how the plan would achieve the mission’s objective of capturing a main city, so Kim Geun-seok claimed they could seize Bear Country’s snow-capable equipment after defeating its army.
• Lee Jae-yong, Choi Tae-won, and Park Jeong-yong accepted Kim Geun-seok’s plan, and he ordered the Korean Steel Corps to retreat toward Uvs Lake.
• Livestream viewers debated the retreat and watched in anticipation of Lin Ye’s land warfare and the clash between him and South Korea’s forces.

Kim Geun-seok deployed the Korean corps around Uvs Lake, preparing trenches, mines, patrols, and an ambush against Bear Country. Lin Ye watched their preparations and concluded that their trench warfare would be ineffective against Bear Country’s modern weapons.

• Kim Geun-seok brought the Korean corps back to Uvs Lake and chose the high ground there as their battlefield.
• Kim Geun-seok ordered Park Jeong-yong to dig Z-shaped trenches and organize the trench force and guard rotations.
• Kim Geun-seok assigned Choi Tae-won’s armored motorcycle unit to patrol likely routes and plant land mines.
• Kim Geun-seok and Lee Jae-yong positioned their tank and Howitzer Vehicle units to ambush the Russian Bear army near the lake.
• Lin Ye checked the Winter Is Coming livestream and judged that Bear Country’s modern tanks and missile systems would quickly defeat the Korean corps’ trench strategy.