Noticing the awkward expression on Tae-Shik’s face, Gi-Gyu asked with concern, “Is there a problem?” 

“A problem… I guess you can call it that,” replied Tae-Shik. 

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“The 4th-floor guardian’s behavior is filled with anomalies. For starters, no guardian had ever left its habitat before it. And just recently, we discovered a troubling fact: the guardian is becoming stronger,” explained Tae-Shik.

“What?!” Gi-Gyu seemed dazed.

‘Becoming stronger? What does Tae-Shik hyung mean by that?’ 

Tae-Shik continued, “So far, hundreds of players have fallen victim to that guardian. Several high-level hunting parties went out to kill it, but they haven’t returned yet. Those groups were more than strong enough to take care of a single guardian on the 4th floor. Now… We can only assume that the guardian is becoming stronger. It is as if it’s eating the players to level up.”

“...”

A grave expression appeared on Gi-Gyu’s face as he murmured, “I was wondering why I haven’t heard anything about it. It turns out something like this was happening...”

“I think these changes began with the exceptional gates. I’ve seen guardians that were born strong, but I’ve never seen one that could get stronger by killing players,” Tae-Shik pondered out loud.

Gi-Gyu had an old grudge against the 4th-floor guardian. Ever since their first encounter, he had been craving a rematch. But he always thought it was never going to happen. After all, it was only a 4th-floor guardian; the guardian-hunting guilds could hunt it easily. So, Gi-Gyu gave up on killing it a long time...