For a moment, Nari thought he might be her dad, but he was at least 10 cm taller than her father, even if roughly estimated.

As the man took a step back, it became more evident that the spot was where her mom had been laid to rest.

“Who are you?”

Hearing Nari’s words, the man turned around. Sharp eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. He seemed to be in his early to mid-30s.

Someone she had never seen before touched her mom. Nari’s voice, already on edge, lowered.

The man in front of her blinked a couple of times with wide eyes. Then, with a voice that sounded surprised, he spoke.

“Are you Ms. Shin Bitnari?”

“Yes, but who are you? And why are you putting flowers for my mom?”

Though it was a situation to be thankful for, Nari, who had experienced only unpleasant things related to her mom, tightly hugged the bouquet.
With a voice full of caution, the man, after briefly showing a puzzled expression, cleared his throat loudly.

“I apologize. It’s indeed the first time we meet in person. Nice to meet you. I am Ah Nan, an Awakened One serving as the owner of this Bong-Andang and the guildmaster of Mago.”

Swiftly approaching, the man stood in front of Nari and extended his business card.

The emblem of the Mago guild, one of the four major guilds guarding the coastal area facing the East Sea, was intricately engraved on the card.

“Come to think of it, this Bong-Andang belongs to Mago, doesn’t it?” remarked the Chaos Dominator, looking around.

“…It’s real.”

At that time, Nari didn’t pay much attention. It was the only place willing to accept her mother’s ashes; what did it matter who the owner was? Despite its substantial size, she hadn’t even considered the possibility that it might be owned by Mago.

“Well, why is the guildmaster of Mago giving flowers to our mom?”

Nari squinted her triangular eyes and glanced at Nan. Nan’s expression became increasingly strange.

Ah Nan, the man who introduced himself that way, sighed deeply after pushing up his horn-rimmed glasses.

“Didn’t your mother mention anything about me?”

“No.”

“…Sigh. No wonder she never bothered to find me. Han-a, if you keep putting me in these situations every time, I…”

The man introduced as Nan grimaced, took off his glasses, and pressed the bridge of his nose with frustration.
Even after death, he muttered about being too much, what would happen if she didn’t say anything, and such, then he put on his glasses again and assumed a poker face.

“Let me reintroduce myself. I am Ah Nan, the owner of this place and the guildmaster of Mago.”

“Is that so?”

“And, appointed directly by Kang Hana, the person who will be your patron.”

“…What?”

Seated on the sofa in the Bong-Andang office, Nari stared intently at the bottom of the contract held in both hands. It bore her mother’s handwritten signature.

‘Appointed as the patron of Shin Bitnari by the Awakened One Ah Nan.’

(A) Kang Hana

(B) Ah Nan

Under the sentence explaining the appointment, the characters (A) Kang Hana and (B) Ah Nan were engraved, alongside a stamp that was stamped vigorously.

As Nari scrutinized the contents of the contract, she opened her mouth in surprise.

Entirely unfamiliar content, and her mother’s stamp was even affixed.

‘Isn’t this a forgery?!’

A patron, in modern terms, typically refers to a man who has reached the pinnacle in some field. However, in a more fundamental sense, the word refers to a ‘male guardian who takes on the role of a parent when the biological parents are unable to fulfill their duties.’

‘This man is supposed to be my patron…?’

In an instant, Nari, who looked remarkably like her father, alternately stared at the contract and the man in front of her.
Nan was the person Nari heard about when she received private lessons on the Four Guilds from Gang Ihyeon, who realized Nari knew nothing about the Divine.

Ah Nan, the guildmaster of Mago and an A-class Awakened One of the ‘Conquest Succession’ class. The peculiar thing is…

Twenty years ago, he was a former gangster who wielded influence in Busan. (Now he has cleaned up his act.)

Nari’s impression turned grim again.

It was nothing else; it was a situation where a former criminal unilaterally claimed to have a connection with her mother.

‘…A gangster? What’s this…? Is my mom involved with a violent organization she trampled on? Did my mom take bribes, or did she save him?’

With a serious expression, Nari imagined one by one the situations where her mom might be involved with a gangster and ultimately decided to ask Nan.

“Hey, what kind of relationship does our mom have to make her sign such a contract?”

Nan hesitated for a moment. He touched his chin and, lost in thought, looked into the distance with a contemplative expression.

“Well, it raises questions. To tell the story, it was about 20 years ago… when I was… hunted by Kang Hana.”

“By our mom?”

“I was hunted.”

“By our mom?!”

Nari exclaimed at the suddenly pouring out incredible story, then, realizing it was about the Bong-Andang, she bit her lips and closed her mouth again.

Nan, without any particular reaction, was absentmindedly caressing only his right shoulder with his left hand.

Seeing that, Nari whispered urgently.
“No, no, no, this is absurd! Our mom, like that? Back then, I was there, and we were close with Dad too. Are you suggesting an affair?!”

“Even now, on rainy days… my right shoulder, pierced by your mother’s sword, aches and throbs.”

“Hunting? That hunting?!”

“Yes, there are still scars. Would you like to see them?”

Nan, who had been pressing his right shoulder, as if about to show something, loosened his tie.

“No!!”

Terrified, Nari put down the contract and clapped her hands.

“This… I completely fell apart because of your mother…”

“Don’t say such things!”

Nan, with a My Pace face that Nari had never seen before, spoke dreamily, unable to hide his perplexed expression.

“At the time when I was wandering around… Kang Hana, worried about me, came to find me and personally placed a knife wound on my right shoulder. Since then, I’ve turned over a new leaf.”

As Nan recalled the beautiful past, he closed his eyes as if dreaming, and Nari looked at him in amazement.

Speaking romantically about getting stabbed in the shoulder, he seemed quite unusual.

“Anyway, after getting hit by your mother’s sword, I became a new person, and Kang Hana became our benefactor. Becoming your boss is just repaying that favor.”