Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1696: You are… The Monster: Part-1

When the sky brightened and the first rays of morning sunless-light stretched across the city, Young Aether arrived at the Pawn Shop.

The moment he entered, he looked toward the old man behind the counter and asked coldly, though a trace of amusement lingered beneath his tone, as if he had accomplished something particularly satisfying.

“Did you finish the job?”

His gaze settled on the old man, who stared back with a slightly mortified expression, as though he had just seen a ghost walk through the front door.

“Gulp.”

The audible swallow echoed through the quiet shop.

Young Aether noticed it immediately.

“He found out… Kill him!”

The dark voice echoed inside the young man’s mind, but Young Aether merely shrugged it off.

Without showing the slightest concern, he calmly walked toward the counter and stopped in front of the old man. Removing his black hat, he placed it upon the glass surface before offering a gentle smile.

“Is everything alright?”

The old man snapped out of his fearful daze and visibly flinched. It was as though he hadn’t fully realised Young Aether was standing before him until that very moment.

Only the counter separated them now, yet that short distance felt impossibly small to the old man.

Forcing a smile onto his face, the old man awkwardly nodded.

“Y-Yes… everything is fine.”

His voice trembled despite his efforts to sound normal.

“You look a little pale, though,” Young Aether remarked with a curious tilt of his head.

“Do you need some extra money?”

His words sounded casual, yet they subtly implied that whatever burden weighed upon the old man’s heart could easily be solved with enough credits.

Money advocates, right?

Unfortunately for Young Aether, the old man completely missed the meaning behind those words. Fear had already rooted itself too deeply inside his chest.

Through the corner of his cybernetic eye, the live news broadcast continued replaying footage from the zoo. Blood-covered pathways, destroyed structures, emergency sirens, and the desperate cries of grieving families flashed across the screen, making his stomach twist every time he looked at it.

“N-No… I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

Young Aether quietly studied the old man. The man’s eyes constantly avoided direct contact, drifting elsewhere whenever their gazes threatened to meet.

Finding the reaction somewhat amusing, Young Aether simply shrugged and smiled.

“Then let’s return to the original matter. Did you finish the job?”

The old man nodded immediately. The haughty and somewhat lazy attitude he normally displayed had completely vanished.

Now all that left was… Fear and anxiety.

“Y-Yes. Give me a second.”

Lowering himself behind the counter, he reached into the second drawer and grabbed the Gold ID Card that had already been prepared beforehand.

As his hand hovered over the card, he hesitated before finally asking the question that had been tormenting him since he entered.

“W-Where were you last night?”

While speaking, his right cybernetic eye remained fixed on the floating news display showing the aftermath of the zoo disaster. Reporters spoke over images of destroyed enclosures and rescue workers searching through the wreckage.

Young Aether answered without hesitation.

“Of course… The Zoo~”

The response arrived so casually that it almost sounded ridiculous.

After all, this old man wasn’t stupid. He deduced that Beta Soliders who came already knew Young Aether was here, so he didn’t lie and prepared everything at the nick of time. Given enough information, would eventually connect the pieces and reach the conclusion himself.

There was little point in denying it.

“…”

The old man’s fingers froze around the Gold ID Card.

Slowly, he raised his head and stared at the smiling young man standing across from him.

A chill ran down his spine.

“B-But… wasn’t that place destroyed by the Criminal Slave?” he asked, his voice trembling more noticeably now. “H-How are you standing here right now?”

A smirk slowly spread across Young Aether’s face.

“Why don’t you take a guess?”

The smile remained, but something beneath it changed. A faint darkness crept into his expression, carrying a hint of wicked amusement that made the old man’s heart skip a beat.

The old man turned stiff as his face twitched uncontrollably, anger and fear mixing together into a grim expression. Looking at that young man’s face only made his blood boil further.

That calm smile, that relaxed posture, and those emotionless eyes seemed to be mocking him, as though they were silently saying, ‘You already knew~’

“H-H-HANDS UP!!”

The old man suddenly shouted as he pulled a gun from the drawer beneath the counter. Blue energy surged through the weapon’s metallic frame, causing glowing circuits to pulse along its surface while a faint humming sound filled the shop.

He immediately pointed the barrel toward Young Aether’s head.

Despite having a weapon aimed directly at him, Young Aether simply yawned as though he were bored.

“Yaa… What are you doing, old man?” he asked with a puzzled look.

“Put that thing down before you accidentally hurt yourself.”

The old man’s jaw tightened. His mechanical arms slowly clenched, producing faint metallic noises as internal servos strained beneath synthetic flesh.

He stared directly into Young Aether’s calm eyes and found himself unable to understand what kind of person could remain so relaxed in this situation.

“I… Is it you?” he finally asked, his voice trembling slightly. “Did you do all of that?”

Young Aether merely shrugged.

“Come on, old man. You helped me when nobody else would. I have nothing but gratitude toward you for that.” His lips slowly curled upward.

“So let’s not make things difficult for each other, shall we?”

The old man’s grip tightened around the weapon.

The thing frightening him most was not Young Aether’s words.

It was the complete absence of fear on the young man’s face. The barrel was only a few feet away from him, yet he looked as comfortable as someone enjoying a casual conversation over tea.

“Why did you do that?!” the old man suddenly shouted, unable to suppress himself any longer. His eyes had already become red from both exhaustion and fury.

“Those people… they were innocent!”

Young Aether raised an eyebrow before letting out a small chuckle.

“Innocent, you say?”

He slowly leaned forward against the counter, bringing his face even closer to the weapon. The glowing muzzle nearly touched him, yet he showed no concern whatsoever.

“Tell me something, old man. Does treating other people like garbage somehow make a person innocent?”

The old man frowned.

Young Aether’s expression gradually became colder.

“If I spent every day humiliating you, spitting on you, pissing on you, treating you like shit and reminding you that your life meant nothing…

Would I… still be innocent according to your logic?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” the old man snapped back.

The old man was already aware of the young man’s yesterday’s words, so he could more or less connect the dots.

“Those things were nothing but fucking trash! They deserved to be treated that way! That has absolutely nothing to do with whether someone is innocent or not!”

Young Aether stared at him for several moments.

Then, surprisingly, a gentle smile appeared on his face as if saying… ‘There! You got the answer for your own question!’

So…

“Where is my ID?”

The sudden change in topic caught the old man off guard.

“I paid the money, and you accepted the deal. All I’m asking is that you keep your end of the agreement… please.”

The politeness in his voice only made the old man more furious.

“T-Those people…” His voice shook as he spoke. “Those children… what the fuck have you done to them?!”

His entire body trembled.

Through his cybernetic eye, the live broadcast continued to replay scenes from the zoo.

Blood-soaked pathways.

Rescue workers are carrying bodies from the wreckage.

Terrified families searching desperately for missing loved ones.

Among them were children, elders and innocent teenagers!

The old man’s breathing became heavier as he watched the footage.

His normal eye unconsciously drifted toward a family photograph resting beside the register. The picture showed a smiling woman standing beside a young boy while he stood behind them with his mechanical arm wrapped around their shoulders.

The sight of that photo caused his chest to tighten painfully.

“WHAT DID THEY DO TO DESERVE THIS?!” he roared as tears formed in his eyes.

“THOSE WERE CHILDREN! WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO YOU?!”

Young Aether’s expression remained unchanged.

“Where is my ID?” he asked again. “I paid the mone—”

“TAKE YOUR FUCKING MONEY, ASSHOLE!!!”

BOOM!!!

A brilliant blue beam exploded from the barrel.

The shot crossed the room instantly, illuminating the entire shop with a flash of blue light.

Young Aether casually tilted his head.

The beam narrowly missed his face before slamming into the wall behind him, creating a smoking crater surrounded by melted metal and shattered concrete.

“Don’t make this difficult, old man,” Young Aether said calmly as though he hadn’t just been shot at.

“You’re acting like some righteous hero, but let’s be honest with ourselves. You forge fake IDs, violate Empire’s regulations, and profit from desperate people every single day.

You break the law whenever it benefits you, yet somehow you’re standing there lecturing me about morality?

You?

Why don’t you gargle my balls, bitch? Hehe~”

The old man’s face darkened.

“Y-Yes, I do!” he shouted without hesitation. “And I’m proud of doing this job!”

His mechanical fist slammed onto the counter hard enough to crack the glass surface.

“You know absolutely nothing about me or… the people I’ve helped!”

His breathing became ragged as he glared at Young Aether.

“And unlike you…” he said through clenched teeth, disgust filling every word,

“I’m not a monster.”

Young Aether remained silent for several seconds.

Inside his mind, the dark voice continued screaming at him, urging him to kill the old man immediately and paint the walls with his blood. The hateful whispers grew louder and louder, yet Young Aether ignored every single one of them.

Instead, a faint smirk slowly appeared on his face as he continued staring at the old man across the counter.

“Glad to hear that,” Young Aether replied with a cold smile.

“Then let me tell you something as well. You don’t know a fucking thing about me either.

Now give me the fucking ID, and I’ll take my leave.”

The old man slowly shook his head. Despite the fear visible on his face and the sweat running down his forehead, there was still a trace of stubbornness within his eyes.

“People like you deserve to rot in prison,” he said through gritted teeth.

As soon as those words left his mouth, the cybernetic eye embedded within his socket flashed red. Hidden programs immediately activated as the implant attempted to contact a nearby patrol unit and transmit an emergency distress sign—

Chucckk!

“ARRRGHHHH!!!”