Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1816: Target Found? Part-1

“So you can drive too? Wait a second, just how old are you?” Young Aether asked, glancing at Lily as she drove the car with absolute calm. Her hands rested lightly on the steering controls, her eyes casually tracking the road as if she had been doing this for years.

Lily shrugged. “I can. And it’s easy to drive with automation that carefully detects everything and gives me better control over the car… so, yeah, a 13-year-old can drive without a problem.”

Young Aether blinked, then nodded before a laugh escaped him. “So you’re driving with training wheels? Hahaha, of course. That’s a child for you.”

A vein visibly throbbed on Lily’s forehead as she slowly glanced at her uncle.

“I am not a child!” she growled.

“Yeah, yeah, Child~” Young Aether waved her off with a smug grin.

But inwardly, ‘Thirteen? That fucking asshole had a child while the world was on the brink of death? What the fuck was he doing at that time?’

The sheer absurdity of it left him staring at Lily for a moment. He was genuinely shocked that Allen had decided to have a child under circumstances where humanity was practically standing with one foot in the grave.

Honestly, if it had been Young Aether, he would have never allowed it.

Shaking his head, he pushed the thought aside. “Anyway… about this division—”

“Yeah, Dad said you wouldn’t follow his advice and would stay up at night trying to learn about this division,” Lily said, sounding suspiciously like she was quoting her father word for word.

She gave him a pointed, judgmental look.

Young Aether coughed lightly and looked away. “Well, I’m not someone who does something just because you said I shouldn’t.”

“That’s what a child would do, right?” Lily grinned.

“…”

Young Aether fell silent.

‘For a 13-year-old brat, she sure acts annoying.’

He shook his head before continuing. “Whatever it is… I don’t get it, and I probably shouldn’t be talking about this with you. But it seems you understand what’s going on here… so tell me, this isn’t a place for children, right?”

Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Honestly, I have no idea… I grew up here, so I never really saw a problem with it. This is one of humanity’s… what do you say again? Hmm…”

“…Depravity?” Young Aether supplied.

Lily nodded. “Yeah, you can say it like that… but it’s more like human nature. So I don’t really see a problem here, Unc.”

Young Aether stared at her.

From the way she spoke, it was obvious that this entire place meant something completely different to Lily. To her, there was nothing unusual about it.

No shock.

No disgust.

Nothing worth questioning.

Which left Young Aether unusually quiet.

There was no point in arguing with Lily. If she had grown up here, then of course she wouldn’t see anything wrong with it.

Or maybe…

Maybe he was the one who still hadn’t seen the real picture.

He remained silent as the rest of the ride passed quietly, his gaze lingering outside the window while the city reflection slid across the glass.

Once they reached the apartment, Lily parked the car in the underground. The vehicle came to a smooth stop, and both Lily and Young Aether stepped out.

“Unc?”

“Yes, Dear?”

“… Nothing.”

“…”

Young Aether frowned.

Lily had hesitated just long enough for him to notice. She looked as though she had something she wanted to say, yet seemed to be reconsidering it.

^Maybe she’s asking for money? Since you are the greatest and hottest uncle, give her some money!^

RIN’s voice suddenly sounded through his earpiece.

Young Aether hummed thoughtfully.

‘…Why does that sound like something you would not encourage?’

He ignored the thought and gestured for Lily to come closer.

Lily tilted her head as she walked closer, her curious eyes briefly flicking over Young Aether’s visor.

“Lily, I know it might be hard for you to suddenly accept me as your uncle, and I kind of get it… Being handsome and young, I know your heart flutters sometimes~”

“…No, it doesn’t!” Lily replied with a completely flat face, not even bothering to blink.

“That actually makes me really happy, but anyway…” Young Aether said with absolute seriousness, barely managing to suppress a grin.

“What I mean is… You can ask your Uncle anything and think of me as your friend. Talk to me about anything you want. If it’s something within my power, I’ll do it for you, Dear.”

“…”

Lily fell silent as she stared at his visor for a few seconds. Her expression slowly became more thoughtful before she finally asked,

“Why would you do that? Is it because I’m Dad’s daughter?”

“…Well… I mean…”

Young Aether gave an awkward smile. After all, he was only talking to her this much because she was his friend’s daughter.

Otherwise, would he even care about her as a person with the way he was right now?

“Come on, Dear. Don’t think too much about it,” Young Aether said, smoothly diverting the topic.

“In fact, when I was your age, I barely cared about anything in this world. I just did what I loved… You need to understand that sometimes, overthinking will steal your happiness. Just let nature take its course. Everything eventually comes to those who wait, and those who don’t… well, they miss out.”

Lily stared at him for a few more seconds, apparently processing his words.

“Now you feel like an uncle, Unc,” she said with a small scoff as she walked away, though a gentle smile had appeared on her face.

[+700 AP]

Young Aether shook his head, a faint smile hidden beneath his visor, before following her down the hallway.

After entering the elevator, Lily suddenly looked at him curiously. Her eyes lingered on his covered face for a moment before she finally asked,

“Can I see your face?”

“Absolutely not!”

“…I thought ‘You can ask anything you want’ was supposed to be a promise?”

“…”

Young Aether remained completely silent.

“Unc?”

“…”

“Unc?~”

His shoulders twitched slightly.

“Damn you, girl!!!”

“Hahaha~”

Lily burst into laughter, clearly pleased with herself.

The elevator filled with their laughter as they continued their playful banter. Soon, the doors opened, and they arrived at the apartment. Lily stepped out first, with Young Aether following behind her.

“Dad, I brought Unc Aether,” Lily announced as she entered the house.

Allen emerged from his room.

“Good Morning—ARHH!!”

Before he could even finish his greeting or wave his hand, his friend had already appeared in front of him and smacked him on the head.

“That’s for leaving me in that hole-ridden house,” Young Aether said in an annoyed tone, rubbing his own shoulder as though the matter had only just occurred to him.

Allen rubbed the top of his head and gave him an awkward smile. “I-I’m sorry, man, but that was the best I could find.”

Young Aether snorted before walking over and dropping himself onto the sofa. He leaned back comfortably and glanced around the apartment, taking in the familiar surroundings.

“Where is Jonny?”

“Jonathan already went to work. He said there’s an issue in the division and went to investigate it,” Allen replied before sitting down across from him.

Young Aether nodded thoughtfully. “Sister Emily and the others?”

“They were still sleeping.”

“Okay…” Young Aether muttered, settling deeper into the sofa.

“Dad, I’m going back to my room. Call me if you need anything,” Lily said as she walked away, giving the two men one last glance before disappearing down the hallway.

Leaving only Allen and Young Aether behind, an awkward expression settled over Allen’s face, as if he already knew exactly what Young Aether was thinking.

Young Aether deactivated his visor and stared blankly at Allen. “Care to explain what the fuck is going on here?”

Allen sighed. “You never, ever listen to my words, would you?” he said with a weak chuckle.

Young Aether snorted.

“Bro, this is a fucking Brothel Division, and I refuse to believe my friend is staying here… Hell, after you had a beautiful wife and wonderful children! So tell me, why the fuck haven’t you moved from this shit, and… why the hell was this place even here?”

Allen hesitated for a moment before letting out another sigh.

“This is kind of weird to you, but… in fact, this is normal here. When we rebuilt the world again… the trauma and previous things that everyone went through affected the people and their minds.

We needed manpower more than anything, as rebuilding wasn’t easy, but at the same time, people were reaching their limits as well. If we kept pushing them, they would revolt, and the situation might get out of hand. So the President came up with this idea, dedicating an entire division just for lust… to keep the men and women stable. And I was a soldier who worked here to maintain the situation in case everything got out of hand.”

Young Aether nodded slowly.

Nope.

He definitely did not understand this fucked-up logic.

Trauma?

The fuck?

But whatever the reason might have been, the thing that still bothered him was something else.

“But having children here is so fucked up, dude. Is Sister Emily really okay with all this?”

Allen bit his lip and shook his head. “No. But we don’t have a choice, Aether. My Aevum is really too low to even ask for a transfer.”

“…”

Young Aether turned silent for a moment.

“You could have asked Jonathan for help. I’m sure he would have helped you—”

“Aether!”

“Yes?”

“…Just… Just fuck… forget it! You won’t understand it,” Allen said, shaking his head with a dejected expression.

Young Aether leaned forward and caught his friend’s hand.

“Come on, man. You can talk to me. I’m here. I can help you. In fact, if you want… I mean, if you truly want, I could help you destroy this place,” he said with an innocent expression.

As if he was doing this for his friend…

Not for any selfish goals.

Really!

Believe him!

[+1000 AP]

Allen smiled warmly. “I know you’d do anything for me, but—”

“Dad! Who let Noah use my 3D printer?” Lily shouted from her room.

“Waaaaaa!!!”

Noah’s shout echoed from the room as well.

“Stop it! Do you know how much it costs? And the filament? Huh? Stop printing some weird shit!”

“WAAA!!!”

Hearing their shouting voices, Allen shouted back, “Lily, don’t fight with your brother. Noah already asked me, and I gave him permission to use your 3D printer.”

“But the filament, Dad! He’s wasting so much!” Lily shouted back from the room.

“Sigh…” Allen sighed, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll buy you another one. Just let him be… He rarely does anything on his own.”

“Hmph! You better buy me another one,” Lily huffed in a serious tone.

Allen gave a weak smile before looking at Young Aether.

“Children,” he said, shaking his head.

Young Aether smiled. “Well, that’s how they are… Just a pain in the ass, but you always end up loving it~”

Allen burst into laughter. “Haha… You speak like you have children… ahaha.”

Young Aether simply smiled.

“So? Why did you suddenly call me?”

Allen’s expression gradually became more serious.

“Yeah, about that… After speaking with you yesterday, I understood how much you still love her, and… seeing your pain, I couldn’t just stay silent. So… I dug into a few things last night without getting a wink of sleep and found a few clues about… Penelope.”

!!!

Young Aether’s body turned stiff.

Allen raised his hand, and a holographic projection emerged from the ring on his finger. An image appeared in the air.

A young and beautiful woman.

The image was somewhat unclear, but there was no mistaking the face.

She was holding a baby in her arms, smiling gently at the child as they stood inside a children’s park.

Young Aether’s eyes widened.

“This was taken months ago… She was spotted in Gamma City.”

Young Aether blankly stared at the image, his expression unreadable as the hologram flickered softly before him.

How long had it been since he had last seen this woman’s face?

He wasn’t sure.

Five years, at least. Perhaps even more.

He hadn’t seen her face since then, yet somehow, she looked exactly the same. Not a single feature seemed to have changed.

The same eyes.

The same gentle expression.

Even the faint curve of her lips was untouched by the years that had passed.

And… she was happy?

“Hah… Look at her. Smiling like nothing ever mattered to her,” Young Aether muttered. His voice carried a quiet bitterness as he stared at the hologram, his fingers slowly lifting toward the image.

They stopped just short of the projection, hovering where her cheek would have been if she were truly standing before him.

For a fleeting moment, his expression softened.

Then it vanished.

“Dude, did you not notice she’s holding a freaking child?” Allen asked, staring at him as though the answer should have been painfully obvious.

“She found a family, Aether. She has someone beside her. And judging by that smile, she seems happy.

Isn’t that what you were looking for?”

Young Aether let out a quiet chuckle, though there was little amusement in it.

“Haha… Look at her. She really does look happy with her child, doesn’t she?”

“…” Allen stared at him with a deadpan expression.

There was a long silence.

It was the kind of silence that made it painfully clear that Allen had run out of words for this particular idiot.

Young Aether sighed and slowly shook his head. “I understand what you’re trying to say. But I thought you mentioned she was in Alpha City?”

Allen’s expression became more serious as he looked back at the hologram.

“That was years ago,” he said. “Maybe she transferred somewhere else after that. People move around all the time, especially between the major cities. If she had a reason to leave Alpha, there’s no telling where she ended up.”

“…” Young Aether hummed thoughtfully.

His gaze remained fixed on the image.

Gamma City.

The name lingered in his mind as he studied the woman’s face once more.

There was something strangely unsettling about seeing her like this. He had spent years wondering what had become of her, imagining countless possibilities, yet none of them had prepared him for this.

She had moved on.

She had built a life.

And, apparently, she had found something worth smiling for.

“So, when are you leaving?” Allen suddenly asked.