Welcome to NEOcity. A newly founded city by the worldwide dominating government, SM. A new subdivision has formed this year, NCTzens. This new division is called WayV and is regulated by 7 government officials. NCTzens within China, Japan, and Thailand will also be referred to as Wayzennies. We hope you enjoy your stay because there is no escaping us. Remember, your officials are always watching you, never seen, never heard.

     Lucas was covered in clad black, holding his sniper close to him: the standard military uniform with matching boots, night vision goggles and a beret. He scanned the golden view before him, a seeming contrast against the darkness of the Thai atmosphere. Viewing the incoming message on his tablet from SM, he scoffed. Every NCTzen received the same message he had, except, his was marked by a single gold star and ‘V’ as a reminder of his status and new-found identity.

     He remembered vividly when he was kidnapped in Hong Kong. He had been 17, a fresh soldier in the military, a decision made by SM for all young, male NCTzens to be drafted in what SM called, border patrol. It was a way for the citizens to keep an eye on one another, with the identity of each soldier masked and only the upper half of their face present protected by technology-wired but shatterproof goggles.

     Lucas was adventurous and loud as a child. His yoda-like ears sticking out of a rebellious but joyful face even as he matured onto middle school where, according to a friend, all the girls had a crush on him but were always afraid to confess. He remembered the days where if he wasn’t with his mom at her salon, he was with his dad and brother at their food stall several minutes away from home. He remembered the days where his brother would chase him down blocks for fun. All of that suddenly died.

     During the first vacation home given graciously to him by the government, Lucas had only begun to place a spoon of rice porridge in his mouth before SM raided his home, flipping almost everything with guns drawn to achieve him. They shoved a brown sack over his head, heaving him from his seat in the tiny, oriental decorated kitchen to the armored truck outside. His face contorted in pain and tears underneath the sack, silencing himself from sobbing as it would only alarm family. Shrieks of terror enveloped both parents and brother realizing their suspicion was true while fighting against the soldiers holding them from taking their family member back. Lucas knew better than to fight them, any resistance would almost always result in a punishment soon.

     The government did not allow vacations to soldiers unless they were watching them for a reason. It just so happened to be that they wanted Wong Yukhei, Huang Xuxi, P’Jo, and Lucas to be their upcoming government official of a new subdivision forming.

     He rubbed the branding tattoo, another ‘V’, on the back of his neck absentmindedly. A tactic he did to shut down the life he once lived. A reminder of the absent role he played as “government official.” It was a strategy SM used to instill fear into NCTzens-- no government official was publicly known in order to see the NCTzens’ true behaviors of daily life.

     God only knows why SM chose him of all people to be ‘government official’. Lucas never made any good grades in school, let alone knowing enough of the fake politics SM fed NCTzens, who were also known as Czennies. He only knew of his exotic features gifted to him by his Thai mother and Hong Kong father. He only knew of his capacity to understand multiple languages, perhaps this was why? But he didn’t speak Thai. Of course, SM knew this.

     It had been exactly 24 hours since he had been elected government official. Dropped in the middle of the streets of a land so foreign to him despite his heritage. A title he acquired after four years of physical rigor and psychology classes. Yet, not one of them prepared him to speak Thai.

     An incoming message came through his goggles. Glancing around him before retreating to the darkness of the night of an abandoned alley, he reviewed the message:

Chittaphon Leechaiyakul will be your colleague. He is another government official of subdivision WayV serving the moral goodness of SM. He will arrive shortly to your location, Governor Wong. Please be prepared of his arrival in Hover Car 10.

    Closing the message with a glance of his eyes, he twisted his lips in thought gazing at the empty night sky. Of course, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Besides location, SM knew the vitals of all soldiers too.

     It was something hard that Lucas tried to settle as much as he could throughout the four years he had been training. Unethical, was what the book called it. And it never did quite settle.