wonderland is an illusion

Chapter 1

At this age and this time, 2085, people are controlled by the system because the world had suffered a massive nuclear war thirty years ago. The system is a giant city, with districts and sectors with the capital filled with the government's people(read: questionable and sus people,) and it operates like your normal socialist government. Not much is allowed, if you go against the system such as theft and murder, you will be sent in camps that are 'reforming' people like you.

The thought of defying the system is very much banned and dismissed as people lived and embraced their roles within the society. Every parent wants their children to join the system, since they felt like repaying because it had done it's best to provide them with food and shelter after the war.

Athanasia is a big city. Well, more like a jumbled mess of countries and cultures of Asia intermixed into one, per se. People first founded this... society after the war, and the idea of creating a walled city from the crumbles of their past concrete-walled homes were plausible since there were materials. But money didn't really count in that society.

Let's say... they miraculosly had recovered, and now is kind of thriving off the city's yield of urban farming on every rooftop of the city's skyscrapers. Clear water is accessible to virtually everyone, most came from cleaning the polluted seawater and removing the salts in it, making both water and salt in the same process for further use.

Athanasia had a system for sectors. The people of the outermost circle, people of sector 6, 7 and 8 are people who had exited the so called 'camps', and the sectors' aim is to reintegrate them with the society. But what happens is rather the opposite there. Sector 7 is the sector notorious of violence and anarchy, often called the 'hell', and the gates to sector 7 is called the hellgates not for some funny reason. The system had finally saw no use of the camps, rather, they dump all the criminals in the same place, and then guard it so that only certain people could pass in and out.

Sector 6 is notorious of their shady deals, usually consisting of the black markets for organ-selling and illegal substances, meanwhile sector 5 is the most 'tame' of them all, they're infamous of their free sex red districts.

Moving back a circle—a walled circle dividing each and every sector, is sector 3 and 4. These are the sectors of your ideal citizens, not a very pretty city but they sure know how to run things. Sector 3 and 4 is the sector where people have usual jobs like running cafés, restaurants or hotels, your typical legal job. The people here are more disciplined, though some paid large amounts of money to sneak in the black market of Sector 6 to buy some shady things. But regardless, these people are just your ordinary people.

Moving back yet another Sector, we have the number two. Sector 2 is where most high-ranking general officials, doctors and scientists live, where the society is different than the sectors before. Sector 2 is the sector where people live in privilege, where most rich officials take other people to be their personal caretaker from sector 3 and 4, and pay them with high sums of money.

Then here comes the last sector, sector one. It houses the biggest government training center, and only training center, boasting in hectares of land dedicated for the government and the government only. The government recruits people that are strictly above 170cm in height for the men, and more than 160cm in height minimum for the women. They also strictly only allow 17-year olds to enroll, not giving the people another chance—even though it could be bribed with money. But it was for a reason, of course. They are young enough to endure harsh trainings, but mature enough not to cry nor make childish excuses while under their harsh regiment of training.

Hongjoong and San were classmates in their Sector 3 school. They were living your usual teenager lives, along with some of their friends that came from the same district, hanging out together, having fun together. But that all changed when the system starts to scout the schools for recruits. If you got recruited by the system before you enroll, you are seen as a special candidate and would likely be 'blacklisted' if you were to reject their proposal.