#mxx neo city

[mx-o]

「NEO CITY」

masterlist

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; swearing, mentions of blood, murder, guns, drugs and all other typical mafia things really

a/n: this is in collaboration with @johnnyschocolatebitch and this would not be possible without her :)

you can access through the tag #/mxx neo city

neo culture technologies, a multi-national company with major stakeholders in most of south-east asia. many acclaim that their success of the billion-dollar corporation can be awarded to their near recent investment and purchase of a renowned chain of hotels in the region. even with the great news of their success and newfound popularity, neo culture technologies’ foundation had seen to be crumbling. then again, what did you expect from your average white tie corporation that dealt a few hands?

it seemed as if slowly, all the branches—tokyo to bangkok had suddenly become more closed off and almost disappeared. so what happens when, out of the blue, a few wrong hands are shone in a new light?

prologue | one | two | three | four (1) | (2) 

ON HIATUS

[mx-o]

「NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; i dont think any :)

》a/n: my exams are all finsihed so i will be trying my best to upload more!! any feedback would be great cosidering this is my first and only fic. 

word count: 1.4k

masterlist | previous

yakuza /jəˈkuːzə/ noun

a powerful Japanese criminal organization.

four, part two

“nakamoto.”

there was a sour taste in kun’s mouth when he spoke.

“ah hyung, please don’t be so formal,” yuta sighed in discontent. taeil and kun smiled at him, regardless of what they thought.

nakamoto yuta was a wild card. not a lot of people really knew his story and it was kept that way for his own sake. yuta had been involved in the wrong crowd for a long time back in osaka, japan. in fact, his father had been involved since before yuta was born. yuta hadn’t ever been on the right side, what with his father being a low-rank in the yakuza and his mother being ‘missing’ due to a rift between his father’s gang and a rival gang two cities over. taeyong had met yuta in a robbery—taeyong’s to be specific.

taeyong had been travelling back and forth between seoul, tokyo and osaka handling business for nc tech as they had just started out and really only had about six members. yuta had seen him pass by often, from where he saw through the widows of the beaten down homes, he ‘stayed’ at. he’d figured taeyong was just another rich businessman he could scare into getting a few hundred from but boy, he wasn’t expecting a job offer.

taeyong brought him back to seoul with him to train alongside johnny and sicheng, and so grew to become close friends with them both. however, it didn’t last long since nc tech’s first international branch was opened in tokyo, and yuta was offered the position. what he never would mention though, is that he’d been in some serious trouble with the rival gang that took his mother and taeyong saved him just in time. he owed that man his life.

“yuta, how nice of you to join us. i thought doyoung was joining us as well?” ten piped up, taking a swig of the carbernet from his glass, ever so swiftly.

“ah, no. i’m afraid he couldn’t make it,” he spoke calmly looking at his watch. yuta knew how to lie well, there’s no doubt—but he didn’t know how to lie to the only group of people who knew all his tells. no one mentioned the fact.

“what a shame. send him my regards,” taeil managed to say, a slight grit in his teeth.

by this time donghyuck had long put down his water glass, now feeling a strong grip on his shoulders from the man he’d yet to look at. his body was stiff from the sudden touch from the newcomer, and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“this must be your new trainee. what’s your name boy?” yuta said cheerfully, leaning into the chair and closer to donghyuck himself. this only caused the poor boy to let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

he replied quickly, mustering up any and all the confidence he could, “haechan, sir. my name is haechan.”

yuta chuckled lightly, leaning away from the chair, “ah, there’s no need to call me that. it only makes me feel old.”

donghyuck had wanted to stand up out of his chair to greet the elder properly, but he was trapped between the man himself and the table. he only managed to look down at his lap at this point, being intimidated by what he recalled as the strongest and most powerful men in neo culture technologies. thank god yukhei was nothing like them, he thought.

“yuta, come. we were just about leaving. let’s continue this at the office, yes?” taeil took lead in relieving the awkward situation. he stood first and lead yuta towards the door while the other five men followed suit.

[jan 17; 10:07]

ten led his trio behind kun and taeil as they entered the elevators of the main lobby of neo culture technologies beijing. they were escorted by the building’s security, turning everyone’s attention towards them. it’s not every day you see the heads of neo tech all walk into the same building at the same time.

they had waited in the elevator for the short while it took to reach the top floors of the building. when they reached around floor 48, they all instinctively seemed to reach for their neckties and adjusting them, as if they were the ones that needed to impress.

they headed to the conference room on the 49th floor. luckily, all neo culture technology buildings carried mostly the same floor plan, so they all knew the way despite it being the first time for some of them.

the frosted glass double doors of the conference room opened to reveal six men, roughly around the same ages, gathered around the oval table. the other seven men walked in, kun and taeil leading and taking their seats first, ten, johnny and sicheng following. donghyuk had noticed that the four boys he actually knew were standing and took it as a note to stand too.

yuta had already been there for the past fifteen minutes or so and had been catching up with yukhei and the others.

wong yukhei, or as known by his codename, lucas, was the current COO of neo culture tech beijing. now, many people have no idea just how he landed the highest position there, but it had a lot to do with kun. beijing is nc tech’s newest and biggest branch, one that they had waited almost 3 years to launch. they had recruited many of their finest from china—take sicheng as an example—and had turned them into the best of the best. that explained why most of their chinese members, were still in training. they took all the fine tuning and polishing to make the best that they could be in that field.

yukhei, however, wasn’t really that. he was more of a ticking time bomb that would explode under too much pressure. but he was smart, tactical even, and could see how a scenario would play out given the best view of it. that’s why kun had him take over his position, so that he himself could return to korea to oversee more pressing matters and when the time came, relieve yukhei of his title. that time is yet to come since yukhei had only been in charge of the branch for roughly five months already and successfully oversaw the building of their newest hotel and the training of four recruits himself.

kun was the first to speak up, “i see the hotel came along fine, congratulations,” he said with contentment, almost like a proud father.

“it’s not completed until we open to the public, hyung,” yukei’s deep voice mused.

that’s why they were there in the first place. to open the hotel and get down to business—the shipment.

“ah, yes. we have a party to plan, then don’t we?” kun jeered. johnny and yuta’s ears perked up at the mention of a party. “where are xiaojun and hendery, by the way?” he asked, noticing the two that weren’t present rather than addressing the elephant in the room. well the four elephants in the room.

actually, they’re more like foxes and they go by renjun, yangyang, chenle and jisung.

taeil had his eyes on them since he had entered, causing them to bow their heads in respect. the same with haechan since he really was just copying their moves anyway.

“lucas, introduce me to your recruits, i’m afraid i haven’t formally met them yet,” taeil said with intrigue, eyes still focused on the boys and kun’s question remaining unanswered.

“ah yes, my apologies,” yukhei began, changing his train of thought from the excuse he was going to give kun for his partners’ absences. “these are my recruits—renjun, that’s chenle, yangyang and he’s jisung, our youngest,” he introduced pointing to them in the order they stood from left to right.

“renjun specializes in weapons, chenle does finance and a little bit of hacking and code, and both yangyang and jisung are training to be assassins,” he stated proudly, mirroring kun’s tone from earlier. taeil’s expression hadn’t wavered.

yukhei had usually been lenient with them when it came to training but had still enforced on them that they needed to complete it before the hotel had opened considering it would be their new front and a new territory that would need defence.

that time had been nearing close and they had undergone heavier training these past few weeks, yet none of the boys looked distressed or tired even.

“you four, and haechan—you too, can you give us a moment while we get down to business?” taeil said, still looking at them.

the youngest five left the room immediately, a soft “yes sir” emitting from chenle.

“alright, let’s get started.”

next

[mx-o]

「 NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; swearing, mentions of guns, fighting but nothing extreme and drugs. (ft. blackpink’s lisa and got7 kinda)

》 a/n: it’s really slow burn so i’m sorry but please attention to dates, times and locations for future events!!

word count: 1.6k

masterlist | previous

one

[bangkok, thailand; jan 13, 10:15]

“welcome to neo culture technologies”- a signature chime from the front lobby.

even after a few years of hearing it every day as he walked into the building, ten still hadn’t gotten used to it. needless to say, ten loved his job.

he had easily gone from being thrown out onto the streets to the chief operating officer of neo culture technologies thailand. he barely even made it through his second year of college before dropping out. he worked tirelessly for weeks to get into a university overseas and hardly managed to stay afloat, what with balancing his studies and having three jobs just to pay his rent. truth is, that if he hadn’t stumbled upon his CEO, God alone knows where he would’ve ended up today—and he’s reminded of that every day when he walks into that lobby.

he walked to the elevator quickly, since he was already fifteen minutes late, not forgetting to greet anyone whom he passed on the way. the elevator doors dinged open, ten walking into his corner office on the highest floor of the building.

he greeted his secretary on his way in, “lalisa, good morning. talk to me.”

“good morning, sir,” she began, “your guests are waiting for you in the conference room, and i’ve pushed your other meetings back an hour for you to have brunch after with them. oh, and there’s a news reporter who has been calling non-stop since tuesday morning, what should i tell her?” she was straightforward and spoke quietly. she was always looking out for ten, too, considering she’s the reason he had good relations with his clients.

“i don’t know a nice way to say ‘fuck off’ so make something up—unavailable or something and to stop calling. and bring us some coffee or something and the files i asked you to submit to seoul headquarters yesterday.” he said as he hovered over his leather-clad chair for a second before heading to his meeting.

he thanked her on his way out to the grey exterior of his office’s floor and past the stainless-steel doors of the elevator, to the floor below his to meet his guests.

when he entered the conference room, the three men awaiting him stood and greeted him.

“boss,” the tallest of them greeted with a bow.

“johnny, i told you not to call me that,” he warned with a stern glare.

“ah, hyung,” the youngest, donghyuck, whined. “don’t be like that, it’s cool!”

“haechannie is right,” sicheng agreed, calling the younger by his codename as way of getting used to it, and since it was protocol for the trainees. “hyung, you’re in charge here. c’mon. let it go already. you’re the boss.”

“COO  is not CEO, okay? taeyong wouldn’t appreciate you calling me that.” ten disagreed. he shot them all the same look as before reminding them of their place.

he motioned for them to take their seats after he had taken his. whether he agreed or not, he really was in charge here, and they all answered to him. but ten disagreed with the power he held.

lalisa entered the room at the same time, bringing the files ten had requested and four cups of espresso to follow. ten waited for her to leave before he brought up anything with the others.

“alright. tell me what you have to tell me, we have a brunch date at 11, courtesy of lalisa,” he said with that charming smile of his. he really liked that girl, truly.

johnny ran a hand through his dark, chocolate hair and looked over at sicheng to do the honours. despite being in the position countless times before, ten always had this intimidating aura that always threw him off his game. nothing had gone wrong on this operation so sicheng was confused by his own sudden nervousness.

“everything went off smoothly. bambam said the warehouse had gotten the shipment a few days earlier so we’ll have to thank jaebeom for that one. and the next shipment is expected to arrive by wednesday, so if its checked and cleared, it’ll be on its way to beijing by friday.” johnny beat him to it.

“headquarters is saying that we need to pay more attention the recruits—that we don’t send them on enough missions for practise. mark was really serious about them finishing training before the year was up,” ten said with a chuckle, reading his file over. “what do you think haechan? do i not send you on enough missions?”

that caught the caramel-haired boy by surprise. he was already so privileged to be sitting in this room with them while they have this discussion, even if he had grown close to them. he hadn’t been sent all the way to thailand for no reason, he thought. donghyuck thought carefully before saying his next few words.

“there hasn’t been a need to, hyung.” he’d hoped that calling him hyung might have softened the blow for ten. it’s true that neo culture technologies had rarely seen problems in their way due to the power and influence they held and the close ties they’d been able to make over the years, but it didn’t mean that their men would be unable to be properly trained for a worse case scenario. it made ten feel almost guilty for being good at his job, but he couldn’t show it.

“winwin,” ten called the blonde by his codename, keeping him alert. “update me on his training, since he’s playing the nice guy here.”

sicheng blinked a few times before it registered in his head what he’d been asked. ten gave a small laugh at the boy’s cuteness. it truly was hard to stay mad at him.

he thought back for a second. “it’s been going well. he’s already a pro with a gun. his hand to hand combat… well it isn’t the best yet, but he has been improving rapidly. other than that, there’s nothing else for him to do. he’s completed the rest of his basic training in seoul so all that’s left is his specialities and it seems that would be in a gun range.”

“can he make it on his own on the field?” ten spoke as if the boy wasn’t even in the same room as him. sicheng looked at donghyuck, almost as if he were sizing him up himself.

“i’m not training him to be on his own in the field, i’m just training him to be prepared if and when something turns sour, hyung,” he said sympathetically, as if he’d been the one causing the younger to miss out on the few chances he could’ve been given. he was just following orders.

“wait,” johnny chimed in, “isn’t he training in narcotics ops? why are you training him to use a gun like his life depended on it?”

“well, he’s here, isn’t he? and don’t tell me you didn’t learn to fight even though all you do now is drive to warehouses all day to look at guns,” sicheng scoffed at him.

the difference between sicheng and the boys in the room was that he specialized in two areas whilst they had just focused on one. winwin was the most well known and skilled assassin in all of neo culture technologies, across the region, but was also in charge of overseeing the drug shipments coming in from their suppliers, and the distribution of such as well. he’d spent years of his life dedicated to studies to land himself into a good university and eventually get a good job as well, but what he didn’t realize was the type of work he’d be doing for nc tech when he joined their start up.

johnny carried a similar story, having been shipped to seoul from his hometown in chicago, by his parents, for him to ‘connect with his heritage’. what they hadn’t expected was him landing himself a position as a director of one of the biggest tech companies in the country, and even being transferred to thailand for a higher position. neo culture tech was really a front for the company’s not-so-legal dealings, yes—but that didn’t mean his parents couldn’t be proud.

unlike sicheng, johnny was permanently stationed in thailand and barely got the chance to train anyone under him since taeyong saw that the armoury and weapons shipments were more precious than a few kilos of cocaine. that’s why johnny took his position all the more seriously.

“i get that he’s learning to survive but it seems you’re training him to be just like you?” it came out as a sort of question from the elder. they continued to speak over donghyuck, when he sat right next to him at the polished oak table.

“i asked him to. and i asked mark hyung too. he thought it was a good idea. don’t take it out on winwin hyung,” donghyuck had spoken up trying to end the argument before it started.

“haechan’s right, johnny. besides it’s not up to you what he learns—and if mark agreed to let him them you should have no problem,” ten butt in. johnny noted ten’s incessant need to keep him in his place. as usual, he thought.

“i’ll talk to mark and ask him if it’s okay to let haechan come with you when you take this shipment to china. we have a few buyers set up there already who are just waiting for the goods. it’ll be a good learning experience; don’t you think so?” ten directed his question to sicheng.

they all nodded in response, scared to push his limits on such a fine morning.

they finished up the meeting, discussing the move for the shipment and the plans for haechan, assuming mark gave the okay and let him see the shipment through. they ended rather quickly, the boys getting hungry nearing the next hour. it was in times like these where ten was grateful for hiring lalisa.

they exited the building not long after and headed to the restaurant for their reservation, the youngest most excited for finally being able to be a part of the bigger picture.

next

[mx-o]

「NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; a lot of suspense.

》a/n: i’m sorry i took so long but i’m back with this little bit for now and will update later in the week with part 2. if you ever get confused or have questions, my asks are always open!

word count: 1.8k

masterlist | previous

four, part one

[beijing, china; jan 16, 10:32]

“hello?” ten answered the phone quietly.

“you’ve arrived, i’m assuming?” taeyong asked on the other line. ten hummed in agreement at him.

“there’s something i need for you to do, but they’re with you, aren’t they? johnny and sicheng?” he questioned again. ten could feel johnny and sicheng closing in on him now. he’d been on the phone too long and they’ve realized something was going on. he had to choose his words wisely. he hummed again, followed by a soft ‘yes’.

“this one is for you and you alone. you’re only allowed to answer with yes or no from now on, do you understand?” he spoke sternly over the line—deeply and slowly.

he hummed yet again, but with ‘mhm’ this time. to be honest, ten was a little scared to speak with the other two around and with taeyong’s tone, he only wanted to ask questions.

“words, ten. use your words.”

“yes, sir.” the other two’s ears perked up at that. they figured out who he was speaking to for the least.

“i’ve sent kun and taeil in my place. i have some business to attend to here. i’ve already spoken to them about this. i’m sure you already know i’m sending yuta along from japan also, yes?” ten hummed quietly, acknowledging the fact. “he was supposed to bring doyoung with him as our financial advisor since i need jaehyun here in seoul. the problem is, however, that yuta told doyoung that he wasn’t needed in beijing since you, him and yukhei would be there and would be able to handle it on your own. and while i agree with that, he’s disobeying my orders.”

ten sighed, taking in the information. the two boys who had leaned in on him had not moved a muscle since. he tried his best to ignore their presence and listen to what taeyong was saying.

“i spoke to mark and he confirmed that two people boarded the flight in tokyo. you understand what you need to do, yes?” taeyong finished. ten gathered that he liked asking questions. nonetheless, he nodded.

realizing the man couldn’t see him, he answered, “i’ll look into it.”

[jan 17, 08:31]

“on your toes, boys,” ten commanded his ‘thai trio’ as he calls them. he put on his brightest smile. standing before them. he turned sharply on his heels, now facing the large double doors of the dining room of one of nc tech’s newly constructed hotels in the beijing area—where one can live the dream. ten didn’t fully understand why they bought a chain of hotels but made a mental note to ask kun when he sees him next, which in any case, is in less than thirty seconds.

he pushed open the doors to the dining area to be met with a beautiful face. she was almost the same height as him, her brunette locks falling effortlessly on her shoulders. she held what he assumed was a menu in her arms, against her chest. smiling at him, she moved aside, making way for the four men, and following them as they walked to the centre of the dining room.

the scent of fresh linens whirred through the room as they walked past all the empty tables to the one at the very middle of the hall. the white tablecloths spread across every table with the sun’s electrifying brightness from the skylight above the entire room, made the space look much more open than it really was. they arrived at the table that sat the two men, dressed in jet black suits and slicked back hair.

the hostess stood at the table and motioned for them to sit down, saying that she would be back shortly for their orders. the table was round, large enough to sit eight people but had been adjusted to seat the six men, and so they were spaced a little further than usual. ten sat first of the four, taking his seat next to kun, with taeil on the right of them both. sicheng sat beside ten, johnny on the right side of taeil, sandwiching haechan between them at the only other seat.

“you’re a minute late,” was the first thing kun could say to great them all. typical, ten thought.

“i’m sorry, hyung. i was a little delayed by these three here. you see, they all somehow called ‘dibs’ on the front seat. but it was clearly mine,” he joked with his elder. he laughed delightfully. it was airy and sweet, much like kun himself.

qian kun was one of the initial investors in neo culture technologies. he’d been friends with taeyong for a long time before, as he visited south korea often with his family when he was young. no one is completely sure, but most of the company believe that he’s the reason neo culture even exists as it is today. he was persistent and always was looking out for his brother, and well—his investment. like a lot of the other ‘founding members’, he worked hard to reach where he is now. kun was the director of all drug and narcotics operations for all of the region. technically speaking, he held the same amount of power as taeyong did, just in his division.

“i remember back when we were still young and stole taeyong’s car that one time, we all fought over who could get the front seat. i guess things don’t change sometimes.” taeil chimed in, holding his arm out on the table, toying with his wine glass and letting out a light chuckle. the light from the skylight above them made taeil’s faded orangey-brown locks look a little more golden than usual. the sunlight was the reason the moon shone anyway, wasn’t it?

moon taeil was the stone-cold softie at nc tech. he was one of the two rare people who taeyong held more respect for. both taeil and johnny were the only two people older than taeyong and it showed in the way they were treated. both him and johnny rose ranks easily and was also always the ones their CEO would come to for advice. taeil, however, was kept nearby. he had an insane mind for war tactics and had a knack for things that involved a fight. it’s not quite the personality that suits his features. he was gifted, to say the least—nimble fingers that wrapped easily around the handles of guns, small lips that hid the glints of mischief that shone through the darkness, perfectly round and sharp eyes that ever missed a target. moon taeil was as celestial as the name suggests, and taeyong noticed that the moment he laid eyes on the elder.

it was easy to fall.

“hyung? you stole a car? i never thought you would ever do that!” the youngest jumped at the opportunity to learn about his seniors and all the bad things they’ve done.

“oh no, channie-ah. you see, that was taeil hyung. we all knew if any of us had done that taeyong would’ve blown a fuse. he just likes to include us in his childish endeavours since he misses his youth so much,” ten defended himself. taeil scoffed at the mention of him missing his youth. it was true, but he’d long forgotten about that.

“ya! don’t lie! you were just as much a part as any of us,” kun piped in again, defending taeil. they all laughed at the comment. truth is, everyone except donghyuck knows the story. it was one of those memories that had made them as close as they are now and something they bond over often.

“but we all pinned the blame on taeil anyway,” he finished, quickly taking a sip of his water, and looking away from the death glare taeil shot his way immediately after. all defence down the drain, they all chimed in with their laughter again.

it was a blissful moment in retrospect.

their conversation had gone along smoothly, laughing about old memories as they waited for their orders. but even amidst the chatter and banter, there was still that little bit of suspicion in sicheng’s mind about all of this.

honestly speaking, did ten, kun and taeil need to be here? this was a regular transaction that was supposed to occur just like normal. did taeyong suddenly doubt sicheng’s ability to do his job on his own? and why the hell was yuta flying in too? none of this made any sense but he couldn’t exactly right out ask them about it.

“why are you guys here?” sicheng asked, picking at his steak with his fork, not looking at them. the table fell silent. there goes not ‘right out’ asking about it.

“i’ve been wondering that too, since i don’t usually follow my shipments. that’s a winwin thing, not me,” johnny added.

ten lowered his fork from his hand, placing it down with a clank. kun and taeil looked up at them both—unreadable, while poor donghyuck just reached for his water glass, pretending to drink from it to avoid the situation.

“i hadn’t even thought about that part. so, tell me, does taeyong not trust us anymore? or do you not trust us?” sicheng continued. he looked up at ten, meeting his eyes and leaning into his seat, waiting for his answer.

“this has nothing to do with you—” ten started, cutting himself off to glance at kun for an answer. he sighed in defeat, not knowing how to explain this. his weakness for sicheng gets to him easier than he thought.

“what ten is trying to say is that it’s none of your concern why we’re here. we’re following orders just as you are, that’s all,” taeil spoke calmly.

sicheng tensed. none of this sat right with him. “am i not allowed to know why you’re on my ass about this shipment? obviously there’s something else that i need to know about it if you’re here, am i wrong?”

“it’s not—”

“ten, don’t,” kun stopped him again.

“what’s going on here, seriously? do you not trust me? us?” sicheng asked again, calmer this time. johnny held off on the questions, knowing how ten would react just by gauging the situation.

ten turned fully to kun now, eyebrows furrowed, and shoulders raised. what was he plotting?

“hyung, we should at least—”

“no, ten. you’ll be disobeying orders too,” taeil stated plainly.

“too?” johnny and his damn good observation skills.

“so, we’ve done something wrong?” sicheng’s persistence had become a bore to them now.

“winwin, remember who you’re speaking to,” taeil warned.

he murmured a soft ‘sorry, hyung’ while bowing his head. he knew very well that he was pushing his limits, but he needed to know. he wracked his brain for answers for the past day and a half and he just couldn’t stop now.

“hyung please, just tell me. does taeyong not trust us anymore?”

“it’s not you he doesn’t trust,” kun started, exasperated.

“it’s not who, who doesn’t trust?” a new voice spoke, emerging from behind donghyuck—who’d been ‘drinking’ water this whole time.

“nakamoto.”

next

[mx-o]

「NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; swearing, mentions of guns, slightly suggestive? (ft. more got7)

》 a/n: i’m not sure what i wrote there for a sec, and this is my first ever fic so please don’t hate me. 

word count: 2.3k

masterlist | previous

two

[bangkok, thailand; jan 14, 19:34]

“mr. lim, i’m so glad you could make it,” ten said politely, taking another sip of his scotch and setting another glass down for his guest.

“please, i’ve already told you, you can speak casually to me, or i’m gonna have to start treating you the same, mr. lee,” he chucked lightly and took his seat at the table across from ten.

“well then, jaebeom, i just wanted to have a drink to thank you for your favour. how was your vacation in bali treating you?” he asked while pouring him a drink.

he laughed, “i don’t believe in vacations, there’s always work to be done. especially when half the people you work with don’t seem to understand basic principles—” he took the drink ten offered, nodding a ‘thank you’ as he took a sip.

ten smiled at the comment, knowing exactly what he meant as he had once tried to work with jaebeom’s crew, got7, he recalled. he had gone to see through a shipment on taeyong’s behalf way back when they had just started out. both the companies had only just started, and he vaguely remembered one of the got7 boys, yugyeom—if he remembers correctly, completely losing his mind and panicking like a headless chicken. that caused taeyong to lose faith in jaebeom and his crew, which in itself had caused problems on both ends. gosh, the amount of apologies that came from yugyeom the day after, at their meeting together—you’d never believe the way they’ve come from that.

“yeah i get that. recently, johnny and haechan, too, have been up to their antics again. but what can you do? it’s not like that’s any basis to fire them,” ten laughed. he didn’t mention his little memory about yugyeom considering he hadn’t seen the younger in years, since he’d come back to thailand.

“i can imagine. bambam and jackson are always at it whenever they see each other—which is why i sent them to two different countries. but yet, here i am doing their work.”

neither jaebeom or ten said anything further and just enjoyed their comfortable silence. ten glanced at the clock on the wall behind jaebeom, noticing the time. it had been getting closer to dinner, and boy had it been a long day for them both.

“ah, it’s getting a little late for dinner. have you eaten yet? i’ll ask lalisa to order us something,” ten offered.

“oh, i’m afraid i’ll have to decline. i have to head back to the office to do some paperwork,” he replied hesitantly. he was hungry, yes, but work always came first for jaebeom.

“jaebeom, c’mon. it’s the least i could do to repay you for your favour from the other day. plus, that stupid work first policy is gonna cost you one of these days,” he shot him one of those ‘i know i’m right’ looks that he learnt from his mom.

jaebeom laughed at him, nodding in agreement. they’d known each other for so long it was easy to read each other like that.

“i’ll go get lalisa. is there anything in particular you’d like?” ten asked on his way to the glass door of his office. jaebeom shook his head, saying that anything would be fine.

he went outside quickly making his way over to his secretary’s desk, except she wasn’t there. probably on a bathroom break, he assumed. he went back into the office, figuring he’d call for delivery himself.

“looks like she’s busy so i’ll just call them instead,” he explained when jaebeom shot him a questioning look for returning so quickly. a silent ‘oh’ escaped from jaebeom’s parted lips.

ten started dialling the number for the nearest delivery place when it occurred to him that johnny, sicheng and donghyuck hadn’t left the office yet. maybe he should go check if they had eaten and ask them to join him and jaebeom?

“i don’t think the others have left yet, do you mind if they joined us?” he asked looking up from his phone, tilting his head like a puppy. jaebeom took a second before agreeing—something about ‘the more the merrier.’

ten decided to head to the floor below his to johnny’s office, where they all usually are this time. down the hall, in the stainless-steel elevator and a five second wait before he stumbled upon one of the worst scenarios to have happened at neo culture tech—well in his eyes, at least.

***

ten had originally invited bambam to have drinks with him but when he was informed that jaebeom had just flown in, he didn’t let the opportunity pass to thank the man who was really behind the operation. this, however, meant that bambam wouldn’t let his opportunity pass.

it was a simple plan, really. get in after jaebeom, do what he had to, and get out before jaebeom. what he didn’t expect was getting caught in what he called ‘phase 2’ of his own little operation. but it’s bambam we’re talking about here—what else would’ve happened?

getting into the building was no problem, considering he had been there so many times and had direct access anyway. if anyone had asked, he was late for a meeting with jaebeom and ten, which arguably, was a valid excuse if he had used it. he’d figured since it was getting late, that most of the staff would’ve already gone home, if not on their way. but what he’d forgotten was how dedicated all the workers of neo tech were. so, when word got out that got7’s shipping advisor and manager had entered the building, it was johnny’s sole duty, as one of the directors of the board and dear friend of bam, to invite him to his office for a drink.

nothing really ever went as planned for bam, anyway.

it was just his luck that sicheng and donghyuck had decided to join in. they had all sat in johnny’s office, catching up on things since all they really ever talk about was work. meanwhile, all bambam could think of was how he could make it out of here without making it seem obvious. he pulled his phone out from his pocket, typing quickly and sending a text that hopefully might save him from all this.

[19:41] stuck in johnny’s office. get me out.

all he could do now was wait and hope no one noticed how antsy he was getting.

“so bam, how’s the girlfriend? we still haven’t met her, man. what are you waiting for?” sicheng asked. he wasn’t one to pry but the few drinks he had could change that.

“you aren’t afraid we’ll snatch her up from under you?” johnny added with a laugh. bam laughed nervously at the snide comment, desperately trying to hide his anxiety for the umpteenth time within the last few minutes.

they continued their conversation for a while after, bambam starting to worry that he may not ever be saved from this torture. that’s when this saviour arrived—lalisa knocking on johnny’s office door with a few files in her hand.

“mr. suh, if i may, mr. lee is expecting your guest in his office for the meeting with mr. lim,” she said sweetly with a smile, as she peeked into the room. he couldn’t mistake something more mischievous in her voice, though.

“oh yes, of course. that’s why you’ve been so nervous! bam, you could’ve just said you had a meeting. come back after and we’ll continue the drinks,” johnny said, after dismissing the girl.

bambam took his leave, bowing and thanking them for the drinks before actually leaving. he opened the door, seeing lalisa on the other end of the hallway. she motioned her head to the door to her right, a smirk on the corner of her lips. bam smiled right back at her and practically ran into the room, pulling her with him. she had to hold back her laughter a little, so they didn’t cause a scene. she was already risking her job by doing this for him—well it wasn’t just for him.

he pulled her into the empty conference room, lips attaching to hers the very second they’d entered. she hummed and pulled away mumbling something about locking the door. to think, that was the fastest bambam had ever reacted to anything at all in his entire life.

he rushed to go close the double doors of the spacious conference room. too caught up in not wanting to miss the moment, he didn’t quite turn that lock fully. he turned around, taking lalisa by surprise, pushing her up onto the table and letting her hands grip on his shoulders for support. his hands made its way to her waist, pulling her closer since he couldn’t get enough.

she pulled away again saying, “i only have fifteen minutes before he realizes i’m gone,” before getting lost in the moment again. bambam pushed her further back so that she sat on the desk, him standing between her legs.

lalisa pulled at his suit jacket, desperately trying to get it off of him since it was getting so heated between them. she continued down to his belt buckle before he stopped her. “don’t start something we don’t have time to finish,” he warned.

she let the belt go and went up to his dress shirt while also trying to get her own blouse off. she had waited all week for this, with bam being busy with work and not being out of the country for half of it, she didn’t want to hold back.

meanwhile, donghyuck had been playing around with johnny’s computer. obviously, he was supervised. johnny needed him occupied since he didn’t want him drinking and end up doing something stupid while drunk.

he did some clicking here and there, stumbling upon the live feed of the security cams on both this floor and the floor above them. ten’s office didn’t have security cameras, but the hallway did. he’d noticed that lalisa hadn’t been sitting at her desk, where she usually is at this time, but he just brushed it off thinking she’d gone to the bathroom or something.

he played around a little more, checking all the rooms before stumbling upon the conference room down the hall. that’s when he froze up. neither johnny nor sicheng had noticed but the boy sat in his chair staring at the screen, rigid.

the poor boy couldn’t wrap his head around what he was seeing. had bambam really subscribed to the whole ‘sleeping with the secretary’ thing? it wasn’t even his secretary!

donghyuk stared at the screen for too long and frankly, had grown uncomfortable seeing one of his co-workers with one of his friends, yet the boy still couldn’t look away. it wasn’t until he heard a loud crashing sound from down the hall, that he snapped out of his trance.

johnny got behind him to pull up the security cams on his computer, not knowing they were already up, while sicheng pulled out his glock 19 that he had hidden in his waistband. he stood behind the closed door, listening for any other signs of an intruder before opening the door and heading to the hallway.

johnny already had his hands on his gun, ready to pull it out—that was until he saw what had caused the crash in the first place. and there it was, live on the security feed—his co-workers in the middle of a heated make-out session. they still hadn’t even realized they had thrown down one of ten’s most prized possessions, an antique chinese vase that costed millions.

he tried to supress his laughter, realizing why donghyuk had logged off from reality while he sat in the chair. the boy probably didn’t even know what to do with himself seeing all that unfold. johnny was too late to stop sicheng from bolting into the conference room and seeing it first-hand.

saying sicheng was not surprised was an understatement. having known bambam for this long, honestly, he’d expected something like this, except he didn’t expect that it would be with lalisa, and most certainly, not at work.

okay, so maybe sicheng was a little surprised.

the two lovebirds still weren’t aware of his presence in the room, even after johnny had joined them. he had put away his gun and cleared his throat to get their attention, but it was to no avail. he did it again, this time a little louder. they finally caught on, lalisa gasping and pushing bambam off of her. she quickly got up off the desk and turned around to button up her blouse while bam followed suit.

“what a coincidence, cockblocked again. and by the same people.”

johnny and sicheng laughed awkwardly, still no knowing what to do in this situation.

“fuck,” lalisa whispered, seeing the vase on the carpet, shattered to pieces. bambam followed her gaze whispering the same. they were all fucked actually.

just when it couldn’t get any worse—

“what’re you guys—” ten cut himself off after seeing the mess that was his first-floor conference room.

johnny and sicheng had moved to the side, bowing their heads in ‘shame’ despite holding back some of their laughter. the real shame was from lalisa and bambam, who caused this mess in the first place. neither of the two could look at ten and face him right now.

all that could register in ten’s head was that the vase wasn’t the only thing that was shattered tonight.

next

[mx-o]

「NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; very light swearing? alcohol consumption and a little more of got7

》 a/n: this is really just a filler because i wanted something to post for you guys, but things are starting to heat up!! we’ll get to meet the china boys in the next chapter and please remember to pay attention to the dates!!!

word count: 2.4k

masterlist | previous

three

[bangkok, thailand; jan 14, 21:57]

ten downed another bottle of that cheap beer from the convenience store around the corner from the office building. he sat on the hood of his metallic black audi r8 spyder, drinking as much as he could, to forget his heartbreak.

the funny thing is that ten had known from the very beginning she wasn’t interested, and that he had no chance with the girl. yet he had pined for her all these years, knowing it would all lead up to this moment where he’d eventually pay the price for all that wasted time yearning. but that didn’t mean he couldn’t wallow in his own self-pity.

he had driven the whole two hours south of bangkok’s city atmosphere for a more refreshing and calmer state of mind. he’d landed himself outside of neo culture tech’s warehouse overlooking the gulf of thailand’s glistening waters. he had sat there mostly looking at the sea, trying to let his anger for bambam go, considering they were supposed to be close friends, and if not co-workers since lim corp, jaebeom’s private manufacturing company, and nc tech were close partners.

it didn’t cross ten’s mind, however, that when he entered the building, a little bit far from sober, that he would potentially ruin lim corp’s board of directors, famously known as got7—how the name came about being a very well-kept secret, and neo culture’s rather inseparable relationship. emotions get the best of us, sometimes.

[beijing, china; jan 16, 09:28]

the wheels of the private jet—courtesy taeyong, hit the runway with a loud screech, even sicheng found it rather annoying. actually, sicheng found most of this entire ordeal to be rather annoying. sure, he’d been on this flight with the three boys for a full five hours, but the conversations held between them all excluded ten.

ten had called sicheng late the night he’d stormed out, after seeing bambam and lalisa completely tarnish his conference room, to tell him that mark had approved of their idea to bring haechan along. he had also mentioned a party being held to meet the buyers, and that johnny was to come alone with them—to china.

the thing is that that was the last he’d heard from ten, even now that they were stuck a few thousand feet in the sky. he didn’t even breathe in their direction and sat at the furthest seat to the back. speaking to johnny the day before too, they’d only received a text from lalisa with the flight information on ten’s behalf. was he really so upset about a stupid vase?

sicheng brushed it off for a while, thinking he’d ask him about it later seeing as communication was a big part of their job anyway. he’d longed to be back in china, even if it were just for a stupid party before he’d be off to japan within the next few days.

he glanced over at donhyuck sitting beside him. the young boy looked restless, fumbling with his hands, and eyeing the view outside the window. sicheng couldn’t tell if it was because of his nerves, or because he’d never been to china before. nerves would be the more probable answer since this was his first real training exercise in the field, and because he’d be getting to reunite with some of the other boys who he’d trained with before they all were sent off to other countries for further training. most of the boys stationed in china had all been from there anyway and had returned to the hometowns as syndicates for nct but usually spent their time in beijing anyway.

the plane had landed safely, and the boys all got their things before getting into a black suv that was waiting on their arrival. there were two other vehicles that looked similar driving both in front and behind their vehicle. ten and sicheng sat next to each other, donghyuck and johnny sitting behind them, both finding comfort in the leather seats to take a nap before they arrived at their destination—wherever that was.

“where are we going first, hyung?” sicheng inquired. he kept a calm face despite his annoyance towards the elder. there still hadn’t been a word from him this whole time.

he said nothing. sicheng scoffed at him, mumbling under his breath how unbelievable this situation was and how he wished it to be over. fortunately, or not so fortunately, ten heard him. he felt guilty for not speaking to the younger but there had been so much running through his head, there’s no way he could speak to the boy without crumbling before him. ten wasn’t one to be vulnerable around anyone, even one of his longest and closest friends. that, and it wasn’t quite easy to both confess you’d been in love with your secretary and how much it hurt to see her with another man, let alone one of your own friends.

oh, and that thing that happened at the warehouse that made him so guilty in the first place. but he pushed it aside.

“we’re meeting jackson at the warehouse here in beijing. johnny has some things to handle and so do you, if i’m not wrong?” he finally said, stone cold with only a hint of curiosity to the end. he had been off the grid for a day, and for the COO of a multimillion-dollar company, that was too long. sicheng didn’t say anything in return.

“the shipment should already have arrived, it’s just for both of you to double check and make sure it’s okay before we can deliver them to the buyers. and well, we’ll meet them tomorrow at the party to finalize everything in person.” ten looked at him with a soft smile. he never liked the idea of sicheng being mad at him—call it a weakness but he has his reasons.

ten was what one would call a ‘founding member’ of neo culture technologies. because of this, he was given the duty of training any of the new recruits. sicheng happened to be one of those new recruits, and also happened to be so determined he’d undergone training twice in different departments. and well, ten grew fond of the younger, considering the amount of time they spent together.

sicheng softened, smiling at him, and giving him a slight nod. they let the comfortable silence envelope the car.

they both started to dose off in their seats when ten’s phone rang loudly through the empty atmosphere of the vehicle. johnny jumped forward at the sound, reaching for his gun before realizing the situation.

ten shifted awkwardly in his seat trying to reach his jacket from the centre console to retrieve his phone. he answered it lazily, still captured in his sleepy state. sicheng and johnny paid close attention, seeing as no one really called ten. it always got to one of the two before it reached him, so just the fact that he answered that call could mean something extremely important had happened or ten just suddenly liked talking to people over the phone—which was highly unlikely.

they heard a few yes’s and hums in agreement from him, but they were still weary. he hung up shortly after, “i’ll look into it.”

ten turned to sicheng and sighed, sleep escaping him easily now. johnny and sicheng looked at each other, alarmed by ten’s last few words. this had to be serious.

he didn’t say anything. typical.

“well?” johnny asked, leaning forward to get closer to the two. ten turned back around to face forward, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips.

“that was taeyong.”

oh, it was serious.

“he said that kun and taeil will be joining us on his behalf and that yuta is already there waiting for us.” the two boys looked confused. what was there that he had to look into?

ten noticed their confusion, but his lips remained sealed. he was specifically ordered to do this by himself. they looked at him, patiently waiting for him to say more.

“that’s it, guys. we just have to make sure that all goes well,” he lied. he’d had to discuss it with kun and taeil when they arrived before he could even mention it to them. sure, telling them now could benefit him but he would never go against taeyong’s orders.

johnny brushed it off, thinking not much of it, but sicheng kept it in the back of his mind. ten was acting a little off these days.

[11:04]

“we’re here,” wen, their driver said while checking the rear-view mirror to see that the other vehicle behind them had arrived before they left their own vehicle.

sicheng had stayed awake the whole drive, too uneasy around the others—but that was something he’d have to keep to himself before it landed him in the wrong place. he shook ten and johnny awake. donghyuk had slept through the entire ride without a peep. his excitement throughout the flight had seriously drained him.

when they had all woken up and were given the okay from wen and his security team, they all exited the car, ten leading the way. it wasn’t sicheng’s first time, nor johnny’s, but they had stayed behind to walk with donghyuk since it was his first time. they had entered the warehouse and following protocol, they all put on latex gloves and masks. donghyuk was confused by this, so he looked at sicheng. like he had read the younger’s mind, he mouthed the words, “so we don’t leave any prints.”

ten had walked in before the other three, heading towards a man dressed in a jet-black suit with his hair slicked back and a strong build, wide shoulders. his back was turned to them so at first, none of them had recognized the man. ten had been speaking to him while the others had been explaining a few things to the youngest about protocol and whatnot.

ten called them over the second he saw them and the man next to him turned around. johnny chuckled. he hadn’t seen the other in while, he was practically beaming.

“mr. wang!” he called from where he stood, waving at him. they used to be awfully close friends, just like ten and jaebeom. johnny was a social butterfly and well, so was mr. wang so naturally they grew to become friends. but it was because of that too that they grew apart.

“mr. suh!” he replied, gesturing for them to join him. ten smiled at them too, happy to see the friends reunite.

“johnny, winwin-ah! bring haechannie, he hasn’t met jackson yet.”

donghyuk looked up, hearing his codename. he saw the man—jackson wang, in the flesh. he had heard a lot about him from bambam and johnny, even sicheng had his fair share of stories. honestly, he was a legend.

from what he knows, jackson was under lim corp as a subsidiary of some sort. he doesn’t quite understand all the business-y stuff. the businesses were just to launder the money anyway and that’s all that mattered.

jackson wang ran wang co., the only subsidiary under lim corp. essentially, he owned and managed all of lim corp’s assets here in china and gathered intel, buyers, partners—anything and everything jaebeom wanted. he was like a puppy, really. it was sad that he was treated like that, but he was given his freedoms in return for a job well done. jaebeom wasn’t a tyrant, he just knew what needed to be done to keep his place in the hierarchy and maintain it.

ten had introduced the youngest to jackson quickly so they could get to business faster.

“alright, we’re just here to verify the shipment before the party and then we’ll be on our way,” ten smiled at jackson while explaining their sudden visit. jackson had already been given the head’s up earlier that morning by jaebeom, so it didn’t really make sense to him why ten felt the need to explain. sicheng had figured the same—that jackson already knew about ten visiting, considering he never put on a full suit when sicheng visited, nor johnny. just that in itself dug ten into that hole of suspicion a little more.

johnny had sensed something had been off with sicheng and decided that it would be a really great idea to pull him aside and ask him about it. right then and there. johnny sometimes had poor judgment but that didn’t mean he was any less of a team player.

he grabbed sicheng gently by the wrist and gave it a tug. he looked back at the older in confusion. johnny motioned with his head for sicheng to come with him, but sicheng couldn’t see why. ten had decided long before that he would take reins on this mission and had donghyuk strapped to his side while he and jackson walked through the warehouse, explaining every little detail. therefore, it was rather easy to sneak away from them for a minute or two.

johnny pulled sicheng with him behind one of the large crates and pushing him against it.

“okay, what’s going on? you have this…i don’t know—aura. and it’s fucking weirding me out,” johnny whisper shouted, switching between looking over the crate and at sicheng.

“look it’s nothing, okay? i just have this weird feeling that there’s something we don’t know about,” he sighed. “but i don’t have any proof so i’m not going to just say shit without anything to back it up with, alright? i’ll tell you about if i find anything but for now, it’s not your fucking problem to worry about.” sicheng looked tense, trying to shake off johnny’s death grip on his shoulder where he kept him pinned to the wooden crate.

johnny didn’t budge. he trusted sicheng, and he trusted his ‘feelings’ even more because he’d never been wrong before. sicheng stopped resisting and johnny relaxed his hand, realizing that the younger was uncomfortable.

“let’s just get back to the others before they realize we’re gone,” sicheng said softly. he was starting to get tired of all this. johnny nodded and let go completely of him. he gestured for sicheng to go first and lingered a few seconds before joining the group again. it seemed like ten didn’t even notice they were gone, honestly—being caught up in his little teaching moment.

ten figured they’d both forgotten who they’d trained under and just how good he was. it was like he’d even heard their conversation. he didn’t think anything of it, considering he knew that the reason behind it was him. it’s not his fault he had direct orders to not to tell anyone.

the main priority here was to train donghyuck and help taeyong, and ten was determined to make that happen.

next

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anyone down for a neo city update or should i post the new fic i’m working on?

[mx-o]

this week’s chapter might take a little longer than expected but i will still try to have it up on time !!

[mx-o]

hello, a new chapter of neo city has been posted. 

although it is short, i will finish the chapter later in the week (as this chapter is only part). i had already been a month since the last chapter and i didn’t want anyone to think i’ve stopped writing it or forgot about it. i went through quite a rough patch but i’m back and  determined to finish! 

anyway, thank so much for reading neo city so far, and i’m glad you’re staying for the ride. :)

p.s my asks are open if you ever want to ask questions or even request short stories with any of the members!

[mx-o]

seriously gonna finish new city like before the second half of the year we're almost done writing it all out :))))

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going to try to upload part 1 of chapter four this week, please look forward to it!

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i feel like because i didn’t update last week, people forgot about neo city but really i just had a little block and i had a lot of assignment to do all of a sudden.

but nonetheless i tried and it may not be all that great but what else can i do lmao.

[mx-o]

um hello

due to very personal reasons neo city will not be updated til next week, but i am trying my very hardest to finish it up. i have just seemed to hit a huge bump in the road

ah no one’s reading this

neo city. next week. sorry.