MongoDB return array of values instead of json

Question

I have a following document with json as value: .

But mongodb returns array values instead.

I am using jenssegers plugin for laravel.

How can I get json value as it is from the table, instead of arrays.

I tried json_encode() for this case, but there are other similar issues and I want to retrieve the json value itself.

Fetching query:

$query = \DB::table('v2_reports')
                 ->select('input_controls')
                 ->where('report_key', $report_key)
                 ->first();