Chapter 86: Restart: Reaction 2
Lowo woke up, feeling completely lost, and couldn't even remember how he had gotten there. He was immersed in his thoughts as he walked through the streets of that small, decaying town.
The shame and confusion had consumed him since the fateful day he had laid an egg. As absurd as it was, it was real.
He had touched it, held it, and even hidden it to keep anyone from discovering it. He didn't know how to process the event, and with every step, he felt further removed from reality.
By his side, always present, was Smile—or at least Lowo believed Smile was there. But in truth, Smile didn't exist outside Lowo's mind. He was an extension, a persona created to endure pain and failure.
The two talked, laughed, and shared stories, but all of it happened solely inside Lowo's head. Those around him saw only a man mumbling to himself or laughing in a disturbing way.
To many, he was just another lunatic in town, someone to avoid. That day, the cycle of rejection continued. Lowo and Smile had tried repeatedly to find work, but they were always turned away.
No one wanted to hire "the crazy man who talks to himself." The town's youth, full of hatred and prejudice, never missed an opportunity to ridicule him. He had become their target of mockery, but that afternoon, things took a more violent turn.
As he walked back home, Lowo accidentally bumped into one of the troublemakers lurking in the area. Before he could apologize, he was shoved to the ground.
The kicks started, and Lowo, defenseless, tried to shield himself as best he could. It was at that moment that Smile "appeared" to him, his stronger, more confident alter ego, the one Lowo believed could protect him.
However, the truth was cruel: Smile wasn't there to save him. Lowo was facing the violence alone.
As he took the blows, Lowo "saw" Smile at his side, entering the fight, trying to fend off the attackers.
But in reality, they were just the desperate movements of a man struggling against brutality. To the attackers and the few onlookers, Lowo appeared to be fighting alone, flailing against an invisible foe, which only fueled their taunts further.
They laughed, calling him "crazy," "insane," as he writhed on the ground.
The violence seemed endless. Lowo, his face battered and his body exhausted, began to lose strength. His alter ego, Smile, whom he saw as a figure of power, was "fighting" beside him but couldn't prevent the inevitable.
The end was near. Smile looked at Lowo, wearing that ironic smile he always carried.
"Don't worry, friend, I'll handle everything. Let me take over from here."
Lowo, already drained, simply nodded. At that moment, he didn't realize he was relinquishing the last part of himself. Smile wasn't a separate entity; he was a construct of Lowo's mind, a reflection of his desperate need to escape his own pain and failures.
By letting Smile "take over," Lowo, unknowingly, was allowing his own existence to fade away.
Suddenly, the fight was interrupted by a scream. A child had run into the street, and a car was speeding toward them. Lowo, or rather Smile, acted quickly.
In a desperate impulse, he ran to save the child. In one swift and heroic move, he managed to pull the boy out of the car's path but wasn't fast enough to save himself. The car hit Lowo with force, throwing him to the ground.
At the moment of impact, everything seemed to freeze. Lowo, lying on the ground, saw Smile standing, looking at him. It was a surreal scene, as if the two were finally face to face. Smile smiled, that ever-present grin, but this time there was something more—a farewell.
"It's time, Lowo. You don't need to suffer anymore. I'll carry on for both of us."
Lowo tried to speak, but no words came out. He felt his body weaken, pain radiating through every part of him.
Tears streamed from his eyes as he watched Smile walk away. It was the last time he would see his alter ego, the last time he would exist as Lowo.
In that moment, something inside him broke. His consciousness, his identity—everything seemed to slip away, as if he were nothing more than a shadow of what he once was.
When the paramedics arrived, they found Lowo lying on the ground, motionless, with the child he had saved crying beside him. To everyone, he was just a man who had risked his life to save another.
No one knew of the internal battle that had ended there, on the hot, dirty asphalt. Smile, now, was all that remained.
Inside Lowo's mind, Smile was completely alone. There was no longer the timid, insecure voice of Lowo to confront him.
Smile was, finally, the sole personality. He had won, but at a terrible price—the death of Lowo.
In the days that followed, Smile continued to live, but the town noticed something different. The "madman who talked to himself" now walked in silence, with a cold and distant expression.
The troublemakers, who had once tormented him, now avoided him. There was something disturbing in his eyes, something no one could understand.
The Lowo who had once existed, with his fears and frailties, had died in that accident. Only Smile remained—a hollow figure, carrying the scars of an internal struggle fought to the bitter end.
The town, as always, went on with its life, but in Smile's eyes, his life had taken an incomprehensible turn and would never be the same again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone