Episode 1: Retirement (3)

Within a nice and quiet room, a young black-haired man could be seen silently sitting on a blue couch, seemingly deep in thought. In his hands, a white mask could be noted.

"..." Staring at the mask with a unique lightning pattern streaking down from the right eye, Jace's expression was solemn, unlike the lazy and lifeless one from before. "...maybe this isn't a good idea after all..."

Jace was no longer in his living room. Instead, he was in a conference waiting room. From the hectic morning till now, everything led up until this very moment. A crucial decision was soon to be made.

"Ugh... I thought it'd be easy after calling that idiot... But the more the conference nears, the more I start to get uneasy..." He frowned, clutching onto his mask as if he didn't want to let go. "Jeez... All of this wouldn't have happened in the first place if not for that stupid class change."

Yes. It was the root cause. And Jace had to pay as a consequence. Though he may have thought that his identity as "Ace" was a hassle from the very beginning, it didn't change the fact that he had spent a decade as a hunter, and most of those days were as Ace.

It wasn't easy to come to terms with the circumstances. But did he have a choice? He would be insane to keep the identity of Ace after all that had happened. There was no point. He was now a level 1 newbie hunter.

Yet, despite all that reasoning; he felt uneasy when it came time to actually do the deed.

"Hah..." he sighed. "I hate that I have no other choice..."

Although he found himself constantly in an annoying situation, he had quite enjoyed his time as Ace. But now, it was time to say goodbye.

"..." He remained silent as the clock ticked down. His uneasiness grew restless. Yet he could only wait for the final verdict. "This is really driving me crazy... If only I could just sleep through this."

As Jace was in deep thought and contemplation, a knock could be heard on the door.

"A-Ace...? A-Are you ready?" A male's voice resounded from the other side. "Soren wanted me to let you know that the conference is about to begin... Y-You're not gonna bail, are you?"

"..." There was no answer from the young man.

"A-Ace...? Are you there?" The voice asked in a shaky tone.

"...yes, I'm ready." Quite frankly, he was considering bailing the conference. He would put this issue on hold for another day. But, he decided against it. "Tell Soren that I have an important announcement to make."

Standing up from the couch, Jace placed his mask on for the final time and soon made his way over to the door. With a deep breath, he twisted the knob and exited the waiting room.

He had come to a final decision.

...

In front of an empty stage, a large crowd of reporters could be seen waiting in anticipation of the conference. Though it was just in regards to the topic of the S-ranked Gate clear the day before, the main highlight of the event was the appearance of "Ace".

To the reporters that were gathered in the auditorium, it was but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ace had never publicly appeared at any conference or event. So this was his first ever time. As such, what looked to be a standard conference, turned out to be a bigger one than expected.

"This sure is a big crowd..." A reporter muttered to himself. "Is Soren really that popular?"

"Well there's that, but did you not hear the rumours? Ace is appearing!" A woman next to the man replied.

"It'll be the biggest scoop of the day! Even if he doesn't talk, him just appearing would make headlines!" An eager journalist joined in on the conversation. "But that all depends if it's actually true. Soren better not be pulling our legs here by just saying that Ace would attend only to find out that it was all a publicity stunt."

"Well... It's just a rumour that's been circulating around. Soren never actually confirmed it, I believe," she reasoned. "So we can only wait. We've got nothing much to lose anyways since there's not much going on today."

As silent whispers resounded through the auditorium, the room's light dimmed, as the lights at the front stage brightened. At that very moment, two men could be seen stepping foot onto the stage. One was that of a young ginger-haired man, and from behind him, was Ace.

"...ah! It is actually true! Ace did actually show up!" The reporters became frantic at the news.

Loud whispers echoed through the room as the journalists all became restless. Most were eagerly typing on their laptops or writing in their notebooks while others were busily taking photos. It wasn't until the young man stood behind the podium that the entire room turned silent.

"Haha... Would you look at that, quite a lot of people showed up to the conference, huh?" The ginger-haired man—Soren, casually spoke through the mic. "Well let's not waste any time, shall we? Let us begin Daybreaker's post-battle conference. I will accept any and all questions after this."

With the cue coming in from Soren, he began the conference immediately.

"As you all may know, this is Daybreaker's 3rd duo S-ranked Gate clear in Aurelis. If not for Ace, this feat wouldn't have been possible," he chuckled. "But that isn't the main point of this. Let us talk about the future. With many uncleared S-ranked Gates that exist in this world, it is in our best interest to clear them. So, therefore—the announcement that I'll be making today is Daybreaker's expansion worldwide."

With just a few words into the conference, the entire room blew up with whispers once again. Unlike the topic from before, this stirred up the crowd even more. Many reporters were now eagerly waiting for the Q&A sessions.

"Haha. That would be all for the announcement from me." As all eyes were on Soren for further elaboration, he only gave a sly smile as he soon stepped to the side. In the next second, a masked man was now behind the podium. "Now, our dear Hunter Ace would like to make an announcement as well."

"...?!" As if the shock of an expansion wasn't enough, the sudden news of an additional announcement from Ace himself quickly riled up the crowd. At that very instance, the actions of the journalists all stopped mid-way as they were now completely focused on the man standing on the stage.

"..." With all attention on Ace, he stood there, remaining silent the entire time. It looked to be that he was staring at the crowd in a daze. However, after a few minutes, he finally uttered a few words. "...today, I have an important announcement to make."

As if they were all on edge, the reporters all sat up straight, keen on listening in on Ace.

"Is he going to announce that he'll be joining Daybreaker?"

"I never expected Ace to actually talk... That's so unlike him."

"Argh!! This anticipation is killing me!"

As the silence from Ace grew eerie, speculations began to rise among the audience. But, what was said by Ace next completely caught the entire room off guard.

"...after a decade of hunter work... I will be announcing my retirement today." Ace spoke in a blunt tone of voice. "That would be all." In the next moment, the young man began walking away from the stage, leaving everyone stunned to speak.

"...hah?!" Before they could even compose themselves, chaos had already erupted among the crowd. "Ace! Ace!! What do you mean?!" They all cried out in despair. However, just as suddenly as the announcement was made, he disappeared into the unknown.

Never to be seen again.

...

Footsteps echoed through the lonely halls of an auditorium. There, a masked man could be seen quietly strolling through the corridors. After a while, his steps stopped in their place, slowly taking off the mask on his face the next moment.

"There's that, I guess..." He solemnly muttered to himself as he glanced at the mask in his hand. "Today marks the end of Ace."

With a quiet whisper, Jace threw the mask onto the ground, leaving it behind.

From this day onwards, "Ace" would no longer exist.