He had never been a nobleman, yet he'd spent money as lavishly as one, until it was all gone.
Then he ran off with someone.
The outcome was only to be expected.
"Get out! I'm telling you, with the government as it is now, I could throw you out myself and no one would blame me!"
Ivan's voice grew angrier, nearly rising to a roar.
The door was flung open.
Jack realized what was happening, but didn't dodge.
He stood where he was.
"Am I interrupting?"
"Ivan?"
"Jack!" Ivan stared at him, dumbfounded. How had Jack gone from one thing to another and ended up a military man?
Jack had always been handsome, with delicate features, but the battlefield had forged him into a ruggedly handsome man.
He'd been battered by Aningsbe's artillery and machine guns.
After being reassigned, he'd taken up a rifle and gone after bandits.
Now, though he looked weather-beaten and much older, his expression was filled with a chilling air of violence.
"Jack, is it really you?"
"Jack!"
Ivan's sister, Jack's sister and former wife, Eva, clung to his leg and cried, "I was wrong, Jack. They tricked me!"
"I really know I was wrong, Jack."
"Big Brother Jack, you're alive—and you're a soldier now! This is unbelievable!" Ivan's mind finally caught up. He realized that Jack had actually made something of himself!
The two of them ignored Eva.
"No, I'm just a squad leader. I'm only back for a day. After that, I have to attend military reform training, where we'll learn new tactics." Jack looked around at the house Ivan was still living in.
The house was in a sorry state. It wasn't anything special.
It was tiny, even by the standards of the city, and the floor was just packed earth.
They couldn't