Heidelberg -Philosophers' Walk
Daniel finished his short itinerary in London and headed to Heidelberg.
His father, Hans, lived in a villa built along the Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk) in Heidelberg. This area was home to elegant, antique houses in the styles of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), Historism, and Neoclassicism, built in the 19th century by wealthy aristocrats, artists, and professors for the scenic views.
Daniel’s grandfather, Johann, who had owned several of these houses—which remained largely intact and un-destroyed during World War II—had bequeathed them all to his only son, Hans.
The two sons of Hans and his new, young Spanish wife Maria had inherited these houses; they lived in nearby villas and ran a real estate business in Heidelberg, just like their father.
Daniel, however, had inherited and was managing his father’s former chemical company, and he had decided not to inherit any of the villas here. Daniel never felt right about making money from housing, a basic human necessity. Moreover, as someone who spent more time enjoying nature than staying indoors, a palace-like, opulent house with complicated maintenance and cleaning requirements held little charm for him.
Among these villas, Hans and Maria lived in the largest and most magnificently built one with the best view. In the two surrounding houses lived Maria and Hans’s sons, Francisco and Marco.
When he arrived at his father's house, Maria came out with a smile and greeted Daniel warmly. "¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?"
Maria and Hans used Spanish at home. Strangely, however, when Francisco and Marco were present, they switched to German. Yet Maria stubbornly used Spanish when speaking to Daniel. Since learning new languages was not difficult for Daniel, he simply spoke Spanish when she was around to accommodate her fickle linguistic identity.
"Hola, Maria. I hope everyone is healthy and well. How is Father?" "It’s been a while, Daniel. Go in and see for yourself. He’s the same as always... complaining like a child every day. You know your father, Hans."
Daniel stepped into the spacious house. It was a wide, bright living room where the Neckar River, the Karl Theodor Bridge (Alte Brücke), and the Old Town (Altstadt) were all visible through large windows. The house was filled with heirlooms passed down through generations, along with antique furniture and paintings collected by his grandfather, Johann. In particular, a painting by August Macke, which Daniel had always loved, hung directly in front of the grand piano.
Hans, who had been sitting at the grand piano in the center of the hall playing Chopin, saw Daniel entering, finished his piece, approached him, and kissed him on both cheeks.
"Where are you coming from? Are you on your way back from Insadong in Seoul?" "Yes, Father." "Did you buy many good artworks?" "Yes. I discovered a great exhibition, so I purchased almost everything. How is your health, Father?"
"As for me... I live every day thinking it would be fine if I died today. Was the weather in Korea good? It’s been raining here the whole time. The weather seems to be clearing up now that you’re here. Tell me about the company... is it worth the work?" "Yes, it’s going well." "Right... I always trusted you. Since you were a child, you were the type to do everything well on your own... you really achieved everything by yourself."
"Uh... Father, by the way, at an exhibition hall in Insadong, I met a curator who has one of Mother’s old sculptures. She said it was an artifact left by her grandmother when she gave Mother up for adoption." Hans looked at Daniel with a startled face and said, "She had a sculpture by Mi-hee?"
"Yes... a girl's face. The technique was slightly different from what I knew, but I could tell at a glance it was Mother’s work. When I looked closely, her signature was at the bottom—'M H' was written there. The way the signature was engraved was identical."
Hans turned his head to gaze at the view of the Neckar River through the large window and said, "Daniel, come over here and sit down. Maria, Maria... give Daniel something to drink." Maria, who had been eavesdropping nearby, went into the kitchen.
Then, the Mexican lady, Carmen, brought the drink Daniel had loved most since childhood—a mixture of cherry juice and sparkling water. "Thank you, Carmen. I hope you are staying healthy and well." Carmen replied with a soft, kind smile. "I am doing very well. It must be hard for Daniel, traveling around doing difficult work... let me know if you need anything." After saying this, she smiled and returned to the kitchen.
Carmen was a domestic helper hired by Hans's family who had looked after Daniel since she was seventeen. To Daniel, she was his closest family. Two years after Daniel’s mother, Mi-hee, passed away, Hans remarried Maria, a beautiful Spanish woman. Daniel was nine, and his father was forty-six at the time. Maria, his father’s new bride, was twenty-one.
Shortly after giving birth to Francisco, Maria said she did not want to raise her son alongside Daniel. So, Hans sent Daniel to live with his grandfather Johann and grandmother Angie. There, the young Mexican woman, Carmen, cared for Daniel like a mother. Unlike his grandparents, Hans and Angie, who were kind but always maintained a distance, Carmen was a warm, mother-like figure full of affection.
Daniel drained his cherry juice and sparkling water in one gulp. Hans watched him and spoke.
"Before Mi-hee came to Germany, she gave a daughter up for adoption in Japan. Mi-hee was the only daughter of a nobleman who had been a 'pro-Japanese' collaborator in the North. After World War II ended in 1945 and Japan was defeated, when everyone in Korea was returning to their home countries, a communist revolution broke out. Mi-hee’s father, Herr Go, was brutally executed by the communists. Mi-hee, Herr Go's wife, and a few servants fled as fugitives..."
"Around the time the Korean ideological war began in 1950, Mi-hee was gang-raped by communists. They raped and beat her, saying it was her punishment for having a pro-Japanese father... and so she became pregnant with a daughter. A communist general, who was the son of Herr Go’s close friend, helped Mi-hee by sending her to Japan and providing money, but he was killed in the war. Mi-hee, unable to raise the daughter alone, gave her up for adoption to an acquaintance in Japan and then came to Germany."
"Mi-hee was probably 18 when she gave birth to that daughter. After that, she came to Germany, studied to be a nurse, and held a sculpture exhibition, which is where I met her. I still remember it as if it were yesterday... how much she regretted and missed the daughter she gave up for adoption until the day she died. Every night she suffered from nightmares... It feels like yesterday when she showed me her old Solingen carving knife, which she carried like a treasure in a leather cloth, telling me it was given to her by a Russian merchant who used to visit Herr Go's house..."
Hearing the shocking and heartbreaking story of his mother’s past, Daniel suddenly felt a lump in his throat. "Then Yuriko, whom I met in Insadong, must be Mother’s granddaughter." "Her name is Yuriko? What a coincidence... what a coincidence... to think you met Mi-hee’s granddaughter in Insadong in this wide world..."
Daniel fell into thought. Come to think of it, it wasn't such a coincidence. The artistic soul of his mother creates paths for those who love art. The granddaughter of Mi-hee, who possessed strong artistic blood, inherited her grandmother’s spirit and became a curator, and Mi-hee’s son, Daniel, became an art collector. The place where the two met was Insadong in Seoul, where artworks, curators, and collectors gather.
Hans looked at Daniel with loving eyes. Every time he looked at his son, he was reminded of Mi-hee, who was strong yet incredibly fragile. Like someone who had left half of herself—or rather, her entire self—behind when she gave up her daughter and left her homeland for Germany, Mi-hee lived as if she had lost her sense of self. It seemed she had found her life and happiness again in Germany through Hans's love and her son Daniel, but perhaps every time she took Daniel to Korea, it was out of a desire to find her Korean life and meet her daughter.
Hans even felt a sense of respect for Daniel, who had grown up so well despite losing his mother at a young age and was now successfully managing the company Hans had cherished and raised. To bring Daniel back to the present from the heartbreaking memories of his mother, Hans brought up the company.
"By the way, did you meet the president of the company you were planning to merge with by introducing the Fitzgerald Research Institute's patented technology?" Hans asked. "Yes, Father. I met her. In London." "How was it? Does he seem like a trustworthy man?" "Father... it’s not a man; it’s a young woman."
Hans said in surprise, "Wait, the person who patented that cutting-edge technology is a young woman?" Maria suddenly chimed in. "Honestly, what kind of world do you think we live in? You’re surprised that a female scientist filed a patent? If you show your surprise like that, they’ll call you a 'fossil' of a man. Even if you are surprised, keep it to yourself. Please..."
Hans looked at Daniel and asked, "How can such a young woman already be managing a company with new technology patents? Did her parents or grandparents start the company?" "Yes. She acquired a small research institute her mother owned." "Was her mother a scientist too?" "Yes, she already completed her doctoral studies at MIT. Clara is also an MIT PhD."
Father Hans laughed as if surprised. "When I was studying chemistry, there wasn't a single woman in the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University. Back then, all women thought about was getting married and doing housework... Since I’m approaching 90, the world has indeed changed... Germany has already had a female Chancellor..."
It was true that even when Daniel, who attended an engineering college, was in university, there were only one or two female students. It was a fact that after World War II, women’s social advancement decreased sharply, as it was thought their duty was to take good care of children and the home. It wasn't until after 1970 that women’s social entry began again slowly, and women entering science or engineering colleges was not common even when Daniel was in school. For a generation of men not accustomed to this, merging with a tech company created by a woman was indeed an unfamiliar situation.
Just then, Francisco and Marco, Daniel’s half-brothers and Maria’s sons, walked in. "Oh, Daniel is here?" The two brothers, shining in top luxury brands from head to toe, were born just a year apart right after Maria married Hans. Maria was the type of woman who believed that by bearing and raising these two sons, she had become the owner of all Hans’s assets. Growing up under conservative parents from a family that supported the Spanish dictator Franco, Maria lived believing that giving birth to and raising sons was the greatest duty a woman could perform.
Kissing her two sons, Maria smiled broadly and said, "How can my sons be so dashing? That wonderful blonde hair and those blue eyes of yours are completely different from German blonde; they are like angels you can't find anywhere else. Hans, your wonderful sons are here." Maria bragged loudly about her sons' blonde hair and blue eyes, as if wanting Daniel—who had black hair and dark brown eyes—to hear.
When Maria spoke, Hans welcomed them warmly. "We haven't seen each other in a few days, have we? Are you working hard?" "Carmen, bring some drinks for Francisco and Marco too." "Carmen, give us café con leche (milk coffee in Spanish), please." She spoke commandingly to Carmen, who also spoke Spanish. Mexico, having been a Spanish colony for a long time, uses Spanish, and these two sons treated Carmen, who had worked for Hans's family for a long time, like their servant.
Carmen walked into the kitchen with reluctant steps, brought out two cups of coffee, and gave them to the two men. "Carmen, don’t give me this cheap cup; give it to me in the porcelain grandfather used." Carmen looked at Marco as if he were being ridiculous and said, "Oh... yes... no one was using those cups, so I put them in the cupboard. Please wait a moment." "Carmen, whenever I come, always take those cups out and give them to me in those." As if confirming that his grandfather Johann's belongings should become his own, Marco ordered her to bring the coffee again in the porcelain his grandfather used. Hans looked at him a bit unpleasantly but said nothing.
Then the older brother, Francisco, said, "Just drink it today. Why go through the trouble of changing the cups?" Marco crossed his legs differently and said, "If it's too much trouble, just leave it." Carmen looked at Marco in disbelief.
Marco looked at Daniel and said, "I saw an article in the German economic newspaper today that said Klitzing GH, Father's company, made a profit of 68.9 billion euros this year." Hans cut him off and said, "Why is that my company? It’s Daniel’s company." Marco said, "Father created the company, so why does Daniel take all the profits?"
Hans said, a bit despondently, "You guys inherited all the houses, the antiques, the art, and the land. You also inherited the real estate company." Marco replied, "You leave us with houses that are just a burden, land, and old-fashioned antiques, while Daniel gets the cutting-edge company?"
Hans said, "The real estate company's profit is over 10,000 euros a month. Even if you two split it, it's 500,000 euros a month. Plus, you’re living in the largest mansion in Heidelberg—do you know how much the house you live in is worth?" "Old houses like this that always need repairs just cost a lot of money. Daniel has three apartments in Frankfurt." Daniel chimed in, "One is where I live, and two are offices."
Hans looked at Marco in disbelief again and said, "Did I buy those apartments for him? He bought them himself." "He bought them with the money he earned running the company he inherited from Father. So, it's the same as Father buying them for him." Hans looked at Marco as if he had no words left. Then he added, "So, are you saying you want to run it? The chemical company?"
Marco said, "It’s not that I want to run it, but that we also have rights to the profits." Daniel said, "The company will get bigger. I'll give you 30 percent based on the profits when Father first took over." Marco looked at Daniel as if snorting in derision. "The company is growing, but you’re going to give us 30 percent calculated from old profits? Give Francisco and me 60 percent, calculate your profit as 40 percent, and as the company grows and profits increase, recalculate and give us 20 percent of those profits."
Daniel said with a laugh, "The company can't be managed that way then." Marco jumped up and shouted, "Are you taking me for a fool right now?" Hans replied, "The legal distribution is already finished. From the moment the takeover was complete, whether the company succeeds or fails is all Daniel’s responsibility. Right now profits are high, but if something happens and it starts to run a deficit and you have to take responsibility for that, can you do that too? Stick to the safe real estate business."
Marco said, "We live handling a mere ten or twenty thousand euros while Daniel lives handling millions..." Maria sat next to Hans, acting charmingly. "Would Daniel really keep all that big money for himself? You'll give us some too, right? Right?"
Daniel stood up and said, "Father, I’ll be going now. I have many documents to prepare for the company merger. Since I’ve found out what I wanted to know, I’ll be heading back to Frankfurt." Hans said, "Yes, do that."
Carmen came out of the kitchen, hugged Daniel tightly, and said, "Always take good care of yourself and rest while you work." Carmen, who had lived in Germany her whole life but spoke with an accent mixed with a Mexican dialect, said this with tears almost welling up. Having immigrated to Germany from Mexico and worked as a maid in Hans's house since she was young, Carmen understood Daniel’s lonely heart better than anyone.
Hans also kissed Daniel on both cheeks and said, "I trust you. Grow the company while watching the world situation closely." "Yes, Father. Get some rest."
"And Daniel, choose two of the new paintings you bought in Insadong and send them to me. I’ll give you 10 percent more than the price you paid, so sell them to me." Daniel liked his father, who understood the world of art.
"Yes, Father. I’ll send them to you. But there’s one painting I really wanted to buy but couldn't. It’s a 'torn' abstract painting." Daniel took out his phone and showed photos of this painting with explosive yellow colors and the torn parts he had taken at the exhibition. Hans, carefully taking his glasses off and putting them back on while looking at the screen, said, "It looks like it was torn on purpose, like a Fontana."
"Right, Father? It’s torn strangely, isn't it? It’s a really good work, but it’s torn and has blood on it. I couldn't buy it because they said it couldn't be sold. I’m going to try to make a deal and buy the work for sure. I also want to find out why the painting was torn." Hans asked with a face full of excitement, like a boy about to start a game, "You said it has blood on it... let’s make sure we buy that painting."
Daniel laughed playfully. "We can't be against each other in an auction... I’ll buy it. Not 'we'." Marco and Francisco wore expressions as if they couldn't understand a single word, like listening to a conversation between aliens. Maria said with a smile, "I like flower paintings best. Pretty flowers..."
As Daniel said goodbye and left, laughing as if he and Hans were perfectly in sync, Francisco, who hadn't said a word until then, drained his coffee and whispered in a low voice: "Hijo de puta (Son of a bitch)."