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Karl Neumann (カール・ノイマン, Kāru Noiman?), later Karl Schubart (カール・シューバルト, Kāru Shūbaruto?), is a student attending the Friedrich Emmanuel School of Munich University. He is the son of Hans Georg Schubart and Helenka Nováková.
Personality[]
Karl is a kind, gentle, and thoughtful young man. Just before he is recognized by Schubart as his son, he is ready to accept his foster parents' offer to officially adopt him so that he can repay their kindness and make them happy.
He is also a very sentimental person who has always wished to "go home" to his true family, as inspired by his frequent excursions on rooftops during twilight just to watch other families in their homes.
He can't quite make sense of those who would do harm unto others. In Another Monster, when Weber asks him if he believes Johan did all those terrible things, he admits that he still has trouble comprehending it.
Biography[]
Background[]
Young Karl at the train station with his mother.
Karl is the son of Helenka Nováková, a famous prostitute. When he was a young boy, she gave him some money and sent him off on a train because she knew sending him away would give him a better life than staying with her. Shortly before boarding, he inquires as to why his father won't help them, as he heard some women talking about Schubart being Karl's father. His mother began to weep, and told him he can go see Schubart when he's older, but not to hate him if he turned him away, because she held no resentment toward him herself. Finally, she gave Karl the rabbit's foot given to her by Schubart before they parted ways, and Karl was then sent off on the train, never to see his mother again. From there, he is thrown around between foster parents before eventually settling with the Neumanns.
Reading for Schubart[]
Karl's current foster parents
Karl is a business management major attending a university in Munich, Germany. He has spent most of his life being bounced around between different foster families, but finally settles down with the Neumanns, who love him and treat him as though he is their very own son. He knows his real father is the former business tycoon, Hans Schubart, but is fearful to confess in the thought that Schubart may believe he's only after him for his money. Because of this, he wants to try and get close to Schubart in hopes that he will begin to like him, then will be more accepting if he tells him the truth.
Karl executes his plan by applying for a job involving Schubart; once a week he will come in and read Latin to him. Schubart has five readers for every week day, and Karl is the "Tuesday Boy." Much to his dismay, Schubart treats him cruelly, often yelling at him because he believes his Latin isn't nearly proficient enough. Lotte Frank, a student who also works for Schubart (not as a reader though as he only allows male students to occupy such positions), sees how harshly he's treating Karl, and befriends him, assuring him that he's stern like that with all of his readers.
Lotte tells Karl that every night around midnight, Schubart, whose title as the "Vampire of Bavaria" seems especially appropriate in this instance, goes out for a walk. She invites him to come along with her and follow him, to which he agrees. They discover that Schubart goes out to visit the former prostitute Blue Sophie in a nearby red light district. Sophie is currently using the alias of Margot Langer (the alias used by Karl's mother when she was in a relationship with Schubart), and Schubart, who still feels guilty about leaving his beloved Margot, showers Blue Sophie with money, despite being fully aware that she's just a fake and the real one is dead; it gives him a sense of relief.
Karl and Lotte confront Sophie, infuriated by the fact that she's using the name of Karl's dead mother. Picking up on the implication that this means Karl is Schubart's son, she laughs and tells him that he's not the only student who claims he is. Baffled, Karl demands she give him information about this imposter posing as his mother's son. He and Lotte find out that this young man is Schubart's "Thursday Boy" before departing for the night
Lotte begins to investigate and gather information about this young man, who she discovers is Edmund Farren, a philosophy major. The two plan to confront Farren after one of his classes, but discover that he neglected to show up at school, so they decide to pay a visit to his dorm room. When he refuses to open the door, they enter by force and are surprised to find him hanging. He left a note on his desk saying, "I can no longer continue to deceive."
Meeting Johan[]
The two report the incident to the school, and the faculty handles the situation from there. While sitting on a bench, they are approached by Lotte's handsome friend, who is Schubart's "Friday Boy." It is then that Karl meets Johan Liebert, a law major enrolled in the university.
Johan quickly gets close to Karl, and gets Karl to reveal the details of his past to him, as well as the fact that he is
Schubart's legitimate child. Johan tutors Karl in Latin to help him improve when he reads to Schubart, and he shows drastic improvement. When Schubart comments on this, Karl admits that he's currently being tutored by Johan. Schubart begins to talk about how perfect is, and when Karl asks him what he would do if Johan was his son, he smiles. This comes as really discouraging to Karl; he decides that he really has no wish to reveal his true identity to Schubart anymore and no longer will continue as one of his readers. Johan asks him if he has any sort of physical evidence that can prove he's Schubart's son, to which he responds yes, and then allows Johan to hold onto that evidence.
At this point, the viewer is inclined to think that Johan is going to pass himself off as Schubart's son, but that is not the case. Instead, Johan secretly shows this evidence to Schubart, who gives Karl one last call, asking him to read something in Latin to him because he's very sad that Karl's no longer going to be one of his readers. Karl begins to choke up and cry about halfway through reading, and Schubart hangs up, only to come through the door to his room a moment later. Now, both members of the reunited family are crying.
Karl assisting Schubart after he has been acknowledged as his son.
At this point, Karl is acknowledged as Schubart's son, and spends a lot of time with him as Schubart has now decided to enter the world of business again, which will prove to have heavy impacts on the economy of all of Europe. Because of Johan's 'kindness' he's shown to the family and his efficiency as an individual, Schubart employs him as his secretary. At the book donation ceremony, Johan's original plan is to have Schubart disposed of, giving him rule over Europe's economy. However, after coming across The Nameless Monster his plans change and he burns all of the books instead. During this time, Karl is sent back to the estate to "retriever some papers" for Schubart, but actually finds a report intentionally left for him regarding Helenka. After the books are burned and Johan disappears, Karl passes on a message to Kenzo Tenma from Schubart that Věra Černá is still alive and the last he knew was in Prague.
Karl appears time to time following this, and at the end of the series is seen informing Schubart of Tenma's whereabouts, to which he says he hopes to meet him again someday.
Relationships[]
Helenka Nováková[]
Lotte Frank[]
Johan Liebert[]
Karl's relationship with Johan was characterized by the similarity of their circumstances, and he was considered by Karl to be a friend that he trusted "like no other person". Their seeming friendship would arise out of the shared context of their status as students at the University of Munich and as Latin readers of Hans Georg Schubart, as well as their mutual connection to Lotte Frank, who introduced the two to each other. Thereafter, Johan made a conscious effort to connect with Karl and, resultantly, Karl opened up to him on his past one evening, describing his childhood as an orphan in foster care in great detail and revealing his knowledge that Hans Georg Schubart was his actual biological father. Johan, apparently deeply moved by Karl's story on account of his own tumultuous past as an orphan, was emotionally affected enough that he began to cry, though whether or not these were "crocodile tears" designed to arouse Neumann's sympathies is left unclear. However, Johan's charisma would indeed serve to attract Karl as it did many others, and the two would form a seemingly special bond.
Later, it was Johan Liebert who encouraged Karl to reveal his lineage to Schubart as Karl contemplated abandoning any idea of reconciling with his father and, when he was unable to convince Karl to do so, was left in the safekeeping of Karl's evidence of his claim: the lucky rabbit's foot that Schubart had given to his late mother, who had then passed on the heirloom to their son. Johan then delivered this evidence to Schubart himself, explaining its significance on Karl's behalf, and was thereby responsible for the reunion of Schubart and Karl - an act that both held with such appreciation that Johan was appointed as Schubart's personal secretary and given custodianship over the business and financial affairs of Schubart's holdings; he would thereafter be found in the constant company of Karl and Schubart, continuing to act as the former's close confidante while currying favor with the latter. However, this proved to be part of Johan's grander ambitions to usurp Schubart's business empire for himself, with the likely end of throwing the financial world into mayhem just as he had in other instances, such as his underground banking scheme, and, in this sense, his "friendship" with Karl may have just been a means to that ultimate end.
All the same, Karl is understandably hesitant to believe that Johan, for all of his heartless and duplicitous actions, was a wholly sinister being, as evidenced in Another Monster. While acknowledging the fact that Johan had adopted him as a better substitute for Edmund Fahren in attempting to manipulate his father and having previously held some perplexity at his motivations (eg. his apparent lack of fear at walking precariously on the edge of a rooftop), he seems to believe that Johan's display of sympathy to his plight was truly heartfelt. Likewise, Lotte Frank contends that she believes Johan had no intentions of killing Karl due to some apparent proclivity for the similarity of their situations.
Hans Georg Schubart[]
Another Monster[]
- Main article: Another Monster
Werner Weber meets for an interview with Karl, who summarizes the events that took place for him. He says he and his father are doing well, and that Schubart, even though he still works in business, isn't as vicious as he used to be. Karl also adds that he has decided to take on the last name of Schubart. He said he still does not have a full grasp of what has happened between Johan and all the people he knows involved in the incident.