A witty short story describing the life of M from the point of view of his doctor friend. M who spent his youth in brothels and chasing women and has managed to get every STD possible marries in his thirties and despite being sterile his wife gets pregnant. He faces the choise of exposing the truth or living a lie which will comfort him.
The well done translation and Kim Dongin's prose make it a great read, hard to distinguish from more contemporary literature. The flow of conversation feels natural and the story itself seems to be ageless.