The twelfth of December. I set out to count the hands that have been in that field.
At ten past nine I looked for the editor field.
On the list the editor field stands at nought.
The compiler field stands at thirty-one places.
A compiler is the one who gathered it and an editor the one charged with issuing it.
There is no field that joins the two.
At half past nine I looked at what came attached to the holding library's enquiry.
They have reproduced the reverse of the imprint pages.
All four came.
It is a leaf I have not seen.
At twenty to ten I looked at the reverse.
There is a stamp.
It says editorial department.
At ten I looked below the stamp.
There are letters.
Eight of them.
At twenty past ten I set them against the value shown on the list screen.
Every letter is the same.
At half past ten I looked at the day it was stamped.
March 1978.
There was no computer list then.
They stand on paper before the displayed value existed.
At five to eleven I looked at the front again.
The compiler field on the front is blank in all four.
The stamp on the reverse has the editorial department.
There is no field that joins front to reverse.
Nor is there a field for entering that the two sides of one leaf differ.
At eleven I found the procedure on accounts.
There are personal accounts and there are departmental accounts.
The list of entering parties carries personal accounts only.
At twenty past eleven I read the item on departmental accounts.
There is one to a department.
A department's name attaches to it.
At half past eleven I looked for the department name on those eight letters.
The editorial department.
At noon I opened the table of organization.
There is no department of that name in this room.
The first four are this room's.
At twenty past twelve I drew off the count of entries made under that account.
At twenty to one the figure came.
Twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety-four.
At one I looked at the breakdown.
The four thousand seven hundred and thirty-two of the Kim Dogyeong row is in it.
The three thousand five hundred and ninety-one of the row of the one before me is in it.
My one thousand seven hundred and sixteen is in it.
At twenty past one I added the three.
Ten thousand and thirty-nine.
The departmental account is twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety-four.
The difference is two thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
At twenty to two I looked for whose that difference is.
There is no field for entering it.
Entries under a departmental account do not divide into personal rows.
At two I drew off the oldest date of entry in that difference.
March 1978.
It is the same as the oldest date in the register of handover.
At twenty past two I tried to count by the hands.
Computer entries carry no hand.
Only paper does.
At half past two I opened the register of handover.
Fourteen rows. Nine names. Five places carried on. Eleven hands.
None of the figures matches two thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
At twenty to three I drew off the difference by item.
Most of it is recovery and registration.
There is a field for entering what was recovered.
There is no field for entering what became of it after.
It is the same as what I saw in the Kim Dogyeong row.
At ten to three I looked for who uses that account.
It is attached to the authority to search.
Whoever holds the authority to search enters under that account.
In this room one person now holds the authority to search.
At three I drew off the last date of entry on that account.
It is today.
I made the entry this morning.
At twenty past three I looked for which number I am.
There is no field for entering it.
There is no provision for counting the hands that have been in that field.
At half past three I took out September's enquiry with no address.
It asked the name and the period in post of the editor who published the four volumes.
In the reply I had drawn up I entered a name.
I left the period in post blank.
Looking today, the ground for the name too is a departmental account.
There is no procedure for correcting what is held unsent.
At twenty to four I read again what the holding library asked.
It asks whether it is the same person.
It is not one person.
It is one field.
At four I drew up the reply.
The field for the answer offers yes and no.
There is no ground for marking either.
I entered it in the margin.
At ten past four I opened the list of entering parties.
My row stands at one thousand seven hundred and sixteen.
Today again the eight letters are nowhere in the twenty-nine rows.
Today the reason they are not is entered.
A departmental account is not carried on that list.
What could not be divided in October was divided two months later.
At twenty past four I opened the box.
Eight articles. Eight marks. Day six hundred and fifty-seven.
The sixth field is fifteen thousand four hundred and one. The set's row was opened two hundred and forty-one times yesterday and the imprint path a hundred and fifty-seven. The compiler path, fifty-eight; the reading path, fifty-five.
The right-hand material is nine hundred and twenty-nine pages. The page added is dated 10 January 2000. The third line of page five hundred and thirty-nine has stood blank three hundred and forty-nine days. The original of the fifth bundle is a hundred and seventy-seven pages and has not grown for seven hundred and twenty-seven days. The twelfth page has not come for two hundred and fifteen.
At twenty to five I opened the progress of the application.
Four days of the term remain.
The last of them is the sixteenth of December.
At five I counted back how many times that date stands on the paper of this room.
Seven.
This year is the eighth.
At ten past five I wrote out what the seven are.
One is the last date of entry in the Kim Dogyeong row.
One is the day the one before me wrote in the eighth field.
One is the day the right-hand material came through.
The other four are ledger dates.
The eighth place stands empty yet.