Chapter XXIII and Chapter XXIV Summary

K. is too tired to continue pursuing Frieda and determines that he probably would not have much success anyway. He decides to try to find Erlanger but accidentally stumbles into the room of Buergel instead, a secretary to an official named Friedrich. Though it is the middle of the night, Buergel invites K. to come in. He explains that he cannot fall asleep once he has been woken up usually and he finds that the only cure is conversation: if he is able to talk to someone he will sometimes fall asleep. K. sits down on the edge of the bed and struggles to keep himself awake while Buergel explains various intricacies of the secretary system, intricacies which are actually quite useful to K. if only he were conscious enough to realize it. Buergel explains...