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「[彼女は]係員にいうと驚きもせずまたかという表情をした。」

I am translating an article about an urban legend child abduction happened at a amusement park. To provide you with a context: a mother and a child are together, then the child goes to the restroom and never comes back, she basically disappeared.

So, I am having trouble translating the above sentence. I analysed it thouroughly and I came up with that:

"When she told the staff, they wore an expression that said 'again?' (even) without amazement."

I guessed that またか was an indirect question. If this is the case I obviously didn't translate it literally as I put a direct question in my traslation.

Are my guesses right? Do you have any suggestions for a better translation?

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  • i think it's the mother's expression, not the employees'. as if the mother just feels like her child has wandered off again, she's not yet alarmed. i think that makes sense also in the context of this urban legend; the parent isn't fully aware of just how bad it is. that increases the drama.
    – A.Ellett
    Jun 6, 2017 at 15:18
  • Sorry, I don't think I was clear enough! The sentence before says that since the kid doesn't come back from the restroom the mother decides to check out the kid. When she enters the restroom nobody is there. So, she is alarmed I guess Jun 6, 2017 at 15:24
  • This is an exclamation か, not the question か.
    – user4032
    Jun 6, 2017 at 16:05

1 Answer 1

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You're interpretations are right. A kid going missing is something that happens ten times a day as far as the amusement-park staff are concerned, and they're always found in a few minutes. So when the mother tells the staff member, he/she shows no surprise, and his/her expression says 'Oh yeah, another one'.

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