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I'm trying to read an internet novel, but I got stuck on some questions with
omitted words. The text and my partial translation is below. It's the very
beginning of the novel, so it's all the context there is.

> 最終電車を見送る駅長。しかし去ったはずの最終電車が戻ってくると、そこには銃を持った男が乗っていた……。
>
> The stationmaster is seeing the last train off. However, when the last train
> that was supposed to leave comes back, a man with a gun gets on it.
>
> 男の目的は何か？ 駅の待合室で男が語る物語は？

How to understand what words are omitted in the last two sentences?
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2020-09-06T21:30:37.517
80527
2020-09-07T01:22:02.323
2020-09-06T22:29:49.520
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question
translation verbs questions ellipsis
Understanding questions with ommited words
i think i found the short story you’re referring to. what you’ve quoted is
from the summary of the story. though in my opinion it reads more like a
teaser. the genre is horror or suspense. (technically the summary says it’s
horror but to me the story reads more like suspense with a good dash of
horror.)

the teaser is from the two sentence fragments you’re unsure about.

男の目的は何か？ seems to be pregnant with much possibility. what did the man have in
mind? what was his plan of action? there’s much that can be read into these
vague words. i’m not very good at translating, but i would render this first
fragment along the lines of “did this man have some kind of objective?” but
i’m already reading too much into it.

駅の待合室で男が語る物語は？ seems easier to understand but i had to start reading the story
to make much sense of it just because i couldn’t make a connection between the
two fragments—they’re just very incongruous next to each other. “what was the
story the man told in the station waiting room?” but again i’m reading a lot
into this.

both these sentences are cliff hangers meant to grab you. i don’t think a
native japanese would really be able tell you definitively how to finish those
fragments. they’re meant to grab you and make you ask, “what’s going on here?”

just the juxtaposition of a man suddenly appearing with a gun from the train
that should not have returned and then the almost benign sounding second
teaser about someone telling a story makes you wonder what could be going on
here.

and truly the story does start off very horrifically.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-07T01:14:32.730
80529
2020-09-07T01:22:02.323
2020-09-07T01:22:02.323
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80527
answer