Manga / Koroshiya Yametai

Koroshiya Yametai (I Wanna Quit Being a Hitman!) is a manga by Tonoki Sun.

Rose Madder Shinagawa is a refugee woman who works as an assassin for a secret government agency, known to its foes as "Babylon." She is growing weary with her bloody job, but finds solace in her romantic relationship with the teenaged Benika. Benika also happens to be the daughter of Father Shirafune, the priest to whom Rose confesses her sins.

Rose's employer presents her with a crucial mission, one that if accomplished, could grant her the freedom to leave her profession behind. There's only one problem- the mission involves Father Shirafune.

The manga is completed, with 43 chapters plus various bonuses.

The manga contains examples of:

• Age-Gap Romance: Rose's age is not revealed, but she is presumably in her twenties and thus at least several years older than the teenaged Benika.
• Asshole Victim: Despite being an assassin by trade, Rose avoids losing too much sympathy because most of her victims are criminals.
• As You Know: When Archbishop Ildebrando and Rose's employer speak with each other, they both reminisce about things they already know, such as how they got started trying to help the refugees and the work they've been doing since then.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Hibai seems laid-back and friendly, but is an experienced hitwoman who can be rather manipulative.
  • Archbishop Ildebrando puts on a pleasant front, but in reality, he's willing to use his subordinates Father Shirafune and Gina as pawns and sacrifice them if necessary. He comes off as a friendly Reasonable Authority Figure when talking to Benika, even as he plans to use her as a bomb.
• Blatant Lies: When Gina is defeated and tied up by Rose, she requests an extraction. Archbishop Ildebrando mentally notes that such a thingis impossible, hence why she was sent in alone, but offers to send help. Gina isn't fooled, since he never asked about the rosary, which he'd told her to guard with her life.
• Broken Bird: Rose, a child soldier turned assassin, has had a hard life, with everything she's been through and everything she's done taking a toll on her.
• Chekhov's Gun: At the start of when Father Shirafune and Benika have Rose, Hibai and Gina over for dinner, a few panels show a list of the various foods, utensils and other things around the apartment. Virtually all of them end up being used as weapons in Rose's fight with Hibai and Gina.
• Cliffhanger
  • Chapter 10 ends with Father Shirafune telling Rose he might die some time soon.
  • Chapter 16 ends with the disguised police officers dodging the falling shards of glass and preparing to attack Rose.
  • In Chapter 31, Hibai arranges for herself and Benika to be captured by thugs to force Rose to intervene and out herself as a hitman so that Benika will break up with her, leaving Father Shirafune exposed. The chapter ends with the unexpected arrival of a truck barreling toward the group.
  • Chapter 37 ends with Gina stabbing Rose in the abdomen with a knife.
• Contempt Crossfire: By continuing to protect Father Shirafune, Rose makes an enemy of her employers and the church, to the point that Hibai and Benika pull an Enemy Mine on her in the apartment fight.
• Crapsack World: The story takes place in a city in which refugees are relegated to the status of second-class citizens and live in a slum that is rife with crime and poverty. They end up being manipulated by two opposing factions- the church and Babylon- each of which claims to have their best interests at heart but is willing to use them as pawns in a political struggle. Because of how hopeless the world seems, Rose is fine with letting Benika kill her if it becomes necessary.
• Dramatic Irony: Immediately after Archbishop Ildebrando gives Benika a cross that, unbeknownst to her but known to the reader, is a bomb intended to kill her and Rose, Benika remarks to Gina and Hibai how she feels as though Archbishop Ilebrando can help the refugees.
• Enemy Mine: Gina and Hibai, despite being on opposite sides and having different missions, team up in the climax when [[spoiler:Rose tries to protect Faher Shirafune].
• Everyone Knows Morse: Gina, whose throat is injured, signals her employer by clenching her teeth.
• Explosive Leash: In Chapter 43.5, Gina puts a rosary-like collar around Hibai's neck as insurance against possible betrayal.
• Eye Scream: Gina and Hibai threaten to put out a captive Father Shirafune's eye with a fork unless Rose hands over the rosary.
• Foil: Father Shirafune to Archbishop Ildebrando. The former is humble, compassionate, honest and accepting of homosexuality, while the latter is arrogant, callous toward loss of life, manipulative and homophobic.
• Good Running Evil: Near the end of the story, Benika, having learned the truth about Rose, proposes that they take control of the morally ambiguous church and Babylon to end the conflict.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: The conflict between Babylon and the church is on the dark gray end of the spectrum, bordering on Evil Versus Evil.
• Harmful to Minors: In the refugee district, young children are made to perform violent "eye for an eye"-style punishments on criminals, who are often not much older than them, in order to ensure that they don't become criminals themselves.
• Human Resources: The refugees burn criminals alive in exchange for fuel.
• Knee Capping: Rose proposes that Benika shoot her in the kneecap to convince Rose's employer she's no longer a threat, but then decides that the only sure way would be for Benika to kill her.
• MacGuffin: The rosary, which looks like a simple rosary, but contains classified intelligence that is key to the church's plans. The entire story is the struggle over the possession of it.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Rose's modus operandi is to kill her victims in ways that can be mistaken for accidents or suicide.
• Manipulative Bastard: Hibai is skilled at manipulating Benika, tricking her into coming to the refugee district in order to shake her faith in Rose.
• Missing Mom: Benika's mother is never so much as mentioned throughout the entire story.
• Nice Girl: Benika is cheerful, friendly and compassionate, all of which greatly endear her to Rose.
• No Ending: The manga ends without a clear resolution to the conflict, with the manga artist noting that it would take another two volumes or 400 pages, which was not possible at the time the story ended.
  • The main story ends when Rose delivers the rosary to her employers in exchange for Father Shirafune and Benika's safety, but realizes she is forced to take a side in the coming revolution. She asks Benika to kill her, but Benika refuses, claiming that she and Rose could take control of the church and Babylon, respectively, to end the conflict. Rose kisses Benika, then sets out, prepared to be a hitman until the day when her work is no longer necessary. The story ends with no clear resolution to the conflict.
  • Chapter 43.5, a post-series bonus chapter, shows that Gina and Hibai survived the fake explosion, with Rose helping them fake their deaths. They infiltrate Babylon together, and break into their systems, learning that Babylon was behind the deaths of Gina's family and is using Hibai's son as collateral. They're about to part ways, but Gina enlists Hibai on her quest for revenge, offering to remove the Explosive Leash around Hibai's neck. Hibai' only response is an "Ah," leaving it unclear whether she accepted.
• No Name Given:
  • "Babylon" is the unofficial name the church gives to Rose and Hibai's organization as a derogatory term, and the agency's official name is never revealed.
  • Rose's employer is a middle aged to elderly woman who is addressed as "Ma'am" by her subordinates. Unlike Archbishop Ildebrando, she does not appear to have a civilian identity
• Non-Action Guy: Father Shirafune, a middle-aged man who's out of shape,
• Oh, Crap!: In Chapter 35, Father Shirafune breaks out in a cold sweat as he realizes that everyone at the table except him and his daughter is a hitman.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Archbishop Ildebrando is a homophobe whose beliefs are based in his religion, to the point at which he considers Benika acceptable collateral damage in his plan to kill Rose, just because she's a lesbian.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: In Chapter 36, Hibai and Gina try to claim that she's trying to live the life she couldn't have through Benika, only to be cut off by a blunt "Shut up" by Father Shirafune, who insists that Rose's feelings for Benika are genuine. In Chapter 37, despite having lost two teeth and in danger of losing an eye, Father Shirafune follows up by pointing out that Hibai and Gina are only going the Break Them by Talking route with Rose because they know they can't beat her in a fight.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: When Benika asks the female vigilante in charge of beating a criminal if the criminal deserves a second chance, the girl asks if she deserves to not be stabbed, and tells Benika that if she feels so strongly that he deserves mercy, she should take his place.
• Spanner in the Works: Gina's arrival throws a wrench in Hibai's efforts to separate Benika and Rose. Gina later does it again when she arrives in a truck, disrupting Hibai's plan to force Rose to expose herself in front of Benika.
• Speak in Unison: On a few occasions, Archbishop Ildebrando and Rose's employer speak the same words, issuing the same commands even though they're far away and on opposing sides.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality
  • Rose is mostly emotionless as a result of being broken down by her work as a hitman, but shows a warmer side around Benika and her father.
  • Father Shirafune is stern and unemotional, but loves his daughter dearly and comes to care for Rose.
• Title Drop: An ironic example in the denouement. After going into detail about how the current status quo results in refugees being exploited and used, Father Shirafune says that a long as this happens, Rose can't quit being a hitman. After Rose is talked out of having Benika kill her, she thinks to herself that until the day comes when the world changes, she won't quit being a hitman.
• The Tooth Hurts: In Chapter 37, Gina and Hibai, using a fork and knife, dislodge two of their hostage Father Shirafune's teeth.
• Unwitting Pawn: Benika's naivete allows Hibai and Archbishop Ildebrando to manipulate her. The former tries to turn her against Rose, while the latter plans to use her as a bomb to kill Rose.
• Vague Age Rose's age is never given, with her sigh obscuring the speech bubble with her age, but she appears to be a young adult.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Archbishop Ildebrando is a well-respected clergyman, but in reality, he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist at best who is plotting an armed revolution involving the refugees and is willing to blow up Benika just to keep the rosary out of Babylon's hands.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Hibai presents a greater threat to Rose than most of the enemies she's faced thus far, being a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, cunning enough to manipulate people and subtly draw information of her targets, and aware of some of Rose's tricks of the trade.
• We Used to Be Friends: Archbishop Ildebrando and Rose's employer once collaborated for the refugees' sake- the former serving as the movement's public face while the latter acted from the shadows. Unfortunately, they disagreed with each other on methods- Archbishop Ildebrando believed a revolution would be the only way for the refugees to obtain what they needed, while Rose's employer believed that they needed to gradually raise money, make allies and build up political allies.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Both Babylon and the church claim to want to help the refugees- the former by assassinating potential threats to public order, the latter by starting an armed revolution.