It’s always exciting when a great title comes along at the absolute perfect time and it feels like everything aligns for the story to hit even harder. WEBTOON Unscrolled’s Viral Hit, created by Taejun Pak and illustrated by Kim Junghyun, is an exciting breath of fresh air that presents a simple premise in a rewarding way. Hobin Yu is a scrawny high school student who is constantly bullied, despite minding his own business and keeping his head down while he struggles to pay his mom’s mounting hospital bills.
Hobin finds himself in a unique situation where he gets pushed too far and starts beating someone up, only for this act of violence to get recorded and uploaded to “NewTube,” which makes him a viral sensation. Soon, Hobin is pulling in huge revenue from his NewTube streaming, which finally means that he can pay his mom’s bills. However, he needs to take on progressively stronger bullies to appease his channel’s fans, all while he communicates with a mysterious streamer who helps him with his cause.
Viral Hit is kind of like Fight Club or Megalo Box meets Oshi no Ko, with some Solo Leveling thrown in for good measure. It’s a unique entity because it’s able to indulge in constant action, but through an interesting lens because Hobin isn’t driven by any desire to become stronger or intimidate others. All of this is done to help his mother. It’s a fascinating angle for an underdog action story, which are plentiful with Webtoon Unscrolled graphic novels.
What’s also so appealing is that Viral Hit becomes the ultimate character study. The audience truly loves Hobin, cares for him, and wants to see him succeed. However, there’s an understandable concern that the endless NewTube fighting is gradually turning him into a more hardened individual. He begins this adventure as someone who fights against his will, but there’s a growing concern that he begins to relish this combat and the money that he makes for his mom is just a nice bonus.