Characters / Viral Hit

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Yoo Ho-bin/Kota Shimura

Voiced by: Satoshi Niwa (JP), Brandon Acosta (EN)

The Protagonist of the series. Hobin started the story as a wimpy kid with a rough life. He is bullied at school, his mother is stuck in a hospital bed due to having cancer and he struggles to earn enough money to pay the bills. Things change however, when one of his bullies, Jiksae, takes things too far and Hobin finally fights back. Unknown to either of them, the fight was recorded and uploaded online, garnering numerous views and a large sum of money. Realizing the opportunity this presents, Hobin decides to make a "Newtube" channel about him fighting bullies or any asshole who deserves a punch. And thus Viral-hit is born.

• Blood Knight: Not at first, as Hobin initially was terrified of getting into fights and only did it for the money. But during his fight with the Comedy Crew, he begins to enjoy the adrenaline of the fight, even if he doesn't fully realize it at first. He even makes a perverted face when pondering what technique he should use next against his opponents.
• Calling Your Attacks: He has a habit of shouting the name of the technique he's using during a fight. This has been lampshaded in-universe by both his friends and opponents as a weird as a weird habit of his, but it hasn't stopped him yet.
• Healthcare Motivation: Hobin gets into streaming in order to pay the medical bills for his ailing mother.
• Heroic BSoD: Hobin briefly gets into this when he learns his mother signed a contract with XJ Company and the only way to get her out of it is for his company to join XJ. Thankfully, Taehoon snaps him out of it.
• Insecure Love Interest: He's this towards Bomi, particularly when Moonsung is involved, as he can't help but feel inadequate when compared to the taller boy. Thankfully he eventually grows out of this type of thinking.
• Know When to Fold Them: After being humiliated by Pakgo, Hobin starts to not get into fights that easily until he properly learns some techniques against their fighting style.
• Only in It for the Money: The only reason Hobin accepted the idea of making videos about him getting into fights was because of the money he would earn from it. If there's a point in the story where he wants to give up or refuses to face the opponent, telling him how much money it would bring is a good way to change his mind. This is justified however, as he has to provide financially for both himself and his mother, who's stuck in the hospital due to cancer.
• Rage Breaking Point: What properly kicks the series off. Jiksae callously comes to Hobin's home, uses his mother's bank account to start his own Newtube channel and then insults said mother's cancer condition. The last one causes Hobin to snap and fights back for the first time. Neither of the two realize that Jiksae's camera is still rolling and the whole thing is recorded and accidentally uploaded online.
• Relative Button: Insulting his mother. It’s the reason he got into his first fights in the first place.

Woo "Jiksae" Jihyeok

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (JP), Jessie James Grelle (EN)

The cameraman of the Viral-Hit channel, Woo Jihyeok, better known by his nickname of "Jiksae^*or "Snapper" in the english version.", started the series as another one of Hobin’s bullies, but decided to partner with him when he saw the success the first video they accidentally recorded had. Despite an initial mutual dislike, the two became close friends.

• Because You Were Nice to Me: When pressured by Pakgo to give him Hobin’s location, Jiksae initially was going to comply. However, after he learned from Hobin’s mother that the boy considered Jiksae a true friend, he changed his mind and refused to throw Hobin under the bus, even when facing Pakgo’s fury.
• Bully Turned Buddy: He used to torment Hobin just as much as Pakgo. But after the fight that led to the creation of the Viral-Hit channel, they decided to work together to earn money with it. After going through many challenges together, the two became real friends with each other.
• Love at First Sight: When he first meets Gaeul in person for the first time, he immediately falls in love with her and has a daydream sequence where they're married, with him as the working husband, she as the housewife and Hobin as their pet dog.
• Non-Action Guy: He has no fight skill whatsoever. Even when his former bullying of Hobin turned violent, the latter didn't really feel any pain from his punches due to how weak they were and mainly endured it due to Jiksae being Pakgo's lackey.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's almost always referred only by nis nickname of "Jiksae", or "Snapper" in the english translation. Even his introduction during the first chapter has no mention of his real name.

Gaeul Lee

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (JP), Trina Nishimura (EN)

The Video Editor of the Viral Hit Channel, who started out as one of the channel's first subscribers. She was mistaken for an old man before making her first in person appearance outside of the comment section, due to her verbal tic of talking like an old man.

• Action Girl: She usually abstains from fighting because she's by her own admission "afraid to get hit in the face". When she does fight, she is in fact a very strong fighter. It later turns out that not only is Gaeul the original student of the Fighting Chicken, she's also his daughter.
• Animal Motif: Baby chicks. She's compared to one due to her short size and her yellow jacket she's almost always wearing. It becomes even more fitting once it's revealed that she's Sandak's daughter, who wears a rooster mask in his newtube channel.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She has romantic feelings for Hobin, but is well aware of the fact that he really likes Bomi. She helps smooth things over between the two early on in the story by helping Hobin apologize to Bomi, all from her own volition. She also clarifies that Bomi is the one that Hobin really likes, by making up a story about how he mentioned that he likes spring more than fall.^note Bomi's name sounds like spring in Korean, while Gaeul's name means autumn.
• Oblivious to Love: She's on both ends of the trope. Snapper has a big crush on her, but all his attempts to flirt with her go unnoticed because of Gaeul's crush on Hobin. And Hobin in turn, is entirely oblivious to *her* attempts at flirting with him because of his own feelings towards Bomi.
• There Are No Girls on the Internet: She was first introduced as one of the faceless viewers of the V-hit channel. When she made her first physical appearance after being chosen as the new editor of the channel’s videos, Hobin and Snapper are shocked to discover she's a girl. Downplayed, as the assumption that she was male mainly came from her habit of talking like an old man, down to saying things like "whippersnapper" to refer to the other viewers.

• Ambiguous Situation: After the beating Hobin gave Pakgo in chapter 66 it wasn't made clear if he was left alive or killed; there was no mention of him afterward and by the look of his injuries, he could have died from internal bleeding.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Pakgo is disgusted with Snapper throwing Hobin under the bus after he gets embarrassed by him. As he puts it, he hates Snapper even more than Hobin because he's a snake.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Makes a habit of tormenting Hobin and Snapper at school. Eventually, his actions are exposed online and his subscriber count begins to drop. However, evidence that his giveaway videos are fake are what really cause the count to plummet.
• Starter Villain: Pakgo is this, since he doesn't specialize in any type of fighting style.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Pakgo is taller than average and seem to workout at least a bit, so he has at least some raw strength that make him a threat initially, but lacks any formal martial art training (not even knowing about the existence of the calf-kick). It's shown that he is not even able to learn how to counter techniques fast. During his and Hobin's rematch, he is still easy prey to the calf kick and hook combo (in fact, because of Hobin's improved strength, now it deals way more damage to him than before):

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's a martial artist who teaches with a chicken mask worn over his head, giving the impression that he's a bit off his head when he gives his online sessions. But most of his lessons do help Hobin start off in his journey by facing off against Pakgo.