Viral Hit is very hard to read because it is relatable on two major fronts. The first one is its depiction of modern-day bullying and humiliation. The second is that Viral Hit very much leans into seeing life through the perspective of an absolute self-aware loser. Our protagonist, Hobin, is someone who is physically and emotionally weak, the type that is very easy to take advantage of. His whole life seems to be about fighting an uphill battle.

It's easy to get dragged into Hobin's cynical mindset, even if you have not been bullied. The visual reality of the situation is almost relatable to a fault. I was bullied a little bit growing up, and I saw a lot of myself in Hobin. It made sense to me why he decided to weaponize his circumstances for his benefit. Granted, some of his experiences are a little too heightened and convenient, and the desperation on display can get so exaggerated that it borders on unintentional comedy. Still, the desperation makes sense, and I want to see this guy succeed.

Viral Hit feels like a story that couldn't have been written over ten years ago because of how much its narrative progression relies on what people understand about viral content creation. Whether it's TikTok, YouTube, or any other new social media site that will take over our lives, we live in an era where people will do the dumbest and craziest things to get their name out there. Live streaming can sometimes bring out the worst in people, and we see that in full force here. Almost every character introduced here is cynical or out for themselves, and it is tough for readers to trust anybody in this story. Still, I argue that it is the point because it indicates the time we live in. As someone who creates content, I have lost many friends and stopped following many creators for reasons brought up in this book. The narrative is powerful, and I appreciate that this can both comment on the industry and paint a rather believable underdog story.

That relatability also translates to the presentation, which has a healthy balance of realism and exaggeration. The facial features and reactions can be funny in a cartoonish way, while the body types remain rather grounded, which was a good choice. If the overall proportions were too out there, the book would've lost a lot of that relatability. There are occasional moments of action as the book sets up fights revolving around martial arts, but we're just dipping our toes in it here. Much of the action is straightforward, and you can tell that the fights throughout this volume are a setup for more things to come.

How this ends makes me very curious about what will happen next, for better and worse. A part of me wants to see our main character succeed after everything he had to put up with and how hard he is working to dig himself out of this unfortunate situation. I also like the idea of content creation being used for good while also potentially punishing the people who have exploited it. On the other hand, the cynicism around this book means there's a very good chance this could be a story about a person being corrupted and becoming what he despised. Regardless of the story's direction, the fact that it has me emotionally invested and curious is a good sign. This is one of the more relatable webtoons that I have read. If you're familiar with content creation, as a creator or a consumer, you would get something out of this.