Viral Hit episode 5: True friends and comebacks

Viral Hit episode 5 premiered on May 9, 2024, and followed up on episode 4's humiliation of Hobin by focusing on his comeback and training to defeat Pakgo and avenge himself. More broadly, the episode is about enduring friendships, what constitutes a real friendship, and what Snapper had to endure in Hobin's month-long absence.

The episode also focuses on Hobin's training arc and the trials he had to undergo to prepare for fighting Pakgo again, including a training montage. All this and more are covered in Viral Hit episode 5, where the status quo completely breaks for Hobin and Snapper.

Viral Hit episode 5: True friends and revenge

The month's time skip changes the status quo

Viral Hit episode 5's timeskip (Image via Okuruto Noboru)

It's been five episodes since Viral Hit started, and over a month has passed in the story. During the month's time skip, Viral Hit episode 5 reveals a lot of things changed since Hobin was utterly humiliated in episode 4. A month can be a long time without videos being released for a channel, as the episode showcases:

The beauty tips NewTuber Rumi now has 100k subscribers, up from 70k in episode 3.
Pakgo came back from leaking subscribers and is now at 900k.
Viral Hit is losing subscribers since nothing has been uploaded in a month.
Snapper has been made the target of Pakgo's abuse.

This takes up half of the episode before Hobin returns with a vengeance, but is equally important to see how things have changed since then. Although some fans might consider this filler, seeing what other characters are doing during a timeskip helps to flesh out the story and makes the status quo shakeup all the more satisfying.

Pakgo's comeback

For someone who hit rock bottom in episode 2, Viral Hit episode 5 is very realistic regarding the portrayal of influencers bouncing back from scandals and bad behavior. All it seemed to take was Pakgo putting on an act for the camera to bring him to 900k subscribers, whereas Viral Hit's channel was at 90k and dropping after gaining 100k.

This is, unfortunately, a very hard truth about celebrities and the internet: no matter what they do, there will always be fans who forgive them easily. Pakgo's numbers went from 496k to 900k in a month, despite being exposed as a liar, con artist, and severe bully. It also enables Pakgo to continue abusing Snapper without consequences.

Snapper's turnaround

A major highlight of Viral Hit episode 5 is Snapper's turnaround and the abuse he withstands. At first, he seems like he wants nothing to do with Hobin and tries to get in Rumi and Pakgo's good graces. This doesn't work as Pakgo hates traitors and suck-ups worse than Hobin, and nobody comes to Snapper's aid when he gets beat up.

He's briefly tempted by the chance of becoming Pakgo's cameraman again and surviving no matter the cost, using Hobin as a scapegoat. He gets Hobin's address from his hospitalized mom, but his worldview shatters when his mother tells Snapper that Hobin considers him a friend who makes school better. Snapper then warns Hobin not to come to school, defying Pakgo's orders.

Hobin's training montage

Hobin's humiliation in episode 4 triggered him to learn more of Samdak's techniques. The lesson plan this time is: How to Fight and Beat a Regular Person. This intense training montage shows off three important factors to fighting: building muscle mass via consuming high-protein foods or protein shakes, willpower to work the body out, and building stamina via sports like swimming.

It also critically stresses that all the improvement won't happen in just a month, it needs to be continuously done to see results. One technique it taught Hobin was an MMA-style calf kick, which he had to practice 10,000 times over a month. Viral Hit episode 5 shows that Hobin had to modify the training:

He had to consume high-protein foods he blended into a shake since he didn't have enough money to afford protein shakes.
He had to use heavy jugs as weights.
He had to use a public bath instead of a swimming pool.
He had to low-kick a bag of trash/laundry in his room for kicking practice.

The results of the training: Pakgo was beaten

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Another very important skill is knowing when to run away, which Hobin had to do when the right calf kick wasn't instantly effective. The repeated tactics of running and calf kicks distracted Pakgo from the second technique that Hobin learned: an overhand left hook that broke Pakgo's nose and sent him flying into the back wall.

The results were monumental for Hobin: Pakgo stopped coming to school, the Viral Hit Newtubu channel gained over 150k subscribers, the video accumulated 770k views, and he could afford better clothing for his mother. The peace might not last forever, but Hobin's life is turning around for the better.

Snapper: A true friend

Snapper's friendship in Viral Hit episode 5 (Image via Okuruto Noboru)

Viral Hit episode 5 ends with a genuinely funny and heartwarming moment between Hobin and Snapper. Hobin's mother said that "Hobin's friend" visited, and Snapper overheard him ask if it was Munseong Kim. Snapper snapped at the protagonist in the hospital, as he was carrying a gift basket to Hobin's mother, but he acknowledges that Snapper is one of his first true friends.

Throughout the five episodes, Snapper has gone from a groveling, greedy suck-up using Hobin for money to being Hobin's friend. Snapper himself said that he had no friends, nobody to rely on or help him so that's why he sucked up to people so hard. To see him change so drastically might be abrupt to some fans, but five episodes and a month in-universe is a good amount of time for a teenager.

Final Thoughts

One thing Viral Hit episode 5 does well, aside from the animation and the fight scenes, is the theme of fairweather friends vs. true friends. Fairweather friends, like subscribers of a YouTube channel, will abandon a content creator without a second thought and give second chances to horrible people.

True friends, on the other hand, will stick up for you when you're being bullied, ask about your relatives and visit them if they can, and always have your back. Despite Snapper being a jerk about it, Viral Hit episode 5 feels like a turning point for him as well as Hobin as they went from enemies to friends.

The next episode appears to finally fulfill the promise that the credits have been teasing: Gaeul joining Hobin and Snapper. Considering she's been at the scene of almost every one of their fights, this should prove just as interesting as Hobin's next opponent who appears to be a black belt and champion fighter.