Vinny Hong

"Since the world is freaking me hard anyway"

Vinny Hong or Hong Yoo-Bin (Hangul: 홍유빈) is a student at Gunn High and is a member of Humming Bird Crew. He is one of the main characters of the series. He was previously a member of the Zephyrus crew along with Minu and June.

Appearance
Vinny is a young man with wild, wavy red hair and different colored eyes. One is red, and the other is black. This condition is called heterochromia. His ears are pierced. He also has 2 moles under his left eye.

Personality
"'One thing that I've noticed in life is that people trample on and beat down anyone who thinks and looks different from themselves. Why? Does it give them a sense of superiority? I feel the only way for me to survive is to beat these a**holes at their own game.. If the only other option is to be treated like s#it by jerks like this just for being different then id rather just go insane like a rabid dog and tear them all to shreds since the world is freaking unfair anyway.'"-Vinny (ep 53)

People might describe him as a monster created by society. Vinny is seen by others as a dangerous lunatic, good for nothing and a freak, especially at the start of the story. As a child, he was a sweet kid who was constantly endured the teasing from his peers. Because of this, he puts up an emotional wall surrounding himself, bottling up his feelings, and doesn't get along well with others.

He cares deeply about his mom and does not tolerate anyone who disrespects his mother, not even her own self deprecation. He often blames himself for the misfortune bought upon his mother emotionally and physically. He has the tendency to be irrational when solving problems, and was even willing to sell his bike to pay for his mother's surgery.

His childhood sweetness does make an appearance once in a while. He displays a great deal of empathy, even while displaying it through hardened words. He stopped Sung from attempting to commit suicide because of bullying by telling him that if he has the courage to die, use it to change himself first. When the otakus were being bullied for the way they look/interests, Vinny beats up the bullies because the whole situation reminded him of the time he was bullied. He gave refuge to Jay and Minu when they ran away from home and was willing to share what little resources he had. And he even allowed Dom to tag along with, even though he had no reason to stay there. Despite the fact that Vinny is constantly telling them to go home, Vinny does not kick them out when they decided to stay.

Vinny is a heavy sleeper and can sleep through most noises. A sure fire way to get him up is to mention food or have the scent of food waft in his vicinity.

Prologue
As a child Vinny was bullied for the way he looked and had few friends. Minu defended Vinny from his childhood bully, Hwangyeon, the leader of the Ghost Crew. Later, Vinny joined Minu and June as one of the first few members of Zephyrus Crew. According to June, Vinny was a better rider than Minu.

Vinny was raised by a single mother in poverty. His financial situation worsened due to Minu's father opening a superstore next to his mother's privately-owned supermarket, which was named after him. Sometime in elementary school, he was caught in a house fire and in an attempt to save him, both him and his mother were hospitalized. His mother's face received 3rd degree burns, resulting in a huge scar that covered half of her face. His peers, as well as the adults around him, would gossip about him and his mother, saying that he is some kind of albino or has a weird disease with a monster of a mother. Vinny finally snapped when his bullies bad-mouthed his mother and started to fight back. He became more aggressive and would berserk all over every little thing instead of meekly enduring the abuse like he did before. In school, he gets beaten by teachers and is often suspended for "ruining" the school's image.

Part 1
During the first part of the Manhwa, Vinny was suspended indefinitely, after the teachers saw the video of a brutal fight between him and Dom. After running out of money for his vices, Vinny went to visit his mom at her work place to get some pocket money from her, only to witness her being verbally abused by an unhappy customer. Seeing his mother kneel made him go berserk, but in the midway of his attack his mother collapsed. She is then hospitalized, where Vinny discovers the severity of his mother's condition. Her surgery to get a lung replacement would cost thousands of dollars.

He visits the bike shop to try to sell his bike, where he finds the poster for the League of Street competition and decides to enter the race instead. While trying to enter the League of Street competition as a solo rider, he encountered Hwangyeon and his group. Hwangyeon mockingly taunted Vinny into a bike race where he cheated in order to come out victorious. While racing in the shadows, Hwangyeon sticks a toy sword into his bike's front wheel, causing Vinny to crash. As a result of "winning" the race, Hwangyeon and his crew beat Vinny up and destroyed his bike, a fine print of their deal that Vinny was not made aware of. In doing so, also destroying his only hope of raising funds for his mother's lung replacement surgery. He spiralled into depression, to the point of wishing he wouldn't wake up from his sleep. When he told Sung this, his bestie felt rage and betrayal over his words. Probably because he felt like Vinny was being a coward just like he was a few years back. Later when Vinny got home, his newly repaired bike was there with a post -t note that reads the same words he said to Sung, "Only those with the courage to die may change themselves". His friend, Sung, bought him a new bike with a very similar build using the money he got from selling his motor ike. It is another Japanese riser bar bike with a pink and purple NJS Bridgestone Anchor, This keirin frame going for $800 and simple black spoked wheels with a pink rear tire. With this bike, Vinny joins the Hummingbird crew made by Minu with the others ,and they all compete in the League of Street.

When Vinny sees Hwangyeon in the League of Streets competition trying to flirt with the Tarantula Crew, he goes over to him and swears that one day he will beat him up and destroy his bike, just like he and his crew did to him.

Relationships

 * -|Family=

Mom
Aside from caring in a somewhat jerk-like manner for his mom, Vinny doesn't have too many relationships that may be considered seriously. He is constantly worried about her health but lashes out because he doesn't know what to do. Before joining the Humming bird crew, Vinny was shown to not treat his mother very well. When he ran out of cash, he would go to her for more despite knowing she isn't in a good position to provide either. But no matter how badly she is treated, his mom never stopped loving on him. After seeing how the death of Minu's mother affected his friend, Vinny told his mother that she can never leave him, showing his vulnerability and fear for her health and safety.


 * -|Friends=

Minu
Minu was Vinny's first friend. They got along because they both enjoyed riding together. It was usually just the two of them because other kids would ostracise Vinny as a child. Later on, his relationship with Minu sours due to a catastrophic race between the two, a gang fight between Minu's high school and Vinny's. When Minu distances himself from the Hummingbird crew due to his father and starts acting like, for lack of a better term, a "rich prick", their relationship again gets rocked. Later when Minu decides to rejoin the crew, both Vinny and Jay were initially opposed to it. However, their relationship remains particularly normal and doesn't get swayed much aside from the aforementioned events.

Sung
Vinny's closest friendship is one he has with his schoolmate, Sung. Sung used to be bullied for his money by his peers for money. Sung tried to take his life by jumping off the school building, but Vinny noticed him there and told him, "If you have the courage to die, then use it to change yourself first, dumba$$". Sung did change himself and found out that nothing happened to him afterwards. Since then, Sung became Vinny's friend and they experienced things together. After Vinny gets his bike destroyed by Hwangyeon Choi (go to last para.), Sung goes to Minu and asks if Vinny can join the Hummingbird crew. Vinny also gets arrested and Sung pays the bail money, but Vinny seems almost crazy, saying that he can't even think rationally with his mother being in her situation. Sung gets angry at Vinny and repeats the words that Vinny told him, and he also gets a new bike for Vinny, for which he is extremely grateful for. Their bond is stable and is continuing as the story progresses. As Vinny opens up to the Humming Bird crew, his relationship with Sung seems to be softening as well. We see in later chapters Sung comfortably teasing Vinny and his relationship with the Tarantula crew's leader. A few panels down, Sung is roughed up but not from a beating but because he fell down some stairs running away from Vinny.

Dom
Vinny has a sort of casual relationship with all members of the Hummingbird crew, including those outside the loop, like Mia and Yuna. He has a slightly enhanced relationship with Dom, as he does work part time at Dom's club later in the story. They are both the fighters of the group and share solidarity over that fact. Dom is often the one in their circle to raise concern of Vinny's whereabouts and would volunteer to seek him out. After their loss with Monster, Vinny comforted Dom by saying he never believed that they would get this far in the competition and that it was enough that they all had fun together.

Jay
Jay and Vinny share a rivalry that mirrors that of Jay's uncle, Mahon and Sungho. They are shown to be good friends and as the story progresses, we see how they both slowly warm up to each other. Vinny in particular is shown worried about Jay's quite a number of times. Vinny gets slapped back into reality when his mother collapses and he realises how bad her condition becomes. He then reverts back to his old self and starts to hold a grudge against Jay's progress as a cyclist. Vinny's internal battle with his worth is still on going and it is still up in the air if Vinny will follow in Sungho's footsteps and abuse substances to overpower Jay.

Shelly
She and Vinny get along in the crew but their interaction is limited. Vinny tends to stay away from girls and from how he reacted, it is believed that Shelly is the first girl that has entered his home. Vinny has grown slightly protective of her and even smacked Gilbert upside the head for a making disrespectful comment towards her.

TJ Kim
A somewhat influential relationship that Vinny has is with TJ Kim, leader of the Zephyrus crew once Minu leaves it. TJ records a video of Vinny's school, Gunn High, versus Sunny High, which comprises of Minu and the others, which he leaks and gets Vinny suspended from school. Vinny gets to know that TJ was the one who released the video and since TJ is scared of him, he makes TJ and his crew help the Hummingbird crew in the next race of the League of Street. After that, no contact is made between the two except for when the Hummingbird and Zephyrus crew clash now and then in the races.

Manga Crew
Another relationship is with the Manga crew, especially the 'otaku' who is enamored by 'Sena Chan'. When Vinny is heading back home from a race, he comes upon the sight of the otaku being beaten up by a couple of bullies who scorn his physique and obsession with anime. The otaku yells about how he is oppressed by society just because he is different from the people in it, and that other cannot say that what he does is completely "wrong". Vinny was treated just like that when he was younger and even in the present, so he goes ahead and beats up the bullies but without any compassion for the otaku. A bit later, the otaku's crew shows up and gangs on the remaining bullies as well. Once the fight is over, the otaku and his crew look up to Vinny, but him being the "damn tsundere" that he is, he tells them to screw off. Because of his heterochromia, one of his eyes resembles a "sharingan", a magical eye that is widely present in the anime Naruto, and so, Vinny is now looked up to by the Manga crew as the Sharingan from the Uchiha clan. Later in the story, there's a team battle where four teams group into pairs of two and face off against each other in a race. The Hummingbird and Manga crew group together because Vinny walked up to them and declared partnership. They end up winning the round by a close margin. After those events, nothing prominent happens yet.

Yumi Lee
There's also the fact that the female leader of the Tarantula is in love with Vinny. This starts with Hwangyeon trying to pick up girls from the Tarantula team, but then Vinny interjects and badmouths him away, so the leader has eyes for him. She appears once in a while, wanting Vinny to notice her and even reacting joyfully to the smallest actions that he makes. The only other times that significant interactions happen is when the Tarantula crew goes head to head against the Hummingbird crew, but Vinny doesn't show up. Near the end of the episodes concerning the race, Vinny stands as a spectator and Tarantula's leader catches sight of him, which puts her in sudden shock, probably making her concentrate a little less and slow down, where Jay catches up to her. Another interaction is when the Hummingbird crew goes on a field trip and Vinny gets drunk on Ginseng wine at a beach. The leader and a few members of the Tarantula crew also happen to be there, and they get drunk as well, with the leader sidling up to Vinny and being close while punch-drunk.

Later on, she went to Vinny's high school to congratulate him on winning against the Manga Crew, stating she'll kill him if he lost after eliminating the Tarantula team. Indifferent to her advances, he asks her if she really bothered to come to his school just to say that. She eventually hands him over a gift for placing first. It was a pair of tarantula themed gloves with "good luck" embroidered on them. Sung noticed this and stated that she has great taste. He also bids "Goodluck" to his love life which Vinny answers "Love my ass. I don't have time to date." The leader actually slipped her phone number underneath the gloves with a note that says- "Text Me When You're Bored". When Vinny was away, Sung noticed the note and used Vinny's phone to text her in a playful manner. Shocked with Vinny's initiative, the Tarantula leader replied that she does not know that Vinny has this side to him and thinks that it's cute. Vinny eventually finds out and beats Sung but he only replies with a thumbs up and says that Vinny should try going out with her. Because he couldn't do anything with it anymore, kept being in contact with her. She heard about the special event in League of the Street and asked him if she can go. He did not reply but they are seen walking down the street together the next day. She even pulls him into a head lock and ruffled his hair but Vinny remains unbothered.

After Jay's loss against Owen in the special tournament, Vinny's mother got hospitalized. With all the pent up frustration with being unable to beat Jay and his mother's condition, he raced in a busy road with neither kneecaps, elbow caps, nor helmet. He attempts to imitate the insane cornering Owen used against Jay and failed, ending up with a bloodied knee. The Tarantula leader eventually found him sitting on the bench. To make him comply, she proceeds on chaining up his bicycle against a post. This left Vinny with no choice but to ride with her on her motorcycle. Because he neither have a helmet nor experience, he clung unto her for dear life. They stopped at an old playground and climbed one of the abandoned buildings. It was actually a place the leader often visits ever since she was young and it was revealed later on that the building actually overlooks the whole city. They gazed at its magnificence under the setting sun and silently sought comfort from each others company. It was already dark when she drove him off to retrieve his chained up bike.

Vinny looks for her before and after their race with the Scorpion crew in round 10. After their win, he quickly leaves and finds himself at the park Yumi showed him earlier where he sees her motorbike parked nearby. He heads up to meet her. They talked about his race and then he asks her whats wrong saying she mentioned she only came here if she was feeling sad. Yumi confesses that she was sad all of her family members were busy that day considering it's her birthday. Vinny runs off as it starts to rain and tells her to stay put. He returns with a small cheesecake slice from a nearby store. She requests for a birthday song and he reluctantly complies to make her happy. She tells him that he doesn't have to address her as Ms. Yumi Lee and that just Yumi is fine. He rummages through his pocket to light a lighter and asks her to blow it out. She does so happily and says now she's only missing a gift, which gets Vinny flustered. At the end of the chapter, she steps towards him to pull him down for a kiss in the rain.


 * -|Enemy=

Hwangyeon
In terms of negative relationships, the most influential one is with Hwangyeon Choi, leader of the Ghost crew. Hwangyeon bullied Vinny excessively as a child, but Vinny got his revenge (to the delight of all the readers) then when one day he snapped, stabbing Hwangyeon with a pencil in his pocket and punching him. They both lived in the same neighborhood as children and even attended the same middle school. Later in the story, however, Vinny is challenged by Hwangyeon to a race, but Vinny loses due to sabotage that destroyed his wheels. As per tradition, the Ghost Crew held Vinny down, intimidate him by threatening bodily harm to his legs, then turning to smash his bike. Once Mia's life related to being a model is messed up by Hwangyeon, Minu, Vinny, and Dom get into a battle with the Ghost crew and Vinny gets his payback. At the moment, he and the Hummingbird crew are all very much against the Ghost crew and its members.

Skills and Techniques
Tailing - Following right behind another rider to best reduce wind resistance. It was mentioned that Vinny tail dangerously close.

Quick instincts - Vinny showcases how quick he can react many times throughout the series. During the match against the Asura crew, he was able to avoid collision with Dom and June by jumping over them.

The bike
Vinny's steed is a "fixie" bike with a riser bar instead of the common drop bars present on the rest of the bikes in the story. Many riser bar fixies are popular, some of the most notable being rather on the cheaper end of the spectrum or extremely durable premium bikes. In this case, Vinny rides a custom pink fixed gear by Nakagawa a keirin fixed gear brand (which is made of steel but is described as a carbon fiber frame in the webtoon), a Spinergy Rev X front wheel and generic deep dish rear wheel. The frame is quite expensive, ranging from $500 to $2500, though Vinny's frame is a rare pink one, being placed in the $2000 - $2500 range. The Spinergy Rev X is a carbon wheel notorious for breaking, but due to plot armor, it stays miraculously intact on Vinny's bike, costing about $400. The rear wheel may be carbon, but a price estimate could be between $100 - $300 based on wild guesses. True to Vinny's wild nature, the bike is partially sticker bombed, mostly on the down tube of the frame.

This bike got wrecked by the Ghost Crew after a race against its captain, Hwangyeon. With Vinny joining Team Hummingbird, the founding members alongside with Sung gifted him a new bike. It is a pink-purple Bridgestone Anchor NJS provided with a flat bar, instead. Vinny eventually changes to drop bars and starts riding with clipless pedals.

Trivia

 * Vinny's back sweats profusely when he's scared. This was displayed when the crew encountered a ghost on the way up the mountain to train.
 * One of the few things Vinny is proficient at in cooking is Ramen. He is often cooking a pot for his friends, both voluntarily and involuntarily.
 * He's bad at basketball. He lost when playing against Minu at the arcade.
 * Can sleep just about instantly any can only be awakened with the promise of food
 * He quit smoking to be in better physical condition for cycling