Singer and actor Park Jihoon struck consecutive hits from the film The King's Warden to The Legend of Kitchen Soldier.
On the 18th, episode 3 of the TVING original The Legend of Kitchen Soldier (written by Choi Ryong, directed by Jo Nam-hyung), simultaneously released on TVING and tvN, depicted Kang Seong-jae (played by Park Jihoon), who had been building his presence as a kitchen soldier, suddenly collapsing.
Accordingly, The Legend of Kitchen Soldier not only recorded the No. 1 paid subscription contribution in the first week since its TVING release but also achieved the highest subscription contribution performance for the first week among drama content released in the past three years. Episode 3 also ranked No. 1 in daily subscription contribution. In addition, episode 3's tvN broadcast ratings rose to an average of 7.2% nationwide households, a peak of 9%, and an average of 6.9% and a peak of 9.1% in the Seoul metropolitan area, ranking first in its time slot across all cable and general programming channels nationwide and first across all channels including terrestrial broadcasters in the Seoul area. The tvN target rating among men and women 20-49 also ranked first in its time slot across all channels including terrestrial broadcasters. (Based on paid platforms integrating cable, IPTV and satellite / provided by Nielsen Korea)
In the episode, Kang Seong-jae, who had carefully prepared a pork cutlet to prevent company commander Hwang Seok-ho (played by Lee Sang Yi) from ordering a reassignment, ended up serving the food to an unexpected person rather than Hwang Seok-ho. When a North Korean resident (played by Kang Gil Woo) was swept away by rough waves and washed up at Gangrim outpost and complained of hunger, outpost chief Jo Ye-rin (played by Han Dong Hee) recalled the pork cutlet Kang Seong-jae had made with all his heart.
Because how they greeted the North Korean resident could make the situation sensitive, Kang Seong-jae, tense, handed over the freshly fried pork cutlet. The North Korean resident later praised it, marveling at its crispy texture and overflowing flavor.
Kang Seong-jae's feat of moving the North Korean resident's heart with food drew high praise from higher-ups. In particular, when it became known that Hwang Seok-ho had intended to transfer him, reactions such as "why would you send such talent away" erupted, and Kang Seong-jae was inadvertently formally recognized as a kitchen soldier. Later, within the guardian system, Kang Seong-jae successfully transferred from kitchen assistant to full kitchen soldier, making full use of new skills and recipes to vertically raise the meal satisfaction at Gangrim outpost.
Meanwhile, another stage was created to prove Kang Seong-jae's further improved cooking skills. A lawmaker and the division commander visited Gangrim outpost to inspect poor meal issues within the military. While preparing pollock fillet stew, notorious enough to be counted among the Republic of Korea Armed Forces' most disliked side dishes, Kang Seong-jae applied both the recipe taught by the guardian and his chef father's method for removing the fishy smell, eventually completing a "pomodoro pollock fillet stew."
However, before the lawmaker and the division commander could taste the food, Kang Seong-jae, who had gone to the kitchen to scoop rice, suddenly collapsed.
[Photo] Broadcast capture
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