After attracting attention with the role of King Danjong in the movie "The King's Warden", Park Ji Hoon returned to the small screen with a completely different image in "The legend of kitchen soldier".
Previously, "Under the Shadow" attracted 16.84 million viewers, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time at the Korean box office.
In the work, Park Ji Hoon's eye-to-eye acting is assessed by critics and the media as a factor that helps the character become more emotional, thereby making the male actor a sought-after face in the entertainment industry.
In the new project, Park Ji Hoon tries his hand at the science fiction comedy genre - military when playing Kang Sung Jae - a young man who enlisted after a family upheaval and unexpectedly became a chef.
Through this character, the actor shows a journey of maturity mixed with humorous situations in the military environment. Many viewers commented that Park Ji Hoon's transition from the image of a tragic young king to a kitchen soldier does not create a feeling of forcedness.
According to data released by the online platform Tving, after only the first two episodes, "Chef Legend" topped the number of new subscribers on the platform. Meanwhile, according to Nielsen Korea, episode 1 of the film achieved a viewership rating of 5.8%, while episode 2 increased to 6.2%, reaching 7.6% at one point.
According to the film's developments, Sung Jae's journey to become a military chef began to fall into crisis after the incident of seaweed and sea urchin soup that caused the battalion commander to be hospitalized due to perilla seed allergy.
After that, he also possessed a new "skill" called "loyalty test", allowing him to see the negative reactions of those around him to him. Despite constantly encountering difficulties and facing the risk of being replaced from the position of a kitchen soldier, Sung Jae still did not give up his dream of cooking in the army.
Korean media assessed that one of the factors that helped the film create an effect was the way Park Ji Hoon continued to choose a different image instead of repeating the old success. Previously, at the project introduction, the male actor said: "I am not a person who often pays attention to pressure.
In addition to Park Ji Hoon, the work also stars Yoon Kyung Ho, Han Dong Hee, Lee Hong Nae and Lee Sang Yi.
The cast said they built a natural closeness thanks to the military setting and regularly shared real stories about military life during filming.
Park Ji Hoon shared: "Being able to act with seniors is a great honor. There is no awkwardness between us and the filming process is very fun.
Meanwhile, Yoon Kyung Ho said that the realistic military setting makes the actors often recall their enlistment memories, from greeting rituals to typical dishes in the barracks.
Episode 3 of "Chef Legend" is scheduled to air on May 18.
