While The reward of the tycoon starring YoonA and Lee Chae Min became one of Netflixs most popular Korean dramas in the second half of 2025, a part of the audience expressed discomfort with episodes related to the grand cooking competition between Joseon and Minh's chefs.
A posted on the Reddit community called the episodes "horrifying, inaccurate, and unnatural".
The most annoying thing for the audience was the Chinese-language scenes of the actors playing the role of members of the Ming Dynasty's sending group. They thought that these details were terrifying to the point that they wanted to stop watching the show.
In a recent interview, actor Kim Hyung Mook, who plays the main ambassador of Vu Khon, revealed the obvious reason behind such mis pronouncement.
According to Kim Hyung Mook, he played Yeom Heung Jip in MBC's "Night Flowers" last year. The director really liked the role so he contacted him to suggest participating in the film "The banquet of Attrition".
At first, Kim Hyung Mook thought it was just a guest role. About a month before filming, the actor decided to speak all the lines in Chinese. And in fact, he only had 2 weeks to prepare.
Due to the short time to practice speaking, Kim Hyung Mook admitted that there were times when he thought about giving up. Although the film crew arranged a language guide, he did not have enough time to thoroughly apply it to acting.
The pressure was terrible. I have never spoken Chinese before. Moon Seung Yoo - who plays the supporting role of A Phi Tu, and Park In Soo - who plays the supporting role of Khong Van Le, both know Chinese or have acting experience in Chinese roles.
There were nights when I almost never slept. Sometimes, I wonder, Should I quit this role?. But deep down, I knew I wanted to overcome my limits. At first, I focused on the basics: script, pronunciation, and basic skills.
I only sleep 4-5 hours a day, spend 12 hours, sometimes up to 16 hours to practice. I remember the parts I had recorded, carefully applied the notebooks, and combined what I had learned myself, the actor shared.
Although this was a big challenge, this experience "changed the actor's perspective". Currently, he is learning Chinese, hoping to take on more Chinese-language roles in the future.
