'The Cook Soldier' Park Ji-hoon Shows Heartfelt Devotion to His Mother, Grows as a Chef, and Records 7.9%

'The Cook Soldier' Park Ji-hoon Shows Heartfelt Devotion to His Mother, Grows as a Chef, and Records 7.9%

In episode 5 of 'The Cook Soldier Becomes a Legend,' released on TVING and tvN on May 25, cook soldier Kang Seong-jae (Park Ji-hoon) searched for answers in his own way to revive his mother's failing food truck without help from the Guardian.

The viewership rating recorded 7.9% (7.906%) based on Nielsen Korea's nationwide paid-platform households. After episode 4's 7.9% (7.852%), the drama once again broke its own highest rating record and ranked No. 1 among all channels in its time slot and among Monday-Tuesday dramas aired that day.

During an interview with KFN TV, Kang Seong-jae reunited with his childhood friend Jeong Min-a (Jeon So-young). Jeong Min-a, a Korea Defense Daily reporter, visited the unit to cover Kang Seong-jae, who had drawn attention as the key figure behind fresh changes in military meals.

Afterward, Kang Seong-jae received reward leave and went home, but he felt down because there was not a single customer at his mother's food truck. After tasting his mother's tteokbokki, he tried to help, but ran into an unexpected obstacle.

With no immediate way to solve the problem, he began by finding and doing what he could. After discovering the diary of his late father, who had been a chef, he went with his mother to the market where his father had sourced ingredients. As he bought quality ingredients one by one amid the warm welcome of the merchants, he realized why his father had carefully examined even each individual ingredient.

Even the tteokbokki remade with carefully selected ingredients still lacked something. As Kang Seong-jae kept thinking in order to find that one missing flavor, he finally discovered the subtle sweetness he wanted at the 'Ghost-Catching Tteokbokki' restaurant he visited with Jeong Min-a. He clung to the tteokbokki shop owner, saying he wanted to learn tteokbokki, and conveyed his desperate wish to help his mother.

Moved by Kang Seong-jae's sincerity, the tteokbokki shop owner gave him a chance, and Kang Seong-jae spent most of his leave helping at the restaurant. In the end, he succeeded in improving his snack-food cooking skills even without the Guardian. He grew not as a cook soldier, but as a chef.

The tteokbokki shop owner secretly passed on his own tteokbokki know-how to Kang Seong-jae, who showed exceptional passion for cooking. As the end of his leave approached, Kang Seong-jae tasted a box of ripe persimmons the owner had given him and instantly realized the secret behind the tteokbokki's flavor. He then used it to complete a tteokbokki recipe and gave it to his mother. His mother felt relieved when she saw customers flocking in.

A commotion broke out at Gangnim Outpost while Kang Seong-jae was away. Senior cook soldier Yoon Dong-hyun (Lee Hong-nae) was feeling Kang Seong-jae's absence more than anyone. While spending time with Kang Seong-jae, Yoon Dong-hyun had developed a desire to cook properly, so he set out to cook with unusual enthusiasm. However, because his skills could not keep up, he drew complaints from the soldiers of Gangnim Outpost. The uproar left Yoon Dong-hyun in a bad mood.

Since Kang Seong-jae's leave was fairly long, some kind of change was needed. Yoon Dong-hyun finally challenged himself with beef bone soup, a dish where sincerity is essential, pouring in as many as 20 hours and putting his heart into it.