Singer-actor Park Jihoon’s new drama is exploding in popularity from its very first broadcast.
According to Nielsen Korea, episode 1 of the TVING original Becoming a Legend recorded a 5.8% nationwide rating among paid TV households and 6.2% in the Seoul metropolitan area, immediately drawing massive attention.
The series is a military cooking-show fantasy that follows Private Kang Sung-jae (played by Park Jihoon) as he transforms into an army cook. Interest was especially high because it’s based on the hit Naver webtoon Becoming a Legend.
In the premiere, top trainee Kang Sung-jae received his unit assignment and began army life as the cook at Gangnim Outpost. Contrary to First Sergeant Park Jae-young’s (played by Yoon Kyung-ho) expectations, Kang was labeled an "S-class private," hinting at a rocky road from the very start.
Company Commander Hwang Seok-ho (played by Lee Sang-i) made Kang a cook because his mother runs a food truck. Guided by a mysterious voice, Kang successfully completed a "storage clean-up quest," kicking off a special journey within the military.
After the broadcast, viewers were split, saying, "They changed the original too much" and "I watched without noticing time fly," showing sharply divided reactions.
'Becoming a Legend' is Park Jihoon’s next project after joining the 10-million-actor club with the film The King's Warden. The series airs simultaneously on TVING and tvN every Monday and Tuesday at 8:50 p.m. KST.