Park Jihoon, who previously played King Danjong in ‘The Man Living with the King’, is starring in the webtoon-based drama ‘Legend of the Culinary Soldier’. The original author has expressed great satisfaction with the live-action adaptation.
On May 13, author J-Robin shared on SNS, “I think a very small number of people are disappointed that the drama is different from the original. However, I am someone who believes it should be different.” The author also noted the difficulty of maintaining accuracy, stating, “I am experiencing firsthand how difficult the verification stage is when producing a webtoon from a novel. Checking everything from salute poses and uniforms to unit marks and shoulder strap positions is not easy.”
J-Robin added, “If it is that hard for a webtoon, imagine how difficult it must be to actually bring it to life in live-action?” The author acknowledged the hard work of the team within limited conditions, such as production cycles, casting pools, budget, and filming environments, and asked fans, “Please enjoy the original as the original, and the drama as the drama!”
Author J-Robin further cheered on the series, saying, “Objectively speaking, the drama is fun, isn’t it!! I am 100%, no, 200% satisfied. As a fan of the original, I feel like another great piece of content has been born.”
Premiering on May 11 on tvN and Tving, ‘Legend of the Culinary Soldier’ depicts the growth of Private Kang Seong-jae (Park Jihoon), who becomes a culinary soldier. The show is already gaining popularity, recording ratings of 5.8% and 6.2% in its first week (Nielsen Korea, based on nationwide paid households).
‘Legend of the Culinary Soldier’ began as a web novel serialized by J-Robin in 2017, which then led to a webtoon and finally a drama adaptation. The webtoon, in particular, gained explosive popularity and was loved enough to receive side stories.
