Actor Kim Hyun-mok expresses gratitude to YoonA for their collaboration in 'The Chef of the Tyrant,' a popular drama based on a web novel.

Actor Kim Hyun-mok expressed gratitude to YoonA, who co-starred in tvN's weekend drama 'The Chef of the Tyrant.' The drama, which recently ended in South Korea, is based on the popular web novel 'Surviving as the Chef of Yonsangun.' It is a survival fantasy romance that unfolds when a chef who time slips to the best moment meets the worst tyrant, who possesses absolute taste, the king. Kim Hyun-mok passionately played the role of Min Ge-dok, the youngest in the water kitchen (the place where the king's meals are prepared). Before the broadcast ended, Kim Hyun-mok met with Newsen and said, 'Filming ended 1-2 months ago. It was fun to shoot. I had experience in historical dramas, but 'The Chef of the Tyrant' was a drama that added cooking to the historical genre. After practicing in a cooking class beforehand, we shot on set. Although we were pressed for time during filming, I was grateful and happy that positive reactions continued once the broadcast started. I feel a bit sad thinking about the end of the show.' 'The Chef of the Tyrant' started airing on August 23 with a rating of 4.9% (Nielsen Korea nationwide standard) and recorded a peak rating of 17.1%, the highest for a mini-series aired in South Korea in 2025. Did Kim Hyun-mok feel the popularity of the drama? He said, 'My main schedule recently has been promoting the movie '3670.' I worked without a day off from the first week to the second week. Since it has received good reviews among independent films, everyone is working hard, thinking, 'We have to do a lot while the tide is high.' I do about an hour of GV (talk shows and events), and afterward, I have signings, and people say they are really watching both my movie character and my drama character, so I feel it. If there hadn't been GV, I think I would have only been able to see reactions online, but recently, when I meet audiences directly, they tell me they watched 'The Chef of the Tyrant,' so I feel it a bit.' He mentioned that since the start of the drama, his Instagram followers increased by about 2,000, saying, 'Since my role wasn't that significant, I think it increased thanks to the movie.' When asked about his family's reaction to the drama's success, Kim Hyun-mok replied, 'My parents don't dislike me acting, but they don't seem that interested. My father said, 'When I see the characters on NAVER, you were in the first frame, but you didn't appear much,' and my mother said, 'It's just that you don't have many lines, but you appear a lot.' At first, they didn't say anything, so I thought they weren't watching. I also don't force them to watch. Recently, when I visited my family's house to see my brother's child, I suddenly heard that.' The growth and heartwarming friendship of the water kitchen colleagues, along with the romance between Yoon Ji-young (YoonA of Girls' Generation) and Lee Hong (Lee Che-min), were also highlights of the drama. Led by Kim Hyun-mok, who played the youngest, the chemistry among Kim Kwang-kyu as Om Bong-sik, Yoon So-ah as Seo Gil-gum, Hong Jin-ki as Men Man-soo, and Chu Kwang-hyun as Shim Mak-jin was impeccable. Kim Hyun-mok shared, 'Due to the nature of historical dramas, we mainly filmed in rural areas. After resting for 1-2 weeks, we went to Tamyang and Mungyeong and stayed for another 1-2 weeks to shoot. During that time, I felt we became closer as actors, even in private. There were restaurants we often went to in each region, and after filming, we would just exchange glances and say, 'Let's go there.' Even the managers naturally gathered. We often went to places serving sundae gukbap (soup with rice and spring onions stuffed in pig intestines), barley rice, and samgyeopsal. Everyone was tired, so we didn't thoroughly give feedback on acting or certain scenes, but thanks to that time, we occasionally discussed, 'Let's do that scene like this tomorrow.' When asked if there were opportunities to taste various dishes during breaks or after filming, he replied, 'There weren't many opportunities to taste on set, but I ate a lot in the cooking class before filming. If the dish coming up in next week's filming was bourguignon (a French meat dish), I would go to the class the week before to learn and taste it. Once I received the recipe, I followed it to make it. I originally didn't even turn on the gas stove at home.' He also said, 'Among the dishes I tasted, bourguignon was the most delicious. The first dish I learned to cook was bibimbap. I remember bibimbap as my senior Kwang-kyu's favorite food. He said bibimbap was the best.' Kim Hyun-mok drew attention with his 'green onion cutting competition' against chef Abyss (Moon Seung-yu). He explained, 'If my memory serves me right, the members of the water kitchen were decided around January-February this year. The drama team had us attend cooking classes, so I practiced hard from then. The challenging part was that we didn't know what dishes we would be making in the future. I heard beforehand that my character played a supporting role, so I focused more on knife skills and heat control than on the cooking itself.' He continued, 'The scene for the green onion cutting competition was decided during filming. Before it was confirmed, I personally bought cucumbers and fruits to practice using a knife. Once I heard it was green onions, I only cut green onions afterward. The director said a stand-in was prepared, but as an actor, I wanted to try it myself. I formally learned how to hold a knife, but it was still different. I learned in the cooking class and went home to watch YouTube videos in slow motion repeatedly. As I practiced, I developed my own angle and grip. There was pressure to do well, but after filming, I remember my senior Kwang-kyu complimenting me, 'Wow, why are you so good?' I was a bit disappointed that it ended sooner than I thought, but it was one of my favorite scenes.' This was Kim Hyun-mok's first time co-starring with YoonA as Yoon Ji-young. He said, 'This time, I received a Chuseok gift. One day, I received a message from sister (YoonA) saying she wanted to send me a Chuseok gift via KakaoTalk. I was filled with gratitude that she cared about me. Considering her personality during filming, it wasn't surprising that she contacted me directly. She was checking all my articles related to movies and dramas. She was really good to me on set.' He added, 'Sister YoonA must have had a hard time on set. It wasn't easy to shoot in a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) during the hot summer. Even though she wasn't getting enough sleep, she never showed any signs of fatigue on set. Even when we were tired, we told her to sit and rest when we saw her. Everyone was united in worrying about her. Although there were difficult shoots, it wasn't hard because the colleagues were wonderful. We gathered to play, rested happily, and then shot again; it was such a set.' Finally, he said, 'I am truly grateful that many people enjoyed watching and sent me wonderful words. Thanks to everyone's love, even though filming has ended, I feel both refreshed and a bit sad. If there is another opportunity to meet the audience as an actor in a wonderful, beloved work like 'The Chef of the Tyrant,' I would be happy.'