Chef Jeong Ji-seon met with life mentor Seonwoo Yong-nyeo and candidly talked about everything from his efforts to balance work and family life to his plans for a second child.

Episode 279 of KBS 2TV‘s ‘The Boss’s Ears Are Donkey Ears’ (abbreviated as ‘Sadanggwi’), which aired on the 3rd, recorded 4.9% in nationwide viewership ratings and 4.5% in the metropolitan area. Its peak viewership rating was 7.6%. (based on Nielsen Korea)

Boss Jeong Ho-young was invited to the Uiseong Super Food Garlic Festival that day. Global Korean food evangelist Chef Yoo Hyun-soo, the first Korean restaurant in Korea to be selected as one Michelin star, joined him and he talked about the difficult economy, saying, “It‘s not like before. Our monthly sales sometimes don’t even reach 10 million won.” Here, the two chefs with 25 years of experience had a fiery garlic cooking competition with the goal of selling out 200 servings of garlic dishes.

While Yoo Hyun-soo revealed his cooking skills by saying, “I’m no ordinary cook,” Jung Ho-young declared that he would show off his spicy flavor. The dishes prepared by the two chefs were garlic cabbage rolls with lots of garlic and garlic noodles with aged garlic and pork belly. Jeon Hyun-moo swallowed his saliva and said, “Just hearing the name garlic noodles makes me want to eat it.” Yoo Hyun-soo, who prepared alone with a knife, did everything by himself, from boiling the noodles to grilling the pork belly. The fast turnover rate and eloquence, which consisted of just adding chopsticks to a bowl of noodles, led to a high repeat purchase rate.

On the other hand, Jung Ho-young had an emergency situation where the deep fryer broke down and he didn‘t have enough burners to put the steamer on. Jung Ho-young eventually infiltrated the enemy lines and made everyone laugh with his sabotage tactics such as stealing Yoo Hyun-soo’s pork belly and his mean-spirited solicitation of customers. In the end, Jung Ho-young narrowly won against Michelin 1-star Yoo Hyun-soo by selling out all 200 servings. Above all, Jung Ho-young achieved the feat of two consecutive wins by winning the rice cooking competition with Jeong Ji-seon and the garlic cooking competition with Yoo Hyun-soo.

The final rehearsal of designer Ji Chun-hee‘s Miss Gee Collection 2025 S/S collection was depicted. On the final day of checking the music, clothing, and styling, Ji Chun-hee appeared and meticulously checked the outfit with an eagle eye, saying, “The hairstyle is too weak”, “Your lips are too dry”, and “Why is the petticoat beige?” With just one word from Ji Chun-hee, the outfit fit the model perfectly. When Jeon Hyun-moo’s eyes lit up and said, “Excellent choice”, Park Kyung-rim made everyone laugh by saying, “Are you standing in the J-line?”


Ji Chun-hee explained about her close friend Ahn Hyun-mo, “She‘s a very close little friend, so we naturally became close because we connected.” To Ji Chun-hee, who sponsored Ahn Hyun-mo’s broadcast outfits since their first meeting nine years ago, Jeon Hyun-moo said, “I‘ll wear this here and there too. I will wear it regardless of the broadcaster.” Ji Chun-hee gave relationship advice that showed her experience to Ahn Hyun-mo, who said, “It’s so good to live alone,” saying, “Broaden your horizons globally and then meet a lot of good people.”

Above all, the secret storage on the 6th floor that Ji Chun-hee had kept well-hidden was revealed for the first time. Jeon Hyun-moo admired the vividly preserved history of the Miss Gie Collection, which is the result of passion that cannot be exchanged for anything, such as videotapes, OHP films containing photos from past fashion shows, and fabrics that she had dyed herself, saying, “It’s a precious resource.” It was a moment when Ji Chun-hee’s tenacity, the godmother of K-fashion who created the Cheongdam-dong legend starting with the Miss Gie Collection in 1989, shined brighter than ever.

Chef Jung Ji-sun had a special meeting with her ‘life mentors’ Seonwoo Yong-nyeo and Kim Ji-sun.’ Ji-seon Jeong, who has been married for 11 years, surprised everyone with her explosive statements, saying, ”We have different sleeping habits, so I’ve been sleeping in separate rooms for 7 years,“ and, ”We talk about work-related things often, but we only have personal conversations once or twice a week.“

Ji-seon Jeong‘s husband in particular drew attention by complaining about his wife’s frequent drinking parties, but when Ji-seon Jeong said, ”This is not overspending, this is investment. Instead, I transferred the car, house, and store to my husband‘s name,“ and added, ”There are pictures of my husband’s ex-girlfriends at home,“ the tables were turned completely. In the end, Seonwoo Yongnyeo said to Ji-seon Jeong and his wife, ”You have to give and take from each other,“ and mentioned the balance between work and family life, before suggesting a second plan, saying, ”You have to do it quickly when the time comes.“ Here, he gave loving advice, saying, “You only live once, so take care of each other and live diligently.”

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter, projecthong@donga.com