Episode 2 of The Legend of Kitchen Soldier starts with a flashback to Seong-jae's birthday. After school, he stops by his father's restaurant and proudly makes seaweed urchin soup. In the present, unaware that the Battalion Commander is allergic to the ingredients, he follows his father's recipe, resulting in the Commander collapsing and being rushed to a civilian hospital.
The Deputy Outpost Commander, Seung-woo, punishes Seong-jae and Dong-hyun for the mishap, but Ye-rin steps in to take the blame since she allowed it. The game window pops up again with a status update, revealing that Seong-jae has leveled up and can now see how much people like or dislike him.
Later, they receive a scolding from Seok-ho about using unauthorized ingredients, but they are let off with a warning since Chun-ik decides not to pursue it. However, Seok-ho still feels that assigning him to kitchen duty is too high a risk. Together with Jae-young, they decide to transfer him to the TOD (Thermal Observation Device), used to scan the seas for any invasion of ships from North Korea.
Seok-ho tries hard to convince Seong-jae since they need a justification for the transfer and signs him up for counselling. At the same time, the game gives him a new quest to be completed within 72 hours. During the counselling session, they talk about his father, whom Seong-jae remembers as a man who never gave up on his family. When asked about being assigned to the kitchen, he responds that he wishes to be a good chef just like his father.
Later, he stops by the kitchen just as Seok-ho, Kwan-cheol, and Ji-yong arrive to ask for ramyun. Using the skills he gained from the game, he helps Dong-hyun make a meal that Seok-ho appreciates, and his dislike level drops considerably.
Dong-hyun learns of Seong-jae's transfer and gets emotional. When Ye-rin hears about it, she tries to reason with Seok-ho, who ends up reminding her that she should worry more about herself. With her seniority, she should have been promoted already, but she is stuck at outpost commander. About the counselling, the report says that Seong-jae would make a good soldier if given time to adjust.
Later that night, during a call with his mother, Seong-jae expressed his desire to learn how to cook, so he could acquire the skills like his father after his military service. The following morning, he seized the opportunity to use his newfound skills when Jae-young chased Dong-hyun out of the kitchen. He used vinegar to neutralize the unpleasant odor from old rice and made adjustments to the bean sprout soup.
As the soldiers gathered for breakfast, they were initially reluctant, as usual. However, Jae-young took the first sip of the soup and was immediately impressed, as were the other soldiers. Kwan-cheol reluctantly took a sip too, and it transported him back to the battlefield where they had defeated an enemy army with bean sprouts as their main weapon, raising a flag of victory with bean sprout soup in enemy territory.
That day at work, the soldiers were more lively and energized. Dong-hyun was reluctant to let Seong-jae go since he didn't have a replacement, and his leave in 100 days might not be approved without one. He tried talking to Ye-rin, but she insisted that Seok-ho had the final say in the matter. He told them that Seong-jae had made the soup and rice that they had enjoyed so much at breakfast. Seong-jae wanted to stay too, so he asked Dong-hyun for help in convincing Seok-ho to change his mind.
They decided to make him some pork cutlet since it is a dish that everyone in the Republic of Korea likes. Seong-jae's father used to say that food made from the heart has the power to move people. After a bit of a struggle with the chicken to get three fresh eggs, Seong-jae realized that the pork meat in the freezer wasn't suitable for making the dish. Dong-hyun asked Miss Jung for help.
Seong-jae made the perfect pork cutlet, but Seok-ho was not moved at all. Ye-rin tried to reason with him, asking him to consider the soldiers' wishes, but his mind was made up. Seong-jae failed his last quest by failing to please Seok-ho, so the game updated with the end of Chef's Path.
At the end of the episode, a mysterious man washed up on the shore.
