If Wishes Could Kill ending explained: Who created Girigo and was the curse really broken?

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Netflix’s “If Wishes Could Kill” centers around a straightforward premise: write down your personal fortune – based on the traditional Korean practice of saju – and make a wish. Using a system called Girigo, the show suggests that anything is achievable, from acing an exam to finding love or getting a raise.

Seems amazing, right? Unfortunately, there’s a catch. When your wish comes true, a 24-hour countdown begins, and you’ll die when the time runs out.

This eight-episode series was a hit on Netflix, becoming the most-watched non-English show with 7.5 million viewers. It centers around students at Seorin High School who must fight for their lives after finding a strange app called Girigo and trying to lift its dangerous curse.

Yoo Se-ah learns about the app from her friend, Hyeon-wook. But they quickly discover how dangerous it is when Hyeon-wook wishes for a perfect score on his math test – and then tragically takes his own life in class after receiving it.

The first couple of episodes of ‘If Wishes Could Kill’ seemed like many other horror shows – similar to ‘Countdown’ or ‘One Missed Call’. But the series quickly found its own unique direction. By combining today’s technology with ancient beliefs like shamanism and the occult, it became a fresh and thrilling story as it raced towards a captivating ending. The big questions remain: Who was Girigo, and was the curse actually lifted?

Read on for a full breakdown of If Wishes Could Kill’s ending.

If Wishes Could Kill ending explained

Girigo is a Jugu, a being that channels demonic curses. It’s a shape-shifter that takes thoughts – from things like letters or social media posts – and turns them into a harmful curse.

Once someone is possessed by spirits, they’re transported to a terrifying spiritual realm ruled by demons. This realm is similar to the levels of hell described in Dante’s Inferno, and the protagonist is led through it by Haetsal, the long-lost sister of Kang Ha-joon, who shows them increasingly horrifying sights.

A flashback episode reveals how the deadly app first came to be, showing its beginnings in 2005.

This episode focuses on the friendship between Do Hye-ryung and Kwon Si-won. Si-won is embarrassed by her mother, who is known in town as a troubled woman with unusual beliefs and a dark past. Unlike Si-won, Hye-ryung is curious about these beliefs and wants to understand them better. This difference creates tension in their friendship, as Si-won wants Hye-ryung to avoid her mother altogether.

Si-won signed up for a coding class after school and began working on an app for a competition. While brainstorming ideas with his group, they started talking about shamanism and decided to create an app called Girigo that would supposedly grant wishes.

When Si-won tested the app, Hye-ryung revealed her feelings for a classmate, recording a wish for him to reciprocate. Si-won felt betrayed when this video was used to embarrass the classmate, as she’d discovered Hye-ryung was involved in her mother’s unusual practices – learning about shamanism and curses.

Driven to desperation, Hye-ryung records a chilling message – “I wish you all would die” – and then takes her own life. Si-won, in turn, wishes for Hye-ryung’s curse to continue indefinitely and summons a powerful demon.

I discovered something incredible – the way to break the curse! Apparently, it all comes down to destroying the ‘red phone’. It’s the very phone where the original wish that started all this trouble was made, so getting rid of it is the key.

While searching for and attempting to eliminate what she thought was Hye-ryung – the ‘red phone’ – Se-ah unexpectedly encounters Na-ri, who is currently under the control of Si-won’s spirit.

Even though the spirit no longer controlled her, Na-ri still wanted revenge on Se-ah. She tried to kill Se-ah because she was hurt that Se-ah had fallen in love with Geon-woo, knowing Na-ri’s feelings for him.

It was captivating to watch events play out, leaving us wondering if Na-ri was still controlled by Si-won’s influence, or if she was acting on her own, now free from the demon’s control, and choosing to be violent.

Okay, so things get really intense when Na-ri and Se-ah fight. In the scuffle, Na-ri accidentally breaks a bracelet Se-ah was wearing – and this isn’t just any jewelry. It turns out this bracelet was magically linking Se-ah to Haetsal and shielding her from evil spirits. The result? She’s instantly pulled into the spirit world! It’s a pretty dramatic turn of events, and honestly, a clever way to raise the stakes.

Se-ah and Haetsal learned the ‘red phone’ originally belonged to Si-won, who started the curse and needed it found in the spirit world. After defending herself by killing Na-ri, Se-ah destroyed the phone, finally breaking the curse.

Will there be another season of If Wishes Could Kill?

Now that the curse appears to be lifted, the remaining members held a memorial for Hyeong-wook at Haetsal’s home. However, Haetsal is still held captive and is losing her shamanistic abilities as spirits possess her.

Bangwool, having miraculously survived a serious injury, vowed to liberate Haetsal using his spiritual abilities, which he initially thought would disappear after losing an eye. But in a surprising turn of events at the end of the series, his eye regrows, and with it, the same mystical powers return.

After the credits, Min-su, who connected Girigo with Hyeong-wook online, finds Na-ri’s phone. He then contacts a mysterious Discord user named ‘050201’ – which is Kwon Si-won’s birthday – and this user claims to know how Choi Hyeong-wook died.

There’s a chance the anonymous online user is actually Na-ri, since no one ever found out what happened to her. While her desk was empty at school, the group didn’t hold a memorial for her like they did for Hyeong-wook, which implies she might still be out there somewhere.

Authors

Adam Davidson

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2026-05-08 13:08