Korean Horror Evolves: A Deadly App and Old Ghosts
Over the past few decades, South Korea has become known worldwide for its stylish, creepy horror films, but television dramas have mostly excelled in romance and coming-of-age stories. Hit series such as All of Us Are Dead and Sweet Home gave global audiences a taste of K-drama horror, but none truly broke through the way If Wishes Could Kill has. The series stands apart by mixing a classic ghost story with modern anxieties about technology—and its ending leaves viewers with plenty to discuss.
This eight-episode drama centers on a group of school friends who discover a cursed app called Girigo. The premise is simple and terrifying: record yourself making a wish, show your name and birthdate in the video, and the app will grant your wish. The cost? Your life. After your wish comes true, a 24-hour countdown begins—and when it reaches zero, the wish-maker dies. The story quickly spins out of control.
The Deadly Chain: How the Curse Works
The nightmare begins with class clown Hyeon-wook (Lee Hyo-je), who uses Girigo to ace his math test, unaware of the app's price. When he happily tells his friends Se-ah (Jeon So-young), Geon-woo (Baek Sun-ho), Na-ri (Kang Mi-na), and Ha-joon (Hyun Woo-seok), he spreads more than just good news. None of them believe the app's powers at first, until Hyeon-wook cuts his own throat in class, apparently compelled by something unseen.
The surviving friends soon uncover more rules behind the curse. The app’s deadly 24-hour countdown will stop if someone else makes a wish. This creates a chain reaction, as each user tries to evade death by convincing another to use Girigo. Only wish-makers can see the ghosts that haunt the app, making them vulnerable to sinister tricks—like calls and texts meant to sow paranoia among friends.
Before long, two others have made wishes. Geon-woo, newly dating Se-ah, wishes for her track training to be canceled so she can attend Hyeon-wook’s party. Na-ri, after a drunken night, privately wishes for the deaths of Hyeon-wook and an older friend, Dong-jae. Her countdown halts only when Geon-woo uses the app. As Geon-woo faces his looming deadline, Se-ah makes a desperate wish to save him, starting her own countdown. She and Ha-joon turn to Ha-joon's older sister, Ha-sal (Jeon So-nee), a shaman living in the countryside with her partner Bang Ui (Roh Jae-won).
Roots in Korean Shamanism—and Pop Culture
If Wishes Could Kill pulls from centuries-old Korean shamanism, or mu-sok, where ancestral spirits are believed to affect human fortune. Most Korean shamans, or mu-dang, are women who act as intermediaries between the spirit and human worlds, helping people with everything from protection to resolving personal crises. Visits to shamans are common in South Korea, even among those who don't consider themselves religious.
Despite lingering social stigma, shamans have recently become more visible in pop culture. Reality shows like 2026's Battle of the Fates and box office hits like Exhuma (2024) have brought renewed attention to shamanism. In If Wishes Could Kill, shaman characters are portrayed as understated warriors, capable of great sacrifice and strength, much like those in Exhuma.
The Birth of the Curse and a Shocking Finale
The origin of the Girigo curse traces back to a devastating event at the school. A student named Kim Si-won, daughter of a local shaman, resents her mother’s profession and chooses to sleep in abandoned warehouses. Si-won’s only confidante is Do Hye-rung (Kim Si-ah). Si-won, a talented coder, joins a school competition alongside popular students, including Gi-tae, Hye-rung’s crush. When the group suggests making a wish-granting app that taps into shamanic ideas, Si-won agrees, wanting to avoid more questions about her mother.
The situation intensifies when Si-won learns that Hye-rung has been visiting her mother, who struggles with alcoholism. In anger, Si-won launches the app and humiliates Hye-rung by sending a video of her wish for Gi-tae around the school. Humiliated, Hye-rung wishes for the deaths of Si-won and Gi-tae using the app before taking her own life. The app grants her wish, and before dying herself, Si-won uses her last moments to make a blood-soaked wish, binding a deadly power to Girigo. Si-won's spirit is behind the app’s curse, with Hye-rung’s soul trapped as well.
In the final episode, Se-ah and Ha-sal must journey into the spirit world to end the curse. While Ha-sal confronts Si-won’s enraged spirit, Se-ah searches for Si-won’s phone, the source of the app’s power. Ha-sal advises that destroying the phone is the only way to break the curse. Their mission is complicated when Na-ri, manipulated by the curse and wracked by guilt, tries to kill Se-ah. Though briefly possessed by Si-won, Na-ri ultimately chooses on her own to attack Se-ah, who must fight back in self-defense. After stopping Na-ri, Se-ah destroys Si-won’s phone with Ha-sal’s arrow. The curse is finally lifted, allowing Si-won and Hye-rung's spirits to move on.
The ending isn’t a cheerful one—Hyeon-wook and Na-ri are lost. But Se-ah, Geon-woo, Ha-joon, and Bang Ui, who was badly injured defending the group, survive. The series closes with Bang Ui and Ha-sal hosting the teens for dinner and a ceremony honoring Hyeon-wook’s peaceful passage to the next world.
The epilogue sets up the possibility of more to come. Hyeon-wook’s Discord friend—the user who first told him about Girigo—returns to the school to find Na-ri’s abandoned phone, guided by someone mysterious on Discord who knows the passcode. When the phone is unlocked, Girigo is still installed. The show doesn’t say who’s behind the Discord messages, but suggests it could be Na-ri’s spirit, bitter about her fate. The app’s curse needs a bloody wish to work—so viewers are left to wonder: before dying, did Na-ri set a new curse in motion?
