The new Netflix horror K-drama If Wishes Could Kill arrived on April 24, 2026, and viewers are talking about its shocking body count. The show blends teen drama with supernatural terror. A mysterious app called Girigo grants wishes but starts a deadly countdown. The series has eight episodes and comes from director Park Youn-seo and writer Park Joong-seop.
The cast includes Jeon So-young, Kang Mi-na, Baek Sun-ho, Hyun Woo-seok, and Lee Hyo-je. Many fans finished the show quickly because all episodes were released at the same time. The most common question after watching is simple: who dies and who lives?
The story follows a group of high school friends at Seorin High School. They find an app called Girigo that promises to make wishes come true. At first, it seems like a fun tool. But the app has a dark secret. After a wish is made, a countdown timer appears on the user’s phone. When the timer hits zero, the user dies in a terrible way. The show makes it clear that no wish comes without a price. The price is always a life. This rule pushes the characters into a nightmare they cannot easily escape.
Every Major Death In The Series
Choi Hyun-wook is the first major character to die. Lee Hyo-je plays this role. Hyun-wook is the funny one in the friend group. He uses the app to wish for a perfect score on his math test. The wish works, and he celebrates his success. He even shows the app to his friends. But then the countdown begins on his phone. The show does not hide the horror of his death. In front of his entire class, Hyun-wook takes his own life by cutting his throat. The force controlling the app seems to take over his body. This moment changes everything for the remaining characters. His death proves that the app is not a game. It is a death sentence.
Lim Na-ri is the second major death in the series. Kang Mi-na plays this role. Na-ri has feelings for her friend Geon-woo. But Geon-woo is secretly dating Se-ah. This creates jealousy inside Na-ri. One night, while drunk and upset, she makes a wish on the app. She wishes for the deaths of Hyun-wook and another friend named Dong-jae. The curse uses her negative emotions to take control.
As the story moves forward, Na-ri becomes possessed by the evil force. Her jealousy and anger grow stronger. In the spirit world, she stands in Se-ah’s way. Se-ah tries to reach her friend emotionally, but it does not work. Na-ri is too far gone. Se-ah is forced to fight, and Na-ri dies as a result. Her death is the most painful because it shows how the curse destroys friendships from the inside.
The Origins Of The Curse
The show goes back in time to explain how Girigo became deadly. Two students named Do Hye-ryung and Kwon Si-won created the original app. It started as a simple school coding project. But things turned bad because of human emotions. Hye-ryung felt pushed into a corner by her situation. She used the app in a moment of desperation before taking her own life. This act put a curse on the app. Then Si-won, dealing with anger and shame about her shaman mother, made a final wish. She wanted the curse to continue forever. Both girls died, but their pain lived on through the app. Their deaths happened before the main story begins, but they are the true reason for all the terror.
The Survivors And How They Make It
Three main friends survive the nightmare. Yoo Se-ah is the main character who fights the hardest to break the curse. She enters the spirit world with help from a shaman. She finds the real source of the curse, which is Si-won’s phone. By destroying it, she stops the cycle of deaths. Kang Ha-joon survives because his sister is a shaman. He brings spiritual help to the group. Kim Geon-woo also lives through the events. His wish almost kills him, but Se-ah saves him by making a wish of her own.
Two other important characters survive as well. Kang Ha-sal is Ha-joon’s sister and a real shaman. She goes into the spirit world to fight the curse directly. She takes on the burden of the curse to help Se-ah escape. Bang Ui is Ha-sal’s boyfriend and also a shaman. He helps the group investigate the app’s origins.
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The Ending That Leaves Room For More
The show does not give a clean and simple ending. After Se-ah destroys the true source phone, the immediate danger goes away. The survivors perform rituals to honor their lost friends. But the final scene changes everything. A new student finds Na-ri’s abandoned phone on the school grounds. A mysterious online contact guides him to the phone and gives him the password. When he opens the phone, the Girigo app is still there. It is ready to be used again. This means the curse may not be fully gone. The spirits might still be active. Many viewers believe Na-ri’s spirit is now part of the curse, similar to Hye-ryung and Si-won before her. The show does not confirm a second season, but this open ending makes it possible.
