If Wishes Could Kill
Five
Promotional poster
Hangul
기리고
Lit. To Honor and... / To Commemorate and...[a]
RR Girigo
MR Kirigo
Genre
  • Young adult
  • Horror
  • Supernatural
  • Mystery
Written by Park Joong-seop
Directed by Park Youn-seo
Starring
  • Jeon So-young
  • Kang Mi-na
  • Baek Sun-ho
  • Hyun Woo-seok
  • Lee Hyo-je [ko]
Country of origin South Korea
Original language Korean
No. of episodes 8
Production
Running time 36–52 minutes
Production companies
  • CJ ENM Studios
  • Kairos Makers
Original release
Network Netflix
Release April 24, 2026 (2026-04-24)

If Wishes Could Kill (Korean: 기리고) is a 2026 South Korean young adult horror television series written by Park Joong-seop, directed by Park Youn-seo and starring Jeon So-young, Kang Mi-na, Baek Sun-ho, Hyun Woo-seok, and Lee Hyo-je [ko]. The series follows five high school students who must uncover the truth behind "Girigo", a mysterious wish-granting application after it begins predicting their sudden deaths. It was released on Netflix on April 24, 2026.

Synopsis

At Seorin High School, a group of students discover "Girigo", a mobile application that claims to grant users' wishes. Following the sudden death of a classmate, a connection is discovered between the application and a series of supernatural omens predicting the deaths of other students. Yoo Se-ah, Lim Na-ri, Kim Geon-woo, Kang Ha-joon, and Choi Hyeong-wook attempt to stop the cycle of deaths by investigating the app's origins.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Jeon So-young as Yoo Se-ah
    • Kim Gyu-ram as young Yoo Se-ah
A track and field student-athlete at Seorin High School who's suspicious about the Girigo app.
  • Kang Mi-na as Lim Na-ri
    • Jung Cho-ha as young Lim Na-ri
A popular student at Seorin High School who originally doubts the rumors regarding the Girigo's negative reputation due to being in denial after having made a drunken wish.
  • Baek Sun-ho as Kim Geon-woo
    • Lee Si-on as young Kim Geon-woo
A student at Seorin High School who is in a secret relationship with Se-ah and use the Girigo app.
  • Hyun Woo-seok as Kang Ha-joon
    • Lee Joo-won as young Kang Ha-joon
A student who uses his programming knowledge to analyze the Girigo's software.
  • Lee Hyo-je [ko] as Choi Hyeong-wook
    • Kim Min-ho as young Choi Hyeong-wook
A student whose circumstances change after using the Girigo to make a wish.
Eop-soon's daughter who is both the developer of Girigo app and the cause of the application's curse.

Supporting

Se-ah's aunt who is a doctor and took care of her after her parents passed away.
  • Jo Wan-ki [ko] as a homeroom teacher
  • Yoon Sa-bong as Coach Song
The track and field coach at Seorin High School.
  • Park Tae-rin as Lee Dong-jae
A member of coding club at Seorin High School who thought the idea of the Girigo app.
  • Sim Su-bin as Yang Hee-jin
A member of coding club at Seorin High School and Na-ri's acquaintance.
Hyeong-wook's online friend on Discord who introduced the Girigo app to him.
  • Choi Soo-min [ko] as a neighborhood small store owner
  • Park Soo-oh as Han Gi-tae
A member of coding club at Seorin High School.

Special appearances

  • Jeon So-nee as Haetsal / Kang Ha-young
Ha-joon's sister and a shaman who uncovers the curse of the Girigo app and helps the students
  • Roh Jae-won as Bangwool
Haetsal's partner who is also a shaman and together with the students investigates the supernatural origins of the Girigo app
  • Lee Sang-hee as Eop-soon
Si-won's mother and a shaman who always drink alcohol.
  • Kim Si-a as Do Hye-ryung
Si-won's friend who first use the Girigo app to wish everyone's death and commits suicide by slitting his own throat.

Episodes

No. Original release date
1 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
A high school girl named Do Hye-ryung carving her name and birth date on the wall of an abandoned factory before she filmed herself with the Girigo app on her phone, committing suicide by slitting her throat, but not before she tearfully made a wish on camera hoping for the deaths of everyone. The scene cuts to several years later, when an orphaned track and field athlete Yoo Se-ah goes to school with her boyfriend Kim Geon-woo, and met up with their three long-time friends – Lim Na-ri, Choi Hyeong-wook and Kang Ha-joon – at Seorin High School. On that day, Hyeong-wook unexpectedly gets a full score in his math test, sharing the same score as Ha-joon, who was always the first in class. During the five youths' gathering, Hyeong-wook reveals that he made a wish for full marks on his math test on the Girigo app, and shared with them the rules of writing their names and birthdates and filming themselves making their wishes, although the rest brushed it off as unbelievable. Mysteriously, after his wish came true, a 24-hour countdown shows up on Hyeong-wook's phone screen, and during the school's night study session, he receives a phone call from Se-ah in which he overheard the others talking behind his back. However, at that time, Se-ah was actually not on the phone but was training at the school hall to join the national track and field team, and she was elated to hear that she was chosen, although she had to stay back for the weekend to train and would not make it for Hyeong-wook's birthday party. While having a meal with Se-ah at her home, Geon-woo humorously decided to make a wish on the Girigo app, hoping that Se-ah's weekend training session will be cancelled so that everyone can celebrate Hyeong-wook's birthday. The next day, before the start of morning class, Hyeong-wook behaves erratically and suddenly took out a penknife, slitting his throat in front of Se-ah before she could stop him. While Se-ah tries to resuscitate the dying Hyeong-wook, the timer on his phone screen reaches zero just as he dies.
2 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
While she was still shaken by Hyeong-wook's death, Se-ah receives word from Coach Song that her weekend training session is cancelled, and simultaneously, Geon-woo received a notification that his wish came true and similar to Hyeong-wook, a 24-hour countdown shows up in the phone screen. Realizing that Geon-woo's wish possibly came true, and recalling her conversation with Hyeong-wook regarding the mysterious phone call the previous night when she sent him a birthday gift in advance, Se-ah quickly met up with Geon-woo, Na-ri and Ha-joon to inform them of the strange happenings, and together, they tried to investigate the Girigo app. Despite rebooting Geon-woo's phone, the Girigo app did not disappear from Geon-woo's phone. At Se-ah's home, while the group is attempting to decipher the app codes through Ha-joon's laptop, Geon-woo begins to act erratically and self-harm like Hyeong-wook does, and attacks Ha-joon and Se-ah, before the latter knocks him out. The group took Geon-woo to the nearby hospital, where Se-ah's aunt, a doctor, tries to save Geon-woo, who is still in critical condition at the ICU. Meanwhile, when Ha-joon continues to decipher the codes of the Girigo app, he receives a phone call from his sister Ha-sal, a shaman who senses an ominous sign and warns her brother to not use the Girigo app. Later that night, Geon-woo's condition deteriorates, and just as he was about to succumb to his wounds, a desperate Se-ah makes a wish on the Girigo app to stop Geon-woo from dying. Just as the wish came true, the timer on Geon-woo's phone stops, to the surprise of Na-ri, who went back alone to Se-ah's apartment to retrieve Geon-woo's phone.
3 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
Ha-joon brings Se-ah to his sister's home in the mountains, seeking the help of both Ha-sal and her partner Bang-ul to save Se-ah. Just as Se-ah arrives, she receives a phone call from Geon-woo who claimed to be fine, but Ha-sal sees through the ruse and recognizes it as a evil spirit masquerading as Geon-woo in this phone call. Se-ah is restrained by Ha-sal just as she begins to enter the same erratic state as both Geon-woo and Hyeong-wook. Both Ha-sal and Bang-ul set up a ritual to help Se-ah, and inside a supernatural dimension, Se-ah was advised by Ha-sal to find her way out, but she must not look back at whatever cost. Se-ah finds herself alone inside their school, and she came face to face with Hyeong-wook during the moment he committed suicide. Realizing that this was not the real Hyeong-wook, Se-ah is able to overcome her fear and leaves her school, only to find herself on a dark but familiar road, where her parents died in a car accident years ago, in which Se-ah herself was the sole survivor (which led to her being taken in by her aunt). The spirit tries to coerce Se-ah into staying by disguising as her dying mother, but Se-ah manages to resist and reach the door to her way out. However, Se-ah wakes up in a fake version of Ha-sal's room conjured up by the spirit, and is tricked into looking back. Sensing that Se-ah is in danger, Ha-sal enters the spiritual dimension and successfully saves Se-ah, but the curse has not completely vanished. Ha-sal deduces that the curse from the Girigo app originates from a red phone seen in Se-ah's visions, and as the phone acts as a "maehyung", meaning the root cause of the curse, it must be destroyed in order to save Se-ah.
4 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
Se-ah, who spent the night at Ha-sal's house, wakes up from a nightmare, in which she saw two female ghosts she encountered previously in the spirit dimension. Both Se-ah and Ha-joon left the house to look for the maehyung, and Bang-ul accompanies the pair in order to protect Se-ah. At the same time, Geon-woo, who has largely recovered, escapes from the hospital and returns to Se-ah's apartment to look for his phone, which was actually taken away by Na-ri earlier on. Meanwhile, at Ha-joon's house, Ha-joon, Bang-ul and Se-ah investigates Hyeong-wook's laptop to trace his online activities to find out how he discovers Girigo, and they found out he frequently communicates with a friend in Discord about the app. The trio successfully lures the friend out by pretending to be Hyeong-wook, and the friend turns out to be innocent, as he only helped him to get some pills to help him study. Hyeong-wook's friend explains that Hyeong-wook discovers the Girigo app's presence through a deleted post that covered an incident which happened at their school years ago, and reveals that the incident was linked to the deaths of two girls named Kwon Si-won and Do Hye-ryung (the same girl who committed suicide at the start of the series). The trio searches for the address of Hye-ryung, who was rumoured to be the daughter of a shaman, and reaches a neighbourhood she resided in. At night, the trio found the shaman's abandoned house and investigates, and Se-ah saw the ghost of a girl in school uniform, who guides her to a buried photo of both Hye-ryung and Si-won. Ha-sal saw the photo and recognizes a window from the spirit realm where Se-ah was trapped previously. Ha-joon decides to use the metadata to trace the location of all the Girigo videos, but the file server could only be accessed by registered devices. Se-ah recognizes the webpage as the same one from Coach Song's computer, and together, the trio sneaked into the school to access the server inside Coach Song's office, but to their horror, Ha-joon and Se-ah discovers a Girigo video of Na-ri, who jokingly made a wish for Hyeong-wook and another person to die while heavily drunk in a nightclub. As the video was recorded the night before Hyeong-wook's death, Ha-joon and Se-ah's suspicions were heightened as Na-ri did not die even after more than 24 hours after the wish was granted. Outside the school, both Na-ri and Geon-woo sneaked inside the school compound.
5 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
A flashback reveals that Na-ri, while drunk, was goaded by a senior into making a wish with Girigo, in which she asks for the deaths of both Hyeong-wook and the senior. On the morning Hyeong-wook died, Na-ri was horrified to witness it and also received news of the senior's death. Na-ri confronts the classmate of the senior, and the classmate told her about the deaths of Hye-ryung and Si-won years ago, and further admits that the Girigo app was allegedly created to bully Hye-ryung for being a shaman's daughter, which possibly started the curse of the app. Na-ri also deduces that the 24-hour countdown in her phone was stopped by Geon-woo making his wish before it hits zero, and in turn, the countdown in Geon-woo's phone also stopped due to Se-ah wishing for Geon-woo to survive. Just as Na-ri wanted to share her deductions with the others, the evil spirit poses as Se-ah and sent messages to Geon-woo in his phone, manipulating Na-ri into thinking that her friends did not care about her. Gradually, the spirit was able to possess and control Na-ri, taking advantage of her guilt over Hyeong-wook's death and her deep jealousy and resentment towards Se-ah's romantic relationship with Geon-woo. Inside the school infirmary, Na-ri and Geon-woo found a medical report detailing the injuries of Si-won, including a cut wound on her face. Geon-woo immediately recognizes Si-won as the ghost he saw at Se-ah's house, and further realizes that Na-ri also saw the ghost the same day he was attacked by it. However, Na-ri, under the influence of Si-won, begins to confront Geon-woo and ran out of the school. Geon-woo gave chase but was attacked by Si-won's vengeful spirit, before Bang-ul saves him. Unaware of the ongoing events, both Ha-joon and Se-ah download all the Girigo videos from the server.
6 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
A flashback reveals that several years ago, Hye-ryung and Si-won were best friends studying in the same school as Se-ah and her friends, and that the daughter of a local shaman was actually Si-won, not Hye-ryung. While initially very close, their friendship gradually became marred in estrangement, due to Si-won feeling ashamed of having a shaman mother (who was rumoured to have caused her husband's death) and Hye-ryung's growing fascination with shamanism, much to Si-won's chagrin. Aside from this, the Girigo app was first created by Si-won as a school project for a competition. One day, Si-won discovers that Hye-ryung had visited her mother, and coupled with her long-term resentment and despise towards her mother, Si-won breaks all of her mother's religious artefacts and sprayed blood on them, unknowingly unleashes a dark force threatening her safety. Si-won's mother sacrifices herself in order to protect her daughter from suffering the same fate that befell her husband (which she failed to stop), and in her dying breath, she wanted Hye-ryung to plant a talisman for Si-won's safety. However, Si-won caught her red-handed, and out of anger, she slaps Hye-ryung and even spitefully reveals a video of Hye-ryung confessing her love to a male student, and solicits the male student to humiliate and physically assault Hye-ryung in front of the whole class. Hye-ryung, out of hatred for Si-won's betrayal, conducts a puppet ritual on Si-won (which Si-won's mother taught her) and uses the newly-launched Girigo app to wish for the deaths of both Si-won and the male student before committing suicide. Si-won and the student, who tried to destroy the app and evidence of their crimes, ultimately died of horrible deaths just as Hye-ryung wished.
7 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
Back to the present, a possessed Na-ri attacks both Ha-joon and Se-ah inside the school hall, fracturing Ha-joon's arm in the process. Bang-ul, who was earlier injured in the eye by Si-won, saves them and fights off Na-ri with his ritual sword. After Ha-joon and Bang-ul received treatment, the four checked the video of Hye-ryung's wish and traces it to the abandoned factory where Hye-ryung died. However, on the way, the spirit tries to stop them and the group narrowly avoided getting hit by a truck driven by the spirit. Bang-ul was wounded by a pole penetrating his abdomen while protecting Se-ah, and Ha-joon stays behind to call the ambulance, leaving both Se-ah and Geon-woo to find the factory under Bang-ul's instructions. The couple reached the area, jumping over a gap using their long jump techniques, and found Hye-ryung's broken phone, but Na-ri attacks them, and Geon-woo was forced to stab her with Bang-ul's ritual sword, allowing Na-ri to momentarily regain her senses before Si-won re-possesses her again. Afterwards, Se-ah had a seizure caused by Si-won, and a phone call seemingly from Hae-sal urges Geon-woo to bring her to her house.
8 April 26, 2026 (2026-04-26)
Se-ah wakes up in the school infirmary only to find that everything seemingly back to normal, and with Ha-joon, Na-ri and Geon-woo reassuring her that the curse is lifted. However, after noticing that the multimedia classroom (which had previously been blocked off), no longer has a gate in front of it, Se-ah discovers that she was trapped in the spirit dimension, and while escaping, she was again attacked by Na-ri. Back in the real world, Geon-woo successfully reaches the house of Ha-sal despite Si-won trying to make him fall off a cliff at one point. Ha-sal quickly conducts a ritual to destroy Hye-ryung's phone, but the curse was still not lifted despite Hye-ryung's ghost returning to her old self. It was revealed that the curse originated from Si-won's phone, and that Si-won actually made a dying wish for Hye-ryung's curse to repeat on anyone using the app, which set the plot events into motion. While Ha-sal distracts Si-won by posing as Hye-ryung, Se-ah went to find the phone but was intercepted by Na-ri. Still suffering from the after-effects of Si-won's possession, Na-ri lets out her feelings of jealousy towards Se-ah for dating Geon-woo and refuses to accept responsibility for killing Hyeong-wook, and she tries to murder Se-ah, forcing the latter to repeatedly punch and therefore killed her in self defence, before she retrieved Si-won's phone in the server room. Meanwhile, Si-won sees through Ha-sal's disguise and tries killing Ha-sal despite the plea from Hye-ryung's ghost to stop, and after a prolonged fight, Ha-sal and Se-ah successfully destroyed Si-won's phone and therefore ended the curse. In the aftermath, Se-ah, Geon-woo, and Ha-joon continuee to mourn the death of Hyeong-wook while Se-ah feels guilty that she did not try to bring Na-ri back from the spirit realm, and they gathered at Ha-sal's house for a meal with Ha-sal and Bang-ul, who is revealed to have survived and now has a red eye to help him see spirits. In the mid-credits scene, after reading a mysterious Discord message from an account with a username matching Kim Si-won's date of birth, Hyeong-wook's friend recovers Na-ri's phone from outside the school, and opens the Girigo app on Na-ri's phone, hinting that the curse may not be over.

Production

Development

Netflix announced the production of the series in March 2025, under the working title Wish Your Death. The project was developed with a focus on the "Young Adult Horror" subgenre, aiming to blend traditional elements of spirits and curses with modern digital culture. According to the production announcement, the narrative explores the psychological instability and aspirations of teenagers, specifically utilizing a mobile application as the central medium for the supernatural conflict. Park Youn-seo was put in charge to direct from a screenplay penned by Park Joong-seop with CJ ENM Studios and Kairos Makers managing the production.[2][3]

Casting

The casting process prioritized rising actors to provide a "fresh" perspective to the ensemble, which includes Jeon So-young, Kang Mi-na, Baek Sun-ho, Hyun Woo-seok, and Lee Hyo-je [ko].[3] Following the announcement of five lead actors, Jeon So-nee and Roh Jae-won also joined the cast.[4][5]

In June 2025, it was reported that Kim Si-a would make a special appearance.[6] Later, in an interview with Star News, Park Soo-oh confirmed his involvement in the series, noting that he would appear as a character in a specific episode.[7]

Marketing

In March 2026, Netflix released the first teaser poster and trailer for the series. The poster features Yoo Se-ah in a school hallway with a cracked smartphone, featuring the tagline: "Got a wish worth dying for?"[b] The accompanying trailer introduced the "red timer" mechanic of the Girigo app, showing Choi Hyeong-wook in a state of distress as a countdown begins on his device.[9]

Release

Netflix confirmed If Wishes Could Kill was scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2026.[10] In March 2026, the series was confirmed to premiere on April 24.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Derived from the verb girida (기리다), which is traditionally used to respectfully praise the virtues of the deceased or celebrate a legacy.[1] In the context of the drama, this title serves as a dark irony; while the "Girigo" app "honors" a user's wish, the term typically associated with funeral rites suggests that the cost of the wish is the user's own life.[citation needed] Furthermore, the title phonetically mirrors the Korean word for "and" (그리고; geurigo), subtly implying an inescapable, ritualistic chain of wishes and their lethal consequences.[citation needed]
  2. ^ The tagline: "Got a wish worth dying for?" is from the series' English poster while the Korean tagline is as follow: "Do you have one? A wish you'd die to grant."[8][9]

References

  1. ^ 기리다. Standard Korean Language Dictionary (in Korean). National Institute of Korean Language. ISBN 978-8-900-08422-1. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  2. ^ "Korean YA Horror Series Wish Your Death (WT) Begins Production with Fresh Cast of Rising Stars". About Netflix (Press release). March 6, 2025. Archived from the original on May 19, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Yoon, Hyo-jung (March 6, 2025). 넷플릭스, 10대 호러 '기리고' 제작...전소영·강미나·현우석 주연 [Netflix to Produce Teen Horror If Wishes Could Kill..Jeon So-young, Kang Mi-na, and Hyun Woo-seok to Star]. News1 (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 24, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  4. ^ Kim, Ye-eun (March 10, 2025). [단독] 전소니, 무당 된다...넷플릭스 '기리고' 합류 [[Exclusive] Jeon So-nee to Become a Shaman...Joins Netflix's If Wishes Could Kill]. Xports News (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 24, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  5. ^ Kim, Ye-eun (March 11, 2025). [단독] '오겜' 노재원, '기리고' 합류 [[Exclusive] Squid Game Roh Jae-won Joins If Wishes Could Kill]. Xports News (in Korean). Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  6. ^ Kang, Nae-ri (June 5, 2025). [단독] 김시아, 넷플릭스 '기리고' 특별출연...신스틸러 활약 예고 [[Exclusive] Kim Si-a to Make Special Appearance in Netflix's If Wishes Could Kill...Expected to be a Scene-Stealer]. YTN (in Korean). Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  7. ^ Lee, Seung-hin (October 11, 2025). [단독] 짧지만 알찬 21세 '아역 출신' 배우 박수오의 과거·현재·미래 [★Full인터뷰] [[Exclusive] The Short but Solid Past, Present, and Future of 21-Year-Old 'Former Child Actor' Park Soo-oh [★Full Interview]]. Star News (in Korean). Archived from the original on December 7, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  8. ^ "Have a Wish Worth Dying For? Netflix's First Korean YA Horror Series If Wishes Could Kill Premieres April 24". About Netflix (Press release). March 26, 2026. Archived from the original on March 26, 2026. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  9. ^ a b c Baek, Seung-hoon (March 26, 2026). 저주가 된 소원...넷플릭스 호러 시리즈 '기리고', 4월 24일 공개 [A Wish That Became a Curse...Netflix Horror Series If Wishes Could Kill to be Released April 24]. iMBC (in Korean). Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  10. ^ Brzeski, Patrick (January 20, 2026). "Netflix Unveils Stacked Korean Content Slate of 33 Series and Films for 2026 (Full List)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 21, 2026.