If Wishes Could Kill Ending Explained: How is the Curse Broken?

Netflix’s ‘If Wishes Could Kill’ presents a unique premise focusing on “careful what you wish for.” The show blends horror and mystery in the cover of modernity while also having shamanism as a major plot device. The eight-season episode begins with a curse that appears in the disguise of a gift. As the lives of all the characters start to unravel, the story also becomes more focused on the power of love and friendship. Despite the complicated dynamics between the characters, they show up for each other and fight the evil spirits until the end. SPOILERS AHEAD.

If Wishes Could Kill Plot Synopsis

Se-ah, Na-ri, Geon-woo, Hyeong-wook, and Ha-joon have known each other for years. They are a close-knit group, though cracks have started to appear in their friendship lately. Na-ri is in love with Geon-woo, but he and Se-ah are dating. Meanwhile, Ha-joon loves Se-ah, and no one takes Hyeong-wook seriously. One day, Hyeong-wook tells him about an app that can grant wishes. He used it to get full marks in a test, which shocked even his teacher. He sends the link to download to all his friends, even though they don’t really believe him. That night, two of them, Geon-woo and Na-ri, use the app to make wishes, though both believe it to be a joke, and neither takes the app seriously.

Unbeknownst to them, a countdown started in Hyeong-wook’s app after his wish was granted. Twenty-four hours later, the curse takes its toll, leading to Hyeong-wook’s horrible death in front of the whole class. Realizing that it was the app that killed their friend, Geon-woo and Na-ri become concerned about their own future. Se-ah and Ha-joon also get involved, trying to find a way to make the countdown stop. However, their efforts are met with a lethal force in the form of an evil spirit behind the curse. As things get worse by the minute, Ha-joon’s sister, Hatsal, who is a shaman, steps in to help them out of this impossible situation and prevent further bloodshed.

What is the Real Maehyung? How is the Curse Broken?

Considering that all the trouble begins from the wish-making app, Girigo, it becomes clear that to break the curse, the source of the curse must be destroyed. This means that they need to find the first phone from which a wish was made, because that’s what activated the curse. The video log confirms that Do Hye-ryung was the one who made the first wish about the death of her friends and then killed herself for it. Se-ah and Geon-woo find her phone at the abandoned place where she had killed herself. However, even when her phone is destroyed, nothing happens. This means that she was not the one who activated the curse. The next person to make a wish was Kwon Si-won, who is confirmed to be the second spirit haunting the wishmakers.

Se-ah realizes that Hye-ryung never really attacked anyone. In fact, she seemed to be pointing towards someone else, as if she wanted to say that the other person is behind all this chaos. Sure enough, whenever things get bad, it is Si-won’s ghost with the laceration on the face who turns out to be puppeteering Se-ah and her friends into hurting themselves and one another. By this time, Se-ah’s protective thread has been broken (thanks to Na-ri), and she is caught in the spirit world, trying to escape the clutches of Si-won. Once again, Hatsal enters the spirit world to help Se-ah find the red phone.

Se-ah goes to the multimedia room, which had been barred and under construction in the real world and had been the place where Si-won died. Meanwhile, Hatsal tackles Si-won’s ghost, trying to keep her distracted so Se-ah can do her job. Eventually, Se-ah gets her hands on the phone, and she brings it to Hatsal. She shoots an arrow towards it, but misses. Before Si-won can get to her, Se-ah pulls that missed arrow out of the wall and stabs the phone. With the phone destroyed, the source of the curse is gone. Si-won’s malevolent spirit is destroyed for good, and everything goes back to normal. Now, Se-ah and her friends are in no danger from any spirit or curse.

Do Hatsal and Se-ah Die?

While the solution to breaking the curse seems easy, it is much more difficult to get it done. In the spirit world, Si-won is very powerful. What makes things worse is that the protective thread that Hatsal had tied on Se-ah’s hand was broken by Na-ri. This means that Se-ah is without protection and prone to getting attacked and even killed by the bad spirits. This is why Hatsal takes the form of Hye-ryung, hoping that Si-won might listen to her friend and leave the building. This ploy wouldn’t last forever, but it would give Se-ah enough time to find the phone. However, Hatsal’s plan doesn’t work for long. Si-won catches her earlier than expected and decides to kill her.

Hatsal tries to fight back with a voodoo doll, but Si-won is too powerful and destroys it. Hatsal has to make another doll, but this time, she decides to use herself. This is an element of surprise for Si-won, who never guessed that Hatsal could do such a thing, mainly because doing so would put one at risk of dying. Sure enough, when the time comes, Hatsal uses an arrow to stab Si-won, but because Si-won should be connected to the doll to make the curse work, she pushes the arrow further, stabbing herself in the process. With this, Hatsal and Si-won are tied together, and the spirit is not able to do anything. In the meantime, Se-ah finds the phone. With the opportunity to end the fight, Hatsal pulls out the arrow, breaking the bond between herself and Si-won, and throws it at the phone.

She misses the mark, and the arrow gets stuck on the wall behind Se-ah. Si-won, no longer held back by the curse, attacks Se-ah, knowing that if the phone is destroyed, she, too, will die, for good. She throws shards of glass towards Se-ah, but the latter quickly gets the arrow out of the wall and destroys the phone. With Si-won and the phone gone, Se-ah and Hatsal come back to their world. Because Se-ah makes it out with relatively few injuries, she is in no danger of death. However, Hatsal stabbed herself to bind Se-ah with her, which means her injury is rather serious. Fortunately, she has a magic snake who heals her wounds instantly, saving her life.

Is Na-ri Dead or Alive?

Meanwhile, Se-ah is attacked by Na-ri. Previously, Na-ri had been under Si-won’s control, which means whatever she did during that time wasn’t her fault. However, in an attempt to save themselves, her friends land some fatal blows on her, which convinces her that they never cared about her in the first place. She had had these insecurities even before the app and the curse came along. Under Si-won’s influence, these feelings get so strong that in the final fight, it is no one but Na-ri attacking Se-ah. In the previous episode, she’d confessed that she knows there is no going back for her with all that has happened. But as she goes down, she will make sure that Se-ah goes down with her.

Believing that Na-ri is still under Si-won’s influence, Se-ah tries to talk to her. She tries to convince her friend that things are going to be alright and no one is going to hold her responsible for anything, even for the wish she made that led to Hyeong-wook’s death. However, Na-ri is too far gone, and with time running out, Se-ah has no option but to stop her once and for all. Her anger takes hold of her and beats Na-ri to the pulp before crashing the door that had been stopping her from getting Si-won’s phone. With the injuries she had already sustained, it seems that Na-ri is gone for good. However, because we don’t see a dead body in the real world, it is fair to assume that she is still alive.

What further confirms the theory of her survival is the mid-credits scene. In it, we see Hyeong-wook’s friend from Discord breaking into the school and finding Na-ri’s phone. He goes to an internet cafe where he chats with someone else on Discord, who told him about how Hyeong-wook died and where to find the phone. This person’s username has their birthdate, and when the guy puts in the numbers, it opens the phone. Only Na-ri’s birthdate could have been the phone’s password, which means that she is the one talking to him on Discord. This hints that she may still be alive, though she has decided to keep up the charade of her death. This also proves that she is not entirely done with the app and her former friends, which spells nothing but more trouble.

Why Did Bangwool’s Eyes Turn Red? Can Hatsal Leave the Compound Now?

When all is said and done, Se-ah and the remaining group get together in Hatsal’s compound. They hold a ceremony to say goodbye to Hyeong-wook’s spirit, sending him on his journey in the next world in peace. The fact that they don’t hold the same ceremony for Na-ri shows that there is still some ambiguity about what happened to her. In any case, the ceremony brings a sense of calm and peace to the group. Bangwool, who has recovered from his injuries after getting impaled by a metal rod, uses his new powers to see Hyeong-wook’s spirit in attendance. He later tells everyone about it, saying that their friend really was happy before he left. Bangwool also mentions that his new power allows him to see Hatsal’s powers in their true form.

He can see the energy that emanates from her, and this second sight has allowed him a better perspective on her powers as well as the spirits around her, which may or may not be evil. His second sight resides in his right eye, which was attacked by Si-won in the form of a small dot that expands into a red iris whenever he needs to use it. This new power has also filled in a lot of gaps for Bangwool, putting many things in perspective, which he didn’t entirely understand before. This also means that his newfound knowledge has given him an idea of how to help Hatsal leave the compound safely, without being in the constant fear of being attacked by malevolent spirits.

Meanwhile, Se-ah and Geon-woo also get a sense of closure after the ceremony. He notices that she still has the app on her phone. Because it is still a tech, it didn’t automatically get deleted from her phone when Si-won and her phone were destroyed. Everyone else has deleted the app from their phone, but Se-ah still has it because she doesn’t want to forget Hyeong-wook. However, Geon-woo reminds her that the memories of their friend far surpass the app, which did nothing but destroy him. He convinces her to delete it and move on, remembering Hyeong-wook in other, better ways, that honors not only his death but also, and more importantly, his life and what he really meant to them.

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