Netflix | Premieres April 24, 2026 | 8 Episodes | 18+ Restricted (violence & profanity)
A group of high school friends discover a mysterious app called Girigo that grants any wish. You upload a wish video, enter your fortune reading and your name, and it comes true. Sounds too good to be true, right? Because it IS. Anyone who uses it is cursed — a red 24-hour countdown timer appears on your phone, and when it hits zero, you die. Suddenly. Unavoidably.
Netflix’s FIRST Korean young adult horror series. And the tagline on the poster says it all: “Got a wish worth dying for?”
The Premise
[📸 PHOTO: The five friends in the classroom — the eerie poster still]
At Seorin High School, five friends are living their normal teenage lives until one of them — Choi Hyeong Wook (Lee Hyo Je) — unexpectedly aces an exam. He’s buzzing. He proudly introduces his friends to the app responsible: Girigo. It grants wishes. He made a wish, it came true, and now he wants to share the magic.
But the mood quickly darkens. The wishes start coming true under terrifying conditions. A mysterious 24-hour timer appears. A classmate dies. And suddenly there’s a connection between the app and a series of supernatural omens predicting the deaths of the students who used it.
The five friends — Se Ah, Na Ri, Geon Woo, Ha Joon, and Hyeong Wook — have to figure out how to break the curse before the timer runs out on each of them. They try deleting the app. Resetting their phones. None of it works. Because this isn’t a tech problem — this is something supernatural. Something ancient disguised as something modern.
Even the name is dark. “Girigo” comes from the Korean verb girida (기리다), which is traditionally used to respectfully praise the virtues of the DECEASED — like at funeral rites. So the app is literally named after honouring the dead. It “honours” your wish… by making YOU the dead person it’s honouring. That’s chilling.
The Cast
Jeon So Young as Yoo Se Ah
A promising track-and-field athlete at Seorin High School. She’s the type who jumps in with both feet when a friend is in crisis. She’s secretly dating Geon Woo. She becomes the one trying to uncover the truth behind Girigo — running through dark school corridors, confronting the supernatural, and refusing to let her friends die.
Kang Mi Na (강미나) as Im Na Ri
Known for: Hotel Del Luna, Café Minamdang, Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter
Kang Mi Na first came to my attention in Hotel Del Luna. I don’t know what it is but there’s something about her that I just LIKE. She’s got this presence that draws you in. But she really got to shine in Café Minamdang — I’ll be honest, it wasn’t one of my favourite dramas as it was really silly, but I did enjoy it and she brought so much FUN to it. She’s got that energy where she makes everything she’s in more watchable.
Na Ri is described as a popular student with a pretty appearance — Se Ah’s friend. In a horror setting where everyone’s paranoid and scared, having someone with Kang Mi Na’s natural warmth in the group is going to make the scares hit harder. You care more when the characters feel real.
Baek Sun Ho as Kim Geon Woo
Se Ah’s secret boyfriend. He’s one of the friends who makes a wish through the Girigo app, which means he’s in the firing line. The “secretly dating” dynamic adds tension because when the curse starts claiming victims, their relationship becomes both a strength and a vulnerability.
Hyun Woo Seok as Kang Ha Joon
The smart one. He’s described as someone who approaches the secret of Girigo systematically — using logic and strategy to try to figure out the rules of the curse. Every horror friend group needs the one who tries to make sense of the supernatural, and Ha Joon is that person.
His older sister Haetsal (played by Jeon So Nee) is a SHAMAN, and she and her assistant Bang Wool (Roh Jae Won) step in to try to break the curse through rituals. So we’ve got traditional Korean shamanism going up against a modern cursed app. Old world meets new world horror.
Lee Hyo Je as Choi Hyeong Wook
The mischievous one. He’s the boy who discovers Girigo first and introduces it to the group after his exam wish comes true. He’s essentially Patient Zero for the friend group’s curse. The trailer shows him gripping a box cutter, rushing at Se Ah as the timer counts down on his phone. Whatever the curse does to people when their time’s up, it’s not pretty.
The Creative Team
Director
Park Yoon Seo — and this is where it gets exciting. He took part in the direction of Kingdom Season 2 AND co-directed Moving. Kingdom is one of the best Korean horror series ever made. Moving was one of the most talked-about Korean action dramas of recent years. This man knows how to build tension, create atmosphere, and deliver scares.
Writer Park
Joong Seop — original screenplay.
Netflix developed this specifically as a “Young Adult Horror” project, blending traditional Korean elements of spirits and curses with modern digital culture. The cursed app concept is basically what happens when you put a Korean folk curse inside a smartphone. It’s genius.
What I’m Excited About
The cursed app concept. Horror that uses technology we ALL have in our pockets? That’s the kind of premise that stays with you. Every time your phone buzzes after watching this, you’re going to flinch.
The 24-hour timer mechanic. A visible countdown to death. That’s built-in tension for every single episode. You can literally SEE how much time characters have left. That’s going to make for unbearable suspense.
Korean shamanism vs modern tech. A shaman performing rituals to break a smartphone curse? That collision of old and new is uniquely Korean and exactly the kind of supernatural world-building that makes K-horror different from Western horror.
Kang Mi Na in a horror setting. I’ve seen her do comedy and fantasy. Seeing her terrified and fighting for her life is going to be a completely different side of her.
The Kingdom S2 / Moving director. If he brings even a fraction of the atmosphere from Kingdom to this school setting, it’s going to be genuinely scary.
Only 8 episodes on Netflix. Short, sharp, no filler. Horror works best when it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Drop all episodes at once and let me binge it with the lights off.
The name “Girigo.” Named after funeral rites for the dead. The app honours your wish by making you the dead person being honoured. That’s the kind of dark irony that Korean horror does so well.
Quick Stats
Title If Wishes Could Kill (기리고)
Also Known As Girigo, Wish Your Death
Network Netflix (worldwide)
Episodes 8
Premiere 24 April 2026 (Friday)
Genre Mystery, Horror, Youth, Supernatural
Content Rating 18+ Restricted (violence & profanity)
Director Park Yoon Seo (Kingdom S2, Moving)
Writer Park Joong Seop
MDL Watchers 4,500+ (pre-premiere)
Where to Watch Netflix
Cast
Jeon So Young Yoo Se Ah — track athlete, the one trying to uncover the truth
Kang Mi Na Im Na Ri — Se Ah’s popular friend Baek Sun Ho Kim Geon Woo — Se Ah’s secret boyfriend
Hyun Woo Seok Kang Ha Joon — the strategist, sister is a shaman
Lee Hyo Je Choi Hyeong Wook — the boy who started it all with one wish Jeon So Nee Haetsal — Ha Joon’s shaman sister
Roh Jae Won Bang Wool — Haetsal’s assistant
The app is named after the dead. It grants your wish. Then it makes you the next person being mourned.
Delete it. Reset your phone. It doesn’t matter. The timer is already counting.
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