If Wishes Could Kill Finale Recap And Ending Explained: Is The Girigo App Still Active?

The finale of the first season of “If Wishes Could Kill” matches up with the brilliance of its previous seven episodes, maintaining the thrill and dramatic tension, with a sleek, action-packed fare that doesn’t skimp on its horror elements. With the central crisis getting resolved in a somewhat expected manner, and the character arcs ending on a satisfying note, the scope of continuation is strongly hinted at, making viewers expectant for what’s to come in the second season. Previously, while saving Se-ah from Si-won’s machinations, Bang-ul put his life on the line, and Ha-joon got separated from the group while taking him for emergency treatment. With Geon-woo’s help, Se-ah found Maehyung, but Na-ri betrayed her by breaking her protective wristband, which allowed Si-won’s spirit to hold Se-ah’s soul captive.

Spoilers Ahead

Return to the Cursed Realm

Seeing Se-ah fighting for her life while experiencing violent seizures, Na-ri is amused, and to taunt Geon-woo further, she starts laughing. A panicked, anxious Geon-woo mentions that if something were to happen to Se-ah, he would kill her. Na-ri seems to be taken aback by this remark, and she vanishes right after this. Haetsal calls on Se-ah’s phone, and as Geon-woo attends the call, she asks him to bring Se-ah to her and shares the location of her temple. Now, given how Si-won’s spirit has manipulated Girigo users in the past, this can very obviously be another trick by the vengeful spirit, and even in her current state, Se-ah warns Geon-woo not to fall for the lies. However, pointing the spirit compass at her, Geon-woo notices the readings going haywire and realizes it’s Si-won speaking through Se-ah to trick him. Following the directions provided by Haetsal, Geon-woo takes Se-ah to the wilderness near the temple, and after much distress, finds the temple upon spotting a lantern signal sent by Haetsal. After bringing Se-ah inside the ritual arena, Haetsal destroys Maehyung – Hye-ryung’s red phone, only to realize it isn’t the conduit at all. The real Maehyung is still out there and needs to be destroyed before things go even worse. 

Se-ah wakes up in school, finds herself surrounded by her friends, and to her surprise, they tell him that they’ve finally put an end to the curse. The Girigo app no longer exists, and things have gone back to normal. Se-ah appears convinced until she notices discrepancies in reality and realizes that she is trapped inside the cursed realm, in Si-won’s domain. Na-ri’s soul, which is trapped in the cursed realm as well, attacks Se-ah and is almost able to take her down. Haetsal ventures into the cursed realm to fend off Na-ri’s spirit by using one of her mystic arrows. 

The True Origin of the Curse

Haetsal reveals to Se-ah that they need to find the real Maehyung, and the longer they spend in the cursed realm, the more they have to live in mortal danger, as Si-won is at her strongest in her domain. While trying to find a door to escape, they come across Hye-ryung’s spirit, and Se-ah recognizes that in the past she actually tried to help her on a couple of occasions. In her dream, Hye-ryung tried to warn her about Si-won, and while investigating at Si-won’s house, Hye-ryung’s spirit directed her to clues about the past events. Se-ah and Haetsal figure out that Hye-ryung isn’t responsible for the curse, which is killing innocent students; Si-won must have used a wish to perpetuate her vengeance by hunting down Girigo users. At present, she notices Hye-ryung is directing them towards the server room of Seorin High, where Si-won died, and the real Maehyung is still there. Haetsal plans to keep Si-won’s spirit distracted and entrusts Se-ah with the mission to find the real Maehyung inside the cursed realm. To keep her hidden, Haetsal offers her mystic ritual mask to Se-ah and creates a Dwitdeolmi of her own to trick Si-won. Taking the appearance of Hye-ryung, Haetsal lures Si-won away, giving a chance to Se-ah to slip out unnoticed and search for the server room.

Did Haetsal and Se-ah Put an End to the Curse?

Finding the entrance to the server room proves not that difficult for Se-ah, but opening the locked room, which is also closed from the other side, turns out to be a daunting task. To make the situation even more challenging, Na-ri’s soul wakes up and launches a vicious attack on Se-ah once again. As it turns out, the fear and guilt have broken her; she no longer trusts her friends, and knowing Geon-woo would have turned against her, as previously mentioned, she now intends to kill Se-ah out of spite. She is not being controlled by the evil spirit at present; she is acting out of her own negativity. Se-ah still tries to see the good inside her and mentions the cursed app ruined everything, and Na-ri is not to be blamed for what happened. However, Na-ri owns up to her action and mentions she indeed wants all of her friends to be dead, and foulmouths Hyeon-wook, blaming him for bringing up the app in the first place. This sends Se-ah into a fit of rage, and she goes absolutely berserk on Na-ri, pummelling her face by unloading a barrage of punches until Na-ri loses her consciousness. Meanwhile, Si-won is able to catch Haetsal’s ruse and evade all of her attacks with ease. The vengeful spirit pins Haetsal down, while Se-ah manages to obtain Maehyung’s real phone by breaking into the server room. 

As it seems Haetsal is going to perish in Si-won’s brutal assault, Hye-ryung’s spirit appears for a moment to distract her old friend. It proves to be enough for Haestal to turn the tide of the battle and take control of Si-won’s spirit. Se-ah arrives at the scene, taking the Maehyung, and Haestal passes her one of the mystic arrows to destroy it. Seeing her end is imminent, Si-won’s spirit tries to make a last-ditch attempt to stop Se-ah, to no avail, as she destroys Maehyung using the mystic arrow – thereby putting an end to the curse once and for all. With Si-won’s spirit gone, Hye-ryung’s restless spirit probably finds some comfort and might have ascended to the afterlife.

What Happened to Bang-ul?

Things gradually return to normalcy as the friends return to their old lives, still trying to cope with the trauma they experienced in the past few days. The cursed app extracted a heavy toll, as the empty benches of Hyeon-wook and Na-ri reminded the viewers. Na-ri is still alive, but her whereabouts remain unknown to her friends. Se-ah laments that she could have saved her had she been strong enough, and Geon-woo comforts her by mentioning she did everything she could have done to help Na-ri. 

Bang-ul has recovered, despite sustaining such a life-threatening injury by getting impaled, and it appears his newfound spirit powers had a role to play in that regard. The friends organize a memorial service for Hyeon-wook at the temple premises; given how the last few days went by, they didn’t even have the time to grieve the passing of their dear friend. Bang-ul reveals his ability to see spirits to Haetsal, while mentioning that he was able to see Hyeon-wook’s soul present during his memorial service, and he passed over with joy and happiness in his heart. Bang-ul also mentions that he is now able to notice how Haetsal’s immense spiritual powers function within her, which might let him find a way to bring her back to the outside world, away from the temple’s domain, by suppressing some of her powers. Haetsal acts surprised upon learning about Bang-ul’s powers, and in the closing moments of the finale, Bang-ul shows his right eye to Haetsal, which changes its form. The ending indicates we are going to see more of Bang-ul and Haetsal’s adventures in an upcoming continuation, and hopefully, the team of teenage ghostbusters will accompany them as well. 

What Happened to Na-ri?

In a mid-credits scene, Hyeon-wook’s friend in Discord, the timid Soo-san, recovers Na-ri’s phone from the bushes near Seorin High, and unlocks it using the code provided by someone unknown in his Discord chat. As it turns out, the Girigo app is still present in Na-ri’s phone, and even though its murderous mechanism has ceased to exist, its presence indicates an ominous future. After the climactic battle inside the cursed realm, it wasn’t shown what happened to Na-ri and her soul. The ending indicates the possibility of her going against her friends by using the app, and having Soo-san by her side. Perhaps the experiences in the cursed realm changed Na-ri, and in the second season, the conflict will resume. 

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