In the beginning of Episode 5 of If Wishes Could Kill, Geon-woo and Na-ri break into their school, which sets the stage for a tense and revealing chapter. The story then goes back to November 4, 2008, when Na-ri made a stupid, drunken wish that would change everything.
Na-ri makes fun of Hyeong-wook for believing in an app that grants wishes while out with Dong-jae and Chae-yoon. Dong-jae goes along with it and acts like the app is real, making fun of her by bringing up things that happened in the past with Hye-rung and Si-won. Dong-jae thinks Chae-yoon is just joking when she says she’s uncomfortable. In a fit of rage, Na-ri wishes for both Dong-jae and Hyeong-wook to die. Chae-yoon tries to stop her, but it’s too late.
Na-ri wakes up the next morning with a hangover and is late for school. She then sees something horrible: Hyeong-wook killing himself. She starts to panic when she gets a message saying that her wish has come true and a countdown timer starts. She is so upset that she hides in the bathroom and throws up while trying to reach Dong-jae and Chae-yoon, but neither of them answers. Her mental health gets worse when she starts to see people blaming her for Hyeong-wook’s death.
Na-ri, still shaken, fights with Se-ah, saying that the app is to blame and that they need to save Geon-woo. Before she meets the others, she goes to see Chae-yoon and fights with her. Chae-yoon says something disturbing under pressure: the app might have had something to do with the deaths of Hye-rung and Si-won. She also says that Si-won made the first version of the app to bully Hye-rung.
The group tries to turn off the app and keep Geon-woo safe at Se-ah’s house. Na-ri sees what looks like an evil spirit attacking him, which makes her faint. She wakes up in the hospital later, and her fear and paranoia grow. She tricks Se-ah into thinking that Geon-woo’s family is mad at her by using the situation to her advantage.
When Na-ri gets home, she sees that her countdown timer stopped when Geon-woo’s wish was granted. This makes her discover the app’s chain-letter-like curse: when a wish is granted, the deadly effect moves to a different user. But before she can tell anyone about this, the spirit starts to make her feel alone by making her think that her friends are turning against her.
Na-ri secretly takes Geon-woo’s phone and goes back to Se-ah’s house after visiting him in the hospital. At this point, the spirit takes over her body from time to time, making her view of reality even more distorted. When Geon-woo later talks to her, he starts to put the pieces of the truth together after watching videos on her phone.
Geon-woo turns off his phone in an effort to break the connection. At the same time, Na-ri, who is no longer possessed, uses the device to follow Se-ah, thinking she is talking to her. In reality, the spirit is still controlling her and making her think that her friends are leaving her.
Na-ri and Geon-woo go back to school that night and break into the nurse’s office, where they find Si-won’s medical report. Geon-woo tells Na-ri that he knows she’s been seeing the spirit and that she’s been tricked into thinking she’s alone. Na-ri finally tells the truth about everything, including the deadly wish she made, because she remembers their promise to be honest.
But the spirit takes over again. In a moment of chaos, Na-ri grabs scissors and accuses Geon-woo of betraying her. She stabs him when the spirit lets go for a moment. The possession starts up again, and she runs away.
At the same time, Bang-wool finds out that the spirit is inside the school and rushes to help. He runs into Geon-woo, who is trying very hard to get to Na-ri. The spirit then shows up in front of Geon-woo and torments him so much that he almost hurts himself. Bang-wool gets there just in time to save him.
In another part of the world, Ha-joon and Se-ah are able to download important files just before the power goes out. The spirit steps up its attack and hurts Bang-wool’s eye with broken glass. At the end of the episode, a new spirit shows up and asks him in a scary way if he has heard of a ritual that involves writing down his saju to make his wishes come true.
Review of the Episode
This episode shows how the evil spirit is manipulative and parasitic. It takes advantage of Na-ri’s fear, guilt, and low self-esteem, slowly cutting her off from her friends and pushing her to harm herself. The spirit takes control of her at her weakest moments by using her feelings and changing her reality.
The story also goes into more detail about how the app works, showing how it works like a chain letter. The curse works like a cycle: when one person’s wish is granted, the burden moves to another person. This new information explains why Na-ri’s timer stops when Geon-woo’s wish is granted, allowing her to live for a short time.