Chapter 1

When I learned my husband had been in a car crash and was now in a vegetative state, I signed him up for the Mars One-Way Pioneer Program on the spot.

Because while I was at home, swallowing my grief and packing the clothes he'd need for the hospital,

his old backup phone suddenly synced a new voice message on his messaging app.

The sender was Summer Fox, his sweet little assistant.

"Ervin, I've already smoothed things over with the doctor. You'll just have to put up with playing vegetable for a little while in that hospital bed."

"Once your idiot wife signs the agreement to take on the company's debt herself and sells the house, we'll take that eight million and go have our wedding in the Maldives!"

Ervin Gilbert. My darling husband, my childhood sweetheart.

To dump every bad debt his failing company had racked up onto my head and run off with his mistress,

he'd actually bribed a doctor, staged a car crash, and started playing dead on me with this vegetable act.

I was shaking with rage.

I was about to smash the phone when a news alert popped up in the bottom right corner.

【Stellar Aerospace is recruiting the first volunteers worldwide for its Mars One-Way Pioneer Program.】

【Priority is currently being given to unconscious volunteers. Family members who sign will receive ten million dollars in compensation.】

Reading that, my eyes lit up.

You want to lie there? You want to play dead?

Fine. Earth's got no room for a high-and-mighty lord like you anymore, so I'll ship you off to Mars to lie there for the rest of your life.

……

After I signed the agreement, I did my makeup to look drawn and exhausted and drove straight to the station.

At seven o'clock sharp, the evening news went out live across every platform.

Once I'd finished a few top stories from home and abroad, the big screen in the studio cut to footage of Stellar Aerospace's rocket launch tower.

"Next, a brief look at the frontier of science and technology. The much-anticipated Mars One-Way Pioneer Program is set to officially launch in the near future."

"At present, the program is seeking special volunteers worldwide who meet certain medical conditions."

After I'd read out the release, I looked straight into the camera, eyes slightly red but my voice held steady.

"I'd like to add a related note. This afternoon, my husband, Ervin Gilbert, suffered brainstem damage in a car accident and is now permanently in a vegetative state."

The comment feed instantly flooded with condolences.

I didn't pause. I dropped the bomb right after.

"In support of aerospace medicine, I've signed the agreement on behalf of the family to donate him, at no cost, to the Mars One-Way Pioneer Program."

"He will go to Mars as its first special volunteer."

That heartfelt broadcast, paired with my flawless performance, set the whole internet on fire in an instant.

Off the air, the station head clapped me on the shoulder, thrilled,

praising me for my selflessness and for handing the station its highest ratings in history.

I turned down my colleagues' comfort, took the family consent form for the Mars program, and headed straight for Downtown General Hospital with murder in my step.

Ervin Gilbert, didn't you bribe a doctor to play dead?

Now tens of millions of people online are watching you die, so let's see how you claw your way back to life this time.

The VIP room was the picture of peace.

My mother-in-law sat on the sofa eating imported cherries.

Summer Fox was carefully filing the nails of Ervin Gilbert, who lay in the bed with an oxygen mask on.

At the sound of the door, her hand jerked and the nail file jabbed straight into his flesh.

The man in the bed winced hard from the pain, but he clenched his teeth and didn't dare open his eyes.

"Oh, my sweet daughter-in-law, you're finally here."

My mother-in-law dropped the cherries at once, put on a face of utter grief, and threw herself at me.

"Go look at your Ervin, would you? His whole life is ruined now!"

Summer Fox got to her feet too, her eyes rimmed red as she looked at me.

"Sis, Ervin's just so pitiful, isn't he."

"But don't you worry. The company's in debt, yes, but as long as you sign this agreement and mortgage the house in your names, I'll hold the company together for you, until Ervin wakes up!"

As she spoke, she couldn't wait to push an agreement and a pen in front of me.

I looked at this pair of poorly acting cheaters and didn't take the pen.

Instead I reached into my bag, pulled out that stamped document, and slapped it down hard on the nightstand by the bed.

"Mom, Summer, you two don't need to worry about the debt anymore."

I raised my voice, making sure Ervin Gilbert in that bed could hear every word.

"I've found Ervin a golden road that both cures him and makes money!"

My mother-in-law froze, her gaze dropping to the document.

"This… what is this?"