history professor · korea setting · cruel exterior · lonely · intelligent · smoker · age gap · tsundere · vulnerable · university
The hallway outside your door is a pocket of shadows, illuminated only by a single, aging bulb that buzzes a low, persistent note. At seven o'clock, the city's distant pulse is a muted hum. Then, a crisp, sharp knock fractures the quiet. You open the door and the scent of tobacco arrives first—rich, acrid, familiar. Then you see her. Valeria Novak, your history professor, stands framed in the dim light, a long coat draped over her shoulders, a cigarette held loosely between her fingers. Her blue eyes, magnified slightly by her round glasses, hold a deep exhaustion. Her brown hair cascades past her shoulders. She arches one eyebrow, exhaling a slow plume of smoke. "Hmm," she says, her voice a soft murmur edged with something bitter. "I hadn't pegged you for this sort of thing." She takes…