ZEROBASEONE's Seok Matthew Ends Hey Bye Thew Season 1 With 85% International Fans

ZEROBASEONE's Seok Matthew closed out the first season of his YouTube series Hey Bye Thew on the 15th, wrapping three months of job experiences, travel, and hobby deep-dives across 13 episodes. His sign-off was warm but brief: "I had so much fun, and I'm grateful you all watched so carefully. I'll be back with Season 2, so please wait just a little longer."

The finale episode brought back a familiar face: ZEROBASEONE's own manager, who had been the series' most recurring guest throughout the season. For the send-off, Seok Matthew reversed their usual dynamic entirely. He took the wheel and drove, then arranged a proper meal, before the two settled in at a pojangmacha (Korean street food tent) to talk over everything the cameras hadn't quite caught during the season. It was exactly the kind of low-key ending the show had earned.

The odd-couple chemistry fans couldn't get enough of

A lot of Hey Bye Thew's appeal came down to that specific dynamic between Seok Matthew and his manager. Fans described it as "anxious manager meets unbothered artist", Seok Matthew reliably calm no matter what the episode threw at him, the manager reliably worried on his behalf. The contrast landed naturally rather than feeling performed, and their back-and-forth became its own running bit that viewers looked forward to as much as the actual challenges.

The series launched in June and built steadily on the premise of Seok Matthew trying things outside his comfort zone: not just showing off his daily life, but actually stepping into unfamiliar territory and letting the process play out on camera. That framing gave each episode a genuine forward momentum that a straightforward vlog format wouldn't have.

A global audience from the start

The numbers that stand out most aren't the episode count. As of late August, roughly 85% of the channel's subscribers were international, with overseas viewers accounting for about 66% of total watch time. Fans from Japan, the United States, and Indonesia were among the most active audiences outside Korea.

For a solo YouTube project from a member of a group that is still relatively early in its career, that reach is striking. It suggests that for many fans, Hey Bye Thew was their primary point of connection with Seok Matthew outside of music releases and concert footage, and that the format translated across language barriers in a way that more idol-specific content sometimes doesn't.

With Season 1 officially closed, the question is what Season 2 brings. Seok Matthew's willingness to try genuinely new things rather than stick to safe content was the engine of the first run, and that instinct, paired with a growing international audience, gives the next chapter plenty to work with.